Words from the Author:

Just to get it over with, Neon Genesis Evangelion's the sole property of Gainax. I continue to make no claim of owning anything pertaining to the series, manga and movies. The only thing I can say I own are the characters I created. It's as simple as that. Enjoy the episode. Something surely is bound to happen in this episode. So... Head's up!

Episode 28: Chaos Begins To Unfold

It's the final day before the highly anticipated confrontation between NERV and SEELE that will end everything once and for all. Although, NERV's side has no idea that's going to happen as what's to be expected on that day is a party for Shinji and Nero in celebration of their 16th Birthday. During the entire day, preparations and ideas were being devised for the party that will take place tomorrow while at NERV, by good fortune, all Evas have been cleared for the next attack from SEELE, which includes the new addition to the team, Unit 06. As this was achieved, the Commander was not around to witness the Evas' completed repairs due to having enclosed himself in his office without allowing anyone to enter, even Fuyutsuki, and not answering a single call. The reason being the simple fact that both his sons had stood in front of him and rejected his depraved method of them being a family once again.

In the meantime, Shinji and Nero were forced out of the apartment to get groceries, however, the two brothers knew that it wasn't the real reason they were sent out. Even with that fact, they didn't mind it at all and ended up taking a detour on the way back home. They now stand in front of their mother's grave with both holding two small bags of groceries in each hand as they're surrounded by numerous rows of graves that had replaced the originals due to them having been destroyed at some point in the war against the angels.

Shinji, who's wearing light blue pants and a white polo shirt with a light blue stripe above a brown stripe that both horizontally run across the center of the shirt, stares at the tombstone with a distant expression while standing to Nero's right. "You know that mother's not here, right?"

Nero, who's wearing black pants and a white collar, short-sleeved shirt that instead of using buttons it uses individual white laces to tie the shirt close while there's a small, grey circular design on the upper left side of the shirt, calmly nods with his eyes on the grave. "Of course. She's with you in Unit 01." He then smirks while looking at Shinji out of the corner of his eyes. "That's why you are so lucky, Shinji."

Shinji turns his attention to Nero with a bit of surprise and then nervously smiles. "I'm not that lucky."

Nero returns his gaze to the grave with a peaceful look taking over. "But you are... Mother has always been there to help you." His eyes are overcome with sadness. "I guess she had to until I decided to do what I'm supposed to."

Confusion appears on Shinji's face as he cocks his head slightly to the left with his smile no longer present. "What you're supposed to?"

Nero responds with a somber tone while briefly having his head down. "Yeah... I'm supposed to protect you, Shinji. That's what mother always wanted from me, but..." He turns his head to lock eyes with Shinji while feeling very pitiful. "I left you all by yourself. When you desperately needed someone, I should've been there to help. You had to deal with so much pain and didn't have anyone to depend on. I'm really sorry about that."

Shinji shuts his eyes, shakes his head in disagreement and then focus his attention onto Nero with a reassuring smile. "No, Nero. That's not your purpose. You don't have to blame yourself for stuff that happened when you weren't around. Anyway..." He turns his body to face his brother with sincerity resonating in his eyes. "You said it yourself. No matter how far apart we are, we will always be connected." Shinji then displays a hint of contempt and frustration with his head lowered for him to stare at the ground. "I should be the one apologizing right now for forgetting those words and our promise."

Nero contentedly smiles with his head slanted to the left while facing Shinji as well. "But you remember now. That's all that matters to me. All I ever wanted from you is to know that you'll never be alone." He then chuckles with mild disbelief while turning his head to the right to divert his eyes from Shinji. "Which means what I just said earlier totally contradicts my reasoning for feeling guilty." Nero returns his attention to Shinji while shrugging with an amused smirk. "Damn, I feel stupid."

Shinji softly laughs while raising his right arm up to his right side as it's slightly bent upward. "Well according to Asuka, now you know how I feel on a daily basis." He lowers his right arm and puts his hand into his right pocket.

Nero nods while trying not to laugh. "I guess." He faces the tombstone while still smiling and then tilts his head back to peer at the sky. "You said I was wrong about my purpose, right?"

Shinji nervously grins with his eyes turned away from Nero as he lifts his left hand to scratch the back of his head. "Y-Yeah, but I-I'm not saying you shouldn't do w-what mother wanted." He then reverts his gaze to Nero with some confidence taking over. "I'm just saying, don't think that protecting me and keeping me from being alone is your only purpose."

Nero stares at Shinji without moving his head while being a bit amazed by his brother's words until his expression becomes cold. After that the 7th Child lightly lowers his head to gaze at the floor while thinking, "If you only knew the truth..."

With that thought completed, Nero mildly chuckles before cheerfully smiling with his eyes shut at Shinji. "You're absolutely right." He then lowers his head again, however, this time to look intently at the grave. "My purpose isn't something so simple, but it isn't something I should stress about too much. As long as I know what matters to me, I know what I need and want to do."

Curiosity arises from within Shinji. "And that would be?"

Nero sticks his tongue out at Shinji while turning his head to the brown-haired boy and winks with his left eye. "It's a secret." He chuckles.

Disappointment with a hint of anxiousness can be seen on Shinji's person as he gets closer to Nero. "Oh, come on, Nero!"

Nero throws his head back while laughing with his eyes closed. "I'll tell you, eventually." He then turns to face Shinji with a content demeanor. "Now let's go home. Everyone has to be wondering what's taking us so long."

Shinji just looks at Nero for a brief moment while being a bit baffled due to his brother changing the subject so quickly and then smirks with a sharp nod. "Okay."

The two brothers gave their mother's grave one final look and say in unison while ignoring the obvious fact that she isn't buried there, "Farewell, mother." They then turn their attention to each other while being fairly surprised by how both said the exact same thing at the same time. After that, Nero and Shinji joyfully smile at each other, turn away from their mother's grave and begin walking.

