Words from the Author:

More questions will be answered during this episode. I obviously gave you all more things to be curious about thanks to episode 23, but don't worry, I'll answer them. Just be patient. Anyway, not much to say for this intro. So, let's get started! Neon Genesis Evangelion is sole property of Gainax, people. We can never change that, and by my opinion, who would even want to change that?! Enjoy, everyone.

Episode 24: Descending From Heaven As Only The Pilot Of Adam Can

The scene starts off with the two SEELE Evas that had retreated from Tokyo-03 roughly an hour ago and seem to be heading towards North America. They're currently flying side by side while being at a considerable distance above the Pacific Ocean as they hold onto their individual sword with their right hand. SEELE Eva 10 is to the left of SEELE Eva 11 as both Evas are damaged quite a bit due to their confrontation with Units 02 and 04. To be more specific, SEELE Eva 11 still has the stab wounds on its chest from Unit 04's Prog Knives while SEELE Eva 10 still has the wound on its left shoulder from when it was stabbed by its own sword thanks to Unit 02.

SEELE 11 *Mr. Hirainu* has a firm grip on the controls as he's leaning forward with his eyes focused on the direction his Eva's going in the air. At the same time, he says to SEELE 10 *Uzaki* with a moderately annoyed tone, "I can't believe we had to leave all of a sudden just because of those idiots Keel has in the 1st Branch."

Uzaki nods in agreement with seriousness being displayed as he's also focused at what's in front of him. "It makes me wonder of all the mistakes Keel's made so far. Letting Ikari run wild, putting too much faith both in Nero and Tabris, and now those fools he had relied on to manage the 1st Branch after it was abandoned by most of its personnel are up to something. Think about it. They have to be scheming something to ignore Keel's calls."

Mr. Hirainu's annoyance increases as he lightly grits his teeth. "Tell me about it. And now we lost Fujitaka and Aiko in addition to Keel killing Henzei just because he kept questioning Keel's methods."

Uzaki turns his gaze towards SEELE Eva 11 with a hint of curiosity arising. "I still couldn't believe that when Nazuki told all the members who weren't there when that had transpired. It makes me feel like we can't completely trust Keel. He could kill us off at any moment if we don't do as he says."

Mr. Hirainu adds to what Uzaki said without deviating his attention from where his Eva is headed while calming his demeanor. "I agree. Especially considering that we're piloting these Evas with the help of the Surrogate Core. Something that WE had no intention of ever doing, but I guess, Keel scared us into it."

Usaki responds with a bit of irritation taking over. "That actually reminds me. Keel didn't tell us when the Surrogate Core was completed. He revealed that when he told us that it's our obligation to finally get involved in the battle. That way we can personally have a hand in Instrumentality and be sure that the same mistake won't occur."

Mr. Hirainu looks downward with concern dwelling within him as he thinks, "The Surrogate Core... It's similar to the Dummy Plug System, which fools the Eva into thinking that a chosen child is piloting. Like Tabris for example. That's the mentality that our Dummy Plug is using after all. What the Surrogate Core does is trick the Eva into recognizing us as chosen children and uses the Dummy Plug as the basis for that." He then narrows his eyes while thinking, "This was so that we wouldn't have to rely on kids to pilot anymore, but I never expected that we would be the first subjects for this."

With the completion of that thought, Mr. Hirainu looks at his body, sees all the cords that have been implanted into his body and then mutters with annoyance returning, "To have to endure all the pain that comes with being hooked up like this just for the sake of the Surrogate Core's usage..." Mr. Hirainu pauses for a moment while gritting his teeth with rage being noted. "Keel...! Even if you think this is for the sake of Instrumentality... I won't forget this pain!"

Uzaki interrupts Mr. Hirainu's rant to himself while yelling out with a horrified tone, "Hirainu! Ahead of us!"

In response to Uzaki's outburst, Mr. Hirainu does what his comrade says and suddenly an unknown object swiftly passes by between both of their Evas with a sonic-boom promptly being created. This results in both SEELE Evas 10 and 11 to be pushed backwards a bit due to the sonic-boom's shock-wave while being forced to be in an upright position. They then manage to stop themselves from going backwards any further as the two pilots try to regain their composure.

After composing himself, Mr. Hirainu snaps his head up after having it lowered and frantically looks around with panic being noted. "The hell just happened?!"

Uzaki retorts with worry displayed while turning his Eva the opposite direction, which is the direction that the unidentified object had headed when passing them. "I don't know! But that was too fast! There shouldn't be anything like that! I barely saw its figure, but I couldn't make out what it was!" He then slams his right fist on his controls while saying with rage building up, "And our Evas didn't even detect it at all!"

SEELE Eva 11 turns to face SEELE Eva 10 as Mr. Hirainu is about to say something. He's then cut off when the unidentified object heads towards them again without either Uzaki or Mr. Hirainu noticing. It then instantaneously passes between both Evas while slicing SEELE Eva 10's right arm off as another shock-wave pushes both Evas away from each other towards opposite directions. At the same time SEELE Eva 10 is sent away from SEELE Eva 11, Uzaki screams in pain with his eyes dilated while tightly gripping onto his right shoulder with his left hand with his head slanted backwards.

Luckily for Mr. Hirainu, SEELE Eva 11 manages to regain its composure again. After that, Mr. Hirainu does a quick double take towards the left between where the unknown object had gone and towards in front of him where SEELE Eva 10 is located due to Uzaki's cry. He then focuses his attention on SEELE Eva 10 and yells out with a concerned tone, "Are you alright, Uzaki?! What happened?!"

Uzaki grits his teeth as he valiantly grabs onto the controls with pain still being noted on his person while his eyes are focused on the controls. He then makes his Eva stop while facing towards the sky above. After doing that, he slams his back on the seat with his head turned to the right while clearly being exhausted as he looks at where SEELE Eva's right arm once was located. "Shit..." Irritation begins to rise as Uzaki thinks, "How did I lose a FUCKING arm!"

