The next day the kids were brought in for another sync test, something that Asuka supposed was the adults trying to feel useful. That afternoon, Misato drove them into the base with her and the atmosphere in the car was beyond uncomfortable. Asuka had taken shotgun with Rei, Shinji and Kaworu in the back. Before they even took off, Shinji volunteered to put himself between the two, in the undesirable middle seat. Chancing a glance to the back while they took the tram down, Asuka could see why.

Rei's entire body language was tense, like she was a spring at its highest point of tension. Shinji was frowning, as he could tell the atmosphere was off. He was holding one of Kaworu's hands in his own, idly stroking it but his boyfriend didn't show any indication he knew he was touching him at all. He was staring out the window, his eyes glazed over and glassy.

At least the sync test itself was business as usual. Her plug felt comfortable and warm. Closing her eyes, she decided it wouldn't hurt to reach out once more.

She extended her awareness through the plug around her and, without much delay, a warm presence met her there. She lingered in it for a few moments then pulled away with a thought of, just checking on you.

She could swear she heard the ghost of a light chuckle at that.

Back on the bridge, Misato asked, "So what are their ratios looking like?"

"Let me see," Ritsuko bent over to read the data off her own monitor, "Asuka's has risen a couple more points and huh! She even spiked over 100 for a little bit there!"

"Is that good…?"

"Well, it's better if their ratios are high, rather than low," she trailed off then added, "At least reasonably high, that is."

Misato grimaced at the implication, the memory of the Salvage Operation fresh in her mind. Ritsuko hummed as she continued going over the data, "Shinji's is mostly holding steady which is fine. His is high enough as it is. And Kaworu…,"

She trailed off, eyes going wide with shock. Misato muscled her way in beside but couldn't quite get the relevance of the data she was looking at. Ritsuko explained, "It's jumped nearly 70 points!"

"So I wasn't just being a skeptic!"

"I suppose not," Ritsuko conceded, "Even when we first started, when big jumps were common...I don't think any of the pilots had a jump this drastic!"

The pair shared a glance, the silence stretching into a tension that was long growing familiar. Misato felt it in the car coming here and every night when Kaworu visited. She finally found her words, "I have an idea this isn't a good thing."

"It bodes ill," Ritsuko agreed, "I'm going to pull them out. Just...stick around, alright, Misato? Just in case."

Misato frowned but nodded. She walked a short distance away to sit down in a chair. She listened to Ritsuko and the technicians as they went through the wind down procedures. She pressed her hands together, as if saying a prayer, and set her head against them. Closing her eyes, she hoped that they'd all get to go home tonight, without any tragedies.

---

Kaworu clamored from his plug as if waking from a dream. Despite not focusing very well, he could feel his own AT Field resonating with Unit 04, creating their higher-than-usual sync ratio. The thought of why this was made him a little nauseous.

His ears hadn't stopped ringing since they had entered the Geofront. A buzzing, beckoning song was dancing across the light of his soul and it had grown impossible to ignore. It was honestly giving him a headache to do so. It demanded he turn and descend deeper into the Geofront.

He staggered out of the plug, onto the catwalk and towards the locker rooms. Every step he took felt like he wasn't lifting his small, Lilin body but one much, much larger. As if he had never left Unit 04. He cast a final glance at the silver Eva, eyes lingering over it, before he forced himself away.

It was likely he'd never see it again.

It took his entire focus to keep one foot in front of the other, as if his mind itself was rotting.

He thought that he'd really like to just go home. That'd be nice.

---

Some time after the sync tests, back down at the locker rooms, Asuka had left to find Shinji and Kaworu lingering outside the boy's locker room. Shinji's arms were crossed and, uncharacteristically, his voice was raised and desperate, "Why don't you come home with me and Asuka?"

She walked over to join them, "What's going on?"

"Kaworu's not feeling well. He says he thinks he should go see Dr. Akagi but I think it's better if we all just go home."

Asuka sized up Kaworu. Despite his (frankly bizarre) high sync ratio, it was no small secret he wasn't doing that well. He was constantly spacing, eyes going glassy when something didn't hold his focus. Sometimes, he shook, eyes darting around like he was scared of being watched. He seemed to relax a little when they were all at Misato's apartment but Asuka had caught him pacing the previous night. Like he'd die if he went still. And it had worsened when he was in the Geofront.

