[Warhammer comes from the light.]

     WH: Hmm, when you think about it... love can be such a fickle thing 
at times. Yet, not all the time thank goodness.


Teknos Warhammer presents

Seraphim's Judgment
Part 9b:
Shinji's Angels

A crossover between Neon Genesis Evangelion
And Teknoman.


After the test, all of the children went their separate ways.  Still 
inside the testing area, Maia and Misato were still discussing the test 
results. 

"I mean, it's not even possible! People his age cannot even reach that 
high a level without at least showing some kind of severe damage to the 
brain." Maia cried in frustration. 

"Well, this one was sent by the big boys in SEELE. So, what ever the 
reason may be, they won't tell us."

"Misato-san... what... what if he's..."

"Don't Maia. We can't just make snap judgments just like that. We could 
be wrong about it."

"Well, the Evas are basically made of the same stuff as the angels..."

"... as are we Maia. Don't forget that the Angels are made of the stuff 
humans are made of as well. It's a strange universe we live in."

Maia replied with silence and a final glance at the impossible 
performance rating.

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

Rei walked silently down the hallway, still pondering on how to prove 
Kaworu's being, until she head another voice from a connecting hallway.

"Rei."

She turned to see Gendou, leaning against the wall. She turned to him 
and replied with her usual monotone voice, "Yes sir?"

When she saw his face in the light, she noticed that something was 
amiss. He wasn't wearing his glasses!

"Rei... Shinji... how is," words that usually came so easy to him were 
no longer there, "How is he doing?"

Rei replied simply, "He seems much happier. More so than when he first 
came here, sir."

He turned away and started to walk away. Then, Rei stoped him with 
something so simple, he never would have seen it coming. It was 
called... a question.

"Sir, why don't you talk to him?"

For one of the few times in Gendou's life, he had no answer. 

"I don't know." And he left.

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

After dressing, Touji grabbed his clothes and made a dash to the 
elevators. He had heard that his sister was going to be walking today! 

After pushing the button, he waited impatiently for the elevator doors 
to close. Just as they were closing, a hand came out of nowhere and 
blocked them. 

Asuka stepped through and it appeared that she too was short on breath. 

"Oh, hi Asuka." he said.

"Hey Touji." she replied between breaths and leaned against the wall of 
the elevator. "What's the hurry?" Asuka asked between huffs. 

"My sister is going to walk today! I can't believe she's almost 
completely recovered! After all this time!"

Asuka started to smile at his cause for elation. That was when an uneasy 
silence fell over the elevator. 

"Um, Touji. Can... can I ask you something?"

Blinking, Touji replied, "Sure. What?"

"That angel. The Seraphim. Was she cute?"

Touji almost fell over.

"What kind of question was that?"

Starting to get agitated because of his counter question, she pressed, 
"Just answer the question, Suzuhara. Was she cute?" 

<I can't believe she's asking this!> Touji thought as he recalled what 
his savior looked like. 

"Well, she was kinda cute... why?" 

"Oh, just wondering." With that she turned away.

He gave her an incredulous look and that's when something clicked in 
both of their heads. 

<Could it be...>

<...that she likes me?> <...I like him?>

They both took a second to look at each other.

<Naa.>

And went back to their own personal thoughts.

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

Shinji walked to the elevator,carrying his bag, and saw Asuka barging in 
after Touji. He could never figure those two out. 

A hand came out of nowhere and tapped his shoulder. He turned to the 
left to see no one there. He heard a laugh on his right and he turned 
just as quick to see Kaworu smiling.  

"Kaworu-san! What did you do that for?"

"Gomen Shinji-kun. I never really meant to be mean."

"You have an odd way of saying hello then."

"Why stick to standard introductions when you can stand out? Besides, I 
wanted you to notice."

"Oh... gomen."

"Don't worry about it. Small things that don't build up are not worth 
worrying about." 

They continued to speak about several more things by the door of the 
elevator, waiting patiently for it to return. Shinji found Kaworu to be 
a nicer guy than he gave him credit for. 

Only Kaworu was able to sense that another pair of eyes were watching 
him and Shinji. He took a breif glance to the darkness of the halls to 
see Rei glaring at him. This time, she didn't even bother to disguise 
her complete and utter hatred for him. He laughed it off briefly and 
continued his conversation with Shinji. 

Over the next few days the friendship between the two boys had increased 
significantly. Kaworu had become a friend to Shinji like no other had 
ever been. 

