Near the river running through the plateau outside the colony, an ooman girl of about twelve years whose long dreaded brown hair ran down to the small of her back and who had piercing jade-colored eyes hummed a happy tune off-key as she fished, as it were part of her morning ritual ever since she came of age, careful not to get her loincloth and breast bindings wet, never minding her wrist-comp as they were built to be waterproof, if that time when Nam had playfully slapped her on the back and knocked her into the water were any indication.
Her smile faded for a brief second as she looked over her shoulder, checking to see if there weren't any familiar, shimmering, translucent figure ready to push into the water. Luckily, she couldn't see any. She sighed.
That idiot Nam's got me feeling all paranoid. Why the hell does mother let that big meat-headed lug hang around anyway?
Soon she was on her way home, lugging the bucket filled with both her and her Mother's breakfast, but no longer in high spirits but instead darting her eyes in all directions, making sure Nam couldn't ambush her. She swore he was a pup who just happened to look a full-grown Yautja. Just as she was about to turn a corner she stopped dead in her tracks, having sensed someone was waiting for before she even noticed that shadow of a small figure stretching across the ground right in front of her.
Yui frowned. She thought the Elder had ordered the other Unbloods to stop hunting her as their first ooman. She had always fought them off easy, but it still annoyed her. She laid her bucket down and extended her wristblade, "I know you're there, I can see your halkrath easy enough; thank the sun's exact position in the sky for that." She balled her hand into a fist hard enough for the bone to crack in anticipation. "Let's just get this over with."
To her surprise out stepped a nervous looking, green-speckled, yellow-skinned little Yautja female that looked to be around five cycles old carrying a curved dagger in both hands. Yui lowered her guard almost immediately and retracted her wristblade, prompting the little girl to tighten her grip on the blade's hilt and take a step towards Yui, The ooman Unblood titled her head, visibly puzzled by the little girl.
"Um…" Yui started. Indicating the knife she asked, "What are you planning to do with that?"
The little girl gasped lightly, obviously not expecting for Yui to speak to her before swallowing and trying to confidently affirm, "Make my mother proud of me, make her look at me instead of my brothers-"
She paused when she finally noticed that her dagger was no longer her in hands, that Yui was twirling it between the fingers of her right hand before gripping the hilt tightly, looking sternly down at the younger girl. Her eye widened in amazement that the ooman was able to seize her blade without her even noticing.
"What's your name?"
"…I…." Merl'we started, before she frowned and exclaimed. "I don't have to tell you, you're an inferior ooman, a Pyode Amedha-"
"Who says that?" Yui asked.
"My mother," the girl replied heatedly, obviously forcing herself to put on a brave face in front of that 'cursed ooman proug'nik' that Yui sometimes heard the Yautja that didn't want her around refer to her as such. "She says that Gaun shouldn't have been allowed to bring a ooman pup back home, and she shouldn't have been a Hunter in the first place-"
"Did she say why?"
The little girl was at a loss, not remembering hearing any reason why an ooman female shouldn't be allowed to live on the homeworld.
"I'm an Unblood," Yui reminded her. "You have to answer me."
"…" the girl was silent at first, then she stared down at her feet, now sounding embarrassed. "She doesn't like you is all. I…I thought if I'd…hunt you, then she'll look at me."
Yui's expression softened, "Look at you?"
The girl shook her head, "She never looks at me. She always looks at my brothers because they'll become hunters and I'll…" She paused, trying to think about what the future would hold for her. "I-I don't know what I'll become when I'm big enough-"
She gasped and her eyes lit up when she felt something warm on her shoulder. She looked up to see Yui staring down at her. She appeared stern at first, causing the girl to shirk away from her, before she smiled warmly down at her.
"I'm looking at you right now," Yui said, her other hand holding the girl's dagger, which she offered her.
The girl cautiously took it, and immediately felt the impulse to thrust it into the ooman Unblood's chest. She didn't, however, and simply tucked it in her loincloth.
