The Mark of Cain
Chapter 3: The Music of Heaven

Chojiro Kaji did _ not_ like work.
This was more than just a character trait – it was his part of his philosophy, his religion. If Cho had been meant to work, he theorized, then he wouldn’t have been given the brains to weasel out of it at every opportunity. Nyoko, Ume, and even his eldest brother spent much of their time trying to convince him of the flaws in his logic – to no avail. For Cho, the matter was fairly simple – others may find fulfillment in their work, others may view it as a duty, and he had no problems with that. But as for himself, Cho had long before decided to treat work the same way most men treated death –inevitable it may be, but he’d do everything he could to delay it as long as possible. 
With that in mind, it was hardly surprising that the youngest scion of the Kaji clan gazed upon the intimidating pile of boxes and luggages with an expression of supreme distaste.
“Tell me again,” he whispered disconsolately, “what we’re supposed to do with all this stuff?”
Beside him, Kensuke Aida began to chuckle while awaiting Nyoko’s answer. Seated rather smugly in her wheel chair before the two male pilots, Nyoko gave out a loud sigh as she began to explain the plan to Cho for the tenth time. “Dr. Takahashi has ordered us to new lodgings… Therefore unless we want to spend the next few months in a barren cubicle, we have to move our stuff to our new apartments as soon as possible!”
“But we were so comfortable here at the hotel!”
The handicapped girl, baseball cap perpetually perched upon her brown hair, scowled at her co-pilot. “Chojiro Kaji, you know as well as I do that there are more important reasons behind our move to Rei’s building than mere ‘comfort’.”
Cho rubbed a hand across his face as he groaned, one finger absently tracing the length of his scar. Cho knew very well why they were moving next door to the apartment of the First Child. After her ‘meeting’ with Commander Ikari, Ume had realized that all efforts to directly improve Rei’s living conditions would be met with nothing more than, at best, a curt negative. Still, the official ‘leader’ of the Keeper Task Force had evidently decided that it was their duty to somehow alleviate the effects of Rei’s enforced solitude and to that effect had come up with the brilliant plan of having Cho and Nyoko move from their scrumptious rooms at the penthouse of the Tokyo-3 Regency Hotel to a building that had concrete slabs for decoration and piledriving noises for ambiance. 
“Can’t we just pick her up every now and then and take her out to town?”
“No.”
“How about we call her on the phone every hour or so to keep her company?”
“No!”
“How about I give Ikari a noogie until he lets her move out?”
“Hmm… tempting but, no.”
“How about - ”
“Cho!”
“It’s no use man,” Kensuke interjected laughingly, “You’re just delaying the inevitable.”
“That,” began Cho in a huffy voice, “is the point, Freckles.”
“Besides,” the younger boy continued in a determined voice, his body almost snapping to attention. “We have been issued a mission by our Commander, and it is our duty to implement it to the letter.” He said the last with particular relish, adjusting his thick glasses for effect.
“Fine,” Cho drawled, then pointed to a particularly large object amongst the pile. “You volunteering to carry Nyoko’s book horde then, oh great soldier?”
Kensuke looked at the chest high carton and blanched. “Err… We’re bringing _that_? I thought it was a part of the landscape…”
“Oh this is stupid!” Nyoko finally erupted, throwing her hands into the air. “You both know you’re going to give in anyway, so why don’t we just get to it instead of wasting time?”
The two males looked at each other and gave exaggerated sighs. As Kensuke hefted a piece of luggage, Cho shuffled towards the pile and gingerly lifted a small packet of toiletries from the floor. At Nyoko’s glare he sighed and bent down to pick up a large box of clothes instead. “I just don’t understand why we’re the one’s who have to do this… What happened to all our support staff?”
“They’re all busy preparing for the Keeper test run later so it’s up to us.”
Cho merely grunted as he and Kensuke made their way towards the elevator with their respective burdens in hand. Ten minutes and a lot of groaning later, they managed to put the first of their belongings in the mini-van. 
“This is going to take forever…” Cho moaned as they grudgingly made their way back up to their room.
Kensuke seemed lost in thought for a moment, and then his eyes lit up. “Don’t worry, I’ve got an idea…”
 

* * * * *

*ring*
Shinji Ikari looked up from his meal at the sound of the phone ringing; its tone all the more striking in the silence of the apartment. Standing quickly, the Third Child made his way to the phone and picked up the receiver before it finished its third ring.
“Um, hello?”
“Shinji!”
It didn’t take long for the boy to recognize the voice on the other line. “Kensuke,” he said with a genuine smile coming to his face. “What a surprise… I thought you were on some sort of ‘mission’ or something today…” Of course ever since the bespectacled boy had become an actual member of a military organization, everything from doing his homework to going to the bath room seemed to have become a ‘mission’.
“Yup, and we need your help man. Think you can come over to the Tokyo-3 Regency and give us a hand? We just have to move some stuff from here to Cho and Nyoko’s new apartment… I already called Touji and Hikari and they’re on their way over… You’re going to come too right?”
Shinji blinked. Well, it wasn’t like he had any plans for today… And quite frankly, anything was better than having to stay in the apartment nowadays, especially since _she_ never left it. Not that she spoke to him at all while he was there, but for Shinji the absolute silence was at times more oppressive than screaming might have been. Hatred, after all, need not be expressed in words. 
“Uh okay… I should be there in 20 minutes or so…”
“Great!” Kensuke enthused before Shinji could finish. Then there was a brief pause from the other line. “Er, do you think Asuka would like to come?”
Shinji turned, almost against his will, to stare at the door to the Second Child’s room. Maybe… Maybe this was the right time to talk to her… Maybe this time, when he knocked on her door, she’d actually let him speak… Maybe this would be the opportunity for them to apologize to each other, to be friends again, to get rid of all the hate… All he had to do was knock on her door…
“Shinji? Shinji? You still there?”
Just knock on her door…Just knock, just…
“She doesn’t want to come Kensuke.”
With that the boy slowly set the phone back down.