Deep within the Angel's heart, a pain was steadily growing. Kaworu knew 
that he was only using Shinji to get to Adam. Yet, every time he saw the 
boy's smiling face, that pain grew. Knowing that when the time came... 
Shinji would most likely be no more. It hurt him to think about it. 

What was worse, Shinji's responses to Kaowru's feelings for the him made 
that pain even worse. The time to return to Adam was drawing nearer and 
nearer. He had to stay focused.

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

A few days had passed. Everyone felt the cold winds coming from the 
north and had no clue how it was still there. 

That was when something occurred that hadn't happened anywhere on the 
Earth for the past decade and a half. 

Snow fell.

Shinji was walking home with a jacket, staring at the tiny pieces of 
frozen water. He had just finished shopping for dinner that night and 
wanted to walk home instead of using the rail. 

He never could remember seeing such a beautiful sight in his whole life. 

Shinji was passing through the park when he saw him. Gendou was sitting 
on the bench, staring at the sky. His glasses were hanging from his 
jacket pocket. Swallowing, he walked slowly over to his father. He was 
only a few feet from the bench when he spoke up quietly,  "O... otousan. 
Mind if... I..."

Gendou broke from his stare at the sky and looked to his son. Holding no 
emotion that Shinji could see, Gendou nodded. 

Shinji sat on the other side of the bench and joined his father at 
seeing the improbable happen. 

"Otousan..." Shinji said quietly, "What... what was Okaasan like?"

There was a silence between them for a while before Gendou answered. 
"She was a very happy woman. Nothing much could ever put a frown on 
her." oddly enough, Gendou started to chuckle. Shinji looked at him in 
shock as he continued. 

"I even called her a fool because of that. She only smiled and said that 
a fool was happy for no reason. I never said that to her ever again. 
Because I knew that she would stay that way no matter how bad things 
got." He opened his hand and let a few snow flakes fall into it. 

"She loved the snow. Before the Second Impact, she always played in it. 
Made angels, made a snow-man or two. She even made a sculpture out of 
ice. She often acted like a child with no care what so ever."

Shinji smiled at the side of his father he never saw before. A side that 
acted more human than he usually did. 

Gendou finished laughing and looked at the ground, where the snow began 
to cover it. More snow fell as time passed. Gendou spoke out of the 
blue,

"Shinji, I saw how you and Rei were the other day." he paused as he saw 
the look of surprise on his son's face. "Don't worry about it." <I still 
have another clone of her for the Impact.> he spoke, then thought about 
the genetic construct that Rei was. For some reason, seeing his son 
emotionally recover and remembering the Impact, made him hate himself. 

If all went according to plan, they could be a family again.
Hopefully. 

He stood up, put on his glasses, and started to walk away, but paused 
and turned back to his son. 

"Shinji... take care."  He saw the reflection of Shinji in his glasses, 
smiling. At him! Of all people! Almost as if Shinji forgave him, but 
Gendou felt even lower than ever. 

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

In his office, Gendou deliberated the pair of glasses in front of him on 
his desk. It was the day after and it was still snowing outside. 

He recalled the birthday gift and the conversations with Shinji over the 
past month. He chose to give the final picture of Yui to Shinji. He 
chose of his own will to convince Shinji to return after that incident 
with the 13th Angel. And now, remembering the talk in the park. It 
appeared that despite all his attempts to forget, they would not leave 
him be. 

Then, he remembered Kaworu. He knew that the boy was from SEELE  and 
knew the TRUE motives behind it. They wanted a closer watch on him. Yet, 
something seemed wrong. He knew what it was, it was far too obvious. 

It was also a little too evident that he was an angel. He didn't say 
anything because he didn't want to arouse suspicion. Confusion would 
only play into SEELE's hands. 

That was when it hit him. SEELE was speeding up the schedule. Sending 
Kaworu to create another impact. He was supposed to be using then to be 
able to get Yui back and lessen the pain he would cause to the human 
race. 

That was when another factor came into his head. A question that he 
never thought of all these years that had eluded him, that could have 
prevented a lot of pain. 

Would Yui want this?

Even if his plan of the Third Impact came through perfectly. How would 
Yui react? From the first minute he met her, until the tragedy with Unit 
01, she was always one that would not want the suffering of anyone. Even 
if it was someone she never knew or liked. She would most likely hate 
him. 

No. Yui would not want this. 

