Chapter 1: The End of the Tunnel's Light
You know… I still don't entirely know how we got here. There was a climactic battle, there was a victory, and now… we're here. The future. For all I've put on a brave face about the future for Asuka… I have no idea.

We've spent years, multiple now, defending the world from the Angels, as Evangelion pilots. As the Children of NERV. Now, the Angels have been defeated. Now, one of the biggest threats to humanity, one that we came to learn about in an… intimate? Intimate way, was, if not defeated, then at least repulsed. And so, now, I can't help but ask myself… where do we go from here? What happens next?

- Personal journal of Shinji Ikari

United Nations Building, New York City, New York, Early June 2016

Acting Commander Misato Katsuragi suppressed a quiet, tired sigh as the meeting dragged into its fourth hour. On its fourth day. The meeting room was awash with argument, ineffectually punctuated by the banging of a gavel that was lost on the chatter, almost all of it centered around NERV. And, ultimately, around her. Around the Children. Her Children.

She was tired. So, so, so tired. From the mountain of paperwork that came from the Battle of Tokyo-3. From meeting with and consoling the weeping families that had made their way back to the city, looking for fathers, sons, and brothers that had been killed in the fighting. From the jet lag of her and Fuyutsuki and Ritsuko and Daniel and the Children being dragged to New York to be placed in front of the circus that was the Judiciary Assembly of the United Nations.

And she was now especially tired of the circus itself. Of the roundabout point and counterpoint argument, that ground on her will and patience like she had put her head to a belt sander that wore away at her at an infinitesimally slow pace. They had, in painstaking detail, gone over seemingly everything from the beginning. The Katsuragi Expedition. The events of Second Impact. The formation of GEHIRN, then NERV. The creation and nature of the Evangelion. The battles with all the Angels. The Battle of Tokyo-3.

She tried not to rub her eyes live on camera as the gavel finally seemed to do what it was supposed to do, and the chamber fell silent. "Acting Commander Katsuragi," the presiding member of the Assembly said, "we have gone over, in no small amount of detail, the many, many transgressions of the Special Agency known as NERV. Now, we reach perhaps the most damning portion of this meeting. Something that is not only legally questionable but morally so as well."

Misato suppressed a scoff. 'As if something that SEELE had a hand in couldn't be considered morally questionable. But you got real quiet once Ritsuko mentioned that, for all intents and purposes, you were as much a puppet of them as we were, didn't you?'

She focused as the presiding member continued. "We speak of the case of the Children of NERV. The pilots of the Evangelions." she paused for a moment. "Thus, we call the six Children of NERV, Rei Ayanami, Asuka Soryu-Langley, Shinji Ikari, Hikari Horaki, Toji Suzuhara, and Kaworu Nagisa, to the stand."

If it were anytime before now, she would have had an expression of annoyance flash across her face, despite her best attempts at control. Now, however, she could only stifle a sigh of resignation. She had concluded that they wanted to talk to them directly long ago. Why else would they drag them all the way out here, and set up the extra seats at the long table?

And now, she looked over to her right and saw them marching in single file, the boys dressed in suits and ties, the girls in dresses. As they walked to the table and took their seats, she could see their faces. She didn't even have to peer into their souls, a skill that she had learned… Christ, was that really only 6 months ago? To see what they felt.

Shinji was anxious, as much as his face didn't show it. Hell, anyone would be, after four days of not being told what was going on. Asuka put on a brave face, as she always had, but years of living with her had trained Misato's eye to see the tiredness that she hid behind them. Rei was stoic, years of training at keeping a blank face serving her well. But again, Misato could see behind the mask. She was almost as tired, if not more so than Asuka. The others were more apparent in their apprehension. Toji visibly gulped as he held Hikari's hand under the table, something all the Children did for those that they loved.

And now, they had to face the world that they had saved, and the condemnation and judgment that awaited them from it.

"We'll begin with our first question." the head of the Assembly said. "Ms. Kamau."

The representative of the African Union had a light come on over her head, and Misato hid a wince as she recalled the members of SEELE having much the same sort of lighting. The representative spoke in Swahili, and a translator carried her words to them. "To all of the Children, but specifically to Shinji Ikari," a voice other than hers said, "many questions are surrounding your connections to those in the leadership of NERV, specifically as it relates to the late Commander Gendo Ikari."

Misato spared a glance at Shinji, and just managed to catch his jaw unclenching. Gendo Ikari wasn't dead. Well, he was dead, but Shinji now had his soul tucked away somewhere while he decided what to do with it. But, really, the Judiciary Assembly didn't need to know that.