Right before leaving the cemetery though, Nero stops walking while grabbing onto Shinji's right arm with his right hand and gives him a serious look. "Hold up a second."

Shinji gazes at Nero with some concern taking form. "What is it?"

Nero takes a deep breath before saying with a firm tone, "It's about Mari."

Shinji's concern greatly increases as both of them are facing each other while standing between the last two rows of graves. "What about her?"

Nero responds with intensity resonating in his eyes as he releases his grip on Shinji's arm and puts his hand into his pocket. "There's still a lot you don't know about her. So I suggest you keep an eye on her, but don't intrude into what she wants. If she really loves you, then she'll tell you when the time is right for her."

Confusion joins in with Shinji's concern as he lightly cocks his head to the left. "I don't get it. If there really is something Mari's keeping from me, how do you know?"

Slight irritation shows itself on Nero's expression. "Do you really think that matters? All that matters is how you feel about her, right?" He smirks in a sinister manner as if implying something.

Shinji turns red a little while deviating his eyes to the left with nervousness immensely arising. "U-Uh, yeah."

Happiness radiates from Nero's person as he tilts his head to the right with his eyes shut. "Then that's all there is to it. Just trust me, okay?"

Shinji refocuses his attention to Nero while still a little nervous and nods with a faint grin. "Alright, I trust you."

With that, the two brothers head back to the apartment as the day continues on both in Tokyo-03 and China where SEELE continues to reside until tomorrow. Keel's operation was a complete success and is currently resting as all of the other necessities being done in NERV-China are ready for the big day. At this moment, Zahn's inside the cage that holds not only his Eva, but all of the black and green SEELE Evas that look like Unit 01, which adds up to there being six in total. Zahn stands on the walkway platform that leads in and out of the gigantic room while being in front of Unit 08's face with his right hand placed on his waist as his plugsuit is the same gold color like his Eva.

Zahn faces Unit 08 with a cynical smirk on his face and softly says to himself while being very content, "Tomorrow..." His body begins to uncontrollably shake from the excitement that's consuming his entire being as Zahn's yellow eyes glisten brightly. "I will finally do it... I will kill Nero and accomplish my destiny. The very reason I was created." He slightly lowers his head with his eyes locked onto Unit 08. "I shall make Lord Keel proud and help him achieve his greatest desire."

After saying that, Zahn glances towards the SEELE Evas with a demented look taking over. "And you all with Unit 07 will be the side components to achieving that desire. That's all you are good for." He chuckles in a psychotic manner and then throws his head back with both arms outstretched to opposing sides while maniacally shouting out, "The time is almost here! Get ready, world! Hell and Heaven's boundaries will soon crumble!" Zahn then loudly laughs with an insane expression.

Meanwhile, on a walkway platform that's about thirty feet higher than the one that Zahn's standing on while being further back away from the Evas, Vanessa and Casey are intently staring down at Zahn with a plain demeanor. Casey then turns her gaze to the right to look at her sister with her arms folded on top of the railing so she can rest her head on them as she's wearing a beige/yellow plugsuit that resembles the pink plugsuit Mari has, but without the circular gems and has the ends of her long, wavy hair braided together due to her commonly doing that every time she wears her plugsuit. "Was he like that when we met him a few years ago?"

Vanessa responds without taking her eyes off Zahn while standing upright with her left hand on her hip as she's wearing a purple plugsuit that's just like the one her sister's wearing, but bigger on the chest area due to Vanessa's breast size, "I really don't know. He didn't really talk to us... But I sure didn't expect him to act like that."

Evan suddenly joins them by walking from Vanessa's right with his dark brown and red plugsuit on as a cold look can be seen on his face as he's facing towards the two girls. "That just goes to show that we shouldn't assume when we actually don't know anything at all about him."

Both Vanessa and Casey turn their attention to Evan with slight surprise appearing. Evan then looks down at Zahn, who has composed his posture while staring at Unit 08 again, and says with a hint of anger in his voice, "I swear, Keel put him in such a high pedestal that it was normal for us to expect someone epic. But all I see is a crazy dude that's obsessed over Nero and wants to be praised by Keel."

Casey looks away from Evan with skepticism overtaking her person and mutters, "Sounds like someone else we know."

Vanessa hears what Casey said and giggles with her eyes shut while having covered her mouth with her right hand. At the same time, Evan also heard Casey's remark and glares at her with annoyance brimming. "Oh, shut up!"

Casey smiles out of amusement with her eyes on Evan. "Make me, you egotistical freak. Anyway, you're just mad that you aren't even half the man Nero is."

Evan angrily retorts while leaning a bit towards both girls. "If he's so great, then why did he betray us?!" He then places his right hand over the center of his chest. "Why is he with NERV and not with us?!"

Sadness immediately shows on the two girls' faces as they look at Evan and then turn their gaze away due to not being able to say anything. After that, Evan returns his focus to Zahn with a scowl on his face and his arms crossed while thinking, "That's what I thought."

While Evan dwells within his thoughts, Zahn takes a quick glance behind himself by turning his head to the left. He promptly sees the three children with a sadistic smirk showing and then looks back at Unit 08 while saying to himself, "Pitiful, Lilins." Zahn then places the palm of his right hand on his cheek with a profound amount of ecstasy arising. "Be plagued by your foolish sorrows. Just as long as you don't get in the way of my ambition." He licks his upper lip and then delightfully chuckles.

Zahn's words are the last to be said as the scene rapidly changes to Gendo's office, which still only contains the Commander with Fuyutsuki nowhere in sight. He's been sitting at his desk for several hours with a dazed look while staring at the ceiling without his glasses on as his posture's sloppily against the seat with his hands dangling so close to the floor that they almost touch. The unkempt commander doesn't even try to move as the phone that's attached to his right side of the desk rings nonstop.

