Hallöchen friends! It is I, the author!

This chapter was written much faster last one and honestly? I had tons of fun more writing this chapter than the last one. And I'm suprised it's this long, I orginally thought this chapter would be 2k or 3k words but I guess not

Tbh there's nothing really special to say here anymore.

I guess you can find me on Twitter (@Limetchenstuff), I draw and tweet dumb shit.

Anyways...enjoy!

Disclaimer, Evangelion still doesn't belong to me.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

That is the rhythm Kaworu got used to in the past two years he has been training to pilot an Evangelion.

The twelve year old boy - at least bodily - was sitting inside the testplug for the past two hours, a procedure he had to do twice a week in order to have his body be used to the orange liquid the Lillin called LCL - short for Life Creation Liquid

Kaworu didn't have much of an opinion on LCL, it was cold and smelled like blood - tasted like it too. But it helped Kaworu breathe inside the testplug and one day it would continue to do so in the real entryplug.

The liquid had filled his lungs and it's overwhelmingly strong copper-smell had become natrual to him while sitting in the metaltube's seat. The grey-haired boy leaned back in the chair and relaxed as he held onto the controls, his thoughts traveling to all sorts of things or this time a certain behemoth in particular - Evangelion Unit 03.

'Unit 03...', the Eva had been on his mind for awhile now ever since it's construction was finished a few days ago.

A flashback to a few days earlier,

Standing inside the cage belonging to Unit 03 were the giant's creator - at least one of them - and his children, the world's first and currently only Evapilots.

"Impressive eh?", Robin spoke up, gesturing to 03 before him. He was clearly proud of the second Productiontype model Evangelion.

Asuka tilted her head to glance and the armored beast. "It's very..."

"- black.", Kaworu finished for her.

And black it was indeed. To be fair Kaworu would call it a black with a slight purple shimmer in the light - it also had very few white accents in it's armor. It's eyes were unlit and cold, there was no trace of a soul inside the Eva - it's core was empty.

The brown-haired man scoffed at his children's lack of comment, "I'm not a fan of the Evas myself but you could've tried a little harder, you know?"

With a sigh and a roll of her eyes Asuka turned to look at her father, "Oh forgive me father, your masterpiece of science is the most wonderful thing ever!" She was making fun of her father, that was sure.

"Okay yeah fine you don't like the Eva I get it."

"I think it looks pretty cool, papa.", Kaworu tried to cheer his father up.

"Well that's good. You have to pilot it after all.", his father replied while rubbing his eyes.

Now that part caught the young pilot's attention. "Me, pilot Unit 03?"

Robin gave a short nod, "Yeah...you're the only other pilot we have available, so you'll be 03's designated pilot."

'Well that's suprising but not exactly unexpected.', Kaworu thought. Then a new thought came to his mind, a new Eva meant that someone had to make the first contact with the beast - the first synching - and if he was the pilot did that mean he...?No it couldn't be. He was too important to SEELE's scenario to just die by being absorbed by an Eva - the old men wouldn't let him die, not just yet.

So who else would, some poor scientist who doesn't know the truth about the Contact Experiments? But then again, didn't the soul in an Eva require a bond to the pilot? It was all so confusing, it didn't feel right.

"So does that mean...I'll do the first activation with the Eva?", Kaworu asked, he was wary of the situation.

"No you won't. I'm the one who was in charge of it's construction so I do the Contact Experiment.", the man replied, the way he sounded like was regretful and scared.

Asuka and Kaworu both heard that change in their father's tone but tried to ignore it, it and the uncomfortable feeling in their stomachs when Robin mentioned the Contact Experiment with Unit 03.

Kaworu still didn't like this, he doesn't think he ever could like it. If that experiment fails it would result in a case like Yui Ikari's - her Eva had reached a 400% synchratio and took her into itself, her soul now was most likely waiting inside Unit 01's core for Sachiel's arrival - or in one like Kyoko's. The grey-haired boy was sure he couldn't handle watching that unfold again.