It was ecstasy.
The boy did not know how long he had been bonded with the shadow of his Father, how long he savored just the tiniest taste of total union, but whether it lasted an instant or a millennia, it was not enough. Too soon he was pulled back, back into the lilim’s form which he had taken, back into a reality of yearning and hunger. He was no longer One, but Kaoru Nagisa once more, kneeling upon the umbilical bridge of Unit04’s cage, coughing up dry heaves as he struggled to look up into the face of him who had so soon deprived him of his completion. A mature face, unshaven, with an aged brow framed by unruly purple hair. The face of a lilim, and not of a lilim. A red circle burned amidst the lined forehead.
“Why?” the boy rasped, his voice suddenly a rusted tool, wishing for nothing more than to renew the bond he had shared with the spawn of Adam, with his brother in matter.
“You were losing yourself, your soul dissolving, your boundaries bleeding into the ether.” The other’s voice was calm, clinical. “This is neither the time nor place for your dissolution Tabris – I will not allow it.”
Kaoru stood, swaying slightly on his feet before catching himself. It was true, her realized, he had almost been consumed by his self, by the self he would have formed with the Adam kin. And yet, that was not possible, should not have been possible – such union was only possible with the Father Himself, and not with such a pale imitation. He had synchronized with the human tools called Evangelions before, and yet he had never felt that level of rapture.
“I was… Unprepared for the intensity of this union.” The boy looked up at the monstrous face of Unit 04. It seemed different somehow; more animated, more… intelligent. “This one is different from the others, is it not?”
Cain made no movement, but Kaoru felt his mental assent.
“This one has in itself a human fabrication of the ‘Mark’. It has remained long in the Void, has been drowned in the essences of the lilim who once roamed these halls, it has been exposed to my presence for an extended period of time. All these have made it more than it was, closer to Adam.” The Second Angel stopped then, and looked severely at the boy. “And yet for all that it is not Adam. Do not forget that fact, when the time comes to bond again.”
“And when will that time come?”
 The other smiled then, a human act which only accentuates the inhumanity of the will behind it. He looked upward and his black eyes seemed distant, as if gazing upon a vista far beyond the realm of sight. Suddenly. Kaoru is keenly aware of Cain’s presence, not merely beside him but in the air around him, in the inner workings of his consciousness, in the very fiber of his being… It lasted for but a moment, then it passed – and thins are different.
The form beside him suddenly crumpled, the older man falling to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been severed. After a cursory examination the boy saw that the man was still breathing, though very slightly, but the red globe which had protruded from the center of his forehead was now gone. Where just a moment before Cain’s essence had been overpoweringly present - there was now a complete absence, even from the body of the purple haired lilim beside the boy. All that remained were the echoes of a thought in Kaoru’s mind, a message which had been seemingly left behind…
_Soon. Very soon._

It took the combined efforts of  Shinji, Kensuke, Touji, Cho and Hikari a good two hours to load everything into the Mini – Van. Even with the large trunk space and after they had tied the larger boxes to the roof, there was hardly enough room for two people in the van once they were done.  It was decided that Nyoko and Kensuke would take the van directly to Rei’s place while the others would take public transport. By the time everyone had gathered at the apartment complex, it was already well past noon. 
“Ah,” Cho breathed out, as he looked up at the seemingly derelict building. “Home sweet home…”
Touji shook his head. “Can’t believe ya ditched the Regency for an apartment like Ayanami’s…”
“Hey! When your Commanding officer asks you to jump you jump… When she asks you to move…”
Cho interrupted Kensuke with a clout to the head. “Spare us please… It’s not like you’re going to be living with us here y’know.”
Hikari sighed. “Well maybe it won’t be that bad, after we add a few homey touches…”
“Does placing cork in the walls count as a homey touch?” Cho asked, wincing a bit at the pounding noise that could already be heard from the vicinity.
Nyoko tactfully elbowed the scarred pilot in the ribs, before turning to the other children. “I really can’t thank you enough for helping us out,” she beamed. “Once we get settled in we’ll have a little house warming party and you’re all invited – all the food you can eat!”
Touji’s face suddenly lit up at her words, and his classmates shared a good laugh.
“You just said the magic words Nyoko,” Shinji grinned. “For that kind of reward, Touji’d take all these boxes up by himself!” 
This time it was Cho’s face which lit up. “Really? Well in that case…” he said, pausing to slap Touji on the back before trying to walk away – only to be stopped by a sudden weight on his foot.
“Yeow! Nyo-ko!”
The female Keeper Pilot only smiled sweetly up at him as she rolled her wheelchair off the boy’s soon-to-be-swollen foot. “And where do you think you’re going?” she asked.
“C’mon Nyoko you can’t be serious,” Cho whined. “The elevator here’s still busted – you don’t really expect me to get all this stuff up four flights of stairs do you?”
Silence. Gazes meeting in battle. A disheartened sigh.
Two more hours and a good deal of grunting, sweating and (in Cho’s case) swearing later, the little group of six finally gathered at the fourth floor of Rei’s building. The First Child herself  was nowhere to be found, probably once more undergoing some sort of test at the geofront. Shinji wiped the sweat off his brow as he placed his load amongst the pile of boxes in front of apartment number 402. With Hikari’s direction, the boxes had been stacked in neat columns in front of the apartment, which was right next to the First Child’s unit. Cho in the meantime had just set Nyoko back down on her wheelchair after carrying her up the flight of steps. 
Kensuke was looking at his two fellow pilots with concern. “Are you guys sure you want to do this? It might be hard for you Nyoko if you have to move to and from here if Cho’s not around…”
The older girl laughed, and adjusted the cap on top of her brown locks. “Not that it wouldn’t appeal to me to make Cho a beast of burden… But no, Ken, don’t worry, Dr. Takahashi promised she’s have some techs over to see to the elevator’s repair as soon as possible.”
“Thank goodness for small blessings,” Cho grumbled as he leaned against the piled boxes, causing them to wobble. “I swear you must’ve put on twenty pounds since our last visit…” The boxes were wobbling more freely now, though Cho couldn’t feel it yet. They looked ready to fall any minute... “You haven’t been doubling your meals in secret have y-”
“Look out!” Hikari shouted in warning, but it was too late. Unbalanced by Cho’s weight the piled boxes toppled as one to the ground, some of them opening and spilling their contents onto the gray floor. When it was over what had once been an orderly row of boxes had degenerated into a scene from the Second Impact, with Chojiro Kaji sprawled in the midst of it all. The boys just looked at one another and sighed, while Hikari looked like she was about to cry. Nyoko however was staring at her fallen partner with a look that could pierce an A.T. Field.
“You… you… you…” the girl ground her teeth in annoyance, unable to adequately express her frustration. Cho took one look at her and gulped. Then, incredibly, his lips widened in a smug smile. “You know, this wouldn’t have happened if you’d let me get a bite to eat first…”
Nobody saw what happened next, for they all had their eyes closed. The screams of pain were enough to conjure up some fairly graphic imagery however.

