Creation began on 06-03-20
Creation ended on 07-21-20
Neon Genesis Evangelion
I Dream of Evangelion: No need for Strength
Gendo saw the officer return, but not with a look of reassurance on his face.
"Were you able to locate the temple?" He asked.
"We did, but it would seem that, despite their claims of being at the museum when you showed up and attacked the girl, we couldn't find any probable cause to bring your son or his girlfriend in. Even if we thought of a made-up excuse, what would it amount to? We questioned them about what happened, and your son pointed the finger at you as the aggressor, and he and his girlfriend as the victims of your viciousness."
"You couldn't find an excuse? What about the girl being older than him? She even kissed him!"
"If your kid wants to be with a young woman old enough to be his big sister or something, that's his business as long as their relationship is mutual."
"You can't possibly be serious about this."
"If I'm not serious, then your son was serious about how your actions against Pema, his girlfriend, left him conflicted about what the next day brings. You clearly left an unpleasant impact on the two. They couldn't let go of each other's hand for eight minutes."
-x-
"…What?!" Misato gasped as she and Ritsuko were informed of the situation by the sub-commander. "Commander Ikari was arrested yesterday?!"
"It appears that he had attacked a museum that his son and his girlfriend were at," Ritsuko explained to her, having been informed more than Misato had been. "There was some talk about a monster at the museum, but people were more upset with Commander Ikari's actions than the presence of a creature that went after him after he shot a girl that was with his son."
"Only the police didn't find proof of this creature on the video surveillance at the museum and nobody's talking. He tried to get the police to speak with his son, but it seems that was a mistake. A big mistake. All the police say was that Ikari's actions left an unpleasant impact on the Third Child and his girlfriend."
"How unpleasant is 'unpleasant'?" Misato asked.
"If anything," went Fuyutsuki, "the police suspect that Ikari's actions made his son and his girlfriend feel that life is too short. And life is too short when someone tries to kill you because they feel threaten by something you or someone else has either done or will do later on."
"But why shoot at the girl?" Ritsuko questioned. "She hardly seems like a threat."
Except she is a threat, Misato thought as she didn't believe Pema to be a major threat to the world as she was to NERV due to putting them close to out of business with her actions against the Angels, mainly to protect Shinji. She's just not a threat to our future.
"What do you think, Misato?" Ritsuko asked her.
"Huh?"
"How would the Third Child react to a move made on this girl he lives inside a temple with?"
"He'd probably want her close by if she was shot at a second time."
Suddenly, the alarms went off again, indicating an Angel was approaching the city.
"Oh, you gotta be kidding," Misato expressed.
-x-
Shinji and Pema were disappointed at the sight of the Angel when it appeared. They were just laying on the roof of the temple when Pema saw it appear on the other side of the city. The cursed girl wanted to continue the practice of making out with her lover further when this creature ruined their quality time. But she had the power to end this now, to protect the man she truly loved and this world from the threat this creature represented. Her sole concern had to be what was important to her, and that was Shinji, Otomo and their temple home.
"You come back home, Pema," Shinji told her, holding her in his embrace. "You come back to Otomo and I."
"Arrf!" Otomo barked.
Pema nodded that she would return to them.
"And Pema," Shinji stopped her before she blinked herself to NERV HQ, "I love you."
She looked at him like she was about to cry…and responded, "I love you, too, Shinji."
And then she was away from the temple, in the form of the Servant Beast of the Djinn, and in the presence of the red Eva.
"We shall eliminate the threat," she uttered, levitating up towards its head. "Awaken and serve me to protect that which matters above all."
Unit-02 opened its eyes and vanished from the cage with the Servant Beast.
-x-
"I don't believe this!" Asuka groaned; she was about to get in her plugsuit before that thing showed up and took off with her Unit-02. "Does anyone know where it went?!"
Maya typed in a few command codes, and the monitors switched on to show Tokyo-3…and the red Eva, now wrapped in golden armor, facing down the Angel.
"Verdammt," Asuka cursed. "It should be me facing that monster."
Better her than you right now, Asuka, thought Misato as they all watched as the Angel unleashed its energy beams on Unit-02, who blocked with its AT-Field and then released two energy whips at the Angel.
"How is that creature hijacking my Eva able to do that?" Asuka questioned.
"Probably assimilates every Angel it goes up against," Ritsuko suspected; it wouldn't be the first time a creature in the wild adapted to whatever was hunting them by using abilities they had seen, even if it was only once.
The Angel then unleashed a pair of tentacles that looked like toilet paper at the armored Eva, but the red behemoth blocked with a large energy blast like that of the Fifth Angel, reducing them to tattered shreds.