Mr. Hirainu leans forward and yells out again with concern increasing, "Uzaki, can you hear me?! What the hell happened?!"

Uzaki snaps back at Mr. Hirainu with his eyes closed while tilting his head back. "Like I would know!" He opens his eyes to look ahead of himself. "It happened so..." Uzaki's eyes then widen with horror taking over as he sees something in front of him. "Oh my God..."

Mr. Hirainu becomes even more concerned as he tilts his head a bit to the left. "What's wrong?"

Uzaki responds while slowly pointing towards what he's seeing with his right hand as it's shaking a lot. "Look... Above."

Mr. Hirainu's a bit confused at first while narrowing his eyes a little and then casually looks up. He's immediately in shock with his eyes instantly widening while seeing Unit 06 levitating above SEELE 10 with a spear in its right hand that has a gem in the middle of the blade. *Side Note: The spear Unit 06 is holding resembles the one Mark 06 utilizes in Rebuild of Evangelion. So in reference to its appearance, check out a picture of it* Mr. Hirainu then yells out from disbelief with a horrified tone, "Unit 06! But how's that possible?! Is it Tabris?!"

Uzaki answers with an enraged tone. "No! Tabris is piloting Unit 04 now! Anyway, the direction that Unit 06 first came from was..." His eyes then widen with realization showing on his face. After that, Uzaki yells out with urgency while trying to make his Eva position itself into a vertical base since it's still facing towards the sky, "It came from the direction of America!"

Mr. Hirainu hurriedly turns his attention back in front of him to look at SEELE Eva 10 and is about to respond to what Uzaki said, but notices Unit 06 suddenly pull its right arm back while positioning itself to throw the spear its holding. Mr. Hirainu then instantly snaps his head up while turning his Eva towards the left, which results in SEELE Eva 10 now being to his right. After doing that, he sees Unit 06 throw the spear with immense force and it heads straight towards SEELE Eva 10.

Uzaki reacts by deploying his Eva's black A.T. Field to block the spear, however, it does nothing to even slow the spear down. The spear then effortlessly pierces the Eva in the middle of its torso, which results in Uzaki giving out one final scream with pain consuming his entire being as warning signs are displayed on every screen.

After that, SEELE Eva 10 is instantaneously sent right into the ocean's water due to the sheer power of the spear's momentum. While seeing what transpired, Mr. Hirainu drops his head to look down with despair as he screams out, "Uzaki!"

Right after Mr. Hirainu's cry, a large explosion occurs underneath the water and rises above the surface sending countless amounts of water into the air. At the same time, Mr. Hirainu watches in horror due to knowing that SEELE Eva 10 and its pilot have been defeated. Not only that, but the fact that everything happened so fast that there was no possible way to react at all. Then without warning, the spear suddenly launches right out from where the explosion had occurred while the water was settling back down into the ocean and heads back to Unit 06 with amazing speed.

Mr. Hirainu sees this with disbelief taking over his expression while snapping his head up in the attempt of following the spear's movement. Unit 06 then effortlessly catches the spear with its right hand as the blade of the spear is pointed towards the sky. Having seen that, Mr. Hirainu's eyes widen with disbelief still lingering and yells out to himself while focused on Unit 06, "How the...?! It returned to Unit 06?! But there's no way... The only tool that returns to the one who's chose is...!" He then realizes something while momentarily pulling his body back with a mortified expression.

Afterwards, Mr. Hirainu leans forward again with his eyes narrowed to get a better look at the spear and thinks, "It couldn't be..." He promptly shouts out with anger arising while not realizing that he can be heard due to the channel that was used between him and Uzaki still being opened, "Is that the Lance of Longinus?!"

With that outburst, a teenage boy who resides inside Unit 06's entry plug while standing on a spacious, circular platform smirks to himself. He then places his left hand on his waist, which Unit 06 imitates for some reason, and says softly to himself while being quite pleased by Mr. Hirainu's reaction, "Bingo."

Mr. Hirainu continues to be enraged while not hearing the boy's comment while rapidly shaking his head with his eyes shut. "That's impossible!" He gives Unit 06 a fierce glare. "That can't possibly be the lance! The Lance of Longinus can NOT be modified by normal means! To have that appearance would mean that...!" Mr. Hirainu's pupils then dilate as horror consumes his entire being while letting out a small gasp. Right after that, he says in a low volume while gently resting his back on the seat, "Would mean that... Adam has awaken..."

A distraught look appears on Mr. Hirainu's face as his body torques forward. "And given the lance a new form!" SEELE Eva 11 then suddenly launches itself towards Unit 06 as Mr. Hirainu screams out with pure rage, "I won't accept that! Whoever is piloting can't be the true pilot of Adam!"

While SEELE Eva 11 advances towards it, Unit 06 swiftly changes its hand positioning on the Lance of Longinus to hold it upright. Soon after that, the enemy Eva reaches Unit 06 with its right arm pulled back as it's ready to swing the Prog Sword sideways from Unit 06's left.

Meanwhile, Mr. Hirainu passionately yells out with rage still being noted, "DIE!" SEELE Eva 11 swings the sword, but misses due to Unit 06 quickly reacting and pulling back enough to dodge the blade. After that, Mr. Hirainu's rage greatly increases as he makes his Eva launch a barrage of wild swings with the sword.

Unit 06's pilot sees this while leaning a tad forward with excitement arising as he let out a soft chuckle. Afterwards, Unit 06 elegantly and effortlessly weaves its body while dodging each of the attempted attacks as both Evas levitate in the air. Mr. Hirainu is driven crazy with rage due to not being able to land a single a blow yet while forcefully pushing the controls one at a time. "Stop moving, you son of a bitch!" He then makes his Eva get closer while still wildly swinging the Prog Sword.

