| Neo Genesis Evangelion: End of Sakura's World <Death> People were running to and fro, yelling over all the explosion in the background. "Commander Mizuki! 5 hours before the operation!" An assistant announced. "Got it," A young lady with long brown hair answered. She patted a child's head. "Don't worry. You guys won't die. Because I'll protect you...." Her blood dripped on the sleeping child's face. A female and male child were covered with bloody bandages, sleeping uneasily. She closed the hatch of the pod that they were contained within. "Survive for me, will you...?" <3 monthes before that> An explosion. "Get outta my way!! A boy, about fourteen years in age, shouted. Eyes of the mecha he was boarding in lit up. "Shaoran!" A girl's voice came through his transmitter. "Got it!" Two mechas jumped up to the air. Their kick hit a strange-looking entity's chest. With a crack, a glass dome loacted on its chest broke. Two mechas heavily landed, both of the pilots breathing heavily. "Why...for whom... for what...am I doing things like this...?" The boy murmured, closing his eyes. He leaned back, tears wetting his face. 'Eva 01 and 02, no serious damage suffered. Both pilots are in acceptable condition. Angel, in a state of coplete silence. "Almost mechine-like voice announced. "Shaoran..." A girl said, sad expression filling her face. <7 monthes before> "I heard we'll have a new pilot," A girl said, waving her feet in the air. She brushed back her long black hair out of her eyes. "Hopefully, the kid ain't as grumpy as you are, Ayanami." A girl with long, wavy purple hair looked up. "Ah, leave poor Tomoyo-chan alone, Meiling-chan," A girl with short brown hair cut in. Meiling shurgged. "I still don't get how you can get along with her, Kinomoto Sakura." The door to the central room opened. A boy with brown hair and big brown eyes uncertainly entered. "Is this....?" "If you're gonna ask if this is the eva pilots' common room, you've came to the right place," Meiling said. "Nice to meet you..." He said in a flat voice. "My name is.... Ikari Shaoran." <A week later> "This sucks! I hate staccatos!" Meiling said, glaring at her piece in disgust. "Well, our performance piece doesn't have any staccators, so don't worry," Sakura said, smiling as she adjusted her chin on her violin. "But violas and violins have so many freakin' arpeggios! Cellos and flutes are so lucky," Meiling retorted, sighing. "Um, if you dislike it, we can ask the teacher to change our piece..." Shaoran started out uncertainly, fingering his cello. "Aw, screw that," Meiling said, placing her viola underneath her chin. She flipped her music pieces until she found her performance piece: Bach's Cannon in D-major. <5 monthes later> 'You!" A young lady cried, slapping Shaoran. Shaoran looked startled. "Mizuki Oneechan...." "Do you even know what your duty as a pilot is!" "Well, we won! That's all that matters!!!" Shaoran screamed back. Mizuki suddenly stopped. She sounded tired. "That's enough....go back to your room and rest..." "Yes ma'am...." Shaoran walked out. His eyes looked strangely blank. <10 hours after that> The train arrived. Shaoran blankly stared at it. "I'm not needed anywhere...the only person everyone needs is an eva pilot....not Ikari Shaoran." He started to board it. "Shaoran!" Shaoran turned around. MIzuki stood, breathing heavily. "Oneechan..." NERV people questioningly looked at her. "Thank you, you can leave now, " She said. She turned to Shaoran. "Shaoran, please reconsider leaving. "Why?" He asked. "The door will be closing," A mechnical voice announced. "Because we need you." Shaoran dropped his bookbag. The train door closed. "You're part of our family. We'll be sad if you leave." "Oneesan...." Tears started to run down his cheeks. "I...I don't wnat to return to my previous home!" Sakura and Meiling arrived to see the train leaving. "We were too late..." Meiling said, trying to stady her breath. The train cleared out of the station, revealing Mizuki holding Shaoran in a tight embrace. "What the--!" Meiling started. "Thank goodness.... it seems that Li-kun is staying," Sakura said, smiling. <A month later> "How's the cello piece coming along?" Sakura asked Shaoran. He shrugged. "Okay, I guess." They stopped as Shaoran's mother approached, walking briskly. She passed them without a word. 