Chapter Three
The Rage of Childhood
Two Years Later
"Boy!"
"Yes, Synoske-Sensei?"
"Where are the Capitals of the JIF located?!"
"Tokyo-3 is the main Capital of the JIF, of the Japanese Island Federation. Its secondary capitals are located in Ternate -Southern JIF-, and Manila -Central JIF-. Tokyo and Japan as a whole are the representation of western civilization within the Asiatic region of the world. WE symbolize hope and perseverance for the future."
"That is an acceptable answer! Now, what are the Capitals of, the German Municipality, the United States of All America, the Great Russian Conglomerate, and the People's Republic of Asia?"
"The Capital of the United States of All America, or the USAA as they are now called, is the Cities are Bogota -of the Southern USAA-, Wichita -of the Central USAA-, and the Fortress city MacMurray -of the Northern USAA-. The German Municipality, or GM as they are called for both benign and humorous reasons. Its capitals are Berlin -of Western GM, Ivanovo -of Eastern GM-, and Tripoli -of Southern GM-. The Great Russian Conglomerate's, or GRC's, capital cities are Zyryanka -of the Eastern GRC- and Turukhansk -of the Western GRC-. The Capitals of the People's Republic of Asia, or PRA, are Kabul-of the western PRA- and Beijing -of the Eastern PRA-." Shinji cringed on the inside. He already knew all of this, had already covered this with Horus some months earlier. They had covered the expansion of Germany into Russia and the rest of Europe. They covered how Russia, after Second Impact, had lost control of its cities and militaries, each taking unto themselves a hectare of land worthy of their standing it seemed; they lost ground to Germany and China in that time.
Germany resided within all of Europe and most of Northern Africa while Russia receded back behind the Sixtieth parallel. China, now the PRA, had taken over Mongolia, everything north of Bangkok, all of India, Pakistan, and the eastern half of Afghanistan.
"Where does the JIF pull its resources from?"
"It has trade agreements with the Newly Re-created United Nations Pact. They serve as JIF's main line of Resources. However, the JIF also deals in offshore drilling, farming, and cultivation. It is the third most powerful, economic, nation in the world. Only the USAA and PRA surpass our Economic structure. The free countries of the Arab nations reduce what the GM and GRC are able to actually produce with their constant wars against each other."
"Hmm, again, passable. But not perfect!" Synoske slapped a metal ruler against the living room table, just inches from Shinji's hand. "How many people live in the PRA!"
"Two billion six hundred and eighty million!" Shinji barked.
"What is the average lifespan of all male citizens of the GM!"
"Eighty-three years! Sixty-five if born after Second Impact!"
"What is the general gestation period of a human child under current world conditions!" Shinji paused at that and had to actually think for a moment.
"Eleven months! Health risks have made hospitals induce a prolonged pregnancy for the sake of a healthier child post birth!"
"Not good enough!" CRACK! The metal ruler embedded itself in the table at how much force Synoske used.
"I will try harder Synoske-Sensei!" Shinji barked.
"I want faster! Not harder!" Synoske slapped Shinji across the mouth. The boy fell sideways and landed in his side. He gripped his mouth with his free hand. He could taste the blood on his tongue, his lip felt wet.
"Se-"
"Don't 'Sensei' me! Get faster! The world will not wait for you Shinji-Ikari! You either must make it bend to your will, or bend yourself to fit it! There is no third option!"
Horus watched with a silent rage from the opposite side of the room. His steely silver eyes narrowed slightly at the man's words. While not wrong, it was a far too harsh a lesson to inflict on a nigh on the seven-year-old boy.
"I will be faster next time, Sensei," Shinji, silent about the pain, promised the man that had hit him. I will be faster, fast enough to react, to dodge, to fight back. I detest bullies, I detest tyrannical people, I detest those who abuse their power. You sensei, have abused your power over me for the last time.
Shinji glared, unrepentantly, up at his teacher and slowly wiped the blood from his lip. He looked at it and growled. Three years of abuse from this man, three years of soul-crushing words and delusions of happiness taken away with cruel gestures and manipulative demands. Words spoken in kindness driven to madness at actions of abuse and terror.
As much as Shinji wished to rail against the man, declare him a monster in all but skin and blood, Shinji had learned from his other teacher, a man more unto a father for him than even his biological one, had shown him how to grow because of the adversity raged against him. He taught him how to spite adversity and grow even stronger of will and mind, body and soul.
Do not go gentle into that good night. Words spoke with a solemnity that spoke of so much pain and honor. Those words rocked his soul at that moment, his face relaxed and his head bowed slightly at his teachers look.
"As you say Sensei. I will do as you say, your wisdom mine."
"As it should be! Now go get ready for bed! It is time that you learn reticence."