In response, Unit 06 quickly moves more freely when certain attacks are launched. It pulls to the sides when downward or upward swings are launched. When its head is the target of an attack, it ducks down or sways backwards. Sometimes, just to show off, it does multiple aerial spins and flips to display how useless SEELE Eva 11's attacks are. This fact causes Mr. Hirainu's rage reach its peak as he screams out, "Who the hell do you think you are?!"

After that outburst from Mr. Hirainu, Unit 06 suddenly pulls away from SEELE Eva 11 at a decent distance. It then quickly pulls its right arm back, and with as much force as possible, throws the lance while a shock-wave is created behind the lance to display how fast it's going. Mr. Hirainu's in shock briefly due to the suddenness of the lance heading towards him. Then, by sheer luck and instantaneous reaction, Mr. Hirainu makes his Eva weave its head to the right and barely dodges the lance.

Although, SEELE Eva 11 was hit by the shock-wave right after, which caused Mr. Hirainu to be shaken up a bit as his head's lowered with his eyes closed. After a few seconds go by since the lance pass by and the shock-wave resided, Mr. Hirainu looks at Unit 06 again with intensity. "I don't know who you are, but you just lost the lance." He smiles in a malicious manner. "So prepare to die, whoever you are."

With that said, Mr. Hirainu's about to make his Eva advance once again, but suddenly, a loud impact is heard as the word "Danger" appears on every screen in red. At the same time, Mr. Hirainu's eyes widen with shock all over his face as his jaw drops while his head recoils forward. It's then revealed that the Lance of Longinus had struck the back of SEELE Eva 11's head with the blade having gone completely through to the front.

Afterwards, Mr. Hirainu turns his gaze towards the right to look behind himself with a hint of concern arising while still in shock, sees the lance and then thinks with disbelief lingering, "The... Lance of... Longinus! But how?!" He then grits his teeth with anger rising while mumbling, "Who the hell...?!"

The boy softly says to himself while being quite pleased by what transpired, "You obviously forgot that the lance would return to Adam." He chuckles lightly. "That was very clumsy of you, Mr. Hirainu."

After a few seconds of dealing with the pain that has consumed his body, Mr. Hirainu snaps his head to have his eyes towards Unit 06 while screaming out with rage, "Who the HELL are you?!" His eyes then suddenly widen with complete horror as he sees Unit 06 appear right in front of SEELE Eva 11 with its right hand pulled back.

At the very moment Unit 06 appears in front of SEELE Eva 11, the boy responds to Mr. Hirainu's cry with a hint of arrogance in his voice while smirking. "As if I need to tell you."

Mr. Hirainu's expression changes to disbelief after hearing the boy for the first time through the opened channel and says softly, "That voice...! It's-" He's then cut off from what he's about to say due to him suddenly feeling an intense pain coming from his stomach. This is due to Unit 06 having thrusted its right hand into SEELE Eva 11's stomach and blood immediately gushes out onto Unit 06's arm. Right after that, Mr. Hirainu suddenly coughs out a small amount of blood onto the part of the seat that's beneath his legs while holding onto his stomach with both hands.

Then, Unit 06 slowly reaches for the lance with its left hand and firmly grabs a hold of it while maintaining its right hand inside SEELE Eva 11's stomach. After Unit 06 does that, the boy says with a casually amused tone while his left arm is extended forward as if mirroring Unit 06's action, "I'm very impressed that the Surrogate Core Unit is working so well... But that won't change the fact that I'm better than you old guys." He gives off a mild laugh and then has Unit 06 pull out the lance from SEELE Eva 11's head.

That action from Unit 06 causes Mr. Hirainu more pain as he continues to grit his teeth with his eyes shut. After that, Mr. Hirainu looks at Unit 06 with rage returning as he says while breathing heavily, "It couldn't be...! How can you pilot that Eva?! Only Tabris could-"

The boy interrupts Mr. Hirainu with confidence residing within his voice. "Now that's where you're wrong." He briefly pauses for a moment and then says with a cocky tone, "Anyway, who said that Kaworu's the true pilot of Adam?"

In response, Mr. Hirainu's surprised by what he just heard. He's then about to let out a retort, but couldn't due to him seeing Unit 06 pull its left arm back while still holding onto the lance, which the boy had done the same thing. After that, the boy states with a sinister smile while having his right arm extended to reflect that Unit 06 is maintaining its right hand inside SEELE Eva 11's stomach, "Well, it doesn't matter. This is goodbye, Mr. Hirainu. Say hello to the Devil for me."

With those words, Unit 06 elegantly pulls its right hand out of SEELE Eva 11's stomach and then swiftly swings the lance in an upper left diagonal direction. As a result, SEELE Eva 11 is split into two by a diagonal slash while Mr. Hirainu screams out with disdain all over his face, "Damn you, Nero!"

Then, a little time goes by as the explosion dies down and a black icon suddenly appears with the words "Sound Only" to the left of Nero. A man's voice comes through the intercom and talks with a mature tone. "How did it go, kid? Your synchronization was over 100% without making Unit 06 go berserk. Did you like the platform more than the seated controls?"

Nero turns his gaze towards the icon with pure excitement being displayed while clenching his hands. "It was amazing, grandpa! Unit 06 is so fast that I can't even believe it!" He turns his body while lifting his left hand up with it now being unclenched. "I had so much fun!" Nero then diverts his gaze downward to the platform. "And I LOVE the fact that I can use this platform combined with the ability to control Unit 06 with my plugsuit!"

