Creation began on 07-21-20
Creation ended on 07-29-20
Neon Genesis Evangelion
I Dream of Evangelion: All for Naught
Three days since the Tenth Angel attack. Three days since Gendo found himself still in police custody. As far as he knew, SEELE was aware of the loss of both Adam and Lilith, meaning that, in all likelihood, the Human Instrumentality Project was inaccessible by anyone that desired it. No Adam, no Lilith, no Spear of Longinus, no salvation for all of mankind in these desperate times.
It would be another six days until the police let him go. Probably another six days where he was cut off from the world.
-x-
"…You mean to say that this…this creature that can absorb the Angels into itself," went SEELE 04 to Fuyutsuki, "absorbed Lilith and later absorbed Adam?"
"That's what we suspect," Fuyutsuki expressed.
"Even if we were to salvage the Spear of Longinus, we can't achieve our grand design without Lilith," said SEELE 09.
"What if we use Evangelion Unit-01 in place of Lilith?" SEELE 12 suggested.
"No," SEELE 01 declared. "Evangelion Unit-01 is useless as a substitute, even though it was made directly from Lilith's flesh. It lacks an S² Engine needed for unlimited power."
"Why did Ikari fail to resolve this matter?" SEELE 03 demanded.
"The creature, apparently, perceives NERV…or anyone that uses the Evas, actually, as a greater threat than the Angels themselves, and acts out in order to protect someone it is bound to."
"So, this…this thing belongs to someone, and that same someone has been making NERV look inadequate in doing their job?" SEELE 06 questioned. "How are we supposed to implement the Human Instrumentality Project now that our primary pieces are gone?"
Fuyutsuki could honestly care less about the Human Instrumentality Project. He didn't even care about what SEELE did, anymore; it was his hope that the Angels would now cease appearing after the last one was dealt with. With Adam and Lilith, it was likely that mankind was spared a mass extinction event that was Third Impact.
"Where is Ikari right now?" SEELE 01 demanded.
"In police custody for attacking a museum that, allegedly, his son was at with a lady friend of his," Fuyutsuki explained.
"We have no time to deal with his antics."
-x-
Misato didn't like this any more than Fuyutsuki did, but he had requested that she herself drive to the temple to see if Shinji and Pema were fine, despite the unlikelihood that they were in any way harmed by Gendo's actions. She was more afraid of the possibility that Pema had been at the museum when Gendo attacked and caused a scene, exposing herself and Shinji to the public, even though they had no affiliation to NERV. Of course, if anyone did see Pema turn into her cursed form and there were no cameras that caught this, it would only be the word of those that saw her, and nobody was talking about a creature at a museum, just Gendo. As she stopped by the temple and approached the steps, she sighed as she found herself trying to trespass into the personal lives of two individuals that Gendo wouldn't have allowed to stay together at all.
Knock-knock. She knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" She head Pema's voice.
"Misato Katsuragi," she responded, and the door opened, revealing the girl, dressed in shorts and a green shirt.
Inside, she saw Shinji sitting on the floor in front of several bowls and saucers; he and Pema were either having a late breakfast or lunch.
"Hey, Ms. Katsuragi," Shinji greeted her. "What brings you here again?"
"I was requested by Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki to ascertain whether or not you two were at a museum that…your father had attacked over a day ago."
Shinji sighed and expressed, "We were just trying to have a good time, putting behind us the Angel incident that was a few days ago. And then he showed up and caused a scene. Of course, Pema handled him and left him for the police to take away while we came back to the temple. We've been here ever since."
"So…your father tried to…hurt you both again?"
"His actions only made me realize that I didn't want to spend the rest of my life without Pema."
Misato looked at Pema, who seemed less defensive and more at ease to be around. And it almost seemed as though…the girl was different from the last time she saw her.
"Well, life is…rather short," she admitted to them.
"Life is only short," said Pema in disagreement, "when people choose to shorten the lifespans of other people. What is the natural lifespan of an average human? How long can a human live when given life-extending resources? How old is that man, Shinji's father? He has absolutely no respect for one's limits or boundaries. Whosoever thinks they are without boundaries shall face the despair that awaits them when they find they have nowhere else to run to and no one else to turn to, whether it's a shelter in a lowly desert or an ally atop a mountain. What, is he fifty?"
"Forty-eight," Misato revealed to them.
"I didn't even know he was that old," Shinji revealed. "He never seemed like he had time for any kids. And, what, he was in his thirties when I showed up? He must've been cold from the start."
Pema then returned to Shinji and sat across the floor from him, and Misato noticed their dog eating from a bowl near the fireplace.
"Uh, not that it's any of my business," she spoke up, suspecting that something was up with the two, "but did something else happen because of your father, Shinji?"