And here is SEELE, sending in the last angel that wouldn't hesitate 
causing an impact that would play straight into SEELE's hands. 

He took his glasses and held them on the desk. SEELE, a coalition of old 
fools with delusions of grandeur. SEELE, continuing to control the world 
with their blackmails. 

He hurt Shinji and Yui enough because of SEELE. A small part ofhim hated 
himself for leaving Shinji for running away. Only now did he realize 
that he was doing no different. He was running from his son and his 
wife.

He suddenly fisted his hand, breaking the glasses by the bridge. 

No, he wasn't going to run away any more. Even if it meant trying to 
find another way to bring back Yui, he wouldn't allow those old men to 
hurt Shinji and Yui again! 

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

Maia gasped at the readings on her screen. She quickly turned to Misato.

"Sir! Unit 02 is activating itself!"

"What! Is there a pilot in there?"

"That's the odd part, the Entry Plug is not even inside! Like it's being 
operated by remote control."

"How?"

A third voice interrupted. "Because he was in Unit 02, Kaworu can 
control it without even being inside it." Gendou said sitting at his 
desk above them all. 

"Does that mean that..."

"...Yes, Kaworu Nagisa is the 17th angel. Tabris. And he has the second 
Unit helping him. He will try and breach the Terminal Dogma, where his 
objective is."

Turning to the other two, she ordered, "Close ALL bulkheads! Evacuate 
all sections in the way from here to the TD. Get the Children and 
scramble, STAT!"

Shigeru and Makoto spoke out the orders as quickly as they could. The 
bulkheads closed shut, but still not enough to prevent the controlled 
EVA from tearing through.

"Sir, Unit 02 has breached through armor plate number 5! At this rate, 
they'll make it in about 20 minutes!" Cried Makoto.

"Then we still have time. Where are the other Children!"

Shigeru answered, "Touji and Shinji are suited up and Rei just made it 
here."

"Good, have them both try and take out the EVA, and get Rei out there as 
soon as possible!"

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

As Rei pushed the button that closed the plug suit on her body, she 
started to make a run to the loading bay, knowing who was causing this. 

An arm blocked her path and she looked to see Kaworu was blocking her 
way. 

"Looks like you can't do much without your EVA, dear Rei."

Rei stood her ground. "Tabris, you don't know what you're doing! What's 
down there is..." 

"Oh, don't even embarrass yourself by thinking you can stop me with 
lies." 

With that, he sent a shock wave that sent her flying backwards. Once she 
hit a wall, she blacked out. He walked to her, knelt down,  stroked her 
face and cooed, "Sleep well Rei, it won't be long now."

With that, he vanished into thin air and reappeared next to his captured 
weapon, which had only a few more levels to get past to Adam. 

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

Loading into the EVAs, Shinji could not believe what he heard.

"Kaworu-san is..." he stammered out before Gendou's face appeared before 
him. Like before, the glasses were gone. 

"Yes. Kaworu is the last angel. You and Touji need to stop him."

"But..."

"Shinji... if you don't stop him, everyone will die! Even if they don't 
they might as well. You, me, Touji, Misato, Rei, Asuka, everyone. What 
will you do Shinji?" Gendou asked as Touji's EVA ran through the 
passageway that the commandeered EVA made. 

Shinji hesitated. Kaworu had become his best friend, told him that he 
liked him a lot. He even showed on several occasions that Kaworu cared 
for him. Now, Shinji found that they were all lies. He was only 
preparing to get to Adam.

Gripping the handle, he came to a decision. He wouldn't let Kaworu 
succeed.

"I'm going!"

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

Kaworu stood on the shoulder of the red EVA as it tore through the final 
layer of armor. All that separated him from Adam was a single large 
doorway. 

He floated up to the door and figured he could get through it without 
the EVA's help. 

Just then, the black EVA came out of nowhere, grabbed at the red and 
threw it against the wall. 

"Alrght Kaworu! Where are you?" Touji screamed through the speakers.

"Right here, Touji-kun." Kaworu said with a darker than usual smile. 

The Eva turned to where Kaworu was floating, "So, it is you. You 
back-stabbing son of a..." He was cut off as the red EVA attacked his 
back. 

Touji could only retaliate against it, instead of trying to stop Kaworu. 
That turned out to be his fatal mistake.

The final angel pointed his hand at Touji's EVA and a large beam of 
light came forth and hit the back of the Eva's head. Touji pulled hands 
away from the console as electricity shut down his EVA. The last thing 
he heard before the EVA collapsed was Kaworu.