"I think Shinji's right. Come home and if it doesn't get better, we'll bring you back to Dr. Akagi," she agreed.

Kaworu shook his head, "No, no. I think it's better if go see her now."

Asuka and Shinji shared a look. She was startled to find there was a terrible dread plain on his face and got the sinking feeling there was something he hadn't told her. It suddenly felt very important they get Kaworu home—hell, even just out of the Geofront!

Kaworu continued, "It's fine. It might take a while. Maybe you two should go find Rei. She's not doing so well either though I don't know where she's gone. But probably still here! I'm sure you two could go find her! And let me go...and see Dr. Akagi."

"Kaworu, you never ramble. Come home with us," Asuka held out her hand.

"Yes, Kaworu," Shinji's voice went stern and almost cold, "There's no reason for you to stay down here."

"It's fine! Everything is going to be okay!" he smiled broadly at them. There was no happiness behind it.

"Nagisa," Kaworu went still again at the usage of his surname, "I will drag you home myself Something bad is going to happen if I leave you! I just know it and Shinji seems to think so too," Asuka cried.

Kaworu looked from one to the other. Where Asuka's expression was fiery and bordering on losing her patience, Shinji's pleaded with him. To come back with him and pull himself away.

He shook like a leaf and shrank away from them. "I can't do this to either of you. I don't know what to do. Please forgive me."

"Forgive you for what?" Asuka had enough with this and marched on over, intent on dragging him home her damn self.

"Asuka…" behind her, Shinji trailed off.

Kaworu backed away from her, his chest tightening. He had been correct, his jumbled thoughts told him, correct to fear what she would do.

He rambled, his filter breaking apart, "Asuka, go home. You don't understand I've never had...I've never had a real choice. That's ironic, isn't it? Don't you think? Free will's my domain but its the thing I can never reach."

There was something seriously wrong with him. Had Arael wormed its way into his brain, told him he had no free will and he had somehow kept this close to his chest the whole time? She'd have to argue it out of him. But first, she had to drag him home.

She darted out to grab his collar and from behind her, Shinji yelled, "Asuka, don't!"

Her hand hit open air. Before his terrified face, the air had rippled then solidified into an orange hexagonal shield of light. Up close, it wavered between opaqueness and transparency. "An AT Field," she breathed.

Her eyes met Kaworu's. His expression was utterly alien, a mixture of horror and terror. The Field dissipated and he bolted down the hall. Just as the Angel alert began to scream.

Asuka immediately went to bolt after him, no thought in her mind but the knowledge she had to stop him. She nearly fell over when Shinji grabbed her collar. With a furious scream, she whipped around, using her momentum to try to slap him. He yelped and barely side-stepped it. She screamed, "YOU KNEW!"

He raised his free arm to shield himself from further attack, "I thought he told you! He told me it was going to be okay...why wouldn't he tell you?"

"How would I know?!"

She tried to jerk away but he held her in place. She seethed but, after a few moments, it started to ebb away. She murmured, "Let me go. I have to go after him."

His eyes widened, "You will?"

She nodded, "There's no way in hell, I'm letting you do it. Not again. Something like this happened before?"

He averted his eyes and nodded slowly, "It was my fault back then too."

"Then let me take it out of your hands. He's...got to answer some of my questions."

He glanced back at her, his look full of surprise. Then, feeling awfully selfish to give in to her, he slumped, "Alright. You'll have to take Unit 02. He's probably going down to the basement, down to Terminal Dogma."

"Where the Lance was?"

He nodded, "It's where we went...before. So I'm willing to bet that's where's he's going. I don't know why he would go to...her...but that's my best guess."

He gave her a quick primer on how to get down there herself and then let her go so she could get suited up again. Right before she disappeared from view, he called, "Asuka, wait!"

She turned to give him a quizzical look. He swallowed thickly and choked out, "Thank...thank you."

---

Misato was still holding her praying position when her worst nightmare came true. The alarm klaxons rang out as the main screen went red with the ominous label of '16TH ANGEL DETECTED'. The command center had erupted into chaos as all the technicians began reporting in.

Hyuga called out, twisting to face her, "Blue pattern detected within Central Dogma, heading down towards Terminal Dogma!"

She shot up and crossed the space, "Where was it initially detected?"

He turned to his terminal and punched in a few commands before a still image from the camera feed came onto his screen. There was Kaworu, terror-stricken, standing before Shinji and Asuka, an AT Field separating them. The feed began to replay as he bolted down the hall.