The fact that said Contact Experiment was due to tomorrow didn't help his worries. Kaworu felt his emotions slowly take over, he calmed himself by taking a deep breath, tasting the blood-like taste of the LCL.

"Alright Soryus you did great as always. Time to get out of the testplugs, we need to prepare everything for tomorrow's test with Unit 03.", a male voice belonging to Nico Schiffer sounded through the communicationsystem. Kaworu hummed in acknowledgement of what was said.

Climbing out of the testplug was just like the tests themself a routine the boy got used to over the last two years. A routine that continued with him greeting Asuka who was in the testplug next to his own, a smile gaced his face when he thought about how well Asuka was currently doing. Kyoko's death had hit the little girl hard - understandably so. It took a long time for her to come back into living life somewhat normally, if you can call training to pilot giant mosters normal.

Said little redhead happily walked up to her brother, hugging him tightly - hugging him like that when he was gone for more than an hour was a habit she developed after mama's death, Kaworu always assumed it was because she's afraid he might leave her.

"These tests are so weird and boring...don't you think so?"

Did he? Not really, yes he merely sat in the tube for a few hours but it gave him time to think and just focus on his thoughts. "I don't think it's boring, but you're also still a lot younger than me so that's okay."

"You're just boring yourself."

Kaworu shrugged, "If you say so."

"But you're the best boring brother ever!", the little girl beamed with a toothy grin that made her older brother chuckle.

About two hours later - after getting changed and saying goodbye to the technicians and bridgestaff they got to know a little better since their training begun - Kaworu was sitting on the seat by his piano.

Usually he would be playing whatever his heart makes him play but today it was diffrent. The notes and melody he played belonged to a piece that was well known across the globe - "Ode to Joy", his favourite piece of music coming from the Lillin. Sure he wasn't able to play it with the power of an entire orchestra and he didn't have a choir here to sing the text - so that only left him and his humming - but it was good enough for him and brought him joy.

After awhile Kaworu noticed someone watching him from behind, their eyes focused soley on him. "You know you could just say a word.", he chuckled.

The suprised squeal the red-eyed boy heard defintely made it clear to him that it was Asuka standing in the doorframe, and that she was suprised he noticed her. She was a little embarassed. "Sorry...but dinner is ready."

"Oh alright then.",with that he stood up from his place. He stopped before actually going to the kitched, raising a brow when he noticed Asuka looking like there was more. "Is there anything else I should know?"

"No it's just...uhm...you've always been humming that song you just played and I just thought why that is.", she gave him as a reply. She sounded like she wasn't sure if it was okay to ask that.

"Oh that's "Ode to Joy", it's my favourite.", Kaworu said with a smile. "I've known it for my whole life, it has a sense of comfort to it."

Asuka looked to the floor while fiddling with her hands, looking shy, something Kaworu wasn't used to see his sister act like. "Could you...could you hum it more often? I like it when you do that."

The silver-haired boy nodded reassuringly, "Of course I can, anything to make you happy."

Japan 2004, GEHIRN Livingquarters,

A young woman of 18 years just slammed her hands on the table and shrieked, "Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa now hold your horses, did you just say Germany?!"

"That's what I said."

"That's a little suprising and out of the blue mother.", a young blond woman said.

The oldest of the three women took a sip of her coffee and sighed, "Oh please Ritsuko don't be like that. And you shouldn't shout like that Misato.", then she slighlty shook her head, "You two should be happy, GEHIRN is offering both of you to pay for your college and is offering you employment later on."

Misato Katsuragi - the lone survivor of the Katsuragi Expedtition and a direct witness of Second Impact - was shocked. Naoko Akagi - the Naoko Akagi - just told her that GEHIRN is offering to pay for her and Ritsuko's college if they study in Germany - and that in a way like it wasn't special. Her shock was understandable in the situation. "Sorry but that's...something."

Ritsuko, Naoko's daughter and Misato's best friend and adopted sister, looked at her mother, shrugging slightly, "I don't see why we should't accept. Free college and a job later on? I say that's a good deal."

