Aslan Ends (Part 2)

Aslan

"No, this’ll be the nail in the coffin for keeping things secret," I hear the Brigadier mutter softly to himself, shaking his head in consternation, clearly NOT at all happy with the coming storm of public upheaval. "Do hope we can break it to the masses without a blind panic…"

To be honestly frank, the man should be down on his knees thanking God that he should be IN any shape or form to HAVE to handle the upcoming storm of public outrage and possible backlash. And if not God (though He did have a hand in this, working through Rei and her sisters here I am sure), then at least the man (and all his compatriots from both UNIT and Torchwood) should at least show more appreciation for the girls . . .

Hm, perhaps when I finally allow the White Queen to reveal the now healed Little Sister after I brace the others here they'll be more appreciative of the young women. If not that at least Sarah Conner will be MOST appreciative to learn that her soon to be in-laws had rescued the poor girl, especially when the said girl happens to the secretive twin sister of John here! The one who'd be the actual source of the Human Resistence's strategic genius and such, I should have you know.

John's smart, but he hales . . . Uh, later...

Sigh, keeping one's cards close to one's vest is all fine and well here but with the end of the Terminator threat you'd think that Sarah would open up more to potential allies and such, but sometimes bad habits die hard with you humans.

Anyway, as for the Brigadier and UNIT? Back to that...

Even IF their world had somehow miraculously been able to break itself out of the downward spiral into oblivion (and the unfortunate few to survive it fated becoming eldritch abominations outside of space and time), then they would have faced the fate of something akin to being exhibits to a sideshow by the rest of the descendants of humanity. The human empire which spanned several galaxies by the time of Rei’s intervention is not exactly the most . . .enlightened towards those less "advanced" as they. The original Earth would have been seen as little children needing guidance and control in ALL things. Rather patronizingly and heavy handed, I dare say even by most standards.

That said…

. . .

The Time Lords of their old reality had used their vast powers and sciences to basically time clone on a large scale that particular Earth (their whole solar system in fact) and after "editing" out the disruptive time anomalies from the cloned world’s timeline (a process too involved and frankly draconian to discuss in this sitting) and set the cloned world back in the original’s place and placing the original away in a far, remote and hard to reach corner of the universe inside basically a "schist" in space time. The original would eventually break through into the void between space and time, but the rest of the universe would be spared.

…

Good and well for the rest of that reality at large but one must admit it was rather of little to no comfort to the original world, I should have you know. But the Time Lords had been too embarrassed by the Doctor’s meddling there and felt the efforts needed to put things right after all that was too great so instead. . .

But then again, I suppose it’s only human (or in this case Time Lord nature). Sigh.

But where the Master had eventually been sent on what had been sold to him as . . . we shall forgo the lessons in morality and such. Not my usual style but we DO need to be moving along and . . .

!!

Blood… We need to move more quickly than I had thought! See, THIS is why I had hoped that Rei would have brought along those apprentices of her’s: the elfin women. In THIS case the Chaos Energy that unfortunately Astra the gryphon is spewing out as a font right now due to her exile--treachery in the ranks for the throne, typical of that particular branch of Aqualaria—is even MORE potent that the sister who’d taken the throne had ever dreamed (or wanted). Champions, because of their odd duality, being beholden and bound to BOTH the Office of Chaos and the Office of Order can in THIS case (an exception to the norm) at as a buffer and sponge, weakening the spike to something . . .reasonable.

If I don’t work quickly, the whole of England here could find itself suddenly into a land of oversexed doxies!! I had wanted to change the fate of England—the one still fighting World War II, not the Brigadier’s England—to avoid the fate that it had originally been doomed to befall it.

I was going to be BLASTED if I was going to allow the Pevensie children to ever return from Narnia after they’d come there. To have done otherwise would have been an act of . . .cruelty. THAT had been within my authority and providence, even MORE so than every advantage I had lined up (every gift and whispered insight from beyond) for that battle with the White Witch of Narnia. The old Hag never stood a chance with how the odds had been manipulated by ME, but I wanted more.

As a quick aside--pardon me as I still craft this quick Transportation set of spells here-- I could not change the Pevensie’s old world from being doomed to a dark future, but I could have spared the children that. Even with a little bit of . . .bending of rules I was going to bring the remaining Friends of Narnia over after they died (an event soon approaching, I should add). Humans being mortal and all that they would be reborn in Narnia and live a bright and free future.

