High above the city, on a skybridge between two towers, Shinji Ikari stood staring down at the darkened metropolis below.
"Shinji, assembly time passed a while ago," Misato Katsuragi said as she looked at the silent boy. "You were the one who decided to stay here, weren't you? Then you need to do your job."
"I'm scared. Scared to pilot the Eva again…" Shinji glared at her. "I envy you, Misato. You all get to stay safe underground in headquarters, just giving orders. But I'm the one who has to bear all the pain and fear alone. Isn't that too unfair?"
He still had not forgotten the agony of his chest being melted open, the suffocating inability to breathe.
Misato looked back at him and kept repeating to herself in silence:
Hold it in. Hold it in.
She could not treat him the way she had before. She knew now that her old approach did not work on a wounded boy like Shinji.
So she decided to change tactics—to show him, in her own way, the resolve she and the others carried.
"Come with me."
She took his hand and led him into a secret elevator descending into a classified underground space.
Inside the lift, Misato kept hold of his hand the whole time, wanting, if only a little, to give him some encouragement, some fragile measure of comfort.
"Fifteen years ago, Second Impact killed half of humanity. If the Angels trigger Third Impact…" Her voice hardened. "Then this time humanity will be wiped out. Every last person."
"I'm sick of hearing that," Shinji said bitterly.
"If we fail to stop an Angel from reaching EEE level within NERV Headquarters, then this place will self-destruct. Even if it means taking the Angel down with us, we have to prevent Third Impact from happening.
"Everyone here is prepared to die."
One massive sealed door after another opened.
Misato had brought Shinji here, using her clearance, to show him the thing the Angels were trying to reach—
Lilith.
"This is the source and the end of all life on this planet. The Second Angel: Lilith."
There, impaled upon an enormous crimson cross, hung a giant humanoid figure.
Lilith's entire body was pale white. She had no legs; below the waist, her severed lower half spread into dense root-like masses that made one's skin crawl.
"Yes. She is the trigger for Third Impact. We have to protect Lilith. And to do that, we have to fight with the Evas. Only you can do that.
"We're entrusting the future of all humanity to you and Unit-01."
"That burden is too heavy…" Shinji muttered gloomily. "Why do I have to carry it?"
"There's no reason. It's simply fate that chose you." Misato smiled at him. "But you're not the only one risking your life here. Everyone else is too."
"…I'll pilot it again," Shinji said at last.
Misato's expression tightened with guilt as she squeezed his hand.
She knew that once she framed it like this, a kind-hearted boy like Shinji would agree to pilot the Eva again—even after the terrible trauma he had just gone through.
What she did not realize was that Shinji also wanted to protect people himself.
He wanted to protect the friends he had only just made—class representative Hikari Horaki, Toji Suzuhara, Kensuke Aida.
"All right, then. I'll explain each pilot's role in this operation! Shinji!"
Standing on the ground below, hands on her hips, Misato faced the fully prepared Unit-01 and Unit-00.
"Unit-01 will handle the shot."
"Yes."
"Rei will pilot Unit-00 and provide defense."
"Yes."
"This operation requires extreme precision," Ritsuko Akagi said, turning to Shinji. "Even though Unit-01 hasn't been fully repaired, it's still more suitable than the not-yet-adjusted Unit-00.
"Positrons don't travel in a perfectly straight line. Earth's rotation, magnetic field, and gravity will all affect the shot. Don't forget to compensate for those factors. You need to hit the Angel's core precisely."
"I don't know where the core is," Shinji said.
"Don't worry. During its attack form, part of the target should physically manifest. We believe that will be the core. We'll handle the sniping position, the shot parameters, and the targeting inputs from here.
"You only need to fire the way you practiced. When the sight lines up with the core, pull the trigger. The machine will handle the rest.
"But the final focusing point for the sniper's power supply is fixed. Unit-01 cannot leave the firing position."
"So I can't run away," Shinji said quietly.
"That's right."
"…And if I miss? If the enemy attacks us after that?" Shinji hesitated.
He had no confidence he could kill the Angel in one shot. If he failed, then everyone's effort would amount to nothing.
The responsibility was too heavy.
So heavy that he wanted to run from it—
and yet he could not.
"Don't overthink it right now," Misato said firmly. "Just focus on one thing: hitting the target."
"Otherwise everything falls apart, right?" Shinji said with a weary little smile.
"I'll do it," Rei said suddenly, looking at Ritsuko. "I only have to protect Unit-01, correct?"
"That's right," Ritsuko answered.
"Understood."
"It's time. Both of you—go change into your plug suits," Misato ordered.
Inside the locker room, Shinji said uneasily to Rei, "This time… this time I might really die."
"No. You won't die." Rei, already changing into her combat suit, answered in a calm, unwavering voice. "I will protect you."