"Geez both of you act like this isn't big at all...", Misato grumbled. She loved these two women and owed them a lot since Second Impact happend. Naoko was the one who took her in - even went as far as adopting her - offered her a home and a family, not the most functioning one but one nonetheless. The older brunette wasn't very affectionate but she cared deep down...probably.

Ritsuko was quite literally her sister and a big help in getting Misato to talk again, she loved the blond woman even if she has her faults. In the end Ritsuko was a shoulder to cry on despite how she wasn't good with comforting Misato or anyone for that matter, but she was there and listened, that had been enough.

And yet despite all that Misato couldn't deny that sometimes she wanted to punch them.

"So, what do you say Misato?", Naoko asked expectandly with a raised brow.

Well what would does she say? Misato - and Ritsuko - spoke German and thought about visiting the country before but study there for multiple years and possibly spend her whole life there? On the other hand she wanted to join GEHIRN and it's mission to destroy the angels one day anyway.

So why not, what's stopping her? "Alright. I'm in.", she said confidently with a smirk.

"Huh, I would've thought you'd freak out more than that." ,Ritsuko mumbled earning a glare from the purple-haired woman to her right. "Fuck you too Rits."

"As sweet as your bickering is girls but I have to go to work. I'll tell Director Ikari about this.", Naoko sighed and grabbed her coat. "I'll tell you the details as soon as I can. See you tonight."

"See you tonight!", both younger women waved as the brunette closed the door behind her.

Then they sat there in silence for awhile, both lost in thought and listening to the ticking of the clock on the nearby wall.

"So we're actually doing this huh?", Ritsuko mused, folding her hands in her lap.

A hum came in response, "We sure do." Then Misato chuckled and looked her sister, "But at least we won't be alone right? And maybe Germany has some cute guys or girls, eh?"

Ritsuko rolled her eyes at Misato's tendecy to tease anyone and anything whenever there's even the smallest chance to do so but at least she's right, they won't be alone in Germany.

'All good things are three, right?', it was a silly thought, a futile try to ease his worries about the Unit 03 Contact Expermient. Kaworu knew that even if it fails Robin wouldn't be completely gone - his soul would be in Unit 03's core - but that didn't mean he wanted that to happen.

No he really didn't want that to happen, espeacially since he couldn't exactly explain to Asuka that their dead parents weren't dead but actually live on inside the Evangelions! 'Yeah, try to explain that to a six year old Lillin.'

With his thoughts keep on troubling him Kaworu took slow steps towards the Evacages, his destination clear in his mind - Eva Unit 02. Kaworu's only source of comfort he had right now was the scarlet beast harboring his mother's soul deep inside it's core - maybe the behemoth itself was his mother now. Questions over questions he still couldn't answer.

When he entered the Eva's cage he was greeted by the soft rumbling of the machinery around him and the splash of the purple liquid the mighty titan was submerged in up to it's colar. No scientists or technicians were currently here, not a single Lillin's presence filled the room.

With quick steps Kaworu found himself face-to-face with 02 - which had moved her head to face the boy, a typical welcoming growl emerging from it's throat.

"Yeah it's been awhile, hasn't it? Sorry for that mama but Unit 03 was finished and...well you can probably guess the rest.", he murmured regretfully. He did miss coming here at least every other day lately - a bad fact given that he's the only company mama truly had right now.

Another growl sounded through the cage - "I understand." - and Unit 02 moved it's head to resemble a nod.

Kaworu took his time just looking in the Eva's eyes, trying to figure out how to put his worries into words. "You know, father is the one who's gonna do the first synchronization with Unit 03 and I just...have a bad feeling."

Unit 02's head shifted to her left and then to her right while growling once more, this one being much softer than the other ones from before and Kaworu heard what it meant - "I'm sorry."

"You shouldn't be, this isn't your fault.", he said and seated himself on the ledge of the walk, letting his feet dangle just above the pruple liquid's surface. "I'm just scared. I know that Papa will not truly die no matter what happens but...I don't want him to lose his soul to Unit 03."