Plans and contingenciesy, something that came to be null and void (and unneeded) with the Champions coming into the scene. They bent the skeins of fate away from England becoming . . .Landing Field One (yes, the same land of infamous novel Nineteen Eighty Four).

Through Rei’s rather desperate actions to save the Brigadier’s Earth that fate can be avoided (and would be in EVERYONE’S interest on both worlds if it was avoided).

IF I can get the Transportation spells OUT before . . .!

Now, as an aside…about Astra the gryphon.

Yes, those who had become accursed by being thrown into the Well of Chaos (a mystical portal to Game 3 from Astra’s world if you must know) usually never return and IF they return, the means by their return leaves them . . .tainted in one way or another that would bar them from the throne. Either strange bad luck follows them the rest of their days (the Chaos energy residue the cause of it) so for the good of the Kingdom the afflicted are cast out, no matter what ranking and privileges they had before, doomed to wander the outlands forevermore. Other times they come back transformed.

In Astra’s case the transformation effected her mind and spirit as well as body. She cannot see herself as anything but being a gryphon forevermore and would fight to the death to avoid being returned to humanity. With the aurora of command that Sidas seems to be a be able to cast out naturally . . .her being a born leader of men (and women) . . . Something clicked within her avian/leonine mind and instinctively she sees the White Witch of Ainran as the leader of her flock/pride.

She’d follow her into the Gates of Hell willingly.

That aside, the Chaos Energy is still coming off Astra still. Not quiet a Font of Chaos like how Scott Chen would be, but still much a potent mess. She was able to twist things about on a smaller scale than Scott could. Scott could and had the dire ability to alter . . . Well, a LOT, like entire worlds. AT worst, this last spike from Astra will be able to rearrange something "only" the size of England, if not stopped. Something that nobody below the power level and skills in bending/twisting space/time of Aslan could accomplish, maybe a few well versed Time Lords with proper gear, but few others besides. Oh, ever notice how Narnia time has NO real correspondence with Earth time beyond both flowing in the same direction: foreward? That’s Aslan’s doing, he’s a great time bender and could bend time BACK on itself if it suited the situation. But that’s by the by and not important.

What IS important is what happens, which isn’t exactly as Aslan had been aiming to accomplish: transport a newly minted (and available through prior agreement with the Rules and Agents) Champion HERE. The Agreement would allow for the Rule and Agents (a who were on Overwatch even at this very moment as required for not only Validation Quest but ANY Quest) brief the newly minted Champion of the final details of this Validation Quest Rei’s newest sisters (and brother in law, John Conner) found themselves on. That and said newly minted Champion would also be JOINING the Quest (and thus would be enough to play the needed buffer/attenuator for the remaining Chaos Energy).

But a bit of leaked Chaos Energy had to throw a slight curveball into the mix. It caused the Transportation spell to veer off and connect with somebody NOT a Champion, but with instead a high potential of sorts; somebody with a gravity of fate on them, able to change the course of the human race (or END it). And that same bit of energy somehow got a bit ahead of the Transportation spell…

It causes the poor young girl to have "something" of a flash of foresight, a glance into the future. Or to be more accurate a flash of the past which was playing out yet AGAIN (and again and again and again) for time was looping back upon itself here. The poor young girl (merely fourteen, barely onto the path of womanhood but who’s figure was showing promise) screamed in horror as the young girl realized . . .the young boy, the only person at NERV who had ever shown real concern for HER and not just what she could DO for them, was NOT suited to decide the fate of the world. Neither was she suited for deciding how Instrumentality/Third Impact should play out, but Shinji Ikari would turn out to be too . . .shattered by everything he’d gone through here at the last (as well as the strain on the mind the ACID trip Instrumentality could be to a person experiencing it). Conclusion: somebody else would have to do it; take over her responsibilities, her duty.

Looking around the First Child (currently a giant due to having MERGED with the Angel Lilith) weighs each person within her view in cavernous Command chamber and only finds one worthy, only one possible person, who was currently screaming herself after having been touched by her, an Angel.

Some had been too nihilistic. Some had been all to willing to throw in with those who WISHED Instrumentality to occur. Some where too damaged in one fashion or another so it had to be Maya Ibuki had to do. Even IF she seemed to have something for . . .Dr. Ritsuko Akagi, she was the sanest one of the lot here by a LOT.

