Chapter 23: Will the real Rei Ayanami please stand up?
It could be said in a way that the outfits chosen by each one of the members of Shinji's team, two of them he did not know had joined him yet for comic-con day, reflected the beautiful changes that an evangelistic and saintly young boy had brought to their otherwise miserable lives before meeting him.
They saw him as a pioneering hero, and they wanted to show him this.
Their matching school uniforms reflecting their unity as a team that would stick together through thick and thin (with the exception of Maya whose maid outfit was worn for the benefit of appearing presentable before her guest and prisoner, Misato). Their differentiating voices, hair styles and nametag messages reflecting how as good friends, they respected each other's differences and uniqueness.
…
"I will find you, Rei" a maniacal Gendo cackled as he marched down a pavement surrounded by a platoon of his elite guards each one armed with a state-of-the-art assault-rifle capable of a dazzling rate of fie. "You can't escape from me. You belong to me."
One of the guards carried a handheld stereo, which played the Emperor's imperial march theme from Star Wars, as they marched in the direction of the park where the annual comic-con festival was being held. Being antisocial shut-ins with no social skills and knowledge of the outside world they had shut themselves away from, they would not realize until it was too late that everyone wore a mask in that festival.
…
Dressed as Homura Akemi, Rei Ayanami who had recently become Rei Ikari to her eternal delight, was having the day of her life.
Not as great as yesterday when Shinji, Madoka to her for today, had forgiven her for her sins and ingeniously found a way to accept her into his family despite his engagement to Mari, but a wonderful one nonetheless.
Among a sea of other partygoers dressed in a host of other outfits, Homura Akemi was the shining beacon that drew the eyes of everyone causing spilled drinks, love heart eyes and of course lots and lots of nosebleeds, even more than on the day she grew out her hair.
It was fun for her to have the chance to feel the sensation of being loved instead of feared for a change, and equally enjoyable to view the gallery of outfits chosen by the other citizens of Tokyo-3 on this special day where for once, the city became friendly enough to have a little get together in united celebration.
How many Mario's, Pikachu's and Zelda's could she look at before she got bored?
A Donkey Kong stood on a stage nearby, doing the Gorilla dance while juggling bananas.
A Light Yagami and Officer L were sat at a makeshift bar, laughing and telling jokes over a glass of frothing root beer. Their genuine laughter and merriment prevented Homura from vomiting over the sight of the alcohol.
It was good to see two worst enemies put aside their differences for a change even if they were just costumes.
"You two go and enjoy yourselves. I'll just be here." Mari dressed in the school uniform and blonde spiral hair tails of Mami Tomoe said, as she took her seat on a chair beside a table with a crystal ball on it.
"Who wants to have their fortune told by a senior magical girl next." Her voice sounded as Madoka and Homura (in reality Shinji and Rei) went off to enjoy the first day they had had to themselves in their lifetime.
And it was every kind of wonderful. They played party games, lots of party games. Homura's hammer swing broke the counter and she was given the entire wagon of cuddly toys as her prize.
Madoka shot every balloon in the booth down with ruthless efficiency in just six shots. This was nothing compared to aiming an EVA's weapon at a constantly moving Angel's microscopic weak spot. She got enough sweets to last the three of them and their butler at least a year, if they ate double their recommended sugar intake every day.
"How'd you do that?" the clerk of both games asked the pair when they simultaneously won their sweet victory.
"Magic" they replied nonchalantly in unison. They were both magical girls after all, for the day at least.
Then the two of them danced to some sick, sick tunes. Neither of them had danced in their lifetime but Homura being an artificial human had excellent agility, and Madoka being the people's person she was, knew exactly what to do.
Several times they ended up carrying each other bridal style, each one taking turns to be the one being held up. They let each other enter their comfort zones without hesitation or fear. Asuka wasn't here to be a whiny, spoiled brat and the chief of NERV wasn't breathing down their necks.
The incubators were far, far away from here as were the witches.
"I've finally found the perfect timeline" Homura rejoiced to herself as she swept her Madoka off of her feet. "Oh, my sweet Madoka. I will never leave you again. We really are in this together now." She understood fully well that this was a strictly platonic outing with no romance of any kind involved and was all the more relieved for that fact.
It was at this moment that a series of heavy-footed steps crunched across the gravel as the sound of a gunshot rang out across the compound, followed by shattering metal as the loudspeaker came to a dead stop as a stream of bullets thudded into it.
Homura wrapped her shaking arms around a trembling Madoka as from behind a tent, strode Chief Gendo Ikari surrounded by thirteen uniformed NERV guards with loaded guns pointed squarely at the crowd before them. Their uniforms were decorated with medals. These were decorated combat veterans.
"Party's over" the chief of NERV exclaimed, his words acting as a whip on the crowd of costumed partygoers. "Until I find which one of you is the real Rei Ayanami. No one moves, no one gets hurt."
He fired a shot from his revolver to emphasize his point, causing an Ash Ketchum to backpedal back with a squeal, as the bullet came dangerously close to him.
"Don't worry Homura. I won't let them take you away again." Madoka promised as she returned a hysteric Homura's embrace. They had been apart for too many timelines now for it all to go to waste. And as far as they were concerned, Rei Ayanami did not exist today and so NERV had no business here.