"Why did it have to be him?" she breathed, staggering away.

Kaworu Nagisa was the final Angel.

The boy who was always so polite. The boy they threw a birthday party for all that time ago. The boy who loved Shinji.

She was right all along.

Kaworu Nagisa was the enemy.

The irony that the day he was brought into the world was also the worst day of her life was not lost on her. She wanted to scream, throw things then fall to the floor sobbing for all the unfairness of the world.

"What are your orders, Major?"

She looked to Hyuga, whose gaze on her was a fixed mask of dark determination. She opened her mouth but no response came out.

Ritsuko's voice came from her right as she grabbed her shoulders, "Pull yourself together, Major! What are your orders?!"

"This is so cold, all so cold," she murmured.

"We can linger on that later. Every minute we tarry, the closer he is to reaching Terminal Dogma!" she cried, "And I shouldn't have to tell you what happens then!"

She glanced up to the top of the command desk, where the Commander and Vice Commander were. If she didn't do something, the Commander would. And his ruling would be even harsher. Swallowing her emotions, she straightened, "Call Shinji and Asuka back to their cages. Send...send Asuka."

"Send Asuka," Ritsuko echoed.

"Neither are great options but Unit 01's suspended. So send Asuka," she ordered, ignoring how her heart constricted.

From the terminals, Aoba reported, "Shinji's already in the holding cage and…"

"I'm already inside 02," Asuka's deadpan voice came through the comms.

"Asuka, what are you doing already in there?" Misato called back.

"I know what has to be done. Don't stop me," the facility shook and the sound of twisting metal came through the comms, signaling she was forcefully pulling from her restraints.

"Asuka…" she trailed off.

"What?!" she snarled, "You want Shinji to go instead? I won't make him do this."

"No...just...be careful," she murmured.

She could see the interior camera of Asuka's entry plug, how she stared at the screen with a mix of anger and pain and sadness. Without more words, she cut her comms off.

At the top of the bridge, Fuyutski asked his companion quietly, "Do you think it wise to send to Second Child? We can override Unit 01's suspension. Your son would be learning nothing new if he went and the committee has thought the prospect of Unit 02 down there risky..."

"I think at this stage, it hardly matters," Gendo dismissed, "The girl nor her mother want the world to end."

---

Kaworu raced through the twisting, labyrinthine insides of NERV HQ. When a door wasn't open or the keypad flashed red at him, he flicked his wrist, willing it open anyway. NERV was almost like a beast in its own right, one he could use his AT Field to bend to his will.

Even now, his focus and mind were in disarray. The only way he knew exactly where he was going was because Lilith's ever present call. But the farther he descended, it was like the fog that had hung over his mind was clearing.

He wondered if he should turn back and fetch Unit 04 but decided against it. It would only delay the inevitable and further antagonize whoever was sent after him. He had probably upset Shinji and Asuka enough.

With or without his Eva, his destination was the same: the primary shaft down to Terminal Dogma. Without his machine, he was going through mostly abandoned maintenance halls and little trafficked rooms.

There was a way this always went: the Call would grow too loud to ignore and the tug on his soul insistent. He would travel to Terminal Dogma, his AT Field unfolded and broadcasting his existence. NERV would send someone after him.

And then he would die.

Sometimes things changed like that business with Unit 13, in a time that already felt so long ago. But no matter the circumstances, the end result was the same. He had learned long ago that resisting that was futile. He had tried running from SEELE, hiding from them, even outright attacking them. It didn't matter; they always followed, they always found him or he just couldn't dismantle them fast enough before he was killed.

Asuka had given him hope that maybe things could change for real, that maybe his fate wasn't as fixed as he thought.

But after Kensuke died, he realized he had only been deluding himself.

He opened the final door of his travels and looked beyond where the floor dropped out into the central shaft. He was here.

"Kaworu Nagisa."

But it wasn't quite time to march to his death yet. He turned to find Rei standing in the hallway, silhouetted by the light. "Hello, Rei Ayanami," he greeted.

"Have you intended to betray us from the very beginning?" she asked, her tone ice cold.

"No," he said truthfully, "I had hoped it wouldn't come to this but it appears my instincts are greater than my desires. It seems, in the end, I'm always more Angel than Lilin."