"You were holding the blade incorrectly," Yui commented, sowing seeds of embarrassment in the little Yautja girl as she stared down at her feet. "Nyaka-de can teach you how to grip the handle correctly."
"…she can?" the little girl asked.
"Mmm-hmm…" Yui got down on one knee so that their head are level. "What's your name?"
"Merl'we."
"…that's nice," Yui said, eliciting a shy blush from the girl. "My name's Straight Blade. But the people just call me Yui."
"…Yui?" Merl'we blinked in confusion. "That's a strange name."
Yui chuckled, "Yeah, I know. Nam keeps reminding me." The ooman retrieved her bucket, still smiling. "Are you going to try and hunt me again?"
Merl'we shook her head vigorously.
"You know I was serious when I said you should go find my Mother," Yui stated. "She can help you figure out what to do when you're older." She was about to continue on her way when she paused and back around to face Mer'lwe. Lifting the bucket which contained the fish she caught for this morning. "You want to join me and Mother for breakfast?
Merl'we teared up a bit at the ooman's warm sounding invitation.
Yui winked at her, "I make a mean grilled fish."
She finally nodded and followed after Yui, happy someone, even if she was a stranger and anooman, seemed to care for her.
(SSJNYH)
That's how a lot of us remembered Straight Blade. In your most hopeless moments, you could always depend on her to help pick you up and remind you why you mattered. Nearly everyone loved her, she was ooman and would not live as long as the rest of us but we loved her.
I loved her, but years after she disappeared and Gaun continued to mourn her and would not see me as a daughter she never had I began to hate her – a dead girl. And after I fell out with nyaka-de I swore I would never hate another ooman again.
I miss you, Yui.
(SSJNYH)
Chapter 14 – The Uninvited
++Emergency Broadcast System++
The following message is transmitted at the request of local authorities. At 9:47 AM, a disaster of unknown type has occurred at the Nevada Test and Training Grounds, causing significant damage and failure to various power and communication systems in the surrounding areas. An immediate evacuation order has been issued for all residents within a 75 mile radius. Local authorities and US military has been dispatched to provide assistance. Make sure to bring an emergency supply of food, water, clothing, first aid kit, flashlights with extra batteries, and battery powered radios. Follow local evacuation routes which have been marked by local authorities and only use one vehicle. Do not return to the warning area until the all clear has been given. If you are not in the evacuation zone, stay where you are. If you are within the evacuation area and have no access to transportation, locate your nearest police department or military officer. Do not use telephones or cell phones except in the case of emergencies. Stay tuned to local news media outlets for further details and information on this situation.
(SSJNYH)
"Rest well, Shinji will come see you tomorrow, Merl'we-chan."
"…can't wait, Mana-chan."
In one of the lower levels of the clan's hospice that was built into the canyon, thirteen year old Mana took one last look at Merl'we lying down in her medical suite just before the automatic door closed right in front of her. Inching towards the wall she stopped herself from leaning against it next to the door out of disbelief and sadness, she believed that she be used to the sight of a bedridden Merl'we by now. A bedridden, despondent Merl'we instead of the outgoing, happy Huntress that she grew attached to living amongst the Yautja.
It took Shinji-kun a while to heal from the wounds that pig inflicted upon him. It took Merl'we even longer to heal from the worse kind of thing that could happen to anyone.
Turning away from the door she clenched his eyes shut and groaned as memories surfaced; the bad kind. Fanatics, bio-engineered horrors, blatant disregard of human life, the Zaibatsu….Gamaru. She felt a shiver run up a spine as she walked down the corridor, believing that she was heading towards the exit but instead had taken a wrong turn as she fought to keep her mind off horrible things no child should have to witness.
Besides Shinji-kun I hadn't seen another ooman ever since I was sold to the Arcturians.
Every day I was afraid the Zaibatsu would follow me all the way here, have the balls to break their agreements with the Yautja High Council and attack their few colony worlds. It would mean war, but I'd get the chance to pay those assholes back for what they did to my village, my mother…to Koji and Mu.
