Evangelion: Illustrious Thesis

Chapter One: Rekindling and Extinguishing

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Beautiful. He was beautiful.

Yui Ikari gazed down at the tiny boy swaddled in her arms.

"Shinji."

Her son looked back at her, eyes wide with the sort of inquisitive awe that only someone as young as he would have, and blinked. Yui sighed with contentment, softening from the warmth inside her. Finally pulling her eyes away from the boy, the woman turned to look up at her husband, sitting on the other side of the room from her. Gendo smiled back, with the same stilted awkwardness his expressions always had.

"He's wonderful," the man said. "You're wonderful."

.

Yes, everything was good for the little family, even as the world outside mended itself from the recent calamity. The times were changing, and little Shinji would find himself with a great role to play.

But across the seas was someone else destined to play a part in deciding this new world's fate...

.

- Saintford University, England

Rrrrrring! Rrrrrring! Rrrrrri-

A hand slapped down on the phone, fumbling for a solid grip. Lifting it up, the very tired woman attached to it sighed, and accepted the call. There were bags under her blue-green eyes, her hair was a tangled mess, and the apartment smelled of sweat, tea, and the faintest hint of lemon, but there was no reason she couldn't still manage to be punctual.

~Probably someone else down in the labs.~

"Makinami here," the young lady said breathlessly. "What is it now?"

"Hello, Mari-san."

Mari's breath caught in her throat. A swarm of emotions and memories rose up, chaotic and uncertain.

"Y-Yui?"

On the other end of the line, Mari's old acquaintance giggled.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

"I… yes, it has," the young woman replied, forcing off the tension that had built up. "What are you calling for, Yui?"

"I have some wonderful news to share with you, Mari," she answered. Mari nodded.

"Yeah?" the scientist asked, resisting the urge to get off the bed and stand up. "What is it?"

"I have a son."

And just with those four words, Mari found herself almost completely speechless- for the second time that day. All the sleeplessness and physical exhaustion of the last week seemed to weigh down on her in one instant. It was a good thing she'd been lying down for this.

"You… you have a son," the nineteen-year old repeated. Another giggle.

"His name is Shinji," Yui added. This time, Mari managed to avoid completely parroting her ex-colleague's words as the impact sunk in.

"Shinji… Yui, is there anything else you were calling for?" Mari asked slowly. Call her paranoid, cautious, or whatever- while the news was fantastic, she still expected there to be something else.

"...Yes," the woman replied. "Mari-san, I want you to be his godmother."

"...W-wait, what?"

"If anything happens to me or Gendo in the future, I want you to be able to take care of him," Yui continued. "Please, Mari."

The young woman sighed. Her emotional relationship with Yui was still very confusing for her, even after three years- and this really wasn't helping her.

What should she do? Should she accept? Refuse? Did she even have a reason to refuse at this time?

.

… No, she supposed she didn't.

"...As you wish, Yui-san," Mari sighed. She could do this. She could be a godmother to Yui's newborn.

After all, it wasn't like anything was going to happen to Yui.

Right?

.

.

"No!" Mari cried, slamming her fist into the table. The burst of passion fizzled away, replaced with the heavy weight of mourning.

"D-dammit, no..." the woman sobbed, the news playing over and over in her head like a horrible chant.

Yui was gone. She was never coming back.

It had been some accident- Mari didn't know the details. All she'd gotten was that Yui had tried something new, some sort of experiment, and it had gone horribly, awfully wrong.

She was gone. She was never coming back.

Mari's emotions had always been in a sort of flux when it came to Yui, up until now. Now, she was no longer conflicted- just heartbroken.

.

But, as expected, the world didn't stop its turning for her.

Rrrrrring! Rrrrrring! Rrrrrring!

Drawn by the tone, the woman turned, trying to smother her grief for the moment. Wearily, she picked up the phone, and accepted the call.

"Y-yes? This… this is Makinami."

"Take Shinji."

The voice was harsh, a pang of loneliness bleeding through behind it.

"G-Gendo?" Mari asked cautiously.

"Just… take Shinji," the man repeated. "I… I can't-"

The call cut off, leaving the woman to herself, alone and confused.

.

~"Take Shinji"... "If anything happens to me or Gendo in the future"... I guess he's all that's left.~

Mari slumped forwards, wiping the tears from her eyes. She could do this. She could be strong. She… she could…

Her breath caught again, coming out as a ragged shudder.