The man responds with a hint of amusement in his voice due to what Nero had said. "That's good. Did you find any difficult-" He then realizes something, which is why he didn't finish that sentence, and yells out with a bit of irritation, "Wait a minute! Did you just call me 'Grandpa'?!"

Nero puts his hand down while tilting his head back to laugh loudly due to the man's reaction. "I sure did!" He looks at the icon with a joyful gleam resonating from his eyes. "Remember, we agreed that I could call you 'Grandpa' and you can call me 'Kid'."

The man snaps back with irritation increasing. "Yeah, but you make it sound like I'm old! I'm only 62!"

Nero chuckles with a hint of skepticism showing with his left hand now on his waist. "Grandpa... That's old." Some snickering is then heard in the background of the icon, which suggests that people are listening to their conversation.

This annoys the man as he shouts at them, "Oh, shut up! That's not funny!"

That makes Nero smile with content while slanting his head to the left a bit. After that, the man focuses on Nero again and says with a little annoyance still lingering, "Anyway, the field test was a success, right? You didn't have any trouble with Unit 06 while fighting SEELE, did you?"

Nero replies with a laid back tone while having raised his right hand up towards his face a little to look at the cross that's on his plugsuit's forehand. "It was a total success. SEELE didn't know what hit them until it was too late." He then lifts his head up towards the icon with a modest look on his face and places his right hand behind his head with both eyes shut. "Though I did catch them off guard with a sneak-attack."

The man states in response to Nero's words with a bit of seriousness in his voice, "It's better that way. We need to defeat them no matter what so we can insure the salvation of the world. Our days of blindly following Keel for the absurd dream of mankind becoming one is over! You made me realize that, Nero. I'm very grateful."

Nero opens his eyes to look at the icon with a bit of curiosity brimming and then puts his right hand down with a content smile taking form while also composing his posture. "You don't need to thank me. You helped me a lot when I was little, grandpa. This was the least I could do to pay you back for taking good care of me back then."

The man chuckles, obviously being pleased by Nero's words and then says with a casual tone, "Well, enough gratitude. You have to head back already. Lucas is waiting for you to eat."

Nero makes an expression of realization while smacking his forehead with his right hand. "Shit, that's right! I completely forgot!" He quickly lowers his right hand and lightly leans towards the icon with a calm expression. "I'll be there in half an hour."

The man simply responds while trying to hide his amusement. "We'll be waiting."

Unit 06 and Nero hurriedly fly off to head back to the 1st Branch with impressive speed as the scene changes to focus on NERV's Central Dogma. Kaworu and Asuka had returned from their respective Evas while still wearing their plugsuits. In Shinji's case, he had been requested to go to the clinic to be examined by Ritsuko for her to try to figure out why he failed to synchronize with Unit 01. Due to her concern for Shinji, Mari had gone to the clinic to see if he's alright. In the meantime, everyone in Central Dogma have their eyes on Kaworu, which includes Gendo and Fuyutsuki as they're both at Gendo's counter-like desk.

Kaworu looks at everyone and says with a composed tone, "I know what SEELE is using so that even their members can pilot Evas." He briefly pauses to take a deep breath with his eyes closed and turns his attention towards Gendo while facing him. " It is because of the Surrogate Core Unit."

Misato gives Kaworu a concern look with her head slightly tilted to the left as she stands at a small distance from Kaworu's right. "Surrogate Core Unit?"

Gendo says afterwards with a firm tone while being in his usual pose, "So that's the name he gave it."

Misato immediately snaps her head to Gendo with surprise being shown while concern continues to be present on her person. "You knew about it?!"

Gendo responds while having only turn his eyes to gaze at Misato, which can't be really seen since he's wearing his glasses. "In a matter of speaking, yes. But it was a failed product that I had highly doubted would ever be completed without risking the pilot's life."

Kaworu cuts in with a bland tone. "That was what you thought with the Crusher System and look what happened."

Gendo veers his attention back to Kaworu with an indifferent expression. "True. What I thought before to be impossible is starting to be our greatest threat."

Kaji adds in while standing to Misato's right and looking at Gendo. "Not only that, their Evas can fly without wing attachments... And apparently, with SEELE members being their pilots, those Evas are more precise and dangerous than ever."

Kaworu turns his eyes towards the right to look at Kaji and replies with his usual, polite tone. "Indeed. Which is why I am going to tell you everything I know about their plans."

Asuka gives Kaworu an annoyed glare with both arms folded together as she stands to his left. "We'll see if your information is good or not. I have some doubts."

Kaworu smirks, looks at Asuka out of the corner of his eyes and puts his hands together while they're lowered in front of him. "Do not worry. It is." He then returns his focus to Gendo with seriousness taking over. "To start off; SEELE's plan is to cause Instrumentality, which is the 4th Impact."

Kensuke takes a step towards Kaworu while standing behind him with Rei to his left and Touji to his right. While doing that, curiosity can be seen on Kensuke's face as he asks, "How do they plan on doing that?"

Kaworu calmly turns to his right, which has him facing Misato, and stands sideways while making eye contact with Kensuke. "They need a Medium to initiate it. Just like 3rd Impact."

Misato's eyes widen slightly with worry emitting. "Wait a minute!" She then leans towards Kaworu a little. "Who are they planning to use as a Medium?!"

Some sadness can be seen taking over Kaworu's expression as he looks at Misato while separating his hands to have them next to his sides. "The same person they used for the 3rd Impact; Shinji and Unit 01."

Misato's eyes narrow with seriousness being displayed as she thinks, "Those bastards..."

Meanwhile, Asuka gives Kaworu a dirty look while slightly tilting her head to the left in the attempt to see his face. "So they can't do that until they have Unit 01."

Kaworu turns around to face Asuka while placing his right hand on his waist. "Actually, there are two other ways to initiate 4th Impact, but since Shinji and Unit 01 have been used once before for Instrumentality, SEELE would prefer to use someone who they know will work."