“You know, one would almost think you liked getting slapped.”
“Well Shinji,” Cho began, puffing out his chest a bit. “I’m a romantic. I’m a man who believes in enduring any amount of pain to be able to feel the hands of a beautiful woman upon my skin…”
“That’s not romantic,” the younger boy pointed out. “That’s perverted.”
“Well yeah… But it sounds better when you call it ‘romantic’.
The two boys were leaning against the rail, right outside the new apartment, taking a well deserved rest from the morning’s exertions. Both had cold drinks in their hands, though Shinji could see that Cho’s was of the alcoholic kind. Well, at least the older boy wasn’t guzzling them down like Misato would… Then again Nyoko would probably have his head if he did. The handicapped girl seemed to keep a close eye on the younger Kaji…
“Is Nyoko speaking to you yet?” Shinji asked in curiosity. “She seemed pretty angry…”
“Oh yes,” the scarred pilot replied with a chuckle. “She was furious… But we’re ok now. People just can’t seem to stay angry with me for an extended period of time… Must be my cologne…”
The young Ikari sighed deeply. “I envy you… I wish I had the same effect on people…”
Cho raised an eyebrow at that. “What’s the matter? Someone holding a grudge against you Shinji-kun?”
“You… You could say that I suppose…”
“Anybody I know?”
Shinji turned away. He felt remarkably at ease with Cho considering the short amount of time they had known each other. Maybe it was just that in some ways, Cho had a lot in common with his elder brother, Kaji, who was one of the few people Shinji actually felt he could talk to when he needed advice. Still… It wasn’t easy to talk about Asuka…
Shinji realized the other boy was staring at him expectantly. “It’s… it’s nobody really,” he finally said. “It’s nothing…”
The other looked like he was about to say something , but then just shook his head. “Your call Shinji… I won’t force it out of you. But if you don’t mind some unsolicited advice: Do something for her, something that she likes. Sometimes it’s not enough to apologize straight away – with women; you have to soften their hearts a little first. I’m sure you can think of something that you’ve done before that had a positive impact on her – something that made her smile or laugh or clap her hands with joy… And after you’ve gotten her to listen to you without murdering you, _then_ you can move over to the apology.”
The Third Child remained silent as he pondered his companion’s words. Then suddenly, Shinji blinked. 
“Wait a minute… I never said I was talking about a girl.”
At that the Keeper Pilot let out a hearty laugh. “Shinji… It’s _always_ about a girl…”
With that tidbit of male wisdom hanging in the air between them, Cho walked back into the apartment, leaving Shinji alone with his problems… and a possible resolution.

In the foreboding darkness of a room within the deepest recesses of NERV, two men clashed over a board of black and white. With pieces of wood, strategies are put to the test, while with their words they discuss the status of another contest… One waged against fate itself.
“So… SEELE has lost the Fifth?”
Black Pawn to King’s Bishop three.
“That is what Kaji told me… While I see little reason to trust him, the fact that he even knew of the Fifth inclines me to give him the benefit of the doubt this time.”
White Rook to Queen’s Knight five. Black Knight captured.
“Indeed.” Gendo Ikari adjusted the glasses on the bridge of his nose. “This is an intriguing development… It will be amusing to see how the Old Men react to this divergence in their scenario.”
Queen to Queen’s Bishop seven.
Kozou Fuyutsuki snorted. “As if our own scenario were going according to plan… I am telling you that the presence of Kaji, Dr. Takahashi and this ‘Keeper’ mechanoid are a potentially large problem.”
White Queen to Queen’s Knight four.
NERV’s Commander smirked. “So they would like to think. There are no problems, merely opportunities. As long as we keep that in mind we can turn this situation to our advantage… Remember, what separates us from Kihl and his lot is that _we_ can adapt. They cannot.”
Black Bishop to King’s Knight six. Check.
“I am warning you Ikari, I have no idea how much of the truth they already know. If certain facts were to be known to the public, or even to the Children before it is time, I can assure you that no amount of ‘adapting’ will save us then.”
White King to King’s Bishop one.
“The problem with the truth Fuyutsuki, is the more you learn of it, the less able you are to see things in black and white – and thus the more difficult it is to make sure you’re doing the ‘right’ thing. For people concerned with such moral quibbles, such complexity can be… paralyzing. And in this game, you cannot win unless you move with certainty.”
Black Bishop to King’s Knight six.
Checkmate.
 

_Something she likes, something she likes… If only it were that easy!_
As the elevator doors opened and deposited him on the floor of the their apartment, Shinji Ikari couldn’t help but curse Cho for making the whole thing sound so simple. Maybe if it were some other person, it would be… But this was Asuka! Aside from the perverse pleasure she probably received from making his life miserable, he really couldn’t think of anything he’d done that had pleased her. Even when he saved her life she’d ended up just disliking him more – as if he had done it to show off!
As his heavy steps carried him closer and closer to a home he had begun to dread, Shinji combed through his memories for something – anything – that he could do to get Asuka in the mood to at least speak to him. She used to like it when he’d cook something special for her. He could whip up some German food for her, but he had no idea how to make one of the fancier German meals, and he doubted she’d be much impressed with a frankfurter. Besides, they both had to be present at the Keeper field test later on, so he just didn’t have the time. Shinji walked a bit further down memory lane… There was that kiss – hurriedly Shinji swept that memory aside, into a locked safe and swallowed the key. He did _not_ want to think about that stupid kiss… She’d kill him before he got close enough to try anything … And  besides, it’s not as if she had liked it the first time anyway…
Finally, just as he was about to reach the door, he stumbled upon a memory that just might help. It was something which he felt he could do, and which didn’t actually require him to be close to her when he attempted it.
As he unlocked the door and stepped inside, for the first time in days he felt a faint swelling of hope in his heart, although it was almost drowned out by anxiety. Silently, he faced the door which he had been so terrified to approach that morning. He had no idea if this was going to work… But this time he wouldn’t run away. He had to try.