Ms. Kamau continued, and the translator spoke again. "Many would accuse him, and by extension, you, of nepotism and coercion. But, as a mother of children your age…" both she and the translator trailed off, as the light above Ms. Kamau's head showed those who had sharp enough eyes to see the tears that ran down her face glistening. "I can feel nothing but sympathy for you. For all of you. So, in the end, I suppose my question is… why? Why go at all, knowing what you might go through?"

It was silent for a moment as the Children processed this question. Finally, Shinji seemed to gather the courage to speak. "That is a complicated question, ma'am." he said, in English that was only slightly halting. "There are many facets of why I, specifically, decided to go back. The greatest of them was…" he trailed off as he sighed quietly. "An attempt to secure the love and affection of my father. Something that I had wished for since I was a toddler. I cannot speak for all of us, but the day I stepped off the train to Tokyo-3, that was perhaps my greatest goal. Time changed that dramatically, but then, that was perhaps the greatest reason."

He shook his head slightly as he paused, then looked to his friends. "As for the rest of us, for some, it is all that we have ever known, literally in some cases. And for some, it was done out of a sense of duty, of willingness to sacrifice whatever was necessary for the survival of humanity. For all of us, really, we simply wanted, by the end, to ensure that we would be able to have a home that we recognized. That is why we did what we did. Because, due to the nature of the Evangelion, due to the nature of them being partially powered by the souls of our mothers, we were the only ones able to do what we did, quite literally. I can say with certainty that no one else could have done what we did."

He looked over the representative, who nodded slightly as her light winked out. The head of the assembly spoke. "Next question. Ms. Naaji."

The assembly member of the Arabic States, a relatively young woman with a severe look in her bright green eyes, began to speak as the light turned on over her head. "The Children should not, absolutely should not, be put into combat. To send children to battle such as NERV has is a dereliction of our duties as adults. As their protectors. What steps are being made to ensure that the Children can return to, nominally at least, a normal life?"

Misato nodded. "We are currently in the process of finding alternatives to the Evangelion system for use against any threats that may come as a result of SEELE." she said simply.

Scattered murmurs, their low words now far too familiar to Misato, rippled through the hall. Words of skepticism and doubt. It had taken far too much to even begin to disabuse them of the possibility that SEELE was no longer a threat, with the spectacular display of the Russian Chairman of Defense Arkhip Kovalchuk, and his death, doing little to help matters.

Even after the retreat that they had presented at the Battle of Tokyo-3, and the disappearance of the Human Instrumentality Committee from what seemed like the face of the Earth, Misato was still cautious. There were still six of the Mass-Production Evangelion able to function. That didn't even account for whatever else the decades-old conspiracy could have hiding up their proverbial sleeves.

"Even still, currently the Evangelion is the first, best line of defense against SEELE." Ritsuko said. "To have it deactivated, even for as short a time as we hope it will take in finding an alternative, would leave us, and consequently the world, in an extremely vulnerable position. But rest assured, we will do everything in our power to ensure that the Children no longer have to put their lives on the line."

Ms. Naaji's hands became fists for a moment, but she nodded, and the light went out above her head.

. . .

The meeting continued for a time like this, question and answer going back and forth, even as some of the assembly members argued their points with NERV members and each other. Some questions seemed to stretch into forever.

The head of the assembly spoke again. "Next question, Mr. Johannessen."

Another light blinked on, above the representative of the Nordic Confederation. He was a stout man, with a squared jaw and dirty blond hair, whose blue eyes seemed to pierce through whomever he looked at.

"My question is one concerning the current state of the Evangelion." he said in only slightly accented English. "With the defeat of SEELE, will the Evangelion continue to remain active? And to whom will they owe their allegiance?"

Misato opened her mouth to speak, but Mr. Johannesen continued. "And what about the anomalous Evangelion that appeared in the middle of the Battle of Tokyo-3? Are we to feel safe with a completely random variable such as that? Where did it come from? How was it built in such secrecy? How-"

He was cut off by the gavel ringing out twice. "That will be quite enough, Mr. Representative."

Mr. Johannesen closed his mouth with a slightly audible click, then leaned back in his chair after a moment to realize that he had leaned forward.

It was silent again for a moment before Misato began to speak. "Mr. Representative, NERV, as an organization, has always been about saving humanity, in one way or another. While perhaps that meant causing Instrumentality for SEELE and, once, for Commander Ikari, I and the Children are dedicated to resolving the threat of SEELE permanently. We are dedicated to keeping this world safe from those who would harm it."