Touji cuts in with a bit of confusion showing while scratching the left side of his head with his left hand as Hikari stands to his right. "I don't get it. If they really want to do that Instrumental thing, wouldn't they use the other two ways?"

Kaworu looks at Touji and responds with mild nervousness being displayed. "Well, the other two options happen to be quite inconvenient for them to use."

Curiosity arises from Fuyutsuki after hearing what Kaworu said. "What exactly was inconvenient about them?"

Kaworu focuses on Fuyutsuki. "I do not know very much about one of them. Keel chose not to tell me and decided not to use that option." He then smiles with a small amount of arrogance arising. "And in the case of the other option, that option betrayed SEELE and destroyed their former base."

Asuka's eyes widen with surprise as her attention is still on Kaworu while thinking, "He means Nero!" Her entire being is promptly filled with sadness as her head drops and the red-head's bangs shadow her eyes.

Misato sees Asuka's reaction, which causes her to be a bit sad for a moment, and then turns her gaze to Kaworu with a hint of skepticism showing. "So Nero was another option. What a coincidence."

Kaworu glances at Misato while maintaining his smile. "It is clearly not just a coincidence."

Gendo adds in while looking at Misato without changing his pose. "He's right. If Shinji can be used for Instrumentality, then Nero obviously could as well." He lowers his head a little without taking his eyes off Misato. "But Keel most likely didn't want to take the risk of using him."

Kaji responds while putting his hands into his pockets as he's watching the Commander. "That has to do with what the Medium is granted during Instrumentality. He can decide whether for mankind to become one or not."

Asuka gives out a fake laugh. "Then those guys are really stupid! Do they actually think that Shinji will do what they want?! Did they forget what happened last time?!"

Kaworu looks at Asuka while putting his hand that was on his waist down. "I normally would have agreed with you, but after Shinji almost caused 4th Impact not too long ago, I am fairly worried that SEELE are not as stupid as you may think."

Asuka grits her teeth with annoyance brimming and then yells out, "Well we don't need to worry about that! There's no way Shinji's going to be used by those bastards!" She then lifts up her left hand and points at herself with her thumb being close to her face. "They'll have to get through me, first!"

Hikari looks at Asuka with amusement while putting her left hand on her hip and thinks to herself, "Is it just me or does it seem like Asuka's acting more like her old self?" She then giggles lightly to herself.

At the same time, Misato smiles after hearing Asuka's words and nods in agreement. "And you won't be the only one they'll have to get through." She then suddenly becomes sad while lowering her head. "I just wish Nero was still alive to help."

Sadness quickly returns to Asuka's face as she puts her hand down and drops her head down to stare at the floor. Meanwhile, Kaworu makes a surprised expression while remembering something and then takes a step towards Misato with his left hand lifted up a little. "You just reminded me. I need to tell you about my fight with Nero."

Asuka's head immediately snaps towards Kaworu with concern brimming. "Your fight with who?!"

Kaji answers Asuka's question with a delicate tone due to him being worried about her reaction to what he's going to say. "Well, the thing is. Kaworu was the one Nero fought in Unit 03 and..."

Asuka's completely baffled due to knowing what Kaji's trying to say and then glares at Kaworu with rage overflowing while pointing at him with her right hand. "You?! You're the reason he's dead!" Asuka quickly marches up to Kaworu with her right hand down and gets her face extremely close to his while desperately trying to hold back her tears. "You bastard!"

Kaworu nervously smiles with his hands raised up in front of himself while waving them a little with his eyes closed. "No, no, no! Let me finish!" He opens his eyes to look at Asuka as she maintains her face close to his. "Nero is not dead."

Everyone's instantly in shock while trying to register into their mind what Kaworu had just said. Gendo then gets up with both hands placed on his counter-like desk while thinking, "Nero... Isn't dead?" After that, Gendo narrows his eyes with a serious look appearing and thinks, "Then that proves it... Nero can't die as long as..."

Gendo's thought remains incomplete as shock continues to have hold on Asuka. She then snaps out of it while rapidly blinking and shouts out afterwards in disbelief, "Wait, what?! He's...! He's...!"

Kaworu lowers his hands while sincerely smiling at Asuka. "Yes, Soryu. Nero is indeed alive."

Asuka quickly responds with concern all over her face. "Then where is he?! If he's alive, then where is he and why hasn't he come back yet?!"

Kaworu gently replies while taking a couple of steps back to distance himself a bit from Asuka. "Calm down, Soryu. He is in America with Unit 06."

Gendo hears Kaworu's words and thinks with his eyes narrowing behind his glasses, "Unit 06... Nagisa mentioned that it was the Eva that he had piloted to defeat Nero. So, if it's with Nero, what exact role did Keel have plan for an Eva like that?" He then makes a slightly disgruntled expression while thinking, "I'll have to ask Nagisa about that Eva in private later."

Kaji cuts in on the conversation while regaining some composure. "But didn't you say that Unit 06 was too damaged for you to bring it?"

Kaworu turns his head to the left to look at Kaji from behind himself. "I did, but that has nothing to do with Nero still being alive. I also never said that he was dead. I was actually going to tell you, however, SEELE attacking kept me from telling all of you until now." Suddenly, Kaworu hears mild heaves and turns his attention back to Asuka.

Asuka silently cries to herself with her head lowered and hands clenched. "He's actually alive." She then quickly wipes away the tears with her right hand and lifts her head up while happily smiling.

Kaworu smiles back at Asuka with his eyes shut and head tilted to the left. "Yes, and you will see him very soon."