Gendo keeps this unsightly composure while muttering, "I mustn't give up... They'll eventually thank me... They just don't understand yet... However, I will open their eyes... I still have a chance."

Suddenly, the old Gendo resurfaces as a firm expression takes form with the Commander slowly getting on his feet while staring at his glasses that are resting on the desk. Gendo then reaches for the glasses with his right hand and puts them on as he turns his gaze to the still ringing phone without moving his hand away from the glasses. After doing that, Gendo casually grabs the phone with his right hand and picks it up to listen through the receiver while asking with a stern tone, "What is it?"

Fuyutsuki's voice is heard from the other end as he says with coldness in his voice, "All the Evas are ready."

Gendo responds with his head cocked backwards to look at the ceiling again. "Did you do what I asked you yesterday?"

Concern can be noted in Fuyutsuki's tone. "You still want to talk to her?"

Mild annoyance takes over Gendo's face. "Yes, Kozo. Now send her over by herself, and..." He tightly clenches onto the phone as his annoyance increases with anger added to it. "The next time you betray me like you did with my own son, I'll make you regret it!"

Fuyutsuki's taken-back a bit by Gendo's threat and can't really reply at first, but manages to do so while restraining the contempt he's feeling within himself. "I understand." He then promptly hangs-up on his end.

Hearing that Fuyutsuki had hung-up, Gendo puts the phone down and places both hands behind his back with seriousness being displayed as he focuses on the automatic door. "There's still hope. That girl still has her own desires she wishes to obtain. I knew I could use her..." He chuckles a little in a malicious way.

Not much time passes by until the automatic door slides open with a female figure walking in and revealed to be Mari, who's wearing a pink blouse with tight denim, grey jeans that are cut-off halfway over her shins. The reason it didn't take long for Mari to arrive was due to her wanting to talk something over with Ritsuko, and by sheer coincidence, Fuyutsuki had found her before she left.

After entering the room with the door shutting behind her, Mari slants her head to the right while standing at a short distance away from Gendo's desk with her hands on her hip and gives the Commander a curious look. "You wanted to talk to me, sir?"

Gendo continues to stand behind his desk with a firm demeanor. "Indeed. It's about what you desire, Ms. Makinami. I can help you attain it... But sacrifices must be made."

Mari's eyes widen slightly out of surprise as she thinks with some concern emitting, "He knows, doesn't he?" Sadness then overtakes her expression while Mari's eyes begin to water as she keeps thinking. "Shinji... I'm sorry..."

With that thought completed, Shinji becomes the main focal point after having gone with Mari to NERV so she wouldn't have to go alone. When they got to the facility's entrance that has a long row of metal doorways, Mari decided to make Shinji wait for her right there since she was confident it wouldn't take her long to come back out. That was no longer the case since nearly an hour had passed from the moment she left.

Shinji's now getting a little worried with his hands in his pockets as he's gently sitting in front of the station where the I.D. Cards would be slid through to gain access into NERV and mutters, "Where is she?" He then shuts his eyes as a sudden memory of the day he and Mari spent together sitting on the roof of their school, which happened to be the same day Asuka was sick.

After remembering that experience, a small smirk appeared on Shinji's face as he slowly opens his eyes with content gleaming in his eyes, however, that doesn't last long due to the 3rd Child suddenly realizing something involving his father. This causes Shinji to quickly remove himself from the component that he's sitting on with urgency taking form and faces one of the numerous entrances while swiftly pulling out his I.D. Card from his right pocket and swiftly swipes it to make the entrance that's in front of him gradually rise up.

Once the door's completely opened, Shinji enters the facility while clearly being in a hurry due to his worry having greatly increased. "I really hope it's not because of him!"

In the meantime of Shinji's pursuit for his girlfriend, Mari continues to be facing Gendo with a stunned expression because of the Commander having just finished telling her something. Then, Gendo decides to walks around the desk to go to the 6th Child and stands so close in front of the European that it's clearly bothering her, however, can't move because of still being very stunned. Afterwards, the Commander leans towards Mari's left ear with his hands still behind his back and whispers, "What do you say, Ms. Makinami? Will you do this for the opportunity to finally get what you've been trying so long to have?"

Mari gulps while looking at Gendo out of the corner of her eyes with stress being displayed and mutters in response, "B-But... If I do that... Then Shinji..." A tear then falls down from Mari's right eye as uncertainty and sadness emits from her person.

Gendo states with a sinister smirk, "There's no need to worry. He will understand once you explain it to him." He then moves his left arm from behind himself and lifts it to gently place the palm of his hand on Mari's right cheek. "To my son, you're the most precious person in the world. I'm confident he'll do anything for your happiness."

Mari suddenly backs away from Gendo while wiping her eyes with her left arm as the commander's hand is no longer on her cheek. She then glares at Gendo with a distrustful look on her face. "I really don't know..." Mari turns her head to the left to look away from Gendo. "I have to think it over."

Coldness takes over Gendo's expression as his right hand that he was touching her cheek with is in his pocket and the smirk he had earlier now gone. "I need an answer from you now. SEELE can launch their next attack at any moment. There's no time to waste. If you don't make the right decision, then there's no hope for you to ever achieve what you desire. You already tried with Lorenz Keel in the past, but got nowhere with him. This indeed is your very last opportunity."

Mari turns her attention back to Gendo and replies with a hint of frustration in her voice. "I get that! But...!" She stops herself from continuing what she was going to say and drops her head.

Gendo maintains his eyes on Mari while clenching his left hand due to anger arising from with himself and thinks, "It's starting to slip away... I must act quickly." He clears his throat before saying with a firm tone, "Ms. Makinami, I shall give you until tomorrow. Do have the answer by then." Gendo swiftly turns his back to Mari. "You are dismissed."