"You're the strongest among them," they heard the creature possessing Unit-02 say to the Angel. "The strongest…and most vicious that despises this era of humans…simply because they don't know their place. But they can't play God, anymore. I saw to it personally. To protect my master, I crippled their unforgivable desires in favor of the most permissible blessing that humans these days don't seem to embrace as they did in the past, which is to live, to enjoy every day they have. So…you can either desist…or I can add you to the fallen. There is no need for death and destruction. There has been too much of those…and most often caused by humans that can't see coexistence with the world."
"I can't believe that thing is putting us down," said Kaji.
"But the current generation is only hindered by the previous generation's handful of mistakes, such as the maiming of this world. They can't move on and make their own choices until those that came before them own up to their past mistakes and seek to correct them, the proper way. I've encountered a few, one in particular, who was, is…just disgraceful. He tried to hurt his only son…out of spite towards him. He possesses no redeeming qualities, so he is doomed to fail in every endeavor he tries, and may never reconcile with the son he drove away. I don't understand why anyone that would make a conscious decision to have children would do everything they can to disgrace them, including cast them aside because they don't fit in whatever goals they had in their future. My master once told me, and it's something that everyone should take into consideration when they make such life-altering choices, but if nobody is fully committed to taking responsibility for their children…then they shouldn't get involved any further in their lives. All the parents or guardians end up doing in the end is causing more pain than they can tolerate…and that's what my master's father has done."
"What the… That's a heavy-hearted belief," said Hyuga, agreeing with what the creature expressed towards the Angel.
"Very heavy," added Fuyutsuki.
The Angel regenerated its limbs and attacked again, but the armored Eva unleashed another blast of energy that was much bigger than the last one.
"I pity those that can't let go of their rage," the creature expressed, and made Unit-02 open its head, revealing an unearthly pair of mouths, one on the bottom and the other on top of the upper eyes. "I will now satiate my hunger."
A strange and vast whirlpool of energy escaped from its head and entrapped the Angel.
"Grrurgh!" The Angel grunted, trying to escape from the whirlpool, but it couldn't find a way out. "Grrraurgh!"
NERV watched in disbelief as the Angel, perhaps the mightiest one they've seen by far, was swallowed by the possessed Eva. It wasn't even a contest if this creature able to manipulate the Eva at will possessed abilities belonging to the previous Angels it faced. The Angel was atomized into countless pieces and then sucked into the Eva, which then funneled the whirlpool of energy into the arms of the creature manipulating it.
"The blue pattern and AT-Field of the…the Angel…has disappeared," went Maya to them.
"That creature…is something else," Shigeru admitted.
You have no idea, thought Misato, unable to disbelieve the sight of Pema in her cursed form adding another Angel to her collective power. She protects Shinji from the Angels and the end of the world anyone threatens to unleash, while indirectly protecting us as a consequence. She's gonna put us out of a job…if she hasn't already.
Then the golden armor on Unit-02 evaporated and the Eva was instantly back in the cage. It was as though it never left at all.
-x-
Back in her human form, Pema stood on the porch at the temple, looking at her hands, examining the large gems that were embedded in her palms. They no longer looked like pearls, now looking like faceted, cut crystals growing from within her skin. Sighing, she hoped that these would fade over time; Pema didn't want to worry Shinji over something that might've been permanent or just came with the fact that she was still under the effects of a curse that made her a host or vessel for a creature that could harvest the Angels and keep them in check indefinitely. She then reached for the doorknob and let her presence be known to the two most important people in this new life she was living out of the darkness.
"Hey, there," she introduced herself. "I'm home."
Shinji, sitting on the floor with Otomo, quickly got up and ran over to her, hugging her tightly.
"I saw the Angel and the red Eva," she heard him say to her. "There was a moment of silence between them…until the Angel attacked again. What was with the pause between its rampage and your victory?"
"I spoke to it, trying to persuade it from attacking any further," she explained. "I mentioned how humans of the past and current generation won't be able to destroy the world with what they're doing and how someone I know and care for very much won't be reconciling if his father is unable to own up to his faults. But the Angel, Zeruel, couldn't let go of his fury…so I dealt with him before he could harm anyone else."
"Well, at least you gave the Angel an opportunity to turn away. Hmm? Pema, your hands."
Shinji looked at the gems embedded in her palms.
"Yeah," she sighed, "they're not pearls, anymore. It's…almost sad, really."
Examining the white gem on her left hand, Shinji agreed with her. But whether they took a day or longer to fade away, he would wait with her. He was just relieved to have her back.
"Arrf!" Otomo went, wagging her tail.