Asuka continues to happily smile as the others watch on with the same happiness residing within them and being displayed. The scene then changes to focus on the clinic room that Shinji, Mari and Ritsuko are in. Ritsuko's looking through some papers that she has attached to a clipboard with her back turned to Shinji and Mari. As she does that, Shinji had changed back into his school uniform and now sits on the left side of a bed with Mari sitting to his right as they are holding hands.

Mari has her head rested on Shinji's right shoulder and peers at him with worry resonating within her eyes. "Listen to me, Shinji. Everything's going to be okay. So just be happy."

Shinji doesn't respond to Mari's words as he's staring at the floor with dull eyes. This causes Mari to worry even more as she tightly holds onto Shinji's hand with both of her hands while thinking, "I don't know what to say to him. What would Asuka do when he's like this?"

Ritsuko turns to face them, gives one final glance at the clipboard and then focuses her attention onto Shinji with a professional demeanor. "There's nothing physically wrong with you, Shinji... And psychological-wise, there isn't much." She momentarily looks behind herself, places the clipboard behind her with her left hand while returning her attention to Shinji and says in a somber tone, "The only thing that I can come up with is that either Unit 01 is rejecting you like Unit 03 did with Touji or..."

Mari removes her head from Shinji's shoulder while straightening her posture and asks with a concerned tone, "Or what?"

Ritsuko looks at Mari with a hint of disappointment brimming. "Or that Shinji is rejecting Unit 01."

Mari's eyes widen from shock for a moment due to what she just heard until quickly setting her sights on Shinji and sees that the brown-haired boy continues to stare at the floor without even reacting to Ritsuko's words at all. It's as if he didn't even hear what Ritsuko said and this causes a hint of concern to appear on Mari's face while asking, "Shinji?"

Shinji doesn't react to Mari's words either as he sits there motionless, which Ritsuko notices that and causes her to become fairly concerned with her posture bent towards the two children. She then grasps the 3rd Child's chin with her right hand and makes him look at her. Afterwards, Ritsuko's concern greatly increases due to her seeing that the light in Shinji's eyes is gone and yells out in a panic, "Oh my God!" She hurriedly snaps her head to look at Mari while letting go of Shinji's chin. "How long has he been like this?!"

Mari gives Ritsuko a worried look while leaning towards her. "Since I got here! Why?! What's the matter?!"

Ritsuko responds with urgency as she straightens her posture. "He lost conciousness!" She then turns away from Mari and grabs her clipboard. "Quick! Lie him down! I need to check him again! He passed out for no apparent reason!"

Having heard Ritsuko's words, Mari gets off the bed while holding onto Shinji by his shoulders and lies him down on the bed. As Mari does this, she's overcome with even more worry for her boyfriend and leans towards him with her hands on the bed. Mari then shouts out while desperately holding back tears due to how worried she is about him, "Shinji! Please, wake up! Wake up, Shinji!"

While Mari continues to plea to Shinji, within Shinji's mind occurs a memory that had been long forgotten up until the 3rd Impact had reminded him, but still wasn't completely regained. This memory had occurred a few days after his mother's death. Shinji was three years old and he was in a park that he hasn't been in since that day. He's knelt down inside a sandbox with two girls, who are about his age and are quite unattractive in appearance. They're currently working together in building a pyramid that resembles NERV's pyramid. The reasoning for this is unknown, but it isn't really what matters at the moment. Suddenly, the two girls are called by their mother and they immediately say their goodbyes to Shinji.

After that, they leave with Shinji being all alone as he continues to work on the pyramid a bit longer. He then stops, probably because he had finished, and gets up on his feet. Having done that, Shinji stares down at the pyramid for a brief moment with a look of disdain on his face as his hands are clenched into fists. He then suddenly kicks the pyramid with his right foot while tears can be seen forming underneath his eyes as he cries softly to himself. After few seconds of crying to himself, Shinji wipes his eyes with both hands and gets on his knees. Once he does that, the brown-haired child starts to rebuild the pyramid while heaving lightly and does his best to hold back his tears.

As Shinji does that, a boy suddenly appears standing on top of an area that's to the left of Shinji while quite a few chairs reside in that area and cement steps not too far from the right of the boy that lead into the park. The area is elevated higher than the ground that's in front of the boy, which is where the park is located, and seems to be the most convenient way to exit the park. The boy then says with an insensitive tone, though sounding quite amused as well, "That was pretty stupid. What was the point in knocking it down if you're going to just rebuild it?"

Shinji's eyes widen with surprise after hearing what the boy said and then slowly turns his head to the left. He sees the boy standing with his arms crossed and is so baffled by the fact that the boy looks almost exactly like him that he stutters while speaking. "W-Who are y-you? A-And why do y-you look like m-me?"

Nero smiles at Shinji while slanting his head towards the left. "It's because I'm your twin brother. The name's Nero."

Shinji becomes a bit confused with his left eyebrow raised. "T-Twin?"

Nero uncrossed his arms while straightening his head and confidently nods at Shinji. "Yep. That word means that I'm your sibling that looks like you."

Shinji continues to be confused while facing Nero with him now on his feet and his head tilted to the right. "Sibling?"

Nero lightly knocks on the top of his head with his right hand's knuckles while his left eye is closed and his tongue's stuck out in a playful manner. "Oops, my bad. I forgot that your vocabulary is very limited at this age."

Shinji's confusion doesn't stop due to not being able to completely grasp why Nero said what he said. Then, Nero decides to put his hand down and gives Shinji a faint smile. "Sibling means brother or sister. Twin means that we were both born on the same date and look the same, but in our case there are small differences about how we look. So we aren't completely identical."

With that said, Nero turns his attention to the steps and calmly walks down them as Shinji watches him with curiosity being displayed. Nero promptly stands to Shinji's left, gazes at the torn-down sand pyramid for a little bit and then looks at Shinji out of the corner of his right eye with his left hand on his waist with mild amusement showing, "So, why did you destroy it if you're going to just make it again?"