Blood. She smelled like blood. She’d been trying to ignore it the entire day… She didn’t know if she did it in the hope that by some miracle it would go away, or because it was her way of rebelling against an enforced biology. Whatever her motivation was, it wasn’t enough to overcome the discomfort she was feeling –and the level of annoyance that rose along with it.
_I hate this! Why do _I_ have to have periods anyway? It’s not even as if I want to have children…_
Asuka growled as she turned over in her bed, seeking the oblivion of sleep. The day had not gone well for the Second Child. In the morning, while the other Children had been busy helping Cho and Nyoko, Asuka and Rei had been summoned to the geofront for some synchronization tests. To her horror she had discovered that her synch ratio had suffered an even greater drop – she was now barely above the minimum level! She… She’d even lost out to that bitch Rei! How the hell could _Wondergirl_ have beaten her?!? The doll had even tried to give her advice afterwards - _her_ the great Asuka Langley Sohryu! She’d stormed out of headquarters as soon as she was able – she knew that she’d have to return later on for the field test of that clunky Keeper robot, but the longer she could avoid being in the presence of those idiots, the better.
So caught up was she in her own thoughts that she completely missed the sounds of Shinji’s entry in the apartment. She remained blissfully ignorant of the outside world for a few moments more… Before the sound of music began to seep into her room from beyond. A cello, she recognized instantly. His cello. The music soared around her, seemingly possessed by the will of its creator, slow and melancholy, yet at the same time hopeful… questioning. For a moment, Asuka closed her eyes, and she could almost see the notes, almost taste them on the tip of her tongue – they were bitter, but filling. Slowly, subtly, the tension that had filled her slowly left her body, leaving only a dull ache behind. Against her will, Asuka began to feel the beginnings of tears welling up in her eyes…
She wasn’t conscious of standing, of padding barefoot to the door of her room and sliding it open. One instant she was on her bed, the next she was standing before him. His eyes were closed, his face averted from her own, yet she knew that he knew she was there. Still, his hands did not cease their movements, one gripping the bow, gliding over the instrument in a complex, yet continuos motion, while the other danced with a life of it’s own, applying pressure to first this string, then another. The music rose and fell at his direction, and it carried on it’s wings Asuka’s fragile emotions.
He was good. He was very good.
The Second Child felt a spark flare up in her heart.

He was _always_ good… Good at everything… So good that he was better than _her_… Always better than her. Better at synchronizing with the Eva’s. Better at killing the Angels. Better at cooking, at kanji, at playing a godamn instrument - !
The spark was a flame now; a fire that consumed all shred of peace and affection. He was _always_ trying to show her up! Who the hell did he think he was? He was a nothing!  A loser! But then why did everything seem to go his way?  Why the hell should _he_ be better? _He_ hadn’t had to go through what she went through, _he_ didn’t have to concentrate to get a high synch ratio, _he_ didn’t have to menstruate… He had _everything_ and because of him, she… She had nothing. Nothing!
By now, rage had exploded in her heart - but what happened next surprised even Asuka. Maybe if she hadn’t had such a low synch ratio that morning she wouldn’t have done it. Maybe if it hadn’t been her time of the month she would have acted differently. Maybe if she had stopped to pause for even one second, she would have been able to restrain herself...
Without a word, with a face that seemed locked in a rictus of hatred, the Second Child’s foot came down hard on the fragile wooden cello. 

The crack of splintering wood filled the corridor as her heel broke through the instruments body. Strings recoiled painfully, whiplike and quick around both her leg and Shinji’s hand as they were freed from their bindings, raising distorted twangs as their death cry. Before her, Shinji stared up at Asuka with wide, unbelieving eyes. For a moment, the bow continued mechanically along it’s course, eliciting nothing more than a poignant absence of sound, a silence akin to a child’s bereaved cry. Their gazes locked for an instant, and for one second, Asuka caught a glimpse of the magnitude of her crime, of a pain that matched even her own. Then, it was gone as the boy himself fled blindly from the room, his receding form issuing forth haggard sobs that only stopped as the door slammed shut behind him.
In the wake of his departure, the great Asuka Langley Sohryu stood with one foot imbedded in an instrument of music, and realized she had never despised herself so much in her life. 

* * * * *

Misato Katsuragi was in a bad mood.
She had probably caught it from her room mates… Heaven knows both Asuka and Shinji had been anything but cheery company for the last few days. Shinji’s condition was actually understandable – after all it seemed as if Asuka had made it her life’s work to make him suffer as much as possible, and not in the mischievous, playful way she used to do it before… The redhead’s own problems were a bit more complicated: yes, her low synch ratio was probably a key contributor to her current bitchiness, but then at the same time it was that pig-headed anger that was keeping her from raising her test scores in the fist place! Unfortunately both had seemed even worse than ever today… As for Misato herself, beyond having to worry about the condition of her two charges, well… There was the matter of s certain Ryouji Kaji…
_No. Will-not-think-about-lousy-two-faced-insensitive-jerk-who-sleeps-with-me-then-goes-of-to-spy-for-
rival-organization-while-leaving-me-when-I-could-really-really-have-used-the-company-and-_
“Major? Are you alright?” Makoto asked in concern after seeing his superior clout herself on the head for the third time today.
Misato affected an air of calm assurance. “Nothing to worry about Lieutenant Hyuuga. Carry on.” After he looked away, she surreptitiously rubbed the back of her head.
_Ow. That one had hurt. Stupid Kaji…_ She turned to her right where the perpetually unshaven man was standing in a dishelved mockery of her own uniform, one hand thrust in his pocket while the other hand stroked his chin. 
“Your eyes are going to get crossed if you keep on staring at me so hard Katsuragi,” Kaji said before turning and giving her his smoothest grin.
“Oh, shut your mouth!”
The purple locked woman harrumphed and once more turned her attention to the large monitor before her. The scene before her was on the outskirts of the city, the farthest quadrant which still possessed a power facility for the Eva’s umbilical cord. To the right of the screen, next to one of the horizontal mag-lev tracks that transported the Eva’s, stood Eva Unit 02, while on the opposite side of the screen, Unit 00 had just walked in to view. Both were there to insure that if anything went wrong with today’s test, the Children would be ready to keep it from getting out of hand.
The star of today’s show however, still stood in a specially modified cage within NERV headquarters. The cage had been drained of the fluid which surrounded the Eva’s almost constantly while they were docked. In place of the Evangelions however was a different form, a ‘mechanoid’ in the truer sense of the word than the mysterious Eva’s, but one which was no less impressive for it’s comprehensibility. The JSSDF and the Japanese government had spent a great deal of money and a great deal of time making sure that the Keeper was a viable alternative to the Evangelion’s, and, physically at least, that effort showed.