It was blessedly silent for a moment before Johannesen responded. "Even still, there is at least one Evangelion unaccounted for. What of the Night Sky Evangelion?"

A popular nickname, Misato noted, after footage from the battle, or at least what wasn't classified to hell and back, had leaked from the Magi. She still had to ask Ritsuko's mother about that.

Before she could continue, she heard a sigh from beside her. She looked to her right and saw Daniel, his head lowered slightly, and the look she saw in the corner of his eye could best be described as resignation, mixed with determination.

He looked up at the Assembly. "I can offer an explanation as to the existence of the Night Sky Evangelion." he paused as a murmur rippled through the gathered dozens of the Assembly. "Many of you, I am sure, have heard rumors of fantastical forces at work during the Battle of Tokyo-3, far beyond the scope and known powers of an AT Field."

The murmurs only grew as he stretched out his hand, palm up. Then, the room fell completely silent, as a constellation of stars appeared above his hand, then floated towards the assembly. "These rumors are true." Daniel said simply, as the rest of the room was entranced by the tiny spectacle, those in the back leaning forward to get a better look at it.

After a moment, Daniel released the Expression, the power manifested by his soul, and leaned back as he closed his hand. "We have conclusively answered the question of 'are we alone in the universe'. That answer is 'no'. And now, I present you with another question. Are we, the universe, alone? And the answer… is no. Because I am not from this universe."

It was silent in the room for a moment. Then, heedless of the head of the assembly, the Judiciary Assembly exploded into a wall of noise that seemed to slam into the bench that the members of NERV sat upon with physical force as the Assembly hurled its questions towards Daniel.

Misato could not stop herself from sighing. It was going to be a long, long week.

. . .

The Children of NERV trudged into their hotel penthouse, a lavish affair that Misato touted as compensation for dragging them away from their homes, with more than a few weary sighs of relief. It had been hours more after Daniel's demonstration, and now it was night. Not that they could entirely tell from within the penthouse, behind closed curtains as they were.

Shinji sighed quietly. He felt a great weight on his shoulders. They all did to some extent, but he felt it especially heavily. Crowds had never been something that he had taken pleasure in, even on the best of days, but now, with cameras seemingly shoved in their faces wherever they went in public, especially now that they had come to New York, he felt as though the whole world was looking at him right now. Which, in a sense, it was.

Shinji turned to Asuka, an apologetic look in his eyes. "Asuka… can I…"

Asuka's grip on his hand tightened for a moment, and Shinji could plainly see the conflict in her eyes, but she nodded slowly nevertheless.

Shinji took a deep breath and smiled at Asuka softly. "Thank you." he said, just as softly, before letting go of her hand and retreating to their room, the curtains for it, and all the penthouse, drawn shut to prevent giving a view to the now seemingly ubiquitous consumer drones that the paparazzi seemed to have gotten ahold of.

The door to their room closed with a quiet click, as it had for the past near week that they had been here, and Asuka let out an explosive, exasperated sigh. "Damn it." she said, slipping into Japanese almost without thinking. "I hate seeing him like this."

She turned on her heel, marching towards the couch and collapsing on it, the seat making a dull thump at her impact. "I mean, he didn't even get to bring his cello!" she exclaimed. She blinked after a moment of silence and chuckled as she realized how silly that all sounded. "I'd appreciate hearing that cello right now. I'm sure he would too. I… I hate just leaving him… alone."

It was silent for a moment as her friends, her family, silently walked over to sit around her on the couch, Rei and Hikari sitting next to her as Kaworu and Toji sat next to them.

Rei and Hikari enveloped Asuka in a silent hug as she struggled to hold in the tears she felt welling up in her eyes. It was a silly thing to do now, really. Her promise to her mother that day so long ago not to cry rang hollow now that she could talk to her again, now that there was a better than good chance that she might even see her again. But old habits died hard, she had found.

It was silent for a few minutes as they took in each other's companionship. Then Rei shook her head slightly, the action rubbing her hair across Asuka's face lightly. "Why did Daniel do that?" she said quietly. "If the world did not fully know of Interfacing, of the power of the soul, it cannot help but notice now."

"And so, this world might yet follow the same path of the First Ancestral Race." Kaworu nearly whispered, concern evident in his voice and his expression. "A century of growth, of wonder, then an inevitable end as they… as we consume ourselves. All of humanity, gone. And the cycle would repeat."