"Uh I am?" A Princess Rosalina garbed in a blue dress piped up only to screech in pain when a bullet hit her in the shoulder.
"So, you think this is a joke. It's not. You are going to line up neatly and stand completely still while I find the real Rei Ayanami." Gendo barked as his gunmen motioned with their guns for everyone to move into a neat line, which was obeyed without further debate.
"You can go." Gendo eventually said, pointing to a Samus of Metroid at the far left of the line after looking at her long and hard. The young woman shook as she turned to beat a hasty retreat while one gunman kept a gun on her till she had left.
"And you." He said to the next in line, a young boy wearing a sonic the hedgehog suit. "Step up. You look suspicious.". The boy stepped up, was looked up and down with his pockets emptied, and eventually dismissed after a tense silence.
The pattern continued for a while as Madoka and Homura stood nervously awaiting their turn. It was a good thing Rei's Homura outfit came with glasses and braids as well as a voice modification bowtie.
"It's also a good thing that my master is a sucker for a pretty face." Homura whispered to Madoka as the scan continued. "With any luck, we can turn this to our advantage." Rei hated to have to step out of character, but it was necessary for Shinji to know that this cloud had a silver lining and for them to be ready to use it.
"Gotcha. I think I already have a plan" Madoka quietly replied, nodding ever so gently unnoticed by the guards.
One by one, the costumed partygoers were dismissed after being closely looked upon by the chief of NERV. A few were even forced to strip when he declared them "Suspicious". To Madoka and Homura's great relief, no one was shot. Homura wasn't sure that if one of them was marked as a target, that she would be able to stop herself from running forward and shouting. "Me, me. Turn your guns on me!"
She really prayed it didn't come to that. She had just been reunited with Madoka and Mami and had yet to see if the other magical girls again.
"Grr" Gendo roared after the twentieth partygoer, a Princess Nausicaa from the valley of the wind was reluctantly let go after being forced to strip to her pants. "Why aren't any of you Rei? Will the real Rei Ayanami please stand up already? I have candied sweets for you, Rei if you do."
He grinned a wicked grin as he held up a bag of rotten candies that looked as if they had gone stale last year.
His gaze shifted to Homura and Madoka, who had to fight to hide their looks of pure disdain and hatred from him. "You there." He greeted with mock mildness, gesturing towards a flush faced Homura who was looking down. "Have you seen a certain Rei Ayanami somewhere, miss? She has short blue hair and red eyes. You can't miss her. Something in your eyes tells me you know, something."
"Erm, no kind sir. I don't know anything." Homura nervously answered with her hair covering her eyes. "What are you talking about?"
"You know something. I know I do. When people look at me in the disrespectful way you are now, it can only mean lies. Tell me now what you know about Rei Ayanami and tell me the truth, or it'll be all the worse for you." Gendo demanded impatiently, levelling his revolver at the dark-haired girl in the school uniform and glasses.
"Rei Ayanami? Who's that? Is that someone who's trying to pretend to be me?" Homura quavered, having to force each word out of her mouth as she spoke it. "My name is Homura Akemi, sir. And I'm afraid I don't have any clue as to this Rei, you're talking about?"
"What's your profession, miss Akemi?" Gendo asked, out of the blue. He was not making this cross examination easy.
"I'm a magical girl sir. I keep the world safe from witches, nightmares and those blasted incubators who won't leave us in peace, otherwise." This was true, at least for today. She would have liked to add that she was the most powerful magic girl who had once pulled an angelic demigod from the sky, but no need to be big headed now was there?
"I see." Gendo grunted as he scratched his head trying to decipher something, he knew was there but trying to hide itself.
"And I'm Madoka Kaname. Homura's friend and another magical girl." Madoka quickly added. "And you are?" Shinji may have known perfectly well the identity of the big and evil man in front of her, but Madoka did not.
"Gendo Ikari. Chief executive officer of NERV laboratories and security company." The chief said offering his hand which Homura politely managed to shake. "It's an honour to make your acquaintance."
The other people in the line tried to take a step back but the guards raised their guns higher causing them to stand still again.
"Well Mr Ikari sir. We haven't seen the Rei Ayanami you described to us, but perhaps if we take you to our friend Mami Tomoe, she may have." Offered Homura, doing one of her signature hair flips which was dazzling even with her braids in the way.
"How very helpful of you, Miss Akemi." Gendo replied, completely captivated by this gesture despite his cold heartedness. "Lead the way."
Two guards came to Gendo's side as he gestured for them to follow him. "As for the rest of you, my guards will check you one at a time and you'll be let go only when they say you can go."
"Can my friend, Madoka come with us? She's the one who knows where Mami might be." Homura pouted a little.
"I suppose so, yes. Miss Kaname, lead us to your other friend." Gendo gestured for Madoka to lead the way which she gladly began doing, taking care to stay a little ahead of both Homura and Gendo.
This could work out just brilliantly. Shinji's father really was a sucker for a pretty face and it was what would do him in.
