-1Disclaimer: I don't own Neon Genesis Evangelion, anything related to it or any other registered trademarks.

Chapter 9: Law of Causality

Commander Ikari's Office

03.15 a.m.

Gendou was sitting comfortably in his (and only his) chair, stretching his legs. Ritsuko was standing near the table, yawning. She still had the gun in her hand. She put the gun on the table and sat in Gendou's lap.

"Oh, this day's been so weird," she said and sighed. She tried to lean against the man's shoulder, but he pushed her away.

"I suppose you've got plenty of things to do, don't you Ritsuko?" Gendou inquired, an obvious leading question.

Ritsuko looked at him absent-mindedly. "Oh, yes. I think I'll… go then," she said. Gendou gave a snort as a consent and began to look through the papers on his desk. Ritsuko kept her look nailed at the man as she walked towards the door, but he didn't even bother raising his head. The automated door closed in front of her nose.

NERV Imprisonment Facilities

A group of soldiers were dragging the handcuffed Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki along a seemingly never-ending corridor. It had white shiny walls so the place didn't look much like a jail. All cells on the hallway were empty. Still, one could hear the eternal scream of silence echoing in the corridor, over and over again.

Well, actually one of the cells was occupied by a former NERV employee who lost his sanity some three months ago. It was his screaming echoing.

Suddenly the guards stopped and opened a random door. They tossed Fuyutsuki in and left.

The cell was empty, there was only a small hole in the corner for self-cleansing. The cell's metallic walls looked like they were about approach the older man sitting in the middle.

'This is it? My God, no…'. Fuyutsuki began to panic, but managed to keep himself in control. He was not going to let Gendou just leave him there. His highest hopes were now in Misato.

NERV Headquarters

Misato's Room

A woman with a long purple hair was in a rush. She was quickly grabbing everything she could possibly take away. She opened her clothes cupboard and there, in a locked box, she had a backup gun. 'Never know when you might need it.'

She holstered both of her weapons and went for the door. She silently opened it, checking the hallway carefully for any patrols looking for her. 'Alright, now I'll just have to get out of here.' Then she realized Fuyutsuki. 'He's the one who came up with this thing. I just followed orders. Like it'd stop Gendou…' She didn't know whether to save herself or rescue Fuyutsuki too. She decided to save the man if there was an opportunity to do that. Then she disappeared behind the corner.

Commander Ikari's Office

03.32 a.m.

Gendou was going through the sheets of papers. "Ha, that moron couldn't even run this place right. I don't know what he was trying to…" He stopped suddenly. He took a strange paper from the pile and his expression froze. The paper was otherwise blank, but there was one word in big characters in the middle: "Yui".

He began to look more closely at the papers in the piles. Then he found another one. It pictured (clumsily) Yui's face in the middle. Gendou was quite sure who had drawn them, but why. That he didn't know.

The third sheet he found made him even more upset. There was a text too, like in the first one. This one read: "betrayal".

He saw something written also on the other side of the paper. As he saw it, his hands started shaking. He dropped the paper on the floor, took off his eyeglasses and wiped sweat on his forehead. He picked up the phone receiver and dialled the security.

"You've reached the security office," a woman's voice said.

"This is the Commander. Prepare the interrogation room for Mr. Fuyutsuki, immediately," he said determinedly.

"Yes sir!"

Gendou put the receiver down and picked looked again at the paper on the floor. He felt his heart rate go up.

"Yui knows"

Gendou stood up and felt vertigo so he leaned to the desk for some support. After the momentary seizure, he picked up the paper and squeezed it into a small ball. He then threw it in the trashcan, straightened his jacket and left the room.

Having left the office, the Commander hastened his steps. He happened to run into a technician, whose papers flew all over the hallway due to the collision. Gendou couldn't have cared less about helping his employee recollect the sheets. His mind was on other issues, on one particular issue, in fact.

"That sardonic nutcase! What the hell does he know about Yui that I don't? I won't have him play games with me," he mumbled by himself, "I'll interrogate him in a way he's never been interrogated before!"

NERV Imprisonment Facilities, Interrogation Room 2

Some minutes later…

At the door he was greeted by an officer stating that the room was ready. Gendou pushed the door open and witnessed how Fuyutsuki was being strapped into the chair with wires coming out of his fingers. The older man was struggling, even attempting to chunk his teeth into the arms of his captors. One of the men got a nasty wound from the man's bite, and he left the room cursing.

"Now now, Fuyutsuki. There's no need to be aggressive. Has your sense of rationality hidden itself, mm?" Gendou inquired caustically. Fuyutsuki's response was an intense glare, thousand flames behind his eyes. Gendou started a little but continued, "Oh please! Stop the hypocrisy; I'm the one who should be mad here. And you know what? I am, in fact. Thanks for asking!"

"You fail to see the big picture here, Gendou. As always, you're living in the tiny world of yours filled with unfulfilled dreams of resurrecting Yui. Wake up and smell the ashes; She's gone!" Fuyutsuki vociferated.

There was a bang, and Gendou's fist was stretched out. A second ago it had hit Fuyutsuki's nose which was now beginning to bleed. The man retracted his arm and began to rub his impacted fist.

Fuyutsuki gave a faint laugh. "Violence. The last retreat, huh?" he whispered.

Gendou was glowering down at the man with blood coming out of his nostril. He warily leaned forward, his face nearly touched Fuyutsuki's. "I need to talk about Yui, about the things you doodled in my office. Are you capable of having a civilized conversation?" he asked in a solemn tone. The answer was a spit.

"Yes, with a civilized person. And you don't qualify, unfortunately," the Vice-Commander said, holding his teeth together.

Gendou leaned away, not looking offended about the incompliance of his subordinate. He straightened his posture and made a hand signal towards the tied man. Two guards began approaching Fuyutsuki. One of them was holding a dark blue portmanteau with NERV's logo on it. Having put it on the table and opened it, the man applied inquiringly to Gendou.

"Give him a dose of Pinazepam. Maybe he'll be more willing after its effect takes over," Gendou said in a professional manner, and left the room.

Fuyutsuki's expression was amused. "Sedative? You're trying to drug me? That's pretty cheap, even from you!" he said, just before the syringe punctured his skin.

"Maybe so," Commander uttered, "but as they say: what goes around comes around. Isn't that right, 'friend'?"

A reply came back, beginning to sound more of gibberish than actual words. Gendou closed the door and sat on a chair. He spotted a telephone on the wall and sprang up to make a phone call. After pressing the buttons, there was the dialling tone. Repeatedly, it beeped several times, until there was a click and an answer, "Hello?"

TO BE CONTINUED… MAYBE

Author's notes: Whoa, it's been… 1½ years since the last update? Ok, well… I've had this chapter written for about a year on my computer, and now I decided I'd put it online. Maybe the world will be a better place.

I think I can pretty safely say this is the final chapter of my story, even though it says "to be continued". I'll keep it there as a cliffhanger, just in case if I get into NGE again and decide to go on with this. I'd like to but even my time is limited. We'll see what the future will hold for me. So bye! (for now)