This time there was no growl, no sound coming from Unit 02. All she did was lean her head forward as much as she could, hoping the boy before her would understand her intention. Kaworu understood that much and touched the Eva's head, a small gesture that meant a lot to both - Kaworu and Kyoko. The metal surface of the behemoth's armor was cool and made the crimson-eyed boy shiver, and yet it was comforting as well.

Unit 02 raised her head once more back to it's orginal position. The Eva's gaze though was still focused on the silver-haired child sitting on the walk's ledge, he too was still looking at the scarlet titan looming before him. Kaworu stood up and waved at the Evangelion with a smile, his time to leave was there as much as it saddend him.

With one last growl - "Goodbye my little angel." - Eva Unit 02 fell silent again, no trace of the obscure meeting between mother and child was left.

Without 02's growling the rumble of the machines and the liquid in the cage itself were the only things left making a number of sounds the disguised angel found quite relaxing, helping him calm his mind.

And with a calmer mind the older Soryu-child made his way towards the next cage belonging to 03, Asuka was probably waiting for him.

"Kaworu wait!"

The child jumped a little from the sudden yelling behind him but turned on his heel to face whoever it was. To his suprise was his own father the one who did the yelling.

"Papa what's going on? Shouldn't you get ready for the Contact Experimemt?", the boy questioned in his confusion.

"I should yeah...but I want to talk to you. Mind tagging along to the lockeroom?"

"Of course not. Lead the way."

So Robin did. The man's pace was hesitant, he was urging himself to get to the lockeroom but at the same time his steps seemed heavy and slow, almost like he was dragging himself along the short way.

Kaworu himself wasn't sure what to think about that behavior. Maybe his father was simply afraid of Unit 03 after what happend with Unit 01 and 02? Maybe finally his father would tell him the things he kept as a secret for six years now. He didn't know, but curiousity was winning over worry for once.

Given his tendency to get lost in his thoughts Kaworu found himself again in the lockeroom when Robin pulled a grey-purplish plugsuit out of one of the lockers - it had "03" standing on it. Kaworu could see the locker with his own red plugsuit from where he stood.

Neither father or son spoke a word, filling the room with a eerie silence except for the rustle of clothes as Robin got changed. It wasn't uncomfortable, but rather sad. That moment felt like a goodbye, like a farewell to someone you'll never see again. A small hiss sounded from where Robin stood, he was now wearing the tight suit made for synching with an Eva.

"Promise me you'll take of Asuka and yourself okay?", the older man finally spoke up.

His son blinked at him, confused of the sudden request, "Uhm yeah. I promise."

The brown-haired man smiled and ruffled the smaller male's silver main. "That's what I wanted to hear.", then he took off into the cagedoor's direction.

"Oh and, make your days worth it okay? They're already counted.", Robin said when he came to a sudden stop and turned to smile at Kaworu one more time - it was a sad one.

'Make my days worth it...?', it confused the boy and he thought. He thought and thought and thought and then, he knew. "Y-you know...", the silver-haired child stammered, his scarlet iris wide and his body sweating.

'He knows'

'He knows'

'He knows he knows he knows he knows'

'He knows.'

"I know.", the man said, "I know what you are, what your purpose is, how you came to be, I know what Unit 02 truly did, what 03 will do to me and I know who you are Tabris."

That name - Tabris.

It was a name Kaworu knew all to well, it was his own name - a name given to him by the father of the angel's, Adam. But then how did papa knew his name? And if papa truly knew what Kaworu was, then why did he never kill him? He was a threat! The enemy! The Evas were built to kill him. So why didn't father do it while he was vulnerable?

"I-I don't understand...how?", was all the crimson-eyed child coaxed out despite all the questions he had.

Robin shock his head, "Because me and Kyoko were too involved with SEELE. Because I was told what you are and what you're supposed to do as soon as your body was done."

"You know SEELE and their plans...you knew what the Evas would do..."