From beside her Ritsuko made an appreciative noise.  “Not bad looking is it?” 
“Why thank you Rits-chan,” Kaji replied grinning. “I think you’re quite stunning today as well.”
Misato gave him a withering look before turning back to the screen. “I dunno… A green and maroon color scheme doesn’t really do wonders for it.”
“I’ll certainly keep that in mind the next time I design a mechanical engine of destruction,” Kaji commented wryly.
The Keeper was not quite as tall as the Evangelion’s, but the height difference was not significant. The Keeper actually seemed to have more mass, bulkier in places than the streamlined forms of the Eva’s, but nonetheless remaining human in appearance. According to the dossier Misato had acquired, the Keeper had been designed primarily for close range combat, much like its NERV predecessor. The three pairs of limbs which festooned the mech’s torso seemed to bear witness to this function, as did the rather hammer-like shape of it’s head, which could evidently be used as an offensive weapon. Unit01 had a ‘horn’ of sorts, but she’d never seen Shinji use it as a weapon…
Thoughts of the Third Child caused Misato’s attention to drift to another monitor, one which displayed the caged form of  Unit01. The Eva had been placed in cryostasis upon orders of Commander Ikari ever since the incident with the fourteenth Angel, but they still needed Shinji in the entry plug and ready to move in case of an emergency. Shinji hadn’t been present when Misato had passed by the apartment to pick up the kids, and asking Asuka about his whereabouts had just led to another argument. To her surprise she had discovered when she had arrived that he had been at the geofront hours earlier, and had gone into Unit01 even before being asked. 
“Hyuuga,” she asked. “Call up an interior shot of Unit01’s entry plug will you?”
In a few seconds Shinji appeared on the monitor, head bowed, hands gripping the sides of his seat tightly. The Major frowned in concern.
“Shinji,” she called out, knowing that the comm was set on an open frequency at this point. “You ok in there?”
A mumbled response. A slight movement.
“Shinji-kun?”
“… I’m fine Misato.”
Oo-kay, she knew _that_ tone of voice. Something was definitely up… Maybe it had something to do with Asuka’s mood as well… Aside from their argument about Shinji’s whereabouts, the Second Child had seemed remarkably subdued during the trip to the base, as if something weighed heavily on her mind. Still, whatever the problem was, there was no way she could deal with it now. It would have to wait until the field test was over and she could speak to him in private.
Misato turned to her erstwhile co-operations director. “So are we starting this demo or what? We don’t have all day Major Kaji…”
Before Kaji could answer a voice from above interrupted. “Don’t worry Major Katsuragi,” said Ume Takahashi. She was standing atop the command deck with Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki, flanking the seated form of Commander Ikari. “We’re just waiting for our chief engineer to arrive before we begin… He should be along shortly.”
As if on cue the bridge’s lower access door opened to admit a well dressed man with impeccable grooming and a vaguely familiar face. Misato found herself staring at him openly, trying to jostle her brain into placing his face, but for the life of her she couldn’t remember. It was only when Ritsuko let out a somewhat sarcastic greeting that everything finally clicked into place.
“Well, well… Mr. Terajima. What a surprise to see you again…”
Now she remembered…  Denbe Terajima had been the Chief of Research for Nippon Heavy Industry Solidarity, the mega-corporation that had manufactured the Jet – Alone robot. She and Ritsuko had met him during the disastrous exhibition of that self-same mecha and it had only been through NERV’s intervention that a complete and utter disaster had been averted. She remembered that she had found him to be insufferably arrogant at the time – although she had to admit that he had proved to be a decent human being at the end of it all, helping her destroy what must have been his life’s work in order to prevent a possible nuclear meltdown. From the little she had heard of the aftermath of that debacle, Terajima had lost his job and NHIS went under massive restructuring, finally being procured by one of it’s larger rivals. The effects of that experience showed vividly in the changes it had wrought in the man before her… Gone was the smug smile from memory, replaced by a perpetually nervous looking expression. Misato found that she couldn’t help but pity the poor man.
“May I introduce the Keeper’s chief engineer Mr. Denbe Terajima. Dr. Akagi, Major Katsuragi… I believe you’ve already met our Denbe.”
Terajima almost flinched away from Ritsuko as she nodded towards him, an ironic smile on her lips. The man seemed to relax a little as Misato stepped towards him and extended her hand. His grip was feeble, but at least he hadn’t treated her as if she was going to eat him. The nervous engineer even managed a small smile.
“It is… A pleasure to see you again. Major. I never did get to thank you properly about… About last time.”
Misato could see that even discussing the incident was causing the man great anxiety so she hurriedly waved it away. “Oh, think nothing of it, could’ve happened to anyone. I’m glad we’re all on the same side now…” Inwardly she wasn’t so sure though. Terajima looked like he’d crack under the slightest pressure.
At that point, Kaji stepped up and placed an arm around the smaller man. “Alright then, now that Denbe’s here we can begin the show.” He turned towards the Commanders. “Unless there are any objections?”
Commander Ikari gave the slightest of nods. “Proceed.”
“With pleasure,” the former spy turned back to the screen and opened the communications channel. “Ready for action children?” Simultaneously three small windows popped up on screen, each bearing a different image.
“Yes sir!” Kensuke squeaked, his voice almost comically high in its excitement.
“We won’t disappoint you Major,” replied Nyoko with a wide smile.
“This thing needs pillows,” yawned Cho, but then he grinned and gave a thumbs – up.
“Keeper launch!” 