'Um....!" Shaoran started. She turned around. "What is it, Shaoran?" "If it's oaky with you.... would you... like to have lunch..." "Sorry, I have other appointments," She said, turning around and walking away. Sakura noticed Shaoran's hurt expression. "Oh, Shaoran...." <9 monthes later> "You have to kill me, Shaoran," A boy with gray hair and red eyes gently said. "How, how coule you! I thought you were my friend!" Shaoran screamed, his voice trembling. Tears were flooding his face. "In this world, only the fittest survive. If you're not strong enough to destroy me, you'll be destroyed in turn." "Yukito...I don't want to kill you...." Eva's hand that grasped Yukito slightly shook. "I can't kill you!" "Then is it okay if us angels kill off all the humans? Sakura-san, Tomoyo-san, Meiling-san, Mizuki-san... is that what you want?" "Nooo!!!" Shaoran protested, shaking violently. "It is your duty to get rid of us angels!" Shaoran numbly stared at his best friend. Bitter smile spread across Yukito's face. "Like how you've always destroyed the angels... get rid of me! Because that's what I am!" <7 monthes later> "What...what are these things?" Sakura asked, shivering. "Synthetic bodies for Ayanami," Nakuru said, looking at the empty bodies in the tank without emotion. "Tomoyo-chan...?" "Tomoyo is made out of sould of your mother and bits of angels." "WHAT?!" Sakura stared at the bodies with disbelief. "My...my mother?" "Since her sould has so many bodies to return to, Ayanami will never die. She can fight on forevr." "But that's wrong! Tomoyo is not a puppet! You can't just control her like that!" Sakura protested. 'You're right," Nakuru agreed. She pressed a button. The bodies instantly dissolved into a mass of tissues. "Why...?" "The end is coming," Nakuru said, looking at the tank full of remains of synthetic bodies. "It's about time us humans stop playing the role of a god." <3 monthes before that> "We have a new pilot!" Sakura said, running into the pilots' common room. "The child's name is Yukito. He looked really nice." Tomoyo did not look up. "Did you already know about this, Tomoyo-chan?" Sakura asked. "Yes." Tomoyo curtly replied. "What a b.." Meiling started. "Stop it, Soryu Meiling!" Sakura scolded. "Yukito? That sounds like a guys' name," Shaoran said. "Or is it a girl?" "He's a boy," Sakura replied. "He's coming right now with Mizuki Oneechan." The door slid open. A boy, about fourteen years in age, came in. He looked very friendly with his big red eyes, silvery whie hair, and big glasses. "Nice to meet you all," He said, sweetly smiling. "The name's Kaoru Yukito." <8 monthes before that> "I heard Commander Li really favors you?" Meiling asked Tomoyo, sarcasm dripping down her voice. "I wonder why, as you're not even that good at piloting eva?" "What do you want to know?" Tomoyo asked, turning around to leave. "Look at me when I"m speaking! Ayanami!" Sakura held Meiling's hand. "Stop it! Mei!" She glared at Sakura. "FINE!" She screamed, storming out. Sakura sighed. "I wonder how we're going to get along with her.." "If they command me to get along with her, I'll do so," Tomoyo said in her flat, unemotoinal tone. <Back to the scene of 9 monthes later> "It shouldn't be too bad," Yukito said, looking up at Shaoran with a cold smile. "After all, if I had to kill YOU, I'd gladly do so. What a weak wuss you are. You will not survive. You'll let everyone die too, to boot." Cruel laughter. "SHUT UP!" Slash. That's all it took, after all. Silence. Shaoran dropped Yukito's decaptitated body, trembling uncontrollably. <Silence... BGM: Bach's D-Cannon in Major> <Survival> Sakura got up. Every part of her body was aching terribly. She weakly fell down again. Darkness.... darkness spread endlessly around her. "You mustn't sleep, Sakura." A sweet voice.... she knew who it was, the one.... if he died.... the world blacked out. "Sakura! Sakura!" Shaoran said, shaking her. He gave up and lifted her up in his arms. He gasped. Puddle of blood... the wound she got when her eva was shot through the heart by the last angel was still not closed. He ripped his shirt and tightly tied her wound. Tears started to flood his eyes. "Please don't die--!" He tightly held her. "I don't want to be alone anymore...." Tomoyo was rapidly blowing up. "The synthetic body is absorbing... all the lost souls..." Mizuki said, desperately trying to fix Eva 02's broken nerve connections. "Meiling...." Meiling looked up. "Please go into the pod! Apparently Tomoyo will not return to get into the pod with you. Get in now!" Meiling shook her head. "You'll die!" "I'll be all right..." Her hair hung loosely around her. Her red plugsit was terribly ripped and she was severally injured. She looked anything but okay. "I can board Eva," Mizuki said. "I