That question surprises Shinji as he continues to face Nero for a moment and then narrows his eyes with a hint of anger taking over his expression. Right after that, Shinji turns towards the pyramid with his head lowered as his bangs shadow the 3rd Child's eyes and says with hatred dwelling within him while trying not to cry, "I... I was very mad at it."

Curiosity can be seen on Nero's face as his head's tilted a bit to the right. "You were mad?"

Shinji nods his head and then says with his voice cracking up a bit due to him having reached the point of crying, though it can't really be seen except for the tear that's going down his left eye, "I was m-mad... B-But after I destroyed it... I-I became sad."

Nero responds to Shinji's words with no real emotion being displayed. "That's why you're rebuilding it. You wanted to make it again because before, that place gave you happiness."

Shinji quickly looks at Nero with his eyes being revealed as he's a bit shocked by what Nero said. He then slowly lowers his head while it's facing towards Nero as he's on the verge of breaking down. "N-Nero..."

Nero's a bit bewildered by Shinji while pulling his head back a little. "Wow! I only said my name once and you still remembered it!" He then leans towards Shinji while smiling brightly with his eyes closed. "You have a pretty good memory."

Shinji looks at Nero again, but with eyes filled with tears and sadness completely consuming his being. "Nero... If you're my brother, then we have the same mom?"

In response, Nero gives Shinji a somber look while having lost his smile and nods. Shinji then says with a hint of sorrow mixing in with the sadness, "Do you know that she's gone?"

Nero's eyes immediately become dull after hearing what Shinji said and casually turns his eyes towards the left to look away from Shinji. "I know, and that's why you are mad at the pyramid."

Shinji turns his head to face the pyramid and slowly nods his head. "It took her away, and now I'm all alone."

Nero lightly chuckles, looks at Shinji and quickly wraps his left arm around Shinji's neck while resting it on his brother's shoulders. This action completely baffles Shinji as he snaps his head towards Nero with wide eyes. Nero then says while looking down at the sand with cheerfulness all over his face, "Don't worry! You have me!" He looks at Shinji with a joyful smile. "I'm here for you, Shinji. I'm your brother, and as long as I'm alive, you'll never be alone."

Shinji continues to be baffled by Nero for a moment. He then smiles with complete happiness radiating from his person. "Really?! You'll always be here with me?!"

Nero's eyes gleam with sincerity as he and Shinji face each other. After doing that, the black-haired boy says with determination, "Whether I'm here or not, doesn't matter, little brother. All that matters is that I am alive and that you know I exist." Nero then crosses his arms while tilting his head to the right a bit. "As long as you know that, you can get through life."

After saying that, Nero lifts up his left hand while straightening his head's posture and sticks out his index finger in front of him. "Because everyone just needs at least one person to give them meaning to their life. One person is enough to live."

Shinji's bewildered by Nero's words as a small gust of wind passes by and makes his hair flutter towards the right. After that, Shinji smiles again and says with a slightly optimistic tone, "Okay. Then I should be happy, right?"

Nero quickly grabs onto both of Shinji's hands and shouts out with a cheerful tone while having his face really close to Shinji's face, "Of course! What's the point of us being in this world if we can't be happy?!"

Shinji gets a little nervous due to the way Nero responded, but can't help but to be amused by it. "You're right."

With that said, they both laugh with their eyes closed for a small amount of time. After they stopped laughing, Nero had let go of Shinji's hands and is now looking towards the hill's steps with a calm demeanor. He then turns his head to look at Shinji, who's behind him, and nonchalantly says, "Well, it's time for me to go."

Concern quickly takes over Shinji's expression as he takes a few steps towards Nero. "What?! Where are you going?!"

Sadness fills Nero's eyes as he stares down at the floor. "Dad is sending me away again. I'm going back to that place that kept us apart and kept us from being a family." He then clenches his right hand tightly while anger emits from him. "I have to go back to that place that I'm cursed to go just because of me being smart."

Shinji continues to look at Nero with an insecure expression due to the fact that he's already leaving after only knowing his brother for a brief amount of time. Nero then shuts his eyes, takes a deep breath, turns sideways with his left foot towards Shinji and happily says, "But I'll be back! I have to protect my little brother and I can't do that if I'm not here, now can I?!" He chuckles lightly due to him being amused by his own words.

This causes Shinji to be a bit stunned for a moment and then smiles as he takes one more step towards Nero. "You promise that you'll come back?!"

Nero lifts up his hands and places them behind his head. "Of course. It may take a while, but I'll come back someday. I swear." He then removes his left hand from the back of his head and points at Shinji with confidence brimming. "Just promise that you won't forget me! It's important that you remember that you are never alone!" Nero pulls his left arm back and points his thumb at himself. "Because you have a twin brother that will watch over you. Both physically and mentally. That's the special bond that comes with being twins."

Shinji's happiness rapidly returns and nods at Nero while his eyes begin to water from the happiness he's feeling. "I promise! I won't forget!"

Having heard that, Nero places his left hand behind his head again, turns away from Shinji while contentedly smiling with his head down and thinks, "Please don't forget me, Shinji. Because I'll definitely won't forget. Even with this anger I feel towards you 'cause you at least got to spend time with mother."

Nero looks up at the blue sky that currently has very few clouds and starts to walk away while softly saying to himself, "But I can feel the pain that you're feeling. So I can't hate you forever for something so insignificant." He closes his eyes while a tear comes out from his right eye and goes down his face. "I love you, Shinji. If I can, I'll keep you safe from the pain and protect you as long as God allows it."