She's dead, dead, dead, DEAD, DE-

Mari bit down on her tongue, the pain cutting off the surge of despair before it could overwhelm her.

"D-dammit, Mari," she muttered to herself, pushing herself up. "Keep it together." The young woman looked across her apartment, eyes settling on one of the few photos she had around here; a teenaged girl and two young women, all very happy. The picture was dated 1998; the year she'd first met Yui Ikari.

Mari swallowed, and clenched her fists.

.

"Guess… guess I'll be going back to Japan for a bit, then," she said, to nobody in particular.

"Wish me luck."

It was a few days later that Mari managed to get there. The address itself was easy enough- Yui had sent her a couple letters before, so Mari had an easy way to figure out where to go.

What she wasn't expecting was to meet her new ward quite a distance away from his actual house.

Mari had recently exited the train, and walked out towards the exit, when her attention was caught by the sound of… crying? Yes, crying- the same sort of broken sobbing that the woman herself had done before, just a while earlier. Mari stopped- and looked around, searching for the source of the sound.

...and there he was; a little boy about three or four years old, huddled up on a bench by himself. Mari's brow furrowed, and her hand snuck into her pocket, digging around. The woman drew out her wallet, and flipped it open, looking through the few pictures she'd brought. A quick comparison of the boy to the photos… and that confirmed it.

The woman walked over, slowly making her way to the other side of the bench. The boy didn't notice, until Mari finally sat down- and even then, he only glanced at her for a second, his sobbing dying down.

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"H-hey there."

"..."

"Um…" Mari scratched her head. "Are you Shinji?"

"..."

"Come on, you can trust me. I was one of your mom's friends."

Finally, Shinji- for he was Shinji- responded, giving a little nod. Mari smiled back softly.

"There we go. I'm Mari, Mari Makinami. I'm here to… to take care of you."

The boy blinked, a little confused.

~Of course,~ Mari thought to herself. ~He's just a kid, they wouldn't have explained it to him.~

"O-okay, so, here's how it works," she explained slowly. "I'm… I'm your godmother. That means that if your mom… if your mom and dad can't take care of you, then I will. Even got a card to prove it. Does that make sense?"

Another nod from Shinji.

"Good," the woman sighed. A little bit of sitting in silence would be just fine with her for now.

.

"...Say, kid," she asked. "Do you know where your dad is?"

Shinji shook his head.

"Left me here," he mumbled. Mari perked up.

"He… he left you here? Alone?"

The boy looked around, slightly worried, and nodded. Mari grimaced.

~Gendo just left him here, only a few days after… after that? But why would…~

Mari brushed that thought away. She'd need a while before actually she could properly focus on that. But in the meantime… she had a kid with no mom, and a dad who'd just handed him off to her. Mari was by no means a parent, but that didn't mean she couldn't try- for Yui's sake, and the kid's sake, at least.

"...say," she began. Shinji looked over towards her. Mari shuffled a little bit closer. "How about this; I promise that I won't leave you, okay?"

"...Do you mean it?"

Mari's gaze softened.

"Shinji, if I told you I didn't mean it, I'd be hurting myself just as much as you."

"Huh?"

"Of course I mean it."

- Ten years later.

.

"...'Come'," Mari read, unamused at the letter before her. "It just says 'come'? Really?"

Her godson shrugged.

"I guess. I mean, it's… dad," the fourteen-year old replied. "Fatherly love and compassion wasn't his strong suit." He glanced down at the paper, and sighed. "Even so… maybe I should go, just to see what he wants."

The woman looked at him.

"You really want to?" she asked.

"I… I don't think it could hurt much," Shinji said. Mari rubbed the back of her head.

"...Alright then, I won't stop you," she said. "But, I'm going with you."

"Hm?"

Mari adjusted her glasses, and fixed her godson with a slight smirk.

"I said I'll be going with you, Shinji. There's no way in hell that I'm letting your father fuck things up again- especially not after last time."

.

There was a moment of pause, as the message sank into the boy's psyche. Then, spontaneously, Shinji rushed forwards, and embraced the woman, pulling himself tight against her.

"Thanks for everything, mom."

That oh-so-familiar warmth tugged at Mari's heartstrings again. She reached down, and wrapped her arms around him.

"Of course, Shinji."