She sniffed, remembering that she missed her brothers terribly.
Growing up on backwater planet near the edge of their system the Elders would tell stories. We oomans traced our descent from the world the Black Moon, the Celestial Egg, had landed on and where humanity truly began: Chikyuu. – Earth. How oomans were created, the tales were always conflicting: Either the First Ones themselves journeyed to Earth and seeded life themselves and we are one of the products that came out of it or we were created by the creature the Black Moon had transported.
I don't believe that. No way were we created by this creature, the Paya Amedha – the Angels.
The Elder referred to this creature as Lilith. A being that not even First Ones could kill…
Mana's head perked up when she realized she had been too distracted by her depressed thoughts that she had gone the wrong way. As she turned to go back where she came from she could make out the sounds of a female Yautja bellowing from around the corner, which she recognized as birth pangs coming from the maternity chambers of the hospice. Turning the corner she noticed that the automated door was ajar slightly, but she could make out a new Yautja mother strapped to the bed let out one last cry before M'kanosa produced a bawling Yautja pup.
"It's a boy," M'kanosa declared, joyously. "A beautiful, healthy boy."
Mana felt cold. The larger head and sharper looking mandibles compared to other newborns she had seen during her time here. It was a Super Predator pup – no doubt a product of rape by the Sinister Eye a month ago. She watched as the mother, one of the Sinister Eye's victims, was released from her bindings and immediately rounded upon M'kanosa.
"Give him to me!" the new mother sounded almost hostile.
The healer stiffened. Fearing the worst, she held the bawling child to her, "So you can do him harm? I won't let you! I swore an oath as clan Healer-"
"NO!" shouted the mother, upset, more with herself than anything about ever considering harming her own offspring because of the circumstances of its birth. "I changed my mind!"
"…you would be the first," M'kanosa muttered, unsure.
"PLEASE…give me my pup," the mother gradually lowered her voice. "Please."
M'kanosa turned to three nurses standing close by near the bed, silently pleading with them on what to do. The nurses were young female adult Yautja showing no signs or scar of ever participating in the hunt all wearing the same white medical smock as she was over their bare bodies. They looked at another, silently consulting with each other, and then nodded towards M'kanosa. The Healer looked downat the crying newborn pup, before carefully handling it over to the new mother.
The mother cradled the child as if it came natural to her, something M'kanosa had bared witness to for nearly five decades, encouraging her to not reach for the blade she had strapped to the small of her back, which had remained there in preparation for this day when months earlier Razor Sword, seeming without the Elder's approval, declared that once the Bad Blood pups, all children by rape, were birthed they were to be killed immediately. She had voiced her objection and declared she will not assist in any of the births if their bearer's intended for their offspring to be purged immediately afterward.
Until she saw for herself those pups being murdered one after the other, and decided to tend to the final mother herself and save her child. Keep him safe somehow; Gaun would have helped her, she knew she would. Straight Blade was her entire world, and now Curved Blade had filled the void left by Straight's Blade's absence, there was no way Gaun would suffer a pup's death. If Merl'we hadn't been rendered infertile and had carried because of that pig that shall be nameless, Gaun would protect her, both of them.
Her thoughts were interrupted not from the mother's happy giggles at holding her pup and managing to calm his cries, but from the door at the other side of the ward being kicked open. And in stepped Razor Sword and several masked, armored Hunters. The newborn started crying once again.
"What is this?!" M'kanosa demanded. "How dare you?! What are you doing here?!"
Razor Sword looked impatient. "You know why we are here. For the good of the clan we're preserving our bloodline!" he exclaimed as the two Hunters stepped towards the new mother. "All the other women have agreed to it." He pointed at the Mother, "It just leaves her."
"M-MO!" the Mother screamed, clutching her newborn pup to herself as the Hunters approached her, stretching their hands towards her. "I CHANGED MY MIND! YOU CAN'T TAKE HIM!"