Mari nods her head while briefly staring at the design on the floor. "Yes, sir." She then turns, walks to the automatic door that immediately opens up and exits the room with the door closing behind her. Mari begins to walk down the hall that's to the east of the automatic door that leads into Gendo's office, but before she gets even ten feet away from it, the brown-haired girl instantly stops with surprise showing. It's promptly revealed that Shinji's standing right in front of Mari, breathing heavily with a slouched posture due to him having run a lot as his hands are on his lap and his head's down.

Then, after taking several deep breaths, Shinji lifts his head up to make eye contact with Mari while being fairly exhausted and contentedly smiles. "I knew it... I knew my father was making you late..." He chuckles and then straightens himself to stand upright with a small amount of concern quickly appearing. "So, I guess he did his best to convince you, huh?"

Mari hesitates at first due to the fact that Shinji already knows what had been asked from her by the Commander. Sadness then returns as the 6th Child diverts her eyes from Shinji by turning them to the right while tears try to escape them again. "Shinji... There's something I have to tell you, but... I don't know if I'm ready to actually say it to you. It's something I really want and I would've given up anything for it."

Having said that, Mari softly bites her bottom lip and then continues to speak. "That was until I met you, and now, I have the chance to get it, but you'll have to do something horrible..." She then places both hands on the middle of her chest with one hand over the other. "If I were to ask you to do this, I'm afraid I'll make you mad and lose the only person who's ever made me feel this way." Mari shuts her eyes with mild anger arising. "I don't know what to-"

Shinji interrupts Mari with a confident smile. "I love you, Mari."

Mari hurriedly snaps her attention to Shinji with a profound amount of shock brimming. "W-What did you say?!"

Shinji gives Mari a sincere look with his eyes brightly gleaming. "You heard me. I will always love you, no matter what. And I know how it feels to desperately want something." He then casually walks up to Mari, stops in front of her to place his right hand over the 6th Child's hands that are still over her chest while intently looking into his girlfriend's eyes and softly says, "But I wouldn't want to ever give up any of the important people I have in my life. Especially you, Mari."

Mari blushes quite a bit with astonishment taking form as her heart begins to race and then happily smiles with her beautiful, light blue eyes brightly glistening. "Shinji..." She then shuts her eyes while cocking her head to the right. "You're such a romantic." Mari giggles and turns away from Shinji with her left hand over her mouth while straightening her head's posture.

That comment confuses Shinji as he put his right arm down after having it still extended for several seconds. After that, Shinji gets closer to Mari from behind her while looking over her right shoulder in the attempt to make eye contact with a lot of curiosity radiating from his person. "Uhh... Mari?"

Mari quickly glances to the right to look at Shinji with a devilish smirk and then, out of nowhere, lunges towards him with her arms swiftly wrapping around the young man's neck. She then smacks her lips against Shinji's with her eyes closed as the 3rd Child is completely caught off guard by Mari's actions, but promptly begins to enjoy the kiss with his hands planted on the 6th Child's hips. After a few seconds go by, their lips separate with both children being very content by the exchange of their feelings through that kiss.

Shinji keeps his hands on Mari's hips with the curiosity from earlier resurfacing while giving his girlfriend a light smile. "I'm not complaining, but mind telling me what that was for?"

Mari giggles again while shaking her head out of mild disbelief and amusement. "You really are dense, aren't you?" She embraces Shinji with her eyes shut once more while resting the left side of her head on Shinji's left shoulder. "But that's one of the things I really love about you." Mari then smiles with a peaceful look taking over.

Shinji's briefly dumbfounded by Mari's words, but quickly becomes filled with joy while moving his hands to wrap his arms around her to return the embrace and whispers with his eyes closed, "Thank you. That means a lot."

Mari and Shinji maintain a firm, loving hold on each other until the scene fades out with time continuing on to the point that day turns into night. Though before that, as promised, Touji and Hikari had came over to the apartment to have some fun while secretly taking part in the planning of the Ikari brothers' surprise party. After having plenty of fun for roughly five hours, the couple took their leave once again with another promise to return the next day while hinting to Shinji and Nero that something special was going to happen tomorrow. Now, it's 11:15 PM as everyone except Nero are in their respective rooms, which includes Asuka, who had exhausted herself due having one of her infamous arguments with Touji over the claim that he cheats in video games.

Nero's currently in the kitchen washing the last of the dishes while still wearing the same clothes he wore earlier in the day. After finishing, Nero decides to go into the living room and sits on the couch with the back of his head resting on it as he vaguely stares at the ceiling. Then, Rei walks out of her room with a bland look on her face while wearing a white gown that reaches to her knees and has multiple white rose designs on it.

Rei gives Nero a slightly surprised look while standing in front of the pathway that leads to her room. "Nero."

Nero calmly turns his gaze to the right to look at Rei with a plain expression at first, but then smirks. "Hi, Rei. What's up?"

Rei just silently stands there for a moment without diverting her attention from Nero as she remembers what Kaworu had told her a couple of nights ago about the 7th Child. She then hesitates a little before walking around the couch and stands in front of it while being to Nero's right. "May I sit down next to you?"

In response, Nero sharply nods at Rei and then returns his focus to the ceiling while nonchalantly lifting his arms up to rest them on the couch's back with his head resting on it again. After getting Nero's answer, Rei sits down on the couch as she's facing towards the large television that's still to the left of the sliding doors that lead to the balcony while displaying the usual bland demeanor. There's silence in the room for a few minutes due to Rei contemplating something within the confines of her mind as she stares at the television's black screen.

Finally, right when Rei had turn her head to look at the young man and opened her mouth to say something, Nero asks with his eyes still locked onto the ceiling, "It's nice, isn't it?"

Rei's mildly confused while squinting her eyes a little. "What is?"