command you as your supervisor! Get into the pod!" Meiling suddenly reached up and kissed Mizuki's cheek. "Oneechan... I love you... more than I did for my mother who was to weak to live on... my mother who abandoned me and had commited suicide..." She suddenly pushed Mizuki aside and got on Eva. "Good bye." "No! Stop it! Mei!!!" Mizuki screamed, pounding on the entry plug. Evangelion stood up and walked away. "Ayanami!" Tomoyo turned around with her blank expression. "We go to hell together!" Meiling shot forward, her knife ready. It went through her shoulder. Meiling anxiously watched her. Tomoyo simply regenerated and continued to get larger. "Oh no..." Tomoyo suddenly attacked Eva 02. Meiling deperately fought back, but she knew it was a losing fight. Her eva got thrown back and crashed on to the NERV's base. She felt Eva's nerve connections starting to be cut off. She wiped blood away from her eyes. She tried to stand, but she fell back. Tomoyo grew bright. That looked familiar.... how angels looked before4 they attacked.... right... this was the light of death... Meiling saw a flash of light. Shaoran stared, as if he was in a trance. "That's..." It was Tomoyo, growing larger and larger. She was swallowing all the pain and sorrow, still growing...growing.... He lifted Sakura up in his arms and started to walk back to the base. No, he wouldn't make it. He lost too much blood and twisted ankle did not improve things, either. But he had to try..because... Blast. He saw Tomoyo emitting a light, same as those that angels emit. And thing that was being blasted was... something red... He heard an unearthly cry escaping his mouth. "NOOO!!! MEILING!!!" Shaoran started to run. Crack. He fell down on his face. His ankle was nice and broken. He stood up and started to run again. It was more like hopping on one foot. Sakura started to feel heavier and heavier. The base came into the view. Just a little more.... Mizuki silently watched as Eva 02 exploded. She collapsed to the ground. 'Tomoyo, please stop it..." She said, sobbing. "All you lost souls.. that's enough.... stop entering her body.....nearly everyone's dead already..." The door to the base flew open. She sharply looked up as Shaoran entered. "What are you doing here?!" She screamed. "Get back to the pod!" "It seems that the explosion had made a crack in the pod, so all the sleeping gas escaped," Shaoran said, giving her a crooked smile. "I'll fight and die." He looked around. "Are there any evas left?" "No there aren't!" Mizuki snapped. Shaoran handed Sakura to her. "Take care of her, will you?" He started out for the only eva left in the base. "No! That one is in experimental stage!' Mizuki cried, tryingto stop him. "It's okay," "It's not okay!" What's the use of dying?!" Shaoran looked up with a bitter smile. "Can you tell me... can you tell me what's the use of living?" "But you're.... one of the last human species to stay alive," Mizuki pleaded. "Besides, that eva needs two people to operate." Without words, Shaoran lifted Sakura up and started to shake her. "Sakura...Sakrua!" "What the hell are you doing?!" Mizuki asked. "Wake up. Oi, Sakura!" Sakura opened her eyes. "She's half-dead," Mizuki coldly said. "She's not dead yet," Shaoran replied. "Before our world gets completely destroyed... will you fight with me, Sakura?" She weakly smiled and nodded. "Go ahead, if you wish for death so much, I won't stand in your way," Mizuki said, turning away. She was trembling. "Bye, Oneechan," Shaoran and Sakura hugged her turned back. They left. "How is your synchro?" Shaoran asked, adjusting the cockpit. "0.0002% error. Not bad." Sakura replied. "If we can't synchronize with each other, that's the end," Shaoran said. "Are you okay with that?" "of course," Sakura replied. "There shouldn't be much difference between synchronizing with you and Eva, anyway." Shaoran smiled. "Let's go!" "Tomoyo-chan!" Tomoyo looked down at the approaching eva. Without words, she started to attack. "Stop it! Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura pleaded. "That Tomoyo is not the Tomoyo we know of! That's just an empty shell!" Shaoran snapped. "Just try to find the critical spot! If she can act like an angel, she must have a critical weakness point!" "But!" "In this situation.... either we kill her or she kills us! It's called do or die! Stop bringing up your pathetic idealogy at times like this!" Sakura felt tears running down her cheeks. "Why....why are we forced to fight like this...?" Tomoyo attacked them. Eva hesistated, then got thrown against a tall building. The building collapsed, eva rolling out from underneath just in time. "Because we have nothing else we can do with our lives," Shaoran answered. "Since this is what fate assigned us... let's do our best!" "Shaoran...." Sakura wiped her tears away, then nodded. Tomoyo started to glow again. Her long purple hair was flying around her, making her hauntingly beautiful. "If... if I"m with you, I believe there is no such things as "impossiblities"..." Sharoan said. His eyes met with Sakura's. She smiled, her bright green eyes full of tears. "That's right...anything will happen, so... surely everything will turn out well! Everything will be okay! If we can all be together!" The eva jumped into the air. In one smooth motion, its feet crashed through Tomoyo's chest. She stopped glowing. The eva heavily landed on the ground. "Sakura-chan.." Tears started to flow from Tomoyo's beautiful purple eyes. Sakura looked away, biting her lips so hard that they started to bleed. "I don't want to be alone... why did you do this to me, Sakura-chan..?" Tomoyo closed her eyes. "Am I alone again..?" Silence heavily settled. "The entity is in a complete state of silence," An assistant said, taking his headphones off. "The eva is..?" Mizuki sharply inquired. "Not much damage done, except some nerve disconnections. However, the pilots are in a rather critical condition." "Bring them here and send them to the emergency room immediately," She said, slowly sitting down on her chair. "So was the NERV project successful after all..?" Suddenly the screen beeped. "Attempt to reach the eva failed! Eva rejecting signals; it is impossible to bring it back!" The assistant said, panicking. "What?!" The entity showing movements again!" Another assistant cried, alarmed. "Increasing in kinetic energy..and thermal temperature dramaticallly rising... it's going to explode!!!" Mizuki bitterly smiled. "I'm too tired to fight anymore...." "I killed her...." Sakura numbly said. "I killed Tomoyo-chan...." "We had no other choice," Shaoran said, gently hugging her. She was weeping uncontrollably. "Everyone died! Everyone.." She clutched Shaoran desperately. "Please don't die, Shaoran! Please...I..." Shaoran broke down. Tears escaped his eyes, falling onto Sakura's already wet face. "I won't die... because I need to protect you now..." Sakura suddenly looked up. Something was....glowing? "Tomoyo is glowing again?!" Sharoan asked in disbelief. It was too late to do anything. A bright blast whited everything out and engulfed the Earth. Pieces of metal were floating around. There was nothing left on the Earth. Even remains of death had disappeared beneath all the dust, which was heavily and silently settling. There were only complete silence and darkness and.... nothingness. The eerie stillness was broken by something emerging from the rubbles. Shaoran stood up, coughing violently. He fell back down. He gave up and lay down. As his focus cleared, he realized.... that there was nothing. "Sakura..." He sat up. "Sakura!" He started to dig through the rubbles frantically. His hand touched somehting. He pulled it out. Long brown hair..." Mizuki Oneesan," He said in disbelief. her corpse felt cold. "Onee..san..." He blankly stood up. "Why...why am I still alive?!" Tears.. did he actually have more of those left in himself? By then, he thought they had all dried out... doesn't matter anyway; nothing matters anymore... He started to walk... to where? Did that matter? At distance.... something was coming. Closer and closer... Shaoran couldn't trust his eyes. He just reached out and held the blood soaked child in his arms. "Sakura... the world ended," He sobbed. He felt her warm tears soaking his cloth. She felt real... the Sun was rising, lightening up this dead world. Maybe... this wouldn't be the end of the world... Perhaps it's a good things he had survived. After all, isn't life better than death? <The End... or is it The Beginning?> Why are we living? That's the major theme of Evangelion... the purpose of life, human's relationship with each other, human's reaction under certain stresses of environment.... "Even as I reach out to you, your image fades out... what I wanted to touch was your heart. What I felt was your cold skin. The fading warmth, the warmth that fades out as it grazes my fingers gently..." But living certainly is much better than death. You can always hope to improve your life while living, right? So let's all cheer up and live our life to the fullest! Things do get bad, but they can always turn good! ^_^ |