_I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it! I’m really going to do it!_
Seated as he was at the Sensory console of the Keeper’s cockpit, Kensuke Aida could hardly keep from bursting with excitement. All his life… All his life he’d dreamed of this day, the day when he’d be at the helm of a massive instrument of technological might, off to save the world from horrible, powerful enemies. Of course in his manga-inspired fantasies, he’d been the only male pilot surrounded by female helpers (as well as about 2 feet taller and 60 pounds chunkier) but he sure wasn’t going to complain. “Nervous Ken-kun?” Nyoko asked, as she smiled towards the younger boy.
“Who me? You’ve got to be kidding!” Kensuke jerked up and responded quickly. “This is like, a dream come true! It’s like I’ve died and gone to heaven… This is just so _cool_!”
Cho laughed. “You’ve got a weird definition of heaven Freckles… I mean, where are all the pretty girls?”
From where she was seated at the Shield console, Nyoko cleared her throat meaningfully. The younger Kaji glanced at her, then away again.
“I stand by my previous statement,” the scarred boy said with a grin.
“You’re going to pay for that once you step out of your little bubble Chojiro Kaji,” the girl warned, gesturing towards the transparent plastic globe that encased Cho’s form.

The Keeper was not operated via mental synchronization, unlike the Eva’s. Instead, the Keeper’s bodily actions were controlled via a MMS (Movement Mimic System) that allowed the mecha’s servo-muscles to approximate the motions of a pilot. In this case, that pilot was Cho, and thus he was currently ‘standing’ in the center of that protective plastic ‘bubble’, suspended in the air via data cables attached to his zip suit, which aside from keeping his body in an approximation of the Keeper’s position also served to monitor his every movement. Right now, the older boy was keeping very still, arms pinned to his sides as the Keeper was launched to the surface via one of the Eva’s many access tunnels. In truth, Kensuke was rather surprised at the amount of professionalism Cho was showing… It must be stressful to realize that that your slightest twitch could cause tremendous collateral damage. It must take a lot of physical discipline…
“Major Kaji sir!” Cho called out suddenly. “Permission to scratch my left buttock sir!” 
Kensuke sweatdropped. Verbal discipline it seemed, was another matter… Scattered laughter could be heard over the audio feed before the image of a mildly irate Major Ryouji Kaji popped up on their respective view screens.
“Little brother, times like this make me glad that none of the Keeper’s parts are attached to your jaw muscles…”
A few seconds later the cockpit was flooded with the late afternoon sunlight as the mecha emerged from the tunnel and unto the surface. They continued on, the Keeper travelling horizontally upon the rails, until finally they reached their destination at the outskirts of the Megatropolis. Almost before they had come to a stop a tiny image of Asuka blinked open on their monitors.
“Well, _finally_,” snapped the red head. “So glad to see you decided to join us.”
“I can see that _she’s_ going to be an entertaining teammate,” Cho muttered.
“Don’t be that way,” Kensuke deadpanned. “Being picked on by Asuka can be very educational. Now I’m tri-lingual when it comes to curse words!.”
Asuka developed a tic in her left eye at that point, but rather than continue (or ‘escalate’ in Asuka’s terms) the argument, the Second Child merely cut the connection abruptly. 
Kensuke blinked. “Well, she’s in a bad mood…”
“Alright, enough sniping children,” Misato’s image and voice this time, looking slightly piqued. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
“Your wish is my command Misato-chan,” as Cho spoke, a visor descended from the top of the ‘bubble’ and settled before his eyes. Two nodes emerged from the sides of the visor and attached themselves to a device that Cho had earlier inserted into his ears.
The voice of Engineer Terajima could be heard over the comm, although the image was still that of Misato-san. He seemed to be explaining the process for the benefit of the NERV staff. “The visor provides a more scale-accurate view of the environment for the pilot in the Soul module of the cockpit. Aside from connections to the pilots muscle groups, the Keeper also has a neurological connection to the inner ear of the ‘Soul’ in order to make use of a human beings natural balance compensator. Of course for these reasons, it is important for the ‘Soul’ to be an individual of impressive physical capabilities.”
“Oh no need to thank me,” Cho interrupted with a grin. “Just a humble boy, doing his job for the nation. Send all compensation in the form of pretty, willing women.” As he spoke he moved his right hand outwards as if gripping something, the data wires pulling taunt where the Keeper’s hands encountered an obstacle. With slow grace, Cho raised ‘himself’ up from his prone position, with the ‘bubble’ rotating him to match the change in the mecha’s posture. Kensuke turned to one of his monitors, which showed a wireframe model of the mecha, and he marveled at how exactly it mimicked Cho’s movements. In seconds the robot was upright.
“Nicely done Cho!” Kaji exclaimed as his image popped into view again. The small figure of Misato seemed to glare at someone to her left before also giving the pilots a thumbs-up sign.
A slightly less appreciative face was next to appear.
“What?!? All he did was stand up! What’s so impressive with that?”
“Down Asuka,” Kaji replied, his smile softening somewhat the admonition. “Moving as if you were several hundred times taller than you actually are is no small feat.”
Asuka subsided with a small growl and Kensuke heaved a sigh of relief. Although he’d rather have someone like Misato giving him orders, he was glad Mr. Kaji was their tactical commander – if for no other reason than the man seemed to be the only one on the planet who could keep Asuka in line. Still, he didn’t like the way Unit 02 was fingering that progressive axe…
“Alright pilots,” Kaji continued. “Show time.”

~IT IS TIME~
Kaoru opened his eyes. The body which Cain had abandoned was still lying inert at the boy’s side, yet once more he felt the overpowering presence of the Second Angel. Cain was almost a physical weight upon the boy’s skin, a tangible pressure at the edges of his consciousness, a sea which enfolded Kaoru’s being.
“Where… are you?” It was difficult for the boy to concentrate. Difficult for him to remember to breathe.
~IT IS TIME FOR ANOTHER TO BE BORN. ANOTHER INFINITE BECOME LIMITED.  ONCE MORE WILL THE ETERNAL BE CORRUPTED BY TIME AND SPACE. YOU WILL STAND WITNESS TABRIS… FOR BEFORE ALL RETURNS TO NOTHING THERE IS STILL A POINT IN MEMORY~
Kaoru struggled to move, but he found himself suddenly on his knees, upon the cold metal floor. The last time he had been exposed to the pure, unsullied presence of Cain, he had been travelling upon the Dirac Sea, unlimited by his fleshy body. Now, encased once more, the touch of the Second Angel was more than he could bear.
“I… am too weak Lord,” he whispers. “I cannot move…”
~JOIN WITH THE SHADOW OF ADAM. GAIN STRENGTH FROM THAT WHICH ALMOST COMPLETES YOU. THEN COME TO ME… COME TO THE VOID~
Red eyes burning brightly in the near darkness, Kaoru raised his hand towards the form that had been Evangelion Unit04. He found himself floating upwards, whether by his will or the other’s he could not tell, until his fingers were almost touching it’s pulsating red core. With a smile of ecstasy the boy stretched his hand towards the beating heart of his Father’s shadow, pressing it down into the crimson mass…
A moment later, there was only one where there had been two…