The silence was solemn as they took that in. Then, Toji shook his head. "Nah." he said with surety, and the other looked over to him as he continued to shake his head. "They didn't have what we have. We've got someone who can help us when we screw up. Someone who's done it and seen it before. We've got a teacher on our side. Two of them, even. The only teachers I've ever really paid attention to, at least."

"Daniel and Eleanor." Asuka said softly, and a small smile glowed dimly on her face for what felt like the first time in days. "That's right. At least we have them."

"Exactly." Toji said. "And, I mean, they got you, Kaworu. And Rei, too. Someone who can tell people what the cost of screwing around with this sort of stuff can be."

It was silent again for a moment, then Hikari spoke up. "Well, if they have to be up to the task of teaching, not just us, but all of humanity to responsibly use Interfacing, then…" she shook her head slowly. "I don't envy them."

Asuka bobbed her head from side to side slightly, as much as she could in the embrace of her two friends. "Well, yeah, teaching an entire planet is going to be kind of a hard ask for anyone, really. But they're not alone. They have us."

"They have children who are really only experienced in using Interfacing in combat. Likely, that doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of what it could do." Hikari said. "I hate to be a pessimist here, but... I mean, look at the First Ancestral Race."

She looked over at Kaworu. "What could they do with Interfacing? The Soul Arts, as I recall you called them?"

Kaworu looked over at Hikari for a moment, then dipped his head slightly as a pondering expression settled on his face. "Well, beyond creating the Super Solenoid Organ, they could reshape their bodies and minds, and…" he paused as his mind delved deep into the past, tapping into the memories imprinted on his soul by the scientist who would become Adam. "There are mentions in the scientist's memories of things that are likely Spirits, at least as Daniel and Eleanor have described them, and of something called the Mind-plane. Perhaps an exploration into the Mental Realm?" he shook his head for a moment. "And the scientist's memories contain only a mention of a thousand other disciplines that stem from the Soul Arts."

"Wow." a quiet voice said from behind them, causing them to jump slightly as they turned to look at Shinji, who had emerged from his room and now held his phone by his side, likely having been listening to music.

Asuka extracted herself from the embrace and stood, walking around the couch and giving Shinji a hug and a quick, surprisingly deep kiss.

After a moment of appreciating each other, Asuka pulled back from the kiss. "Better?" she said softly.

Shinji smiled slightly. "Yes, Liebling." he said, and Asuka was thrilled to hear that, as she was every time she heard it before. "I am."

"Good. I should expect nothing less." Asuka said, smiling broadly and projecting an air of confidence and swagger that never failed to make Shinji chuckle softly as he did now. "You missed…" she deflated slightly, and her smile dimmed. "Well, you missed us talking about Daniel's little stunt and what it's going to mean going forward."

Shinji shook his head as Asuka led him to the couch, she and the others filling him in on the brief conversation they had had.

Shinji nodded after a moment. "I mean, I guess we can help." he said, uncertainty evident in his voice. "But, like you said, Hikari… that's a big responsibility. Bigger than even being pilots."

Asuka scoffed slightly as she smirked. "Who'd've thought? We might not have to worry about being..." she trailed off as realization seemed to hit her like a brick to the head. "Pilots… anymore." she whispered, and a somber look crossed her face.

Kaworu shook his head. "No. As long as the Mass-Production Evas are still out there, as long as SEELE is still out there, the world will need the Evangelion. They will need us as their pilots."

"But for how long?" Hikari said quietly.

The room went silent, as the Children pondered the futures that lay before them.

. . .

Daniel peered out from behind the edge of a closed curtain and stared at the gleaming form of the Empire State Building. It was almost a miracle that it had survived Second Impact and the threats that the Impact Wars had in store. Now, it dominated a portion of his vision as old memories spooled through his head like a reel of film. Memories of old gods in new places. Of their children, and the quests that they undertook. Of ancient monsters and men in a modern world, hidden as if by mist.

"You're looking at it again." a voice said softly, and he let the curtain fall back in place as he looked over at Eleanor, who sat on her bed and regarded him with a hint of melancholy in her eyes.

Daniel nodded. "Yes. I've looked at it about as much as you have." he said, as a small, wry smile quirked his lips at hearing Eleanor chuckle softly.

He sighed quietly. "I remember when defending that building was the most important thing in the world. I remember Percy and Annabeth, and the rest of both camps. The gods. The madman who wanted to seek godhood there."

His voice quieted. "I remember how that man got there. The Pollux. Pyxis VII." he shook his head slowly.