Both Shinji and Pema looked up at her and then back to each other.
"Life is short to let any possibilities pass one by," Shinji then expressed.
"Solace was found in the midst of discord caused by a heartless man," added Pema.
Misato was confused by their beating around the bush…but then noticed that Pema definitely seemed happier around Shinji. She decided not to press either for more detail, but had to suspect that the pair became an item after the boy's father attacked them at the museum, making them feel unable to move on without each other in their lives. It seemed unusual due to the major age difference between them; Shinji was fourteen and Pema was ancient, despite looking well into her late-teens or early-twenties, making her a cradle-robber, but it seemed like a mutual relationship between the two.
"The cops came by a while ago and asked if we were at the museum, too," Shinji told her. "I hope nobody else comes by to ask if we were there. Just knowing that my father attacked the museum in order to hurt us should suffice."
"Grr," growled Otomo as she expressed her contempt towards the boy's father.
Misato bowed her head and bid farewell to the couple.
He really drove those two to commit to each other when he tried to tear them apart, she thought of Gendo's corrupt actions against Shinji and Pema as she walked back to her car. If he does come after them again, it's only going to get worse if he can't leave them alone.
-x-
She couldn't stop thinking about them being together. Their closeness had driven a wedge into the way Commander Ikari refused to ignore the fact that the boy refused to pilot the Eva and the way the girl he lived with at an abandoned temple encouraged his refusal to join NERV. As she lay in her room at night, Rei thought of how NERV's personnel had been considering the possibility that they would soon be shut down due to the Angels being defeated, one after another, not by the Evas, but by this creature that appeared every time they did. Even with their defeat, Commander Ikari was displeased with the fact that they had done nothing short of sending an Eva out to confront them.
"As long as that woman is with him, the Third Child refuses to submit," she heard Commander Ikari say one time. "We need to find a way to remove her from the situation, through subtlety, coercion or by force."
A nonentity such as her couldn't be disposed of by subtlety, Rei thought, referring to finding out how the girl was able to sneak her way into the country and then remove her. And methods of coercion and force failed. Why does she support the Third Child's decisions to reject NERV and Commander Ikari? Why does the Third Child retreat to her every time an attempt is made to convince him to join NERV?
She imagined the two leaving the base…and then frowned at the two holding hands. Even if it was nothing serious, Rei felt like the two being together was a mistake and one that needed to be corrected as soon as possible. If one had to guess, Rei was planning on doing something that would endanger the pair's female member.
-x-
Asuka was frustrated over the inability to prove herself as an Eva pilot because of that creature that appeared every time and took over the situation. All her years spent training to be the best, and it all gets flushed down the drain because of a creature that perceives them as a similar threat as the Angels because of their actions. If there were no other Angels coming, it was possible that the NERV branch back in Germany would recall her back, and then she'd have to explain to her superiors there why she was unable to defeat even one Angel due to a strange, rogue element that they knew nothing about.
First NERV was unable to recruit the Third Child, who chose to shack up with some girl older than he was in some temple, and then there was a situational rumor where Commander Ikari was trapped inside a crushed car, and now a new rumor that he was in prison for driving his car into a museum where his son and his lady friend were. She had to suspect the guy was unstable and needed medication if he was that upset that his own son refused to pilot the Eva; if someone said "no" to the idea of piloting the Eva, then it was best to move on to the next candidate. And NERV had the gall to threaten another teen in order to get him to pilot the damaged Eva that had been infected by another Angel and nearly got him killed.
"Well, Asuka," she heard Kaji say to her as she read a magazine, "if that was the last Angel, we might be asked to return to Germany in due time."
"Great," she responded, displeased.
"You don't sound happy about it."
"That creature that defeated the Angels made NERV look like an inadequate bunch of people that knew something bad was going to happen, and instead of letting us do our jobs, it took control and made us look bad."
"Professionally, Asuka, I'd agree with you, but personally, people as a whole won't care one way or the other how the Angels are defeated, so long as they're defeated and they get to see the next day. Mostly, it's just whoever was around in the city and countryside that didn't get to their designated shelters that saw the Angels that know some of what went on every time they attacked. But as a whole, they don't care."
"Then what is the point of not knowing that NERV was the one tasked with defending the world? What is the point of the people never knowing who put their lives on the line for them?"
-x-
"…If there is no other way to resolve this matter," SEELE 08 uttered to the council, "then everything we have sacrificed much for…has been for naught."
"Adam and Lilith, gone," went SEELE 11, "the Angels, defeated by a creature that can possess the Evas and use them as an extension of itself to absorb the Angels into its being, and the human race left in a rut we can never overcome."