"Horus, I ask for your forgiveness. I almost lost my patience with him again." The boy sat on the floor, legs tucked underneath him. His palms, pad down against his thighs, helped support his upper body as he bowed towards the man that had taken such care with him.
"Your rage is acceptable, young Shinji. You have done better than I had when someone struck me for no better reason than a pause. I killed men for far less, and pardoned men over far more."
"I do not wish to harm my fellow man! I wish to better them, guide them, lead them into a golden age!" Shinji raged against his mentor. Horus smiled in acceptance of his pupils rage.
"Then accept that you will have to fight against your own people to better them before they will listen to reason and light. You may see a better future for mankind, but mankind has always railed against those that thought they knew best. For every man who has said that he knew a better way, and meant it, there have been nine more that knew it, twisted it, and made it a horrid monstrosity of what it was meant to be. Look at Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Kim, and So many other leaders of the world's history. They have said to know a better way for all men to live, to better humanity, but they brought greater depravities and death to our great race than any outside force ever has."
"Then I will rage against that machine! Death will not follow my steps like some lost puppy! I will better myself just as I would better Humanity. Decades, centuries, it will not matter!" The six and a half year old growled. He was on his feet now and level with Horus' chest. Horus sat on the bed and grinned at his protege.
"Then rage, Shinji, show the world the power of your convictions. Never let it bend them, break them, nor shatter them. Make the world your own and it will never forget you."
"I do not care if the world forgets me, my face, or my life. As long as it is bettered for the rest of time I will be happy in its continued existence."
"Very well… Do you wish to be a cog in the machine that is Humanity then?" Horus asked, eyebrow raised in question as he narrowed his eyes at Shinji.
"Never! I want to lead them to a golden age, I want to be that man standing at the front, proclaiming for the ages 'WE ARE HUMANITY, FEAR US, REVILE US, PRAISE US!' I want Humanity to be the pinnacle that is to be reached for, the greatest among the stars! Brightest means nothing if there is nothing to move forward!"
Horus blinked and laughed. The conviction in his student's voice carried the rage of millennia in his blood.
"Then it is time I brought you to the next part of your training, Shinji Ikari. You will hate me, you will love me, you will wish to kill me … and if everything goes as planned, you will do all of it with a heart of gold, and a fist of brilliant steel."
"I don't want to kill you! You are the only person that ever cares about me! Why would I want to get rid of you?!" Shinji hissed with angry grief-stricken shock.
"HA! I cannot die, Shinji. I have told you the stories of how one turned against my father and was destroyed for his hubris, even asked for the killing blow. Now I reveal unto you who it was that betrayed my father." Horus stood and ushered Shinji back from him so he had room.
A small gust of wind blew in through the window of Shinji's room. The wind turned opaque and gathered around Horus in an ever greater swirl of white-blue energy. Shinji covered his face to protect against the sudden wind.
"Your next lesson is upon you, my protege… You need to be taught humility Shinji Ikari… Darkness resides even in the greatest of creations!" Shinji uncovered his face when the voice of his beloved teacher suddenly fell a few octaves and dropped far into the baritone scale. What he saw was … terrifying.
"Look upon me, Shinji Ikari, son of Man, and see what happens when arrogance becomes your undoing, and the laughter of hungry gods becomes your closest companion!" Horus, Arch-Traitor of Humanity, the Imperium, and the Emperor of Mankind, stood undisguised before his pupil. His face, a twisted rictus of a bloodthirsty grin. Instead of his usual white and gold trimmed greek-esk robes, he was clad in his Warmaster Terminator armor. Black and bronze splotched with blood and gore. The crimson eye of terror inlaid upon his abdomen shone brightly with the insanity of the warp. Horus' tainted presence filled the room and sent the shadows into a frenzy. The lights went dim and red, living, light engulfed Horus' head. His pupils became like stars within his eyeballs and his skin turned ashy gray. Blood dripped from his suits talloned right hand, and his left clasped a massive crozius one and a half times his size.
"W-what the hell?!' Shinji screamed. The boy retreated across the floor and slammed into the far wall, right next to the vanity. His eyes were wide, heart pounded erratically in his chest, and his mouth hung loosely from shock. Fear, primal fear raced through his veins and turned them cold as he looked upon the changed form of his mentor.