Mana visibly shook with terror as she continued to watch.
"Bloodied Mail will have your head for this!"M'kanosa yelled as she drew her blade.
Shoving one of the nurses aside and allowing one of the Hunters to pin her to the wall, Razor Sword sneered, "He gave the order. Now step aside!"
Before one of the Hunters could reach for the woman he had his hand seized furiously by M'kanosa, the larger female immediately snapping it in a rage and lifting the Hunter up and hurling him bellowing in pain across the room and smashing into several medical apparatus. The other Hunter immediately drew his combistick and struck M'kanosa across the head before she could turn to him, knocking her and another nurse down before kicking her blade away towards the door, and near Mana's feet.
"NO!" Mana cried, tearing the door open bursting into the room, grabbing the knife off the ground and waving it at Razor Sword and his cronies, immediately feeling like a fish in a tank full of carnivorous Deathpincers as the armed Yautja all turned on her.
At first surprised, Razor Sword suddenly appeared disgusted at the sight of the ooman female, "C'jit, the hell is she doing here?" He exclaimed, angrily. "GET HER OUT!"
Rage plastered Mana's face as she stepped forward, only to be lifted up off the ground by one of the nurses and carried outside. Screaming and yelling curses, Mana struggled against the nurse and only calmed down when she saw the tears well in her eyes.
"Don't look…" the larger Yautja nurse told her, just as Mana noticed Razor Sword extend his scimitar as his Hunter cronies restrained both the mother and the last remaining nurse who had tried to stop him, before placing the crying pup on the bed in front of Razor Sword.
Whimpering, Mana closed her eyes and buried her face in the nurses shoulder as Bloodied Mail's scimitar came down. The pup's crying ceased, the mother screamed the loudest…
Don't want to remember anything else after that. But I can't forget that eighteen newborn half-breeds were murdered that week – punished for something beyond their control. Later I found out Gaun didn't even object, at least publicly. Razor Sword threatened to murder Shinji-kun while he was healing if she spoke up.
That is something I will never forget for as long as I live.
…why the hell am I reliving all this?
Oh…right…
(SSJNYH)
Mana yelped in pain…
…I got knocked out.
…and came to in Merl'we arms as she was lying her on the floor in the abandoned building she and the Yautja were currently squatting in within the flooded ruins of Old Tokyo. Almost gasping herself, Merl'we held her tightly to stop her from writhing her arms about as she woke up, gently shushing her as she slowly calmed down and became motionless.
"Ssshhh…relax, Mana-chan," Merl'we smiled. "You're still not dead."
"Merl...'we?" Mana croaked, seeing Gaun sitting cross-legged on the ground with her arms crossed as Nam wrapped her forehead with gauze. "I…I got knocked out again?"
Nam paused what he was doing and gave Mana a wry look, "And how many times is that, between you and Curved Blade?" He smirked and tightened the fabric around Gaun's head, "I swear: oomans must have hard heads if you can still remember your own name."
Mana chuckled painfully, "Yeah. Ow…" Her smiled faded as she recalled the fight back in Tokyo-03, shivering when she remembered Toji had been the focus of Za Kuma's attention, "C'ji…Toji."
Nam growled as he finished tending to Gaun, "Boy's lucky Za Kuma just 'sampled' him. If he really had that beast's fancy he'd be split in half right about now-"
"Nam!" Gaun exclaimed, clearly not comfortable with Nam trying to make light of what could have happened. She looked over at Mana, stoic once again. "What do you know of Za Kuma?"
Sitting up, Mana looked down at her feet and shivered lightly, "Just what the elder used to tell us in my village back on…whatever planet me and family used to live on." She paused. "That he was the bastard offspring of a Black Moon child and a First One and went around just killing and defiling anything that moved until the Zaibatsu somehow recruited him as an enforcer. I thought they were just scary stories they like to tell me and the other children. Seeing him in the flesh the first time, he's much, much worse."