"And all because Ikari couldn't give us any assurances that he could keep the situation under control. He spent most of his time trying to recruit his son into piloting the Eva than dealing with the Angels."
"And he failed in getting his son to pilot the Eva," added SEELE 02. "He only piloted voluntarily once. The second time was against his volition, and that creature removed him from the Eva after the Fourth Angel was defeated. He couldn't even set terms to which the boy offered his services to NERV that they could agree on."
"What were the terms?" SEELE 01 demanded to know.
"The Third Child would pilot the Eva, but only if he was allowed to do so without having to listen to his father, be followed by anyone, and to continue staying at this derelict temple he and this older girl with no apparent ties to anyone took up residence in," revealed SEELE 05, "but Ikari refused to accept those terms, even if it meant having the boy pilot the Eva willingly."
"Damn him… What do we know of this girl that lives with the Third Child?"
"Nothing, sir."
"What do you mean, nothing?"
"There's no record of this girl from anywhere. It's like she just showed up when the Angels did. NERV tried to find information on her, but weren't able to ascertain anything. There's nothing relating on fingerprint analysis, facial recognition, social media accounts, financial resources, travel passport, driver's license, not even a birth certificate. This girl is so alien that she doesn't exist anywhere on the planet."
"A boy that refuses to pilot the Eva…and a girl that doesn't exist."
That's when SEELE 01 had a dark realization that he needed to share with the council. If they were unable to carry out their scenario, they had to set an example and show the world that they were the ones in charge and could still decide how things were going to be. This included how people were only as invaluable as the service they provided to some part of the world order.
"If we're unable to progress forward the way we desire so, then we may as well remove the cause of our downfall, down to the last loose end," he revealed.
-x-
Shinji awoke to the sound of Otomo barking, and saw that Pema was not beside him.
"Pema?" He called out, looking at the open door.
"I'm out here, Shinji," he heard her respond, and found her sitting on the steps.
"How long were we asleep?"
"Just four hours."
"Is something wrong?"
"I hope not, but…I get the feeling that someone is watching the temple. Over there by the trees (she pointed over to the trees and bushes)."
Shinji looked over, but didn't see anyone.
"Are they a threat?" He wondered.
"They haven't made their intentions clear yet; they're just…watching the temple."
"How many?"
"All I see is one person. Probably around your age, if not a little older."
"Can you describe them?"
"A young man, grayish hair, pale skin tone, red eyes, almost a male version of Ms. Ayanami, except not as invasive as her the last time we saw her."
Shinji was about to say something about the albino girl, but then realized they were better off not bringing her up in any future conversations. As much as he accepted Pema's belief that the girl was likely damaged or broken, and maybe she was because of her association to his father, he would rather have little to do with her than necessary. And he was with Pema now; he couldn't look at another girl the way he did with her. The bushes shifted for a moment and Shinji felt a bit tense, something Pema felt; he was beginning to wonder if he should be worried about them because someone was spying on their home. But because Pema hadn't changed into her cursed form, there was no danger to him.
"Maybe we should go back inside," he told her, and she got up.
"Yeah," she agreed with him. "If he hasn't tried to come any closer to the temple, he might not try to. Whatever reason he has for being here is entirely his own…so long as he stays away."
Before Pema closed the door, Otomo started growling, as if there was a measure of danger nearby, and the girl got suspicious.
"Come on, Otomo," she told her dog as she picked her up. "There be only small troubles that wander about the still night."
As the temple door closed, emerging from behind the bushes near a tree, a young man stood, exactly as Pema had described him, with grayish hair, pale skin tone and red eyes.
"Tabris," a male voice uttered in a transceiver device in the boy's left ear, "do you read?"
"I do," he responded. "I see the temple. I have seen the boy and the girl that live within it. I believe the girl knew I was nearby and informed the boy."
"What else were you able to ascertain from a distance?"
"They have a dog with them."
"And?"
"They seem to have…each other. The boy seems rather attached to the girl and vice versa. If I don't know any better…and I don't know any better, I would say they are just…two people and a small animal living together in a derelict temple that nobody else wants. But the girl…is odd."
"How so?"
"She knew I was near…and she never saw me…yet she knew where I was hiding. I was too far from the temple to be seen…and she knew I was there."
"Well, you know what you need to do, Tabris. Eliminate loose ends. Those two never existed."
"Understood, sir."
His orders were as followed: Eliminate the Third Child and the girl he lived with…and then eliminate Gendo Ikari while he remained in police custody.
To be continued…
A/N: I'm looking forward to the season finale of Ultimate Tag since Chicago Wednesday is just reruns of the shortened seasons of Chicago Med, Fire, and PD. I hope this new chapter will ease y'all until the next chapter. Peace.