He turned to face the great maw of the central shaft, "What of you? Isn't following the Commander a betrayal to our friends too?"

She frowned deeply, "You know nothing of that."

After him, there would be nothing left to do but usher in the end. And he was only telling her something she had already realized: she would not be able to end the world.

Kaworu continued, "No matter how many times the events have happened, certain things will always come to pass. I will always be found as an Angel. You will always help Gendo Ikari—whether you want to or not."

Her eyes widened. She had known just where to find him, even though she had never walked this path before. It's why the angel statue and the park in the Geofront seemed familiar—she had seen it before...just perhaps not in this time. He smiled at her realization, "Curious. Here at the end, the barriers between realities, and you and Lilith break down. I wonder if that bodes well...or ill for this loop."

Rei went tense and her eyes became piercing. She threatened, "Remind me why I shouldn't take the burden off Shinji and Asuka and do away with you myself?"

"You'd have to follow me down there first," he tilted his head down the shaft, "And whose to say you're not like me? That in the presence of a progenitor you won't forget yourself."

He stepped out onto the empty space, his AT Field holding him up. Rei followed him to the edge but didn't step out after him. She warned him, "You will not find Adam there."

His shoulders slumped and he looked down where the darkness hid Terminal Dogma. "I know," he admitted as he began his descent.

---

Asuka came to the great shaft of Central Dogma, peering down to where the bottom disappeared into darkness. When she magnified her view, she could see a figure drifting slowly down. Now how would she follow him down? He was most certainly using his own AT Field but what could she use? Shinji had mentioned a harness that his Eva had been hooked onto when he came after the Lance but she wasn't seeing such a thing.

She could feel a presence around her, guiding her awareness to the border of her soul. Imagining it wrapped around her Eva, she inhaled sharply and stepped out into the abyss.

She yelped as she fell, floors and floors speeding past her until finally, she was able to move her Field underneath her. She slowed down to a lazy drift. Panting from adrenaline, she looked down to find she was closer than ever to Kaworu. Switching on her external speaker, she yelled, "Kaworu!"

He looked up at her. Another new presence brushed up against her AT Field.

"I see you took it upon yourself to follow me. Do you hate me that much now that you know what I really am?"

She shuddered at the ghostly, alien contact and how his voice came not through her ears but directly into her mind. He really wasn't human. She replied, "Of course I don't hate you! But I am really fucking pissed at you! I couldn't let Shinji to be the one to come after you. So don't tell me that's what you wanted."

"Whoever came after me hardly matters in the end. But...I'm glad Shinji won't have to do it. Not again."

"You weren't possessed that first time, were you? You yourself were the final Angel. Tabris."

She could feel his emotions keenly ripple against her AT Field. A sort of revulsion and sadness at hearing his title.

"That's true and remains true. Our Shinji wouldn't remember that but something quite similar. Another time his actions did lead to my demise. I don't want him to live it a second time. I only regret you are the one to have had to step into the role. I suppose, in the end, my death always comes at the hands of someone I care for."

They were at the bottom now, at a set of great iron doors. Kaworu flicked his wrist and the keypad turned green. With a great groan, they began to open. Beyond, there was a lake of LCL with a single boat bobbing in it. Kaworu floated in and Asuka followed, gasping at what she saw.

There was a red cross made of metal she could not identify. And nailed to that cross, like some facsimile of the Crucifixion, was a white-skinned giant wearing a mask bearing seven eyes.

She was rising now, towering over the Earth. She appeared like the one Rei Ayanami, but made of perfect alabaster skin. The only color of note on her was her eyes the color of the red sea.

"Lilith," Asuka breathed.

"Correct. We may speak freely here. No one may listen in. Yes, this is Lilith, the progenitor of humanity. My opposite, as I carry the soul of Adam," Kaworu explained, gesturing at the other Angel with a wide flourish of his arm.

"Adam...that's the thing from the South Pole, the first Angel," Asuka realized.

"Yes. My soul is Adam's and, like any other Angel, her song beckons me to return to her. To merge. Lilith's song sounds much the same and carries the same effect. With Adam bound now, her song is louder and so, has called me here."

He looked back up at her, meeting her Eva's eyes and in turn, hers, "She beckons me, even if I'm not her child. But I must not be allowed to go to her, for it would be the end of humanity as you know it."

Realization dawned on her like a crack to the skull. She whispered, "You're asking me to kill you?!"