"He didn't even get started, trust me," Nam grimaced. "That one and I mean ONE, time I saw he was…" He stopped when he saw Merl'we staring at him, knowingly. Nam swallowed. "…sorry."
"The Zaibatsu's made their move if that fucker's showed himself," Merl'we groused. "It means that Adam-"
Her was her turn to silence herself when she noticed Gaun was glaring at her.
"…sorry."
"What?" Mana stood up, alarmed. "Adam? What about Adam? What's it got to do with the Zaibatsu?" She turned to Gaun, pleadingly. "C'mon nyaka-de, why are we still keeping secrets from Blade-kun? And me?"
"…" Gaun frowned. "Are you afraid?"
Mana inhaled through her nose, and she swallowed nervously, "…I'm terrified. I-I don't want to be enslaved again. I-I want my brothers back, I-"
"QUIET!" Nam suddenly barked, staring up at the ceiling, everyone seeing that he was trying to focus his hearing. "Gaun?"
The Huntress nodded, "I hear it. Masks on, away from the windows!"
The Predators all kept away from the windows and pressed their backs against the walls as a spotlight shone in from the small VTOL hovering past the ruins. Just one VTOL built for transport and no visible onboard weaponry, drawing their curiosity. Vision modes set to detect the electronic spectrum they watched through the walls as the VTOL ascended upward and landed on top of the rooftop of the building. It cut its engines almost immediately, and they saw the side door open. Switching to thermal they saw just one person step out. He was alone, and unarmed.
Merl'we turned to Gaun, "So…how do you want to play this?"
Gaun was still looking up at the ceiling. Stepping away from the wall near the window Merl'we, Nam and Mana quietly watched as she stepped out of the room towards the nearest, still intact staircase leading towards the roof.
"…" Nam blinked. He questioned out loud, "She does realize she's still wearing that fucking bomb collar, right?"
(SSJNYH)
Waiting for Gaun on the roof was none other than Kozo Fuyutsuki, who stood facing the door leading into the staircase, hand clasped behind back and back straightened; projecting an aura of confidence that Gaun didn't fail to notice when she opened the door to find the elderly gentleman waiting for him. Fuyutsuki couldn't stop himself from smiling, finally meeting the person who raised Yui in lieu of her deceased parents.
When he researched Yui's past, he had grimaced when he found out that her parents had died in a car accident, her older sister, Hitomi, in the backseat the only survivor. Hitomi had claimed a 'monster' had abducted her younger sister, leaving her in the wreckage with her dead parents. The authorities didn't believe her, about the monster that is, but they did declare Yui as being kidnapped.
Then fourteen years later she was found in a hospital near Kyoto, suffering from multiple slash and stab wounds and nearly dying on the operating table. Doctors had said she had been dumped outside the hospital, dressed in what amounted to torn fishnet and leather armor and she had been crying out in a language no one recognized. After it was determined she was unable to explain where she had been those past fourteen years or the identity of her 'kidnappers' she was put into rehabilitation.
While at first she was unresponsive, even hostile towards her caretakers and even her older sister Hitomi, Yui was surprisingly found to be very bright despite the hostile environment she had no doubt being forced to grow up in. She had learnt Japanese in short order (plus a couple of other language – English and German), but had refused to talk about where she had been most of her life. After she successfully adjusted to a normal life, at one point even living with her sister, she disappeared into the Japanese education system. She resurfaced years later in 1999 at Kyoto University, now aged 22 and seemingly having shed whatever former life she had lead, studying a course in biotechnology. And Fuyutsuki himself had been of her teachers.
Fuyutsuki knew SEELE was behind Yui's rehabilitation and acceptance into GEHIRN. They must have somehow known about her contact with alien species and the knowledge she must have possessed on their technology, especially if she was able to duplicate it. It was pure chance that Gendo Rokubungi became part of the equation, seemingly unaware of Yui's history and marrying her, Shinji 'Curved Blade' Kasumi the result of that union, and continuing to implement the Human Instrumentality Project in Yui's place when she went through the Contact Experiment with Evangelion Unit Zero One, which claimed her life. And seemingly repeating history as she left Shinji, the same way this Huntress – Gaun – left her. And judging from Gaun's heart-rending reaction when she found out Yui was Shinji's biological mother she realized that very same thing.