Nero sincerely smiles at Rei with his head turned towards her. "To have two brothers and be in love."

Shock immediately overtakes Rei's face as her eyes are wide open and her head's pulled back a bit. Nero then removes his back, head and arms from the couch to lean towards Rei with determination resounding in his eyes. "It's more than nice, isn't it?! It's great! To know that you have brothers that you can depend on and be in love with someone that you have a deep connection with!"

Rei continues to be shocked for a while longer, but quickly becomes offensive and gets a little close to Nero with some discontent showing. "What are you saying, Nero? You are suggesting someone who is not Kensuke when saying that, correct?"

Nero chuckles. "I don't need to answer when it's so obvious. You just need time to come to terms with it, little sister."

Rei instantly blushes with surprise arising and thinks, "He called me... Little sister." She then looks away from Nero with her head slightly lowered and faintly says, "Do you actually mean to call me that, Nero?"

Nero confidently nods. "Of course! Why else would I call you that?!" Then, with both hands, Nero grabs onto Rei's hands and says with a caring tone, "You are my and Shinji's sister, Rei. We love you with all our heart."

Rei hurriedly turns her attention back to Nero while being baffled by Nero's words and happily smiles. "Thank you." She then lowers her head as her eyes slowly begin to water. "When Nagisa told me how you thought of me as your sister, I was delighted." Rei peers at Nero with a hint of concern being displayed as her eyes brightly glisten. "Am I suppose to say those words back to you?"

Before Nero had the chance to respond, Shinji appears behind the couch while looking at Rei with a loving smile. It can be noted that Shinji had changed his clothes to wear a yellow t-shirt and navy blue shorts as he's leaning onto the couch's back with his arms folded. "Only if you want to."

Nero and Rei hurriedly turn their focus to Shinji as some surprise is shown on both of their faces due to the sudden addition of their final sibling. Nero then veers his gaze to Rei once again with a confident smirk. "Exactly. You don't have to force yourself to say it. And considering what I did, I can understand how you could have a hard time feeling the same way. So just be honest and we'll accept whatever you throw at us." He chuckles.

Rei looks at Nero with uncertainty emitting from her person and then turns her eyes to Shinji, who's still smiling at her. After that, the blue-haired girl hesitantly smirks, lowers her head while taking her eyes off Shinji and sees that Nero continues to hold both of her hands in a comforting way. That causes Rei to slightly turn red while being quite amazed and thinks, "This feeling... It is making my chest feel strange... Just like when I am around Nagisa..." Her eyes then narrow out of curiosity and concern while thinking, "But it is different."

With that thought finished, Rei lifts her head up to make eye contact with Nero, who's patiently waiting for the 1st Child's response with a light smile. Rei then takes a deep breath with a great amount of happiness taking over and looks at the two brothers. "I love you both as well."

Shinji and Nero's eyes light-up from immense joy due to being very pleased by Rei's words. Meanwhile, Rei shuts her eyes while tightening her grip on Nero's hands as if she never wants him nor Shinji to disappear from her life and thinks, "The feeling may be different with these two, but it is just as good."

From that point, several minutes go by as Rei had gone to her room so she could go to sleep since tomorrow is still a very special day. In Nero and Shinji's case, they're out in the balcony, waiting for the clock to strike midnight for their 16th birthday to finally arrive. At this moment, Nero's sitting on top of the balcony's railings with his attention towards the sliding door while Shinji stands sideways to face Nero, who's to his left, and rests his left arm on the railing.

Shinji glances at the small, light blue watch he's wearing on his right wrist as the hands point at the time being 11:45 PM and then veers his attention to Nero without showing any real emotion. "Fifteen minutes left."

Nero calmly nods with his eyes maintaining their focus on the sliding door at first, but after a few seconds, turns to Shinji as the 7th Child faintly smiles. "It's kind of funny when you think about the only time we spent this day together was when we were born." He cocks his head back while dangerously leaning backwards so much that he could fall and stares at the Geofront with a plain expression.

Worry immediately appears on Shinji's being as he slightly extends both of his arms out to Nero. "B-Be careful, Nero! You might fall!"

Nero chuckles out of amusement and looks at Shinji out of the lower corner of his eyes. "Thanks for worrying about me, but I have a pretty good grip." He returns his attention towards the Geofront with a spaced-out look overtaking him and says with a vague tone, "Look at all of that. Everything that's right there is what our mother and father worked so hard to create for humanity to have a fighting chance."

Shinji's mildly confused by the meaning of Nero's words and then faces towards the Geofront with his arms now down. After spending a little time analyzing the structures before him, Shinji says with a hint of resentment in his voice as he tightly clenches his hands into fists, "Yeah... Though we ended up losing both of them to that place."

Nero quickly straightens his posture to sit upright on the railing again with his eyes locked on Shinji as a curious look appears. After that, the black-haired boy momentarily closes his eyes, hops off the rail while facing towards Shinji and grins at his brother after opening his eyes. "You might be right, but let's not worry about that now. We'll deal with father once we beat SEELE and try to be a family."

Having said that, Nero briefly becomes silent to turn his gaze to the Geofront once again while crossing his arms over the rail with his body bent forward. "And when it comes to mother, we know for a fact we only lost her physically. She'll keep fighting with us as long as we don't give up on the future."

Shinji intently watches Nero while being dumbfounded by everything he said and then tilts his head to the right while diverting his eyes towards the right with a content smile establishing itself. "You have a point."

Nero snaps his head to Shinji with determination being displayed on his demeanor. "Of course I have a point!" He shuts his eyes and begins to laugh with his head lowered.

Shinji can't help but laugh too with his eyes closed and his body facing Nero as the time strikes midnight at the same time, which had finally brought them a day neither of them would have ever thought they would spend together.