Eleanor stood, making her way over to Daniel's side. "Daniel. You can't…" she sighed. "You can't keep blaming yourself for that. You blame yourself for too much, already."

Daniel sat up, his elbows on his knees as he clasped his hands. "If I had been just a second quicker…" he began.

A light finger on his lips stopped him from going any further. "Then you wouldn't be here. And… I don't know what I would do."

It was silent for a moment as they pondered the past that they had come from.

Eleanor finally shook her head. "I saw the little stunt you pulled. As did the rest of the world, I assume."

Daniel chuckled dryly. "It would be ridiculous of me to assume that you didn't."

Eleanor looked at Daniel, almost glared at him. "What were you thinking? Now, we have to worry about the whole world, about SEELE, getting a hold of Interfacing. I'm sure you don't want to think about SEELE enhancing… just about anything that they have with Interfacing as much as I don't."

Daniel sighed as he nodded. "Yes. You're right. But think about it. They're the only ones who can even come close to matching what we have. If we keep defeating them, there's a better than good chance that they'll go to the wind, possibly even find a way into the Worldsea. And then they'll come back."

It was silent again for a moment as they processed this. "So," Daniel continued, "we need to even the playing field. Especially if…"

"They come back." Eleanor said, and neither of them needed to expound on who they feared might return.

After a moment, Daniel shook his head. "We need others. We need those who have traveled the path that this Echo has just started on."

"The League?" Eleanor said.

"Yeah." Daniel replied with a nod. "The League."

Eleanor nodded after a moment. "I'm sure Tel would like some say in what happens as well."

Daniel snorted softly. "Tel has always wanted more sway with the League. That's the way it was when we joined, and I doubt that's changed much. Even after the Unity War."

Eleanor nodded. "Even still, if we got a delegation from the Worldstrider Corps, it could mean a world of difference."

It was silent for a moment, then Daniel looked up at Eleanor with a small smile. "You'd probably have to contact Rachna, then."

Eleanor smiled back as she snorted softly. "Who do you think made my mission to find you official after I'd left? She was almost as worried for you as I was, being one of her star pupils and all."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on. We just got lucky and you know it."

Eleanor punched Daniel lightly on the shoulder. "Pessimist."

"Teacher's pet." Daniel shot back.

They looked at each other for a moment before a burst of laughter lightened the mood in the room for a moment.

As the laughter subsided, Daniel looked back at Eleanor. "So, are you able to contact her?"

Eleanor nodded. "Yeah. I've actually needed to contact her for a little while now. I'm sure she'll appreciate the update. And I'm sure she can pull together a delegation that's ready and willing to help."

Daniel nodded in turn. "Good. Good." he smiled for a brief moment, then the smile dimmed. "Tell her to contact the League too. They'll hear about this, I'm sure. They'd be putting together a delegation in a heartbeat."

Eleanor nodded. "I'm sure Rachna won't need to do much. The League's been desperate for members since…"

It was silent again. That had become depressingly often in the past few weeks. "Yeah." Daniel said quietly. "Since the war wiped out many of them."

Eleanor nodded wordlessly. "So," she said, obviously trying to change the subject, "I'll get on that when we get back to Tokyo-3. And I'm sure that she'll want to see you again if only to berate you for not getting in contact with her."

Daniel chuckled slightly. "Ah, yes. One of her legendary beratings." he stooped over slightly, tenting his fingers with tips touching, and began to speak in a subtle, but noticeable Indian accent. "Oh, Daniel, after all the care and time that I've put into you, you finally turn up out of the blue without so much as a warning? Without so much as telling me about what you've been doing, that I've had to send poor Eleanor to go searching high and low for you? I shouldn't expect any less, really."

Eleanor chuckled as Daniel gave his eerily accurate impression of Worldstrider Sovereign Rachna Chandra. "Something to that effect, I'm sure."

Daniel smiled, then sighed as he stood, taking a step towards Eleanor before embracing her. "I'm not sure how long I've needed that." he said with a slight chuckle.

"I know." she said softly. "And there's something else I'm sure all of us have needed."

Daniel's brow rose slightly. "And what might that be, love?"

Eleanor simply smiled as a previously unnoticed music player clicked to life, and a brassy, old-time song began to play. A song from home. From before even the Worldsea.

Daniel looked at Eleanor with no small amount of bemusement. "This seems a little on the nose for a first dance after so long, dear."

Eleanor smiled back. "I don't care. Dance with me."

"Of course, Eleanor." Daniel said, and they swayed to the beat and the words of a longsuffering lover.