Fuyutsuki shuddered to think how Shinji would take the news that Yui chose EVA-01 over him. It would destroy him – something Gendo and SEELE would want if their plans continued to be dependent on him, once and if they ever got Adam back.
"Gaun," Fuyutsuki greeted the Huntress as she stepped away from the staircase and approached him.
"…" Fuyutsuki could tell Gaun appeared at a loss. Gaun recovered herself quickly enough and replied in Japanese. "Why you here?"
"I…"
Interrupting him, Gaun demanded, "Ikari send you?" She continued, her voicing raising a bit as she strained her vocal cords with speaking the ooman tongue. "You know we not hunt…" She pointed at him, sounding spiteful. "…unarmed and old men?"
Fuyutsuki smiled, "Honor is the reason why you don't. And it's why you took in Yui in the first place, is it not?"
"DON'T SPEAK HER NAME!" Gaun bellowed suddenly, catching Fuyutsuki off guard. "You oomans killed Yui, defiled Yui, breed pale spawn of Yui!" She became breathless through shouting so much.
"…you refer to Rei Ayanami?" Fuyutsuki asked, composing himself. He didn't count on the Yautja connecting the dots when it came to Pilot Ayanami that quickly.
"You violated my daughter's very essence and spawned that abomination!" Gaun growled then started to shout down at Fuyutsuki in Yautja, "And Shinji's sire is trying to grind him down, force him to pilot that God Machine. What would Yui say if she knew what he, what ALL OF YOU, were doing to Shinji?! What is wrong with you oomans, forcing your frail ooman children to fight your battles for you?! Have you no compassion at all for your young?! Or for yourselves even when you woke the Giant of Light and nearly destroyed this world?!"
Except for faintly hearing Shinji and Yui's names, Fuyutsuki couldn't understand a word of Gaun's rant. But he just knew that Gaun was venting her anger and frustrations toward NERV and humanity in general, just over him mentioning Yui's name.
Gaun was panting after her tirade. After a minute she leaned in close to Fuyutsuki's face and whispered, "What. Do. YOU. Want?!"
Fuyutsuki didn't say anything. Instead he reached into his coat and pulled out a remote control…which Gaun recognized as the one that was controlling the collar around her neck. Her eyes widened behind her mask, however she quickly accepted her fate as Fuyutsuki pushed the button. Her last thoughts would have been of…
Shinji.
…if she didn't hear the collar click and felt it loosen around her neck. She felt the impulse to tear it off and drop it onto the ground, leaving her feeling surprised enough she couldn't make her mandibles work to offer any kind of retort to the old man's statement.
"That is how far we are prepared to go," Fuyutsuki concluded. "For Shinji's sake and for Yui's memory would you be willing to hear me out?"
Gaun blinked behind her mask, and then she stared down at the ESS at her feet. It didn't take long for her to realize that NERV has, what oomans would call, some kind of 'ace' up their sleeve, and it would probably involve Adam and their probable futile effort to reacquire it.
They will find some other way to keep us on a leash. And it will probably involve Curved Blade and his m…and Misato.
The Huntress raised her head to stare straight into Fuyutsuki's eyes. She crossed her arms.
Then again, we're all already playing the parts of pawns in someone else's game.
"Go on."
For Shinji…and for Yui.
(SSJNYH)
Halkrath - Shadow
Mo - No
(SSJNYH)
A/N: …yeah, that was pretty heavy stuff at the beginning, just a reminder that the Yautja are…different than humans.
A short chapter this time, Nevada and NERV-02 comes next update.
And the first appearance of Yui Straight Blade. ^_^ Just as a lot of characters in canon had nothing but good memories of Yui, so do the Yautja.