Not waiting for Maya to stop screaming, the poor young woman gasps as she feel POWER enter her and a soflty worded plea from the First Child to above all else . . .save Shinji Ikari’s life for he was still precious to the First Child for more reasons than the young girl seemed to understand.

Then as the now shrinking First Child falls back and begins to feel her very body start to tear itself apart, the dueling nature of human and Angel not at all compatible and no longer being held at bay by either drugs or the powers she’d had just seconds ago, she gasps in shock as she feels the Transportation takes place and she finds herself going . . .elsewhere.

Now, this at first blush looks like a fiasco and maybe even something that the other Offices (mostly the Demons’ Office) would object. But the thing here is that for so LONG this and other worlds like this branch of Earths kept on going through loop after loop, never letting go of those who died or lived. Nothing gained by either the forces of evil OR good and both sides were actually bloody well SICK of it, thank YOU. Putting the First Child back would undo the Collapse of the time loop both sides had been wanting and dreaming about for so LONG . . .but this Transport Spell was only meant for a Champion.

The Rules and Agents are still somewhat befuddled in the end when quiet vocally both sides tell the Celstrial entities to either take the First Child and make her a Champion or take her and shove it up their . . .

Uh, the later sentiment was expressed by the representative of the Demons’ side of things. The representative of the Angels’ side of things was more polite (but almost as exasperated over the whole deal).

Well, they needed a Champion here. . . .

And she was so . . .sincere in a way. Something about her just made a person want to take her and protect her. That and the Guardian who’d been assigned the poor girl since the beginning (in all her incarnations) really wanted the poor young girl to have a BETTER future than what she had been faced with up until now, and had been rather persuasive in her appeals…

It had been partly due to who and what she had been in her former mortal life, in another (less accursed) timeline that had driven her appeal, but then again . . .Rei Ayanami (aka the First Child) from the franchise had always been something of a "moe" so of COURSE it was in play now, kind of anyway.

But the First Child (who gets renamed Yin for various reasons including something of a fit of whimsy) is still something of a basket case. They have enough time to sort her out but it IS something of a rushed job, but still it is something of a life altering experience all the same for Yin, both in mind, body, and soul.

Her Guardian angel perhaps being the MOST life altering, point in fact, if one should be truthful but more for that in a moment, but let us just say that it explains where she gets a certain rather familiar looking cross charm necklace that looked rather like a "plus sign" from Basic Math. At least Yin faired better in meeting a real Angel than Tabris, who’d nearly had a nervous breakdown…

Anyway, after that first encounter (which if nothing else put Yin in the proper frame of mind) she then met her first (but not her last) Rule and Agent, who after offering her a way OUT of her endless death and rebirth went about redoing her in both mind and body (for she was something . . .of a mess).

Pausing after having the still somewhat befuddled Yin shrink back down to human size, the Rules looks aside at something only he can see. Bowing to what has to be since he KNOWS who Yin will be soon teamed with so nod and "go with it". Without even a gesture, the Rule causes wings of purple hue the same shade as a certain Operations officer back at NERV (as well as a certain Guardian Angel) sprout from her back. Sky blue hair darkens to match her wings, lengthens and gets bound up in a high ponytail, bound by to lacquered hair chopsticks. She finds herself suddenly again clothed, despite af ter having shed every article of clothing in order to prepare herself for the last ritual before Instrumentality, dressed in a gothic Lolita dress with white trim again the same shade of purple as her hair and wings (which she blinks as she notice they have a slight bio-luminescent glow). Blinking, she reaches up hestitantly and finds that her ears are now pierced with stud ear rings. Then she blinks again and then gasps as a sense of strength and HEALTH as she’s never remembered in her entire life floods through her being…

. . .And THEN . . .

Then, her mind is awhirl as the odd being dressed in a grey suit before her begins speaking with her, mind to mind, touching and guiding her to . . .resolve the issues of her life to something that would make her a more ABLE to cope. Able to actually LIVE a life instead of merely exist passively as she had before . . .

And if this is the price she must pay in order for her to have real and appreciable bonds with human beings, to have an honest to God noble goal in life (and not some bright and shining lie like the Commander had given her), then she’d do it.

And . . .things WERE making more sense now, that chat (or whatever) she’d just had with the Rule (and Agent from time to time). They had cared, but it had seemed a bit . . .rushed.

It’s brief and to the point but an offer is given and . . .she finds for some reason she still wants to have . . .connection with humanity. A bond. A bond that as a Champion she could have like she thought she had while in her second incarnation….