“One more time guys, and we’ll move on to the next stage,” Kaji called out.
“Please do,” was Cho’s curt reply. Misato could see the younger Kaji scowling at the monitor. “I did enough work this morning thanks very much.”
For the first few minutes, the trial had consisted mainly of movement drills… Get from point A to point B walking, get from B to C running, do a running jump over the copse of trees at point D. Kensuke was in charge of finding the coordinates fed to them and giving Cho the necessary instructions, while the girl, Nyoko contented herself with keeping an eye on the mecha’s internal readings… As the pilot in charge of the defense of the mecha, the girl did not have much to do until there was an actual threat. Misato hoped she wouldn’t have to see what Nyoko could do for a long time… But she knew the chances of that happening were slim.
The mecha was currently running easily over a stretch of hillside, it’s two primary arms swinging freely at its side while the remaining four were crossed over chest and back.  Maya’s report of the test readings were punctuated regularly with Kensuke’s whoops of joy.
“600 kph and counting sir,” Maya intoned. “It’s speed matches up fairly well with that of the Eva’s.”
Kensuke greeted the announcement with another explosion of enthusiasm. “Woo-hoo! Did you hear that Asuka? The Eva’s aren’t the only game in town anymore!”
An irate Second Child immediately replied. “In your dreams stooge! My Unit02 is faster than your rust bucket any day!”
 “Actually,” Terajima interjected. “The speed that the Keeper is capable of is far below that achieved by Unit 01 against the Tenth Angel. The mecha is outfitted with boosters for use with for short term flights – more like jumps really – and these can be used to increase the movement speed but at that point it becomes difficult to maneuver and control.”

Controlling Unit04 was entirely different from the previous times Kaoru had synchronized with an Eva. When they had been using him as test pilot for the Production models, the Eva had always been external to him, something which he could manipulate with ease, but something which at the same time was no more a part of him than a jacket. 
This time however, immersed in the core of the Evangelion, Kaoru felt no distinction between himself and the Unit. He was aware of a peculiar doubling of his sensations… He saw the redness that engulfed him, and yet at the same time, he saw the mecha cage from the vantage point of the towering Evangelion. He felt the core’s matter molded to his body and simultaneously felt the restraints biting in to ‘his’ shoulders. He raised his head and felt the red material shift away – but he also felt resistance from the steel wall behind him. For the first time Kaoru was not merely controlling the Eva – he _was_ the Eva.
He/it broke away from the restraints with ease, and with swift, graceful movements he/it ascended the Eva launch shaft towards the outside. The shaft’s end stood open, revealing the nothingness beyond, but one which exerted no pull on the air within the building, one which created no vacuum. This void was not the void of space, but that of pure potentiality… It required nothing to fill itself. 
Kaoru/Eva emerged into the void and proceeded onward, neither floating nor walking, but simply moving swiftly in its intended direction. He/It could feel the presence of Cain more strongly now, and yet it was less of a weight… Now it was more of a calling, a deep, rhythmic music to the senses. He/It felt it everywhere, but nonetheless he/it knew exactly when to stop, when it was that he was at the apex of Cain’s consciousness. 
It is there that Cain spoke. In words. Feelings. Images.

~THE LILIM ARE INTRUIGING BEINGS. SPAWNS THEY ARE OF LILITH, YET THEY SEEM EQUALLY TO BELONG TO ADAM, PERHAPS EVEN TO MYSELF.~

Art on a cave wall. The feel of dried parchment. Laughter. Creatures vanishing into a womb of white.

~THEY CONSTANTLY PUSH BACK THE BOUNDARIES OF WHAT IS CREATED AND WHAT IS LEFT UNDONE, WHAT IS AND WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN. AS IF WITH THE MULTITUDE OF THEIR FINITE LIVES THEY SEEK TO EXHAUST INFINITY.~

Birth. Death. Sweet melodies. Steel girders. Watercolor. Evangelions. Death. Birth.

~YET THOUGH THEY ARE DOOMED TO FAILURE THEY PERSIST IN CLINGING TO A WOUNDED EXISTENCE. I WOULD KNOW WHY THEY DO REBEL AGAINST THE NATURAL ORDER, WHY ONLY A FEW SEEK THE PEACE OF OBLIVION.~

Scent of blood. Man yet machine. Covenant unbroken. White Flowers. Beat of a heart. Horned Baron.

~I WOULD KNOW MAN~

The music swells. The song of creation, melancholy and exultant. A bright light.