"That is true. Yui and Kyoko both knew the Evas would take their souls into their cores. Although Kyoko's body was supposed to lose it's form like Ikari's...And yes Unit 03 will take my soul as well, it's the only way to stop a Third Impact."

That was a shock, it was unexpected and not the truth Kaworu thought he would hear. Knowing his parents were both so close to SEELE...he couldn't even describe it. And then stopping a Third Impact? By becoming one with Adam's false children?

"Explain how this is the only way to prevent Third Impact!"

"Alright alright. You see Kyoko, Yui, Gendo and I we knew what SEELE planned was horrible and wrong. We wanted to back out, stop them but Keel would never let us. So we played along. We played along because if we hadn't they would've killed us all...and we didn't want to lose our children, we didn't want you to end up as a part of Human Instrumentality.

So when the Evas came Yui and Kyoko decided to become one with the 02 and 01, this way Shinji and Asuka would have to pilot while they could protect and guide them.

Gendo was supposed to keep things in check with the commitee and I've been waiting for this day for years now. The day I'll become one with 03, the Eva you will pilot.

I'll be watching over you, help you, guide you and protect you until the bitter end, so we can make sure humanity lives on."

Heavily breathing Kaworu slit down one of the lockers, sitting on the floor with his face in his hands and his shirt drenched in sweat. His throat was dry, so so dry and he couldn't think of what to say, of anything to say. It was like he forgot how to talk and form a proper sentence. He wanted answers, he wanted so many answers to so many questiony swirling in his head.

He calmed his heart that was pounding against his ribcage like crazy, his breath became more even again and out of all the questions he had he needed the answer to one more than any other. "If you knew I'm an angel...then why didn't you kill me? I'm not even human."

Robin placed himself next to Kaworu, he was calm and showed no hesitation to answer, "That's where you're wrong."

The silver-haired boy was taken back by that, almost angrily he snapped, "But I'm the enemy! An angel! A danger! I'm not human! I'm a danger to all of mankind! I'm-"

"-my son. You're my son, and I could never hurt my child. Kaworu listen to me, it doesn't matter if you're an angel or not. You are so much more human than most people.

And only you can decide your fate and who you want to be. That's your own will and no one else's okay? Don't let SEELE or Adam decide who or what you are.

Because no matter what you decide you'll still be my son Kaworu, always.", Robin smiled. He truly smiled for the first time in years and it was for him.

The crimson-eyed child hugged his father, a hug they shared to say goodbye. "I'll miss you papa..."

"I'll always be here...and besides, I'll see you during your first activationtest with Unit 03, okay?

The boy nodded and smiled, "I'll see you then papa."

With a wave to the observationroom Doctor Robin Langely climbed into the entryplug of the Evangelion, very well aware that this is probably the last time he will be able to call himself human. In mere moments this beast will be "his new body", and he'll wait for the day the third angel would attack.

Many would call such a fate cruel and horrible, but Robin welcomed it. Because this way he can try to stop SEELE and protect Kaworu and Asuka, it was too bad the man had to break the promise he made to his daughter two years ago though.

Finally the entryplug was filled with LCL, the liquid filled Robin's lungs and now he understood what Asuka meant when she said the orange liquid tastes like blood. After getting used to the taste and the new way of breathing his body relaxed.

"Alright Doctor Langley, the last step is yours.", a voice spoke throught the system. This was the final moment, he thought about his life and memories, the people he loved and those he despised. All in a last moment of life as he knew it.

'Well here goes nothing...I'll see you soon kids.'

"Evangelion Einheit 03, aktivieren!"

For the first time in years Kaworu felt at peace.

He felt at peace and simply watched the black beast in it's cage through the glass. He breathed in and out, without feeling his heart beat like crazy, without sweating and without those voices tormenting him.

All that was important right now was Asuka who was standing to his right, she held his hand tightly but Kaworu didn't mind. He just wanted to keep the promise he made to papa.

Kaworu was prepared for the moment Robin's voice came through the loudspeaker, "Evangelion Einheit 03, aktivieren!"