…
Maya, today to be known as Sayaka, fed the tied-up Misato the seafood noodle soup she requested like a mother feeding her child. "Open up, here comes the plane." Sayaka chirped as she raised a spoon which Misato opened her mouth for.
She made a plane noise as she placed the admittedly very delicious contents of the spoon into the purple haired major's mouth.
"It tastes good." Misato could not help but admit.
"Shinji, I mean Madoka taught me how to do it." Sayaka explained happily. "I learned from the best."
Shinji did that, thought Misato. Wow.
"Can you please untie me now. I promise I'm not going to try and escape anymore, and as good as this meal is, I can't enjoy it tied up like this. Please?"
Sayaka looked Misato up and down while smoothing her short blue hair.
"Not that you could escape anyway. I have a black belt in karate." Sayaka eventually said when she saw the true honesty in the major's expression. "I did say I was going to let you go" she said as she untied the knots, keeping a close eye on Misato all the while.
A single threatening gesture and she would get a karate chop to the face. Homura may have been the most powerful magical girl, but no one could match Sayaka's unarmed fighting style. This was what advanced training in NERV which Misato skipped, did for her.
"Finally." Misato said upon feeling the freedom in her hands and legs as she picked up the bowl of noodle soup and spoon to eat it herself.
She appreciated being fed like a child, but realized it was not a good mark of the good major she would try to do a truly better job of being.
"Do you feel bad about what you did to Shinji yet?" Sayaka asked.
At this question, the world seemed to stop moving. Time seemed to suspend. Major Misato dropped the bowl, causing hot soup and noodle to spill all over the wooden flooring. She buried her face into her hands and turned away, not wanting to show weakness to an officer of lower ranking.
"Everything he did, he did to make you proud, Misato. He piloted so well in spite of piloting being the last thing he would ever want to do. He lived for you Misato, and he would gladly have died for you." Though Sayaka realized how hurt the major already was, now was not the time to pull any punches.
Misato needed to know the full extent of how badly she had screwed up, so that she could learn and get better.
Terrible images she wanted to keep forever buried away began to flare up once more in Misato's mind. Memories of her wasted youth that she had never gotten to enjoy, forcing her to grow up quickly, too quickly for her comfort. Abuse. Terrible abuse and pain, so much pain.
And to think that one of her abusers ended up being the one she owed her life towards. It really was f*cked up in every sense of the word.
And Shinji had been the polar opposite of every one of her abusers. He had been more of a parent to her than her parents to her, or even her to him, and she was a middle-aged woman approaching old age. The list of things he had given her that she had been thankful to have, was a list as endless as the stars in the sky. If she were to begin to list them, she would still be there when she was old and grey, and still have a long, long way to go.
She couldn't think of one thing she had done for Shinji.
"I should have taken him away from you a long time ago." Sayaka shouted as Misato continued to look away. "I honestly thought you could relate to that boy after all you've been through when you were young. I honestly believed you could take good care of him. But I guess I'm the idiot for thinking that."
A very painful sob began to infest in Misato's now very painful chest.
"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, shame on us both. We're both idiots Misato. Big and stupid idiots who aren't worth the space we take up on this Earth. And if you ever try to go near Shinji after all you've put him through, I'm gonna call a code blue."
"Black. Maya. It's code black" Misato said in great sadness, on the verge of a sob. It was one thing for angsty fourteen-year olds to cry, but she was a grown woman.
"You call it black; I call it blue. But either way, I'm warning you Misato. Try coming ten feet within Shinji again and I'm going to call a code blue black."
A single quiet, strained but still audible sob escaped the purple haired woman's mouth as she finally gave in to her feelings and looked up to let Sayaka see the tears in her eyes, that she was holding back.
"What have I done?" she quietly asked as she allowed herself to be patted gently on the back a few times.
For once in her life, the major in charge of every battle plan that the EVA pilots used, had no plan.
"What have I do?" she asked, more to herself than anyone else as she stared at the floor to avoid Sayaka's vindictive glare. "What do I do?"
"How about a good movie to pass the time?" Sayaka suggested, hearing Misato's musings despite the quiet voice she used. "Like this one."
She bounced giddily to the television in front of the chair Misato was sat in, and from a shelf beneath the table it was placed upon, drew out a DVD box which she raised so that Misato could see the title screen in its glorious entirety.
"Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Movie 3, Homura's Rebellion." Misato read, more absorbed in the beautiful picture of the dark-haired girl doing an epic hair flip than the title.
"What's it about?"
"A journey, into self-awareness." Sayaka replied as she plopped the disk into the TV before turning it on, and a few commercials began to come on. "Watch it. Watch it and you'll soon see why when our noble leader Homura takes over the world, all our problems will be over and why everyone, Madoka included, should aspire to her greatness."
Seeing no other idea in her troubled state of mind, Misato made herself comfortable against the armchair she was seated in while Sayaka placed a bag of salted popcorn on the armrest beside her.
She was about to have her mind utterly blown. More so than when she saw the most ferocious Angels come within an inch of causing the second impact.
…
"And here she is." Madoka eagerly announced as Homura and Gendo followed her to the table where Mami was just finishing reading the palms of a young blonde-haired elf named Link, foretelling him of a