And with that, the previous day officially ends while unfortunately bringing forth what may be the last day for humanity. The first twelve hours go without incident as everyone in the apartment didn't have to go to NERV since it would be a good start to Shinji and Nero's birthday if the children could spend it without having to concern themselves with synchronization test or anything along those lines before throwing the two brother's birthday part that's scheduled later in the day. This was even extended out to Misato, who has gone without a day-off since the beginning of the war with SEELE and was more than happy to take it, which made Kaji fairly happy also since there was very little time those two could spend together because of the Colonel's job.

Though sadly, this supposedly joyous day had to be eventually cut short when over a dozen, cylinder-shaped, beige missiles labeled "Production Model Unit 10" come out of nowhere and descend towards the east part of Tokyo-03 from the currently clear sky. They promptly make contact with the city and caused multiple buildings to blow-up within an instant while creating debris that crashes into countless parts of the area. As a result of this, Tokyo-03's emergency sirens go off, which rapidly escalates panic due to the warning coming a little too late.

In the meantime, Misato, Kaji and the children must act fast so they can get to NERV as soon as possible. But first, the children want to be sure that Touji and Hikari are alright since they do reside in the barracks with their families. It was then decided for the best of their friends' safety and for the good of the city that the children must head to NERV. To help them not worry about Touji and Hikari, Kaji, who's wearing the same set of clothing he usually wears, volunteers to go check on them and ensure their safety.

Unexpectedly, Kensuke makes the decision to accompany Kaji due to him seeing no real need in him going to NERV when Kaworu's most likely going to pilot. Even though there was resentment shown on his person due to the fact that he felt that wasn't good enough, Kensuke put up a strong front for Rei's sake that way she wouldn't worry about him too much. After that, both Kensuke and Kaji exit the apartment while quickly ascending to the upper levels.

At the same time, Misato and the others hurriedly make their way to NERV as numerous amounts of missiles continue to fall onto Tokyo-03. Then, towards the southern outskirts of the city, before those buildings had the chance to submerge into the ground, most of them are sliced in half by the six black and green SEELE Evas that are numbered 02 to 08 excluding the number 04 for obvious reasons while each carrying a wing-shaped blade that matches the Evas' color.

While all of this is transpiring, NERV's personnel are scrambling to determine the city's casualties and try to set-up the defense system to buy time while mild tremors resound throughout the facility because of the destructive force of the missiles. Right at this moment, Fuyutsuki takes the commanding position since Gendo continues to seclude himself in his office and Misato hasn't arrived yet. The Sub-Commander looks at Ritsuko, who's managing the three MAGI brains with frustration being noted on Fuyutsuki's person and asks with a firm tone, "Dr. Akagi, how are the MAGI?"

Ritsuko responds as she's sitting within the MAGI brain "Caspar" while rapidly typing on the laptop she's holding with her right hand. "The MAGI are the least of our problems! We're in a tight bind, and I still don't understand why the MAGI didn't notify us about the enemy's arrival!"

Fuyutsuki plants his hands on the Commander's counter-like desk with his frustration greatly increasing and mutters, "Damn...! This is bad! We were so close to devising our attack on SEELE, but they acted first!" A sorrowful look appears on Fuyutsuki's face as he lowers his head. "And on their birthday too."

Then, without warning, an immense tremor occurs and this causes everyone to desperately hold onto their posts. After that, Ritsuko emerges from the inside of Caspar with concern brimming as she looks towards Maya. "What happened?!"

Maya frantically types with her eyes glued to the screen in front of her. "There's a foreign anomaly located at the western part of the city! We're trying to get an image up now, but there's electrical interference!"

Fuyutsuki grits his teeth out of anger with his focus on Maya while thinking, "That's already three different directions we're being attacked from! And it happened so quick!" He then turns his gaze towards the empty seat that normally would be occupied by Gendo as he thinks with annoyance adding in, "And once again you had to be selfish at such a critical time."

Suddenly, Hyuga receives a call through his microphone and answers it with his right hand over his right ear. He then contentedly smirks, turns his chair to the left and looks at Fuyutsuki without removing his hand from over his ear. "Sir, Colonel Katsuragi and the pilots are almost here!"

Fuyutsuki's pleased to hear the good news until a fairly large explosion occurs and that draws his attention to the main screen that's displaying the area where the explosion took place while showing a lot of concern on his face. "Where did that one come from?!"

Aoba firmly replies without diverting his eyes from his screen while having his face pretty close to it. "That came from the north of the city! We just lost a huge part of the artillery defenses that we had located there! That's what caused the explosion!" He snaps his head up with a stressful look appearing. "Ten seconds until we get an image!"

Fuyutsuki glances to the right to look at Aoba and then refocuses on the main screen as the explosion dies down. After that, it's quickly revealed that what created the explosion is a levitating Eva Unit 07, which still has Evan as its pilot. Unit 07 has clearly been modified to fly since it wasn't capable of doing that during the battle with Unit 03 as the brown and red Eva's appearance remains the same.

With the sight of Unit 07, Fuyutsuki presses his lips together as a bad feeling dwells deep within him and thinks, "It's getting worse and worse. This has to be the final attack that Nagisa mentioned. He did say that the look-alike Evas are meant for the initiation of Instrumentality, and I can assume that Eva is among one of SEELE's strongest." The Sub-Commander then lowers his head and softly says with worry arising, "But who will they use to create 4th Impact?"

That question goes without an answer as the destruction to Tokyo-03 doesn't stop with many unfortunate deaths happening. As that continues to transpire, Misato and the children made it to the facility while immediately going separate ways. Meanwhile, Kaji and Kensuke had managed to find the shelter where Touji, Hikari and their families are located, which is located within the Geofront. There was relief instantly felt by the pair, although it didn't last long since the situation was gravely worsening for both the city and its people.