As the automatic door slid shut behind her, Shinji murmured to himself in self-loathing,
"I'm not worth being protected by anyone."
He hated the part of himself that always ran away.
He hated the part of himself that was immature, cowardly, and unable to shoulder responsibility.
He wanted to become someone others truly needed.
Just then, Misato handed him an encrypted electronic phone.
His classmates had sent him their encouragement.
"Shinji—we're counting on you!"
"This is Aida! Shinji, do your best!"
"Good luck, Shinji! Don't lose to that monster!"
"It's okay, really! We believe in you! Something like that doesn't stand a chance against you!"
"We're scared. We're scared that we might fail, scared of that monster… but when we think about how you're standing in the most dangerous place, fighting to protect us, we stop being afraid.
"So please, Shinji… absolutely don't lose to it!"
One voice after another poured warmth into Shinji's cold hands and feet.
He felt it.
The bond between people.
The sense that he was needed.
The sense of what he had to do now.
In the original TV version, the classmates who had formed friendships with Shinji watched Unit-01 from a nearby facility, cheering him on.
And honestly—this version changes that scene for the better.
Words have power.
Words can change hearts.
…
…
…
In the Fairy Britain timeline, old Tristan watched Shinji Ikari in silence.
The boy had nothing to do with him.
And yet, in Shinji, Tristan saw a shadow of Artoria Caster.
In truth, Artoria Caster and Shinji were very much alike.
He knew the "king" here did not like fighting, felt no passion for battle, and no real attachment to the burden laid upon her shoulders.
Those responsibilities had been forced onto her—by him, by the fairies, by Paradise itself—just as the duty of piloting the Eva to save the world had been forced onto Shinji.
This kind of suffering came from people trying to force their own selfish desires, their own impossible wishes, onto someone else.
Even so, Tristan still wished that his king could regain a little spirit, that Artoria Caster might become a little happier.
He hoped this boy's courage might inspire his king to stand up again.
He hoped that here, somehow, he might atone for the mistakes of the past.
Artoria Caster herself watched Shinji with a deeply conflicted expression.
She had already been telling herself that if Shinji ran away… then maybe she wanted to run away too.
But she was torn.
If she fled, if she gave up, then what would happen to Fujimaru Ritsuka? What would happen to Fairy Britain?
"Ahhh—! I really don't want to deal with any of this destiny nonsense!" she cried.
"I hate being the Child of Prophecy too! I don't have that kind of strength! I'm just like Shinji—I don't even know why I'm the one who got chosen!
"Morgan is so strong! Her magecraft is overwhelming! She ruled Fairy Britain for so long… H-how am I supposed to defeat someone like that?"
On the second floor of Mike the Fairy's tavern, Artoria Caster shut herself in her room, sprawled across the bed complaining without end—so pitiful that anyone looking at her would feel a pang of sympathy.
In Camelot—
"Hmph. I honestly don't care whether humanity survives or not. Humans are awful anyway.
"If anything, I kind of hope that beautiful blue Angel wins."
Barghest lounged beside Morgan le Fay, wrapping an arm around her as though the desperate struggles of humanity meant nothing at all.
She hated humans.
Hated the people and fairies who whispered behind her back.
And yet she did not feel the same degree of dislike toward Shinji.
What irritated her instead was how obediently he kept listening to everyone else.
In the Atlantic Lostbelt—
"Ugh… that thing is an Angel? Why is it down there looking like that? It's… it's disgusting."
Paris stared in horrified disgust at the apparently lifeless Angel Lilith in the underground chamber.
"Lilith… wasn't Lilith supposed to be Adam's first wife? The one who later rejected him, left him, and became a demonic existence associated with night, dreams, storms, death, and the moon…
"And that crimson spear—is that supposed to be…?
"No, no, wait. I've seen the original story behind that spear. It doesn't look like this at all.
"Ah… supernatural lifeforms. These definitely aren't native life on that planet. They have to be beings from outer space!"
Da Vinci's eyes sparkled with fascination as she stared at the Second Angel, Lilith, nailed to the cross.
"Something that large… could they spare me a little? Just a tiny bit. Just a tiny tissue sample would do!
"This thing might not even be truly dead. If it were just a corpse, those Angels wouldn't be trying so hard to reach it, would they?"
"But… why would contact between an Angel and Lilith trigger something like Third Impact…?" Paris clutched at Fujimaru Ritsuka's sleeve, staring timidly at the screen.
"Half the humans on that planet already died once? Isn't that horrifying?
"If it's that dangerous, why not destroy it immediately!? Are you all idiots? Complete idiots!?
"If you just destroy the thing, then you can fight the Angels however you want!