As soon as the words came Unit 03 raised it's head and it's yellow eyes lit up. Of course the scientists and technicians in the room thought they had done it, that Unit 03 activated with no problems. So they cheered and cheered.

"We did it!"

"Great work Doctor!"

"Amazing!"

They yelled and cheered and almost forgot about the dark titan standing in the next room, a titan who struggled with his jaw-restrains. No one but Kaworu saw it - how the screws were breaking lose or how the Eva's eyes seemed to become beastial. With a final push the jaw snapped open and the black behemoth let out a feral roar from the back of it's throat. It ripped forwards with it's whole body multiple times, succsessfully breaking free from the cage's first restrain.

Meanwhile the staff panicked, they screamed and yelled things Kaworu couldn't care less about, he knew Unit 03 won't actually injure someone so why should he care about their technical things? No the boy's top priority was Asuka.

"EVA HAS GONE BERSERK! SNYCHRATIO IS OVER 400%!

When the Evangelion let out another mighty roar as it finally ripped free of all it's restrains Kaworu pulled Asuka into a hug. He held her without saying a word, his grip only thightening with each beastial roar the giant outside the room let out.

And then the older sibling decided to hum. He started to softly hum "Ode to Joy", to calm his sister just a little bit before his voice started to grow more and more in volume with each passing second. Asuka relaxed ever so slightly when she heard the familiar melody coming from her brother. Said silver-haired boy kept on humming for what felt like forever, until finally the roaring stopped - Unit 03 has gone silent.

That was the third time an Eva did this, the third time these beasts went crazy during the Contact Experiments, and the second time it happend here in this GEHIRN branch.

The only diffrence between the Soryu-inccident and the Langely-inccident was the aggression level of the Evas. While Unit 02 had let out it's roars and freed one of it's arms from the restrains, Unit 03 managed to partly destroy the cage's wall, and it's berserker-state went on much longer.

In the end both beasts were dangerous and many members of GEHIRN's staff started to question if the Evas truly are mankind's ally or maybe as much the enemy as the angels. Did it even matter in the end? If they at least try to trust the Evangelions humanity might have the smallest flimmer of hope to hold onto, so might as well do that.

The recovery team proabably thought like that - hoped the Evas were allies, they had to when their job was to eject the entryplug by hand and cut the thing open. They all prayed that Doctor Langley did not suffer the same fate as his wife did two years earlier.

Hot, steaming LCL splashed out of the entryplug when it was ejected out of the black monster's neck. The plug itself was steaming too. 'This shit must've been boiling...fucking christ.', one of the members from the recoveryteam thought when he walked through the orange puddle on the floor and felt the heat coming from it.

The entryplug was cut open, everyone expected to see Robin in the plug but there was no one inside. The metaltube was completely empty except for the plugsuit the man wore. An uncomfortable silence made itself known in the room.

"Doctor Langely...he vanished, he's dead."

"I see. Very well then.", with a click the phonecall ended. Gendo Ikari adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat.

"It was the German branch. Robin was absorbed by Unit 03 and Kaworu will pilot it.", the man said, his tone cold and distance most would say, but Kozo understood the subtle sadness that was there.

The older man sighed, "Ikari, is this worth it?"

"If it's for Yui then anything is worth it, Fuyutsuki."

"But is this truly what they wanted, what she truly wanted?", Fuyutsuki parried. He was still not sure about his true role in this game of chess, but he knew that using these children and their pain was unforgivable. Oh Yui and Kyoko would be dissapointed in him.

And Gendo for once didn't know an answer to a question and stayed silent.

So that was something huh? Well I hope I didn't waste your time lol.

But hey Misato was finally mentioned and no worries, we'll dive into her relation to Ritsuko and Naoko another time in probably a seprate chapter ;)

Translator time:

"Evangelion Einheit 03, aktiviert!" = "Evangelion Unit 03, activate!"

With that it's my time to say goodbye and I'll see you next time in Chapter Five, "A perfectly disfunctioning Family"!Tschüsschen!