Taking that into consideration, Kaji had no choice but to make Kensuke stay in the shelter with the others due to not wanting to unnecessarily put his life at risk since there's a good chance that the purpose of the extreme assault on Tokyo-03 is so that the enemy can infiltrate Dogma to attack NERV directly. Shockingly, Kensuke understood and stayed without complaining, even though he was still quite upset that there's nothing he can really do at such an intense moment.

After that, Kaji rushed out of the shelter and heads to NERV on foot because the public transportation that he had taken with Kensuke is no longer active. This is thanks to some short-circuiting that's plaguing certain areas within Dogma and the Geofront. Then, while Kaji's making his way to NERV, he receives a call on his cellular that's in his left pocket and swiftly pulls it out with his left hand to look at the Caller ID. He's so surprised by who's calling that he stops running and then answers his cellular while placing it on his left ear.

Before Kaji has the opportunity to say anything, the person on the phone tells him something and then hangs-up shortly after. Concern can now be seen on Kaji's face as he glances at his cellular, then puts it back into his pocket and resumes his advancement to NERV.

Now, at NERV, Misato has just entered Central Dogma with a serious demeanor, walks to her spot and direct her gaze to the three Lieutenants. "Status report!"

Maya responds while having her chair turned to the right to make eye contact with Misato. "About 40% of the city has been destroyed!"

Hyuga adds in with his eyes on his screen while typing as fast as he can. "And we have an undetermined number of casualties!"

Misato's overcome with rage as her arms are folded together and attention on the main screen that's been split into two so NERV's personnel can see what Unit 07 and the SEELE Evas are doing. After watching the destruction those Evas are inflicting on the city while still not knowing what's causing the damage to the other areas, Misato veers her eyes to Aoba as she desperately tries to maintain her composure. "How long until the pilots are ready?"

Aoba shakes his head while intently reading the information in front of him. "They aren't in the Evas yet, however, there is confirmation they're heading to them as we speak! It shouldn't be much longer!"

Misato impatiently taps her right foot onto the floor while staring at the main screen and mutters, "Come on, guys! After how hard we tried to rebuild and protect the city, are we going to just lose it again?! Just like that?!" She then recalls something and diverts her focus to Ritsuko, who's currently behind the Colonel with her eyes locked onto the laptop that she's holding while typing with incredible agility. After that, Misato asks Ritsuko with a concern and stressful expression. "Hey, Ritsu! Did you figure out how they even got in the city without us knowing?!"

Ritsuko looks up at Misato while being quite irritated as she had stopped typing. "We were hacked! All three MAGI brains were out of commission for over an hour!"

Misato's baffled by what she just heard as she completely faces Ritsuko. "Isn't that suppose to be impossible unless several MAGI are working together!"

Ritsuko nods while trying to calm down. "Exactly. Just like what happened the day 3rd Impact occurred." She then returns her attention to the laptop's screen. "But this was nothing in comparison. There seems to be only one hacker and I'm unable to trace back to the source. Which that should be just as impossible as hacking the MAGI with an ordinary desktop. No one in the entire world can do that."

Misato's about to retort to that statement, but is interrupted by a familiar voice coming through the intercom and says with an emotionless tone, "There is actually one person who could do that."

Surprise resurfaces on Misato's person as she quickly turns to stand sideways with her left foot towards the direction of the main screen while having her head cocked back. "Nero?! You already reached your Eva?!"

Nero answers with no real change to his voice. "Yes, Misato. The others are getting in their Evas too."

Ritsuko inserts herself into the conversation while replying to what Nero had first said with worry brimming. "Wait a minute, Nero! You said there's someone who can hack the MAGI! That can't be!"

Nero, who's wearing his black plugsuit that no longer have the gem-like crosses on his hands due to them having shattered in the fight with Kaworu and takes a deep breath while his head is down as he's already standing within Unit 06's entry plug. "Sadly, there is." He lifts his head up to peer at the ceiling with a serious look on his face and softly says to himself, "And he's the one guy who's obsessed with killing me and ending life as we know it." Sadness promptly dulls Nero's eyes. "What really sucks about that is he can actually achieve both."

Astonishment can be noted on Ritsuko's face as she whispers, "No way..."

At the same time, Misato faces the main screen with her arms unfolded to have them lowered as she tightly clenches her hands out of anger. "I hope you don't take offense to this Nero, but you're wrong! I'd be damned before letting either of those things happen!"

Asuka's voice suddenly comes through the intercom and yells out with a confident tone, "Hell yeah, Misato! I'm with you all the way! I rather let some pervert feel me up than let that shit happen!"

Nero's eyes slightly widen with the light returning as he's quite shocked by Asuka's words while the red-head's image appears on the right side screen with her casually sitting inside Unit 02's entry plug. He then hurriedly looks at Asuka with an amused smile as his and the 2nd Child's eyes meet. Right after that, Asuka playfully winks at Nero with her left eye and then contentedly giggles while some people in Central Dogma are dumbfounded by what they just heard.

Then, Mari arrogantly comments from Unit 05's entry plug with her back resting on the seat and both hands behind her head while unexpectedly wearing the pink plugsuit she wore when she piloted Unit 02. "Didn't you already let that happen when you were with Shinji? You do call him a pervert, after all." She softly giggles with her eyes shut.

Aggravation shows itself on Asuka as she slowly turns her gaze to the right since Nero's image is to her left and gives Mari, who's image just appeared, a dirty glare. "You really had to contradict me, didn't you, Four-eyes?"

Mari happily nods at Asuka with her eyes still shut. "You left me no choice, Princess."

Having listened to what was being said, Kaworu nonchalantly states with his attention on the controls while firmly holding onto them, "You two surely make things amusing. I really do enjoy this type of atmosphere."

Shinji replies to Kaworu's words while being rolled up into a ball with a depressed expression. "For you at least."