"I don't have anything against you Touji. Please understand that." Touji 
frowned as he continued to see Kaworu head for the door. 

At that time, Shinji's EVA came screaming at the second EVA and attacked 
more like it did in it's berserker mode than anything else. 

>From outside, Kaworu could hear Shinji screaming at his foe, the second 
EVA. Turning, he discovered that Shinji had gotten the upper  hand over 
his EVA. Once the red EVA was out of the way, the other EVA brought his 
prog knife to bear.  

Shinji ran at Kaworu and thrust the blade forward. Which only met the 
Angel's AT Field. 

Kaworu looked into the eyes of the attacking EVA and it's pilot. He 
started to shake his head as he whispered, "I'm sorry Shinji."

The commandeered red EVA got Shinji's locked in a full nelson, 
immobilizing the would-be hero. 

Kaworu sighed and turned around. He only looked at the panel as it was 
decoded and opened. Before seeing the giant figure on the cross, he 
turned back to Shinji and said,

"Don't worry about a thing Shinji. It was my destiny to become one with 
Adam." he turned back and the smile that usually adorned his face 
vanished. 

Seeing the giant white figure on the cross sent a overwhelming sense of 
shock and horror into the boy. 

"Lillith? No, it can't be..." he looked up to the black, seven eyed face 
to the figure on the cross. 

"It is! NO! IT CAN'T BE!" he cried no again and fell to his knees. The 
tears came quickly and fast.

"A lie! It was all a lie! NOTHING BUT A LIE!!" 

The control over the second EVA was lost and Touji's EVA started up 
again as the Angel's concentration was lost. All the hatred Shinji  had 
for Kaworu was lost as he discovered what was going on. 

Kaworu suddenly flew up to the face of Shinji's EVA and screamed, 
"Shinji! You have to kill me! Please!"

Shinji blinked at the request. Kaworu only continued as the tears came 
harder,

"Shinji... please... if you don't, Lillith with absorb me, and it will 
kill everyone! I don't want her to hurt you! PLEASE!"

Reluctantly, Shinji brought the hand of his EVA around Kaworu's tiny 
body. 

>From where he could see Shinji could only see Kaworu's smiling face, 
with tears all about it. 

"Thank you, Shinji." With that, Shinji closed his eyes, and increased 
the grip on the angel, until the boy's head fell limp and lifeless. 

At that time, Rei had recovered and saw the happenings through the long 
range eye of her EVA. Shinji's EVA fell to it's knees and his crying 
could be heard by her, Touji, and to those in the Central Dogma. 

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

That evening, Shinji stayed in his room and continued to cry over the 
death of his friend. No one, no matter how hard they tried, could 
console him. It hurt him too much to talk to anyone. 

<Why? Why did it have to be Kaworu? > he asked himself over and over 
again. The tears soon soaked the pillow as they came non-stop. 

Misato came by his door occasionally to check if he was alright. Like 
the last several times, she only heard him crying. No matter what 
happened, he only cried over the loss of his friend. 

It was almost past 10 when the crying settled down. Yet, he felt no 
better. A voice stirred him...

"...Shinji..."

He tried to ignore it as the voice called his name again. The voice was 
gentle, compassionate, and soothing. Also familiar...

He opened his eyes to find himself staring face to face with Kaworu, 
garbed in his school uniform, only everything about him seemed to be 
glowing white as he was knelt beside the bed. 

"Ka...kaworu-san?" Shinji stammered, the visitor only nodded and smiled. 
That same gentle smile that only gave, never took. Shinji cried his 
friend's name again and embraced him. Like a long lost loved one, Shinji 
cried on the his friend's shoulder. Kaworu only hugged him back and 
leaned his head against the younger Ikari boy. 

"Shinji... thank you." he whispered.

Shinji asked between sniffs, "Wha... what do you mean?"

Kaworu only smiled again, "I came back for a short while to thank you. 
You see," he said as he gestured to his gently glowing person, "I was 
redeemed. And I owe it to you Shinji." 

The tears and fear returned to Shinji. "But... how? I killed you!"

Kaworu reached over and brushed away the tears. "Because... you cared 
enough about me that you saved everyone else. Even though I lied and 
used you."

"But... you're..."

"Shinji... by what you did, you saved me and everyone else. Whether you 
know it or not. Also, I found that it was you who was to continue, not 
me." 

"But... I don't deserve to..."