"We should probably get started on dinner early," Shinji suggested.
"Yeah," Pema agreed.
-x-
"…Yes, I'm aware that he was arrested," went Fuyutsuki on the phone to the police officer that had called him about Gendo's current state. "If he's going to be released in a few days, why should I bother to come over there and post bail for him? He should take the time to reevaluate his life. I don't care if he will be upset with me, he attacked some people at a museum, probably scarred some children with his actions and drove a deeper wedge between himself and his only son. I don't care what you tell him, I can't do that again."
Hanging up, he sighed at how the memory of the first time he had been asked to bail Gendo out of police custody resurfaced in his mind. He only heard of him through Yui…and was immediately disgusted by him when he met for the first time after he was reported in a brawl. This case where he attacked a museum where his son was with a girl old enough to be his big sister or something was no different from the brawl he'd been involved in, something he instigated for a personal reason…and he couldn't deal with Gendo's behavior a second time. So, he was going to let him stay in police custody until they let him go on his own accord a few days from now. Hopefully, by that time, he'd calmed down so and knew to leave his son alone.
"So, Ikari will be in police custody for a few days?" Ritsuko asked him, as they were in Gendo's office when the phone rang.
"Unless you want to go bail him out," Fuyutsuki told her.
"I don't have time to go to a town where he attacked a museum."
-x-
Gendo was furious! Not only was his bail set at a high number, but Fuyutsuki had refused to come get him, instead letting him stay in police custody until they decided to release him later in a few days! By that time, the next Angel could show up and destroy them! Of course, he blamed his son for this turn of events. He blamed Shinji for everything that went wrong since he showed up in Tokyo-3 and then chose to abandon his obligation in favor of being with some…some girl that had a secret of her own!
With nobody coming to get him out of custody, it would be at least a week or two until the police released him on his own recognizance. And by then, it would be who-knows-how long until the police set a trial date that he had to quash because he couldn't afford to waste his time on such nonsense, and he had to find a way to rectify this debacle his son and that girlfriend of his have caused NERV and the human race.
-x-
Maybe she was silly to think such a thing, but Pema was starting to like Shinji's chest more than her pillow as the two slept that night in the temple. She opened her eyes in the dim-lit temple and looked out a nearby window, seeing the stars and moon shining down on them. Then, she laid her head back down on his chest. There was no threat to any of them nearby so there was no need for strength or brutality on her part. Right now, the only thing that really mattered…was this moment that reached into the silence of the night.
In his dreams, Shinji was running down this lonely highway, trying to escape from this vicious giant that had been skinned and was chasing him, tearing open the ground in the process. It felt like the same night nightmare, occurring time and again, with the ending usually always the same; Shinji would fall into a deep darkness and awake in a cold sweat. But something was different this time. He was still running, but not only to get away from the skinless giant; it felt like he was running towards something. Or even someone.
In front of him, there was a light. It was dim, but it was there in front of him. To him, this light meant safety, an escape to this horror he found himself in. And then…he watched as the light took on a new form.
Hands reached out from the light and grabbed onto him, pulling him into an embrace. Long, amber-colored draped over shoulder came next, followed by a kind face that he had seen many times now. It was Pema, holding him protectively in front of the behemoth.
"You will not hurt Shinji any further, you wretched disgrace!" She told the creature, and then unleashed a burst of light that wiped it away from the night, leaving only the empty street it chased Shinji on. "It can't hurt you, anymore."
"Nothing and no one can, Pema," he responded, burying his face in her embrace. "Not as long as we're together."
She smiled and just held onto him.
"Until the end of time, Shinji."
-x-
"…This creature that has taken control of the Evas every time an Angel attacks has stood in our way far enough," said SEELE 01 to the rest of the council during a secret meeting to discuss the recent events. "Nothing has transpired the way they were supposed to, and from what we do know, the Angels haven't been destroyed, only displaced."
"We're to assume that this creature that NERV has encountered is able to restrain the Angels and then use their powers as its own," went SEELE 10, "and if it has amalgamated every member up to now, it has accumulated the Third Angel up to the Tenth Angel."
"Not only do we suspect that," added SEELE 05, "but we have reason to suspect that if this creature can absorb these Angels, it can also absorb Adam…or even Lilith, which in turn would render our scenario for naught."
"Have we had word from NERV regarding Lilith?" SEELE 11 questioned.
"We have not," answered SEELE 03.
"Contact NERV," ordered SEELE 01. "We must confirm the status of Lilith."
To be continued…
A/N: NERV is screwed, SEELE is screwed, and Gendo remains in police custody until he's cut lose for a trial date. What could happen next?