Twin gouts of flame lit the sky as the Keeper’s boosters were initialized. At first, the mecha almost stumbled but Cho compensated quickly and the robot rushed forth with an astonishing burst of speed, in a more or less straight line, before slowing down to a walk.
Ritsuko was tapping a finger thoughtfully against her cheek. “What worries me isn’t the speed, but the reaction time – your Keeper doesn’t make use of a Mind to Mind interface like the Eva’s – the transition time between the pilots movements and the mecha’s might prove to be a serious disadvantage.”
Terajima winced at the criticism but responded quickly. “We’ve taken pains to make the data transfer as efficient as possible... The lapse is at less than 3/10’s of a second now, and we’re working hard to decrease that figure.”
“Don’t the extra limbs throw off the balance?” Misato commented. “It’s not like Cho’d be used to running with the weight of six arms…”
“Some of the MMS cables double as counter weights to that effect. Still, the secondary and tertiary limbs are kept close to the chest when not needed – also acting as an extra layer of protection for vital parts.”
“So how does Cho control the arms then?”
“He doesn’t,” this time it was Kaji who answered. “Allow me to show you.”
At Kaji’s order the Keeper came to a standstill, and a larger image of the cockpits interior was superimposed over the screen. The cockpit was much larger than an Eva’s entry plug, seeing as it had to accommodate three pilots, as well as giving Cho enough room to maneuver. Cho’s ‘bubble’, or the ‘Soul Globe’ as Terajima insisted on calling it, was situated in the middle with the two other pilots having expansive consoles to his left and right. Kaji pointed a finger towards a pair of mechanical casts that were attached to the chairs of both Kensuke and Nyoko. 
“The ‘sleeves’ there are the means for control of the extra limbs, still using the MMS. This way, each pilot can control one set of arms, although admittedly, at that point they would be neglecting their other functions,” the unshaven man explained, before addressing the pilots once more.
“Shield, initiate Secondary Limbs.”
At his command Nyoko obediently placed her arms into the metal sheathes. Immediately the Keeper’s middle pair of arms stretched themselves out into an approximation of Nyoko’s limbs.
“The Secondary Limbs are basically the same in structure as the Primary ones. The Tertiaries are slightly different however… Sense, initiate.”
With an enthusiastic “Yes sir!”, Kensuke enclosed his own arms in the sheaths. The Keeper’s third pair of arms were smaller in comparison to the first two, and leaner as well, less equipped with artificial musculature. The left arm had a small, claw-like hand while the other terminated in what appeared to be the muzzle of a projectile weapon. 
“The third pair of limbs were meant for specialized operations rather than for punching or grasping. The ‘hands’ can be replaced with any number of attachments, from weapons to sensors, you name it.”
Misato found herself nodding with grudging admiration. It seemed that Terajima and whoever had designed the Keeper had put a lot of thought into it. Still, there was one glaring deficiency.
“All this is very nice Kaji-san,” she remarked, gesturing towards the on-screen mecha. “But all that weaponry and innovation won’t matter very much against an A.T. Field. How were you planning on dealing with _that_?”
The former spy gave her his most disarming smile. “Well honestly I was planning on the _Eva’s_ dealing with the A.T. Field. The Keeper possesses no weaponry with enough power to pierce an that particular defense… That’s one of the reasons the JSSDF initially resisted the U.N.’s order to place the Keeper in active service. But since we’re here, we can be an able back-up… If for instance it took all three Evangelions to neutralize an Angel’s A.T. Field, then the Keeper would be just the card to tip the scales eh?”
Something in the way he answered her made Misato very suspicious. The answers were too pat, too simplistic… She could hardly see the JSSDF spending billions on a machine that they believed had no chance of penetrating the enemies first line of defense. From Kaji’s words it seemed that they had outfitted the Keeper without a single weapon even _theoretically_ capable of breaching the Absolute Terror Field… Kaji’s answers almost seemed designed to convince them that the Keeper would be no match against an Angel alone… Or against an Eva. 
Misato’s eyes narrowed, and she looked from Kaji to the command platform where Gendo Ikari watched the trial impassively. Just _who_ was Kaji trying to convince that the Keeper was harmless? She’d get a straight answer out of him if she had to shake it out of his unshaven, sloppy face…
It was at that moment that the alarms began to sound. 

The sounds of birth burned into his eyes. The light of creation sang into his ears.
Without explanation, Kaoru/Eva’s sensed what was happening. He/It could feel it, a part of the ethereal and eternal falling into reality, falling into space and time. Every thing that is born is at the same moment both joyful and saddened: It is joyful because where once there was nothing, _something_ now exists. It is saddened because it is now forever _this_ and not _that_, forever defined by what it isn’t, and what it cannot be. 
It was an experience beyond words. Thought vanished from his/it mind. All that is left is to bear witness.
_So *this* is how an Angel is meant to be born_
When Kaoru/Eva’s senses returned, what met his sight was an expanse of cold whiteness, and glaring beauty. It looked like a work of art, a fantastic winged creature carved in glass or crystal, shimmering with an inner light. It was pure in its luminous radiance - save from beneath. There the Mark of Cain, the horned circle, splashed the void with a harsh crimson, like a bloody splotch on a sculpture of ice. A second later, the horns vanished, leaving the circle behind, a globe of red which the Lilims called a ‘core’. It was then that Cain spoke.
~I AM~
Kaoru/Eva gazed upon the form of his brother. ~You are. And yet you are not. Have all the others merely been extensions of you, Lord?~
~I AM THEY AND THEY ARE I. WE EXIST TOGETHER, YET THEY DID NOT EXIST BEFORE I FORMED THEM FROM THE CORPSE OF ADAM. THE SEVENTEEN ARE A LILIM INVENTION. THERE WERE ONLY THREE, AND NOW THERE IS YOU, AND ONE OTHER. YET WILL I ADHERE TO THE EXPECTATIONS OF THE LILIM. FOR I AM PATIENT AND BEYOND TIME. TIME YET TO BEAR WITNESS TO MAN BEFORE ALL BECOMES VOID.~
Kaoru/Eva felt a rippling in the void, a shift. The blackness filled with pinprints of light, with the airless frost of another ‘void’. 
They were elsewhere.
Kaoru/Eva reached out, and brought himself/itself unto the Angel’s ‘back’ before the null-gravity could bear him away. Below him/it was the soft blue glow of the mother planet, framed against the contrasting light and darkness of space – seemingly the only complexity amidst a canvass of black and white.
 ~TOGETHER WE SHALL KNOW MAN~

“I don’t _know_ where it came from!” Hyuuga exclaimed, eyes daring back and forth between different streams of data. “It just popped out of nowhere!”
“Give me a visual!” Misato ordered. Everywhere the bridge was bustling in frantic activity… The detection of the immense object above the atmosphere had sent everyone into motion. Kaji was shouting orders for the both Keeper and Eva pilots to stand-ready for an attack. Above them, Fuyutsuki was conferring with Dr. Takahashi while the Commander continued to merely watch the fray. Gendo Ikari silently adjusted the glasses on the bridge of his nose. Maybe it was just the light, but the Commander even seemed to have a small smile on his face.
_Damnit!_ thought Misato to herself. _Is there *nothing* this man doesn’t anticipate?_ Her attention refocused itself when  a new image arrived on screen. It was… She couldn’t quite describe it. A magical symbol. A white spacecraft. A headless albatross of light.
“The MAGI confirm… It’s a Blue Pattern.” Maya looked at the screen with apprehension.
Shigeru took a deep breath. “It’s them again alright…”
The Fifteenth Angel had arrived.