"Even I know how awful it is to let the enemy control the tempo of battle!"
"Paris is right," Apollo said from atop Paris's head. "But if these humans insist on keeping Lilith, then that means she must also be something of enormous value to them.
"So valuable that they're willing to risk Third Impact just to preserve her.
"That value must far exceed anything we can imagine. Greed, the temptation to control mysterious power—any number of motives could make humans gamble on keeping Lilith.
"Besides, they've already prepared their final insurance policy, haven't they? Self-destruction."
"Hmm… raw biological material, specimen value, immense worth, the Eva bio-weapons, and those old men with their hidden conversations with Gendo Ikari…"
Sherlock Holmes drew thoughtfully on his pipe, linking each clue together in his mind.
"First: humanity knows the Angels are coming for Lilith, which means Lilith holds immense value in Angel terms.
"That in turn suggests the Angels are not acting as a unified whole. Otherwise they would simply attack all at once.
"Second: there is the fourteen-year-old plan, Gendo Ikari's confidence regarding Unit-01, and the smile he showed when Shinji synchronized with it.
"Now, Unit-01 is supposedly an energy-driven combat platform. But when it goes berserk, it exhibits vast power on its own. So that raises the real question—
"Why would a bio-weapon like that need continuous external power at all? Why would its operational time be limited to mere minutes?
"With the energy Unit-01 has already shown, it should be capable of fighting for years, not minutes.
"When you combine that with the restraints, the safeguards, the short combat window, and Lilith's importance…"
Holmes's eyes sharpened.
"My conclusion is this:
"Unit-01 is not merely a tool for fighting Angels. It is a device meant to fulfill some other objective.
"And because it is a key device, it must remain under absolute control. No unforeseen risk can be allowed. Hence the dummy systems, the restraints, and the short-duration power structure.
"These people do not truly fear the Angels attacking them.
"They fear Unit-01's power interfering with their own plan.
"And most likely, the immensely vital Eva itself was created from Angel-derived biological material."
He paused, then added:
"Do you remember the First Emperor in the Qin Lostbelt? With the cells of the immortal Yu Mei-ren and the mysteries of the Fusang Divine Tree, he created for himself an immortal body equal in power to a Grand Servant.
"Then the rulers here—those who already wield enormous power—may well desire the same thing: eternal life, and with it, eternal dominion.
"That would make Lilith utterly indispensable. Until the very last possible moment, they would never willingly abandon her."
"So in plain terms," Bartholomew said with a smile, "a bunch of greedy fools created NERV and its anti-Angel weapons to satisfy their own selfish desires.
"Well! Once you put it like that, everything makes perfect sense. After all, the driving force behind all this is immortality.
"If these people ever saw the First Emperor, who ruled his Lostbelt for over two thousand years, they'd go even more insane with obsession.
"But still—those half-hidden boys and girls are all very lovely. And that alone is enough reason for me to believe they'll defeat whatever stands in their way."
In the One Piece timeline of Admiral Zephyr—
At Marine Headquarters—
"Oi, Zephyr… are you sure about this? Letting that boy stay here in Marine Headquarters?
"You… how can you just make a decision like that on a whim? What's supposed to happen to his own world?"
Sengoku stood there holding a teacup, looking exasperatedly at Zephyr, who was personally instructing Shinji Ikari.
Zephyr ignored the muttering and spoke directly to Shinji.
"Join the Marines. Join our family.
"I'm not asking you to fight pirates. I'm not asking you to fight anyone.
"Just come with me to the recruit training camp. There, you'll find the things you've been wanting.
"You won't need to be afraid. You won't need to wonder whether we have some ulterior motive.
"And if you're unhappy, you can leave anytime. If you want to go to another world, then go."
Admiral Zephyr looked at the kind-hearted Shinji with warm eyes and patted the boy's thin shoulder.
"Come. I'll introduce you to the recruits. That one's Kizaru, that one's Aokiji, and that one's Akainu. Their advanced training camp has already turned them into the elite of Marine Headquarters."
All around them, groups of marines watched Shinji curiously.
Everyone whispered among themselves, unable to make sense of the world he came from—a world where children piloted giant beings called Evas to fight Angels.
Wouldn't that create some kind of problem?
To be honest, many of the young marines did not like Shinji very much.
They did not like how he ran from responsibility.
They did not like his weakness, his fearfulness.
Those were things they themselves—boys of the same age—had already overcome.
No one knew what Admiral Zephyr intended to do.
But the recruits adored Zephyr, respected Instructor Zephyr, and obeyed him without question.
And so Shinji, timid and uncertain, walked toward the cluster of recruits, deciding to trust Zephyr just once.
After all, the man had offered him a place to stay and food to eat.
Zephyr was probably a good person… wasn't he?
-------
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