"Unfortunately, yes. Kill me and you'll still have a fighting chance to prevent Third Impact," he chanced a glance up at her before looking away, shame burning across his being.

Asuka shook, tears springing to her eyes, "Do you know what you're asking of me?!"

"I do."

"But you were supposed to get to the end too!" she bashed her hands against the controls and screamed, "We were supposed to get there together! You lied to me!"

"I'm sorry. I know."

She screamed incoherently and reached out for him. She had no idea why she did; maybe she hoped to forcefully drag him back to the surface. Maybe because she didn't expect him to let her. It was only at the last moment, when her hands were closing in around him, did she realize he hadn't deployed his AT Field and instead let her grab him. She immediately loosened her grip before her hands closed fully, cradling him instead of crushing him.

She suppressed a sob. She thought she had grown accustomed to Unit 02's much larger size but...he felt so small in her—no, Unit 02's hands. He looked up at her, once more wearing his serene smile.

"It's going to be alright, Asuka," he soothed.

"No, it's not," she sobbed, "You lied to me. Why did you lie to me?"

"I was scared. Of how you might react. I was a coward. In that way, I was human. For as long as I could remember, every Asuka I knew was ready to kill the Angels. Most would do it if it meant redeeming themselves as the best. Once or twice, we were in a similar situation as this...though she would never hold me like this," his eyes crinkled, "You've changed, Asuka. In a good way."

She hated the idea of a her that didn't care for him as deeply as she did. Who would snuff out his life like it was any other Angel's. A her who didn't have him as a friend.

"What if this all makes me spiral? Like before?" she asked, shaking.

"You'll stay strong. I know it. I wanted to spare you pain and kept it from you...but it appears I have put you in pain anyway. If there was a way around it, I would have taken it, but fate wants me to die at the hands of those I love."

"You really do love me...I never thought Angels could…"

He actually laughed softly at that, the sound tinkling across their connection like a bell. "I care for you so indeed, I do love you. You're my friend. I've always loved humanity so maybe it's the nature of my being. Or perhaps we are more alike than we admit."

She shook, still holding him as gently as one may cradle a kitten. "I can't do it," she whimpered.

"You must. Humanity will perish if you don't and the cycle will start anew."

"Is that such...a bad thing?"

"It is. You must give you and everyone else a fighting chance to stop Third Impact. To break the cycle."

It would be so easy. A simple twitch of her hand muscles and this would all be over.

His voice gently radiated across their connection, "I know you can do it, Asuka. And I want you to know I've cherished these last few months as your friend. You made me believe, at least for a little while, I might be able to live. Thank you. I'm glad I met you."

But she couldn't do it. She couldn't kill him. He wasn't just Tabris, the final Angel. He was Kaworu Nagisa, her friend, the reason she was able to change at all. Despite Angel, he was more human than many others. So she couldn't kill him. If she killed him, she'd be a monster.

Without her input or movement, the Eva's hands clenched and the inside of the plug radiated guilt and a grim sense of finality.

The decision of what to do was taken from her hands.

She screamed.

---

Kaworu Nagisa was dead.

The final Angel was dead.

And so, came the beginning of her end.

Rei hadn't wanted to come home alone but when she saw Misato, after Asuka had been pulled from her plug, she had shook her head. The answer was clear enough; she doesn't want to see you.

Though it was more than likely Asuka didn't want to see anyone, it still hurt.

In her hands, she turned an empty prescription bottle over and over. This was her final dose. If she went to Dr. Akagi for another, she would be denied. And so, like Kaworu in the weeks prior, she was running out of time.

As he had said so long ago, they were alike. They were bound by fate to fulfill another's wishes through a thousand and more lifetimes. Both Angel and Lilin, gifted with light hair and red sea eyes. They merely existed to play a role in a great cosmic play, started countless millennia ago.

She could run, she could hide, she could cry, she could lash out...but she felt it would be for moot. If she ran, the Commander would catch her. If she hid, he would find her. If she cried, he'd more than likely ignore it.

She wasn't sure what he'd do if she lashed out but she was sure it wouldn't be good.

Where did she go from here?

Was there anywhere she could even go?

She choked back a sob and flung the bottle at the wall as hard as she could. It bounced off onto the floor, leaving a dent in the wall. She pressed her head into her hands and openly wept, for what else was there for her to do?