As Nero keeps walking away, Shinji watches him with tears rapidly going down his face and then desperately tries to wipe them away with his eyes closed. The reason he does this so desperately is because he believes that those tears are keeping him from being happy. He really wants to try to be happy since he now knows that he has someone who cares about him, and that person even happens to be his brother. A sibling that Shinji thought he didn't have, but now that he knows that he isn't alone, he can feel some hope for his life and future. So with that, he continues to cry with his head lowered while trying to stop himself due to him not comprehending that he's crying out of joy this time and that these tears are alright to shed.

Meanwhile, the elder Shinji that is having this remembrance is watching the younger version of him crying at a small distance behind him. He then turns his focus towards Nero with a dull expression and sees that his brother is walking away. The elder Shinji's lips start to tremble with tears starting to run down his face as well. "T-This is what I-I forgot. For the longest time, I forgot him..." Shinji then remembers the words Nero had yelled to him during their fight. The words "You forgot our promise!" were repeating in Shinji's mind.

The rage and betrayal that Nero had felt was understandable right now. Shinji then tilts his head back, hands grabbing onto his hair and head with his eyes shut and pure sorrow consuming him. "I forgot him!" He drops to his knees with his head planted on the grass as he claws at his head while being angry at himself. "Why?! Why, why, why?! Why did I forget?! I promised him that I wouldn't and I did!"

Continuous memories of Nero rushes through Shinji's mind as his sorrow deepens. He then pulls his head back while firmly holding onto it still with both hands and slams it against the ground. This causes him a significant amount of pain. "I'm so pathetic! I let my anger get the best of me! I let Nero get killed! I can't pilot Unit 01 anymore! Mother abandoned me just like father did! I'm not important! I'm worthless!"

Suddenly, a child's voice says to Shinji with a caring tone while standing right in front of him, "You don't have to feel like that."

Shinji's eyes widen immediately after hearing those words and then slowly lifts his head up with a stunned expression. He sees that the child who said that is his younger self and then asks with a vague tone, "What do you mean?"

The younger Shinji responds with happiness gleaming within his eyes. "Mother loves us. She would never abandon us. All she's doing is giving us space until we decide to let her back in."

Surprise quickly takes over Shinji's face while he says softly, "She's waiting for me?"

Younger Shinji nods while smiling brightly. "Yeah, and Nero's waiting for us too!"

Shinji becomes confused by the younger version's statement. "What? But he's dead."

Younger Shinji shakes his head with it lowered momentarily while his eyes are closed. After doing that, he looks at his older self and says with confidence while both of his hands are clenched next to his body, "Can't you feel him?! He's alive!"

Shinji looks at the younger version of himself with a dumbfounded expression while thinking, "Feel him?" His eyes then widen as a heavy feeling dwells within his chest and causes him to hurriedly snap his head downward. At the same time, Shinji places his left hand on top of his chest while faintly saying, "Nero..." He smiles while looking up at his younger self and removes the other hand from his head to put it down on the grass. After doing that, Shinji gets up on his feet and looks down at his younger self and says with confidence, "He's still alive."

Younger Shinji nods at him again. "Yep. Remember, we aren't alone. We're definitely not alone anymore. We have so many people to fight for. To love and care about. We can't give up now. No matter how painful it is. We can't deny the pain. We can only live with it and be happy."

After hearing those words, Shinji smiles with his head slightly slanted to the left. "You're right." He opens his eyes while straightening his head's posture. "Thank you for reminding me."

Younger Shinji happily responds with his eyes closed. "You're welcome."

With those final words, Shinji slowly wakes up as he's lying on the clinic bed. He's a bit out of it because of him just waking up and all he can do is glance around the room without much effort of moving his head. After doing that, Shinji sits up on his bed and continues to look around. Then, Shinji's suddenly tackled by Mari, who had jumped onto him from his left while yelling out his name. This had caused Shinji to drop his back onto the bed again while Mari lies on top of him.

Mari yells out of happiness while her head's buried into Shinji's chest as her hands tightly hold onto his shirt, "Shinji, you're awake! I'm so happy!"

Shinji looks down at Mari while being stunned for a moment. He then smiles while resting his head on the bed's pillow and stares at the ceiling. "I'm sorry that I made you worry."

Mari lifts her head up and quickly slaps her lips against Shinji's. This greatly surprises Shinji since he didn't expect such an action, but he has no complaints as he enjoys the feeling that comes with it. Mari then stops, suddenly takes off her glasses with her right hand, places her hands on Shinji's cheeks and looks deep into his eyes. "I love you, Shinji Ikari! Please don't leave me like that again!"

Shinji blinks in a confused manner due to the suddenness of Mari's words and then smiles with confidence arising. "I would rather die than leave you, Mari."

Mari smiles happily and gives Shinji another passionate kiss with her eyes shut.

Shinji returns Mari's affection without hesitation as he thinks with his eyes closed, "I have too much in this world. I won't leave it. I won't run away like before."

After a few seconds of kissing, Mari stops kissing Shinji and separates herself a little from him by placing her hands on each side of the bed that's near Shinji's head while saying with happiness overflowing, "And there's good news! Nero's-"

Shinji quickly cuts her off. "Alive? I know."

Mari's surprised by Shinji while pulling her head back a bit. "How do you know?!"

Shinji confidently smiles at Mari. "Because I'm his brother. It's as simple as that." He closes his eyes again while smiling with pure happiness on his face.

*Scene Cuts To Black*

To Be Continued...

Brief Statement:

Did I surprise any of you? Nero's still alive and things are starting to pick up. I put a lot of emphasis on Shinji and Nero's past. I even revealed the promise between the two brothers. If any you guys realized it, I used the memory that Shinji had during the End of Evangelion with him being in a sandbox after his mother's death. I decided to make that the setting of Nero and Shinji's promise while successfully not changing anything about the memory that occurred prior to that meeting. I hope you all enjoyed the episode. The finale is getting closer and closer, so look forward to that.

That's it. Talk to you all later.