Rei tries to comfort Shinji while appearing on the upper screen that's above the main monitor. "Be happy, Shinji. What they are saying about you is not entirely bad."

Nero adds in while doing his best not to laugh with his eyes turned towards the lower left of the entry plug. "But it isn't that good either." He chuckles.

Misato interrupts them by appearing on a small, frontal screen on everyone's entry plug with a composed demeanor. "Enough fooling around, you guys. Your Evas are just about ready to be launched. You all have to act quick before we take anymore severe losses."

The pilots look at Misato's image and nod with equal determination showing. After that, Misato becomes the main focus as she's watching the locations of where the enemy is located on the giant screen and thinks with her arms crossed again, "Now, how do I divide them up...? Thinking back on how Asuka and Kaworu defeated two of those Unit 01 copies, and since Nero said he took care of the other two that escaped, should I send those three to go up against the six in the south?"

Misato pauses to lightly grit her teeth out of frustration and then continues to think. "But then we have that brown and red Eva that seems to be very strong. One Eva might not be enough to beat it, and we still don't have a clue about what exactly attacked the other areas. They're most likely Evas too, however, that doesn't really help us figure out the full extent of their strength." Anger starts to consume her being as Misato closes her eyes, uncrosses her arms so that she can lift them up and places both hands on her head while softly yelling to herself, "Fuck! Think of something, Misato!"

Fuyutsuki stares at Misato as she keeps struggling to devise a plan with a vacant look and then turns his gaze to the main screen. For a moment he watches how Tokyo-03 gradually crumbles with his posture upright and frozen into place. "Katsuragi."

Misato turns her upper body to the right that way she can look at Fuyutsuki with curiosity emitting from her while having removed both hands from her head but still has them lifted up next to her face. "Yes, Sub-Commander?"

Fuyutsuki firmly says while the others in Central Dogma turn their attention to him, "We have depended on the children throughout most of this war with SEELE. By doing so, we survived for this long and had ourselves memorable moments. So, let us continue to have faith in them like you had once so valiantly stated. That's all we could do for them at this point, after all."

Misato's completely stunned and becomes silent just as the NERV members that are before Fuyutsuki are also unable to respond to the Sub-Commander's words. This results in a small amount of time passing while mild tremors erupt randomly as a reminder that Tokyo-03's under attack. After that, Misato breathes in through her nose and swiftly turns her attention towards the others in Central Dogma while shouting with a commanding tone, "You heard him! Launch the Evas and leave it to the pilots!" She joyously smiles. "Because I know for a fact they'll win!"

Everyone in Central Dogma immediately nod in agreement with confidence arising. Then, all of the Evas are launched and reach the surface within seconds. They then get off the launchpad while each Eva stands at a small distance away from the others with their backs to one another and form a hexagon so they can at least assure themselves that a sneak-attack won't occur. As they do that, the children realize that they have been sent to the heart of the city since there hasn't been any actual damage done to that part while every building nearby was successfully submerged.

Unfortunately, Nero seems to suspect something as he's scanning the surroundings from the north of the hexagon with a cold expression. At the same time, Unit 01's standing to Unit 06's left as Nero states to no one in particular while his Eva's holding onto the modified Lance of Longinus with its right hand, "This would seem to be the logical spot to send us, but..." He then peers at the sky without giving off any emotion and thinks, "Zahn most likely did that on purpose."

In the meantime, Rei displays some curiosity while looking behind herself to see Unit 06 due to her Eva being positioned on the opposite side of the hexagon with Unit 04 to her right. "Excuse me, Nero. You personally know who we are fighting, correct?"

Nero turns his head to the left and is about to respond to Rei's question until distress overtakes his face. It's then revealed that Unit 08 had suddenly appeared in the middle of the hexagon while elegantly levitating with its feet right above the ground. After that, Zahn maniacally smirks at Unit 06 while standing on the platform that resides within Unit 08 and says with a content tone, "You finally came out to play, Nero."

In response, Nero desperately swings his body to face Unit 08, which his Eva imitates and yells out in panic, "Everyone, watch out!"

The other children besides Rei, who was already looking at Unit 08's back, instantly react to Nero's cry and see the gold Eva behind them. After doing that, they try to turn their Evas to face Unit 08 but Zahn cuts them off while cheerfully saying with his posture bent forward, "Too late." Unit 08's arrow-shaped visor glows a purple color as an A.T. Field with a Tree of Life etching expands out around itself, collides into all six Evas, and with insane force, sends them flying in the exact directions they were standing while their pilots scream out in pain.

All Evas except Unit 06 crash into the ground after a few seconds of flying in the air since it's the only one out of the six that can levitate and kept itself from falling down. Nero then does a quick double-take between Unit 08, who's fairly far ahead of Unit 06, and Shinji's Eva that's lying on the ground to Nero's right while also being quite far behind him, which occurred because both Evas were sent flying in the same direction.

Afterwards, Nero glares at the gold Eva with a hint of annoyance on his face as Unit 06 maintains a firm grip on the Lance of Longinus. "So I was right. You did set this all up."

Zahn chuckles in a crazed-like manner. "Obviously! No one can do it better than me!" He then straightens his posture while placing both hands on his cheeks and seductively licks his lips. "Except you, Nero..." A demented look takes over as Zahn extends his arms towards opposing sides and maliciously smiles. "That's why I'm going to kill you and enjoy every single second of it!"

*Scene Cuts To Black*

To Be Continued...

Brief Statement:

It's happening! The final battle! Who do you think will come out on top?! I'm actually not entirely sure myself! Either way, please look forward to the next episode. In addition, I'm still working on editting my 2nd Branch story, so it'll be a while before the next episode is posted. I actually wanted to finish my story before this year ended, but things don't go as I have planned and might have to extend my story one more episode than I had originally planned. Oh, well... Can't do much about that.

That's it. Talk to you all later.