"This is what happens, Shinji, when you become arrogant. I fell from the path of righteous conquest my father laid down for me, and this is what it gave me. I became more powerful than anything I could imagine, and then I tried to kill off everything i once held near and dear to my hearts. My father, The Emperor of Mankind, met me on the bridge of my Flagship, Vengeful Spirit, and fought me. Him, my brothers Sanguinus and Rogal Dorn, invaded my house and struck deep within the heart of my ship. Dorn was lost amongst the Warp fiends and daemons that roamed my vessel he did not make it to the final duel on time. Sanguinus, my most loved brother, met me first on the command deck. We fought, blade to claw and bolter. Two titans in living flesh we fought, and then I killed him in cold blood when I ripped out his heart and feasted upon his flesh.
father found us moments later. Sanguinus uttered no death rattle, simply dead and gone before my father even shed a single tear for his demise. Then, we fought. Titans of ego we were. Our psychic might crashed around the command deck like a storm over sandy shores. Machinery was rent asunder and lives ended in the blink of an eye, dust before they hit the deck. I almost won nay-they almost won-, defeated my father, when I took back control. I shouted for him to kill me, to end my suffering. Seven long years of torturous machinations of the like few have ever seen, and fewer have ever lived through.
When my father struck me down and ended my reign of terror, My body turned to dust and my soul launched itself through the immaterium, the Warp. I traversed its depths for longer than any being has been said to live and then lost myself in the blackest purgatory I have ever seen. There, I found the futures of the universe, the multiverse, and studied them. I learned more than I ever thought I would, and forget even more than I learned.
Death unending is the end of arrogance. I will not see it befall you as well… My son…," Horus finished his monologue. His heart ached when he saw the face of horror Shinji was giving him, his chest constricted against his lungs and made it hard to breathe, his throat shivered and tried to force out a word of comfort, and his eyes cringed at the unshed tears that wished to spill forth.
"H-how do I fight this then?" Shinji whispered. His words barely made a sound in the stillness of the room. Darkness overwhelming took the sound and stowed it away. Only by his father's great gifts was Horus even able to hear the words uttered by his favored pupil, his son in all but blood and seed.
"By fighting the horrors of my home might you find solace in how to counter your arrogance. But finding those that will rail against you, yet understand you, will be the key. Friends and allies will strengthen your resolve, and humble you when they themselves break down your ideas and force you to see reason. You will not need those that are as smart, nor as brave as you, for those of lesser mind and heart can still draw wisdom from previously unthinkable angles." Horus reverted back into his normal form, white robes morphing back from the armor that had once clad him. The rancid evil that had purveyed the room vanished along with his transformation, death left with a sickly taste about the air, terror slid away with a singular giggle, and the darkest shadows became their natural hue and returned to where they should be.
Shinji, without realizing it, took in a huge gulp of air and gave a mighty great sigh. As if a world-sized weight had been lifted from his shoulders he looked up into his mentor's eyes.
Horus saw something change then, right as their eyes met, his heart stopped and Horus knelt down.
"D-did… do you…"
"What is it Shinji?" Horus asked, his heart raced and his throat threatened to close on him.
"What you said!" Shinji shot to his knees. His eyes were wide and filled with something that Horus hadn't seen before.
"I said a many great things Shi-" Horus was cut off when Shinji shot to his feet and sent an unreadable look at him.
"Son. You called me… Son… Do you mean it!" Shinji yelled now, truly yelled. He got in Horus' face and latched his hands onto either side of the great mans face. Horus blinked, froze, and then realized he had said those words out loud. An almost unnoticeable flush came to the Warmaster's cheeks and caused him to pause for but a second.
"Yes. I did say that. Again, yes, I do mean it." Horus was, surprisingly, almost toppled over by the sheer joy the boy displayed when he rammed into his. Even less than a foot away, the boy had enough momentum to somehow almost toppled the, shorter than he used to be, Warmaster. "My son… You are everything I wished I could have had in a child of my own. You will herald my hopes and dreams into the future… And as your dreams become a reality, your dreams will become my dreams, and your goals will be my goals. I swear it to you, Shinji, my Son, that I will prepare you for a future that will be bright and meaningful, one carved by your own hands!" Horus embraced the boy and whispered his words of promise and encouragement into his ear. His large hands engulfed the boys back and head and cradled him against his chest in a loving embrace.
"Bright shall be the future, for we will shape it with our own hands," Shinji echoed back. The two embraced for some time, arms locked around each other in a familiar embrace of paternal affection. For Horus, it reminded him of the single time his father had ever embraced him in the hundreds of years he had known him. It had been awkward, hard -thanks to the armor they wore-, and simply not as fulfilling. Now, it filled him with joy and some emotion similar to the pride he had felt for his many 'sons'.
For Shinji, it was like hugging his father all over again, but with far more warmth and affection than the man had ever given him. Even the hugs his mother, who he barely recognized, had given him did not compare to the feeling he was getting from Horus.
"I-I love you… Dad…," Shinji uttered under a soft breath. His arms tightened around Horus' neck a bit and brought his body that much closer to the man he now called father.
"I love you too, Son," Horus choked out. His eyes actually managed to release a singular tear then. Filled with the love and admiration of the child in his arms, Horus knew that he had found somewhere where he belonged almost unconditionally.