She was a Champion now for . . .powerful entities (that were piers of her Guardian Angel of all things!) and she had that Bond! She now to give a briefing at the "final details" of a "Validation Quest" for some group of people and then join them in completing it. That and she was to live with them for the rest of her life…

The basic Quest, as she’d been told, was to basically end a dangerous situation (a "zombie apocalypse" scenario) threatening a small pocket universe/world, which happened to be a mirror image of a popular Christian based fantasy story that Yin . . .had never been allowed to enjoy growing up. The zombies (or That had been the Quest in general. IN particular the key to success for this Quest was to find and rescue the "Newest Little Sister" Elizabeth (who was the key to space and time running amuck and fusing the underwater 20th century cities of Rapture (both Bioshock 1 and 2 video game fame) with the floating air city of Columbia (of the game "Bioshock Infinite") and do it before the barriers keeping the zombies corralled in their areas break down, somehow…and invade the land of Ainran.

(Author’s Note: The current Queen there had some fallback plans by trying to recruit some aid from UNIT and such, but Yin will find oout about that later…)

This Quest sounded noble enough, but the young girl had to admit a bit of trepidation over the part of just "joining up" and living with a bunch of strangers just like that, without even getting to know them beforehand.

Wouldn’t that be imposing on them? She was still a bit foggy on some social mores but was pretty sure that would be an issue, right?

With that running through her mind the young clone girl almost misses the Rule and Agent smiling slightly as if they know something she doesn’t, and her Guardian Angel --who’d been known as Misato Katsuragi in another reality from hers, one that reflected more then manga than anime—smiling softly at with her which could only be called an angelic smile (no pun intended).

The odd glowing gauntlet that appears on her left arm is hardly noticed before she finds . . .her location changing (and herself flatfooted . . .again).

And then the place where she had been, a void between worlds and between the ticks of the clock, is replaced by another room: a Victorian living room found in the better to do places in the United Kingdom to be exact. That and this room is filled with the oddest assortment of folks, she must say!

The bemused (but somehow pleased) looking young Westerner boy over on her left as he’s looking down at what appears to be the reversal of the norm for proposing marriage as Westerners do it. Usually it is the man who is on bent knee, holding up at what looks to be a wedding ring and not the reverse. That would have usually been noteworthy of her attention any day of the week, usually, even by the oddities she lived in back in her old life.

The odd looks most of the adults are giving each other Yin will find out later had more to do with an earlier visit from the very same Rule and Agent where the young man known as John Conner (the one being proposed to right now) had successfully become a Champion through his Bond with Yuki.

For all intents and purposes John was already married to Yuki, with this "Becoming One" business earlier. The guy’s love for Yuki was very true and VERY permanent, and therefore it was safe for John to be inducted into the ranks (false relationships/loves to get into the ranks resulted in death for the inductee).

THAT business (as well as a visit from beings of almost supreme cosmic power) had really rattled some folks here. Celestrial entities of that magnitude had an effect on us mere mortals, folks. Just lets leave at that, okay? But even that wouldn’t have drawn Yin’s attention more than the adults, the creatures from fantasy (the giant lion and the GRYPHON to name a few), and the young Westerner teen was the OTHER winged females in the room!

So Yin's still tear streaked face (having managed to compose herself enough up until that momment a stoic mask to better face her fate) had begun scanning the room, and finds them drawn to various things and such for various reason (curiousity if nothing else at first) when . . .

But what draws her attention are the oddly familiar faces that are looking at her, and Yin found her jaw dropping as something entered her hear and grow . . .very very WARM. As before in a different scenario with an aborted Instrumentality, so again does the Bond of family (of sorierty) form between former pilots of EVA Unit 00. Yin’s soul still somewhat . . .plastic and malleable?

No, those are the wrong words.

It would be better to say her soul and heart are very receiptive right now, it Bonds with the other winged women in this room. In this case, Yin at age fourteen find herself the young sister (albeit being only a year younger than Yuki and Tabitha).

Well! In any case, the soul of Yin (formerly known as Rei Ayanami, and in another life as Yui Ikari) is bond now and forevermore to her new sisters. She’s never met them before but somewhere in her heart of hearts at some level she knows . . .these are her kin. Never alone. Never alone again… And as for one particular sister’s soul, she’d follow her to the very gates of Hell itself because . . .

1. "Your soul," she whispers softly in Japanese, reverently. "It shines so brightly!"

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