"No Shinji. You do deserve to live. Just like everyone else. I too had 
my chance. And I am happy to know that I met you."

Shinji's voice was suddenly lost between sobs as exhaustion began to 
catch up to him. Within minutes, Shinji was asleep in Kaworu's lap. 

As the younger Ikari was sleeping, another form entered the room. Kaworu 
looked up to see Rei, wearing her school uniform, walking  in slowly.

"Hi Rei... I'm sorry about all that I did and said. Really, I'm sorry."

Rei acknowledged his apology and replied, "Do not worry about it. I 
should have told you about Lillith in the first place."

"Hah, as if I would have believed you. Looks like my idiocy paid for 
it."

Rei walked up next to the bed and asked the redeemed angel, "You do care 
for him, don't you?"

Kaworu's eyes widened and replied incredulously, "Of course," He looked 
back to the sleeping Shinji with adoration and continued, "I love him. I 
love him a lot."

"Was it because he was your friend?"

"Well, it was several things." He leveled his eyes and joked, "He didn't 
hit me or treat me with suspicion." 

Rei only rolled her eyes at him.

"Also, he liked me for who I was. I don't know if he feels the same way 
I do, but..." Then, tears started to developed from Kaworu's eyes. "He 
gave me so much... and I can't even repay him!"

"Life is not kind to all of us." she replied simply. More time passed 
slowly.

"Rei?"

"Yes?"

"Could you do me a favor?"

"Yes?"

"Please... take care of him. He needs someone to love and love him. I 
cannot."

She nodded and responded, "I shall, also, I think he knows that I care 
for him like you do."

More tears of joy raced from Kaworu's face as he whispered, "Thank 
you..." with that, he slowly faded into nothing.

Rei crawled onto Shinji's bed and put his head in her lap. Leaning 
against the wall, she brushed away his tears and stroked his hair. 
Soothing him with the gentle caresses from her hands. 

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

The next morning, Gendou met with the heads of SEELE. 

"What is the meaning of this Ikari?" The man in green asked. 

"I've called you all to tell you something. Your plan has failed. 
Kaworu's dead."

"WHAT!" the large man in blue growled.

"I must say it was quite a trick. Using him as your chance to start 
another impact. But it didn't work."

"So, Ikari. What do we do from here?" the man in red said.

Gendou smirked and said, "You old fools can try and go through with your 
delusions of grandeur. I am not a part of this anymore!" and his 
presence vanished from the others.

The four on the sides were shocked, save for Khil, who nodded and said 
to the others. 

"Very well, prepare Units 05-13. Ikari will pay for his treachery."

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

Elsewhere, several members of the UN were speaking amongst themselves. 
These high officials knew of SEELEs control over them, and wanted them 
out of the way. Earlier that day, SEELE had used those same blackmails 
to use the newest EVAs against Tokyo-3 because they were 'rebelling' as 
it was called. 

These men knew about the HCP through their own spy network and weren't 
exactly thrilled with what they had in mind. Also, if the men of SEELE 
were taken out of the way, then that would mean the production of the 
EVAs would belong in their hands. Using the EVA as a weapon, they could 
secure the whole world in their command. 

All they needed was to get SEELE out of the way. 

End of chapter 9b.

[Warhammer walks out wearily.]

WH: Seesh, this has got to be the most draining chapter I ever wrote! 
But I think it was worth it. If you don't think so, help me and see what 
I did wrong!

I will admit this, the Shinji/Kaworu couple is the ONLY boy/boy couple I 
like. Let alone tolerate. Because in the anime, Kaworu was the only one 
who showed poor Shinji love of any kind. Hate me if you so want, it's on 
yer own heads.

Also, another major oopsie in this chapter maybe Gendou. Let's not 
forget the glasses are his trademark. Maybe he'd be more likeable 
without them. I don't know. I just guessed here. Or maybe he's starting 
to actually think right for once.

Since Rei is part angel, she was the only person who was able to see 
Kowaru in the last scene with him. 

[remembers Kaworu's final scene and cries.] WAAAAAA! IT'S SO SAD!!!!! At 
least Rei is there to help poor Shinji. Life can just sit on peoples 
heads sometimes!

All that's left is the next chapter and the epilogue. SO be prepared for 
chapter 10. Will Gendou's treachery cost him his
life? Can the children stop SEELE's plan? Will Seraphim show up in time? 
Find out in the next chapter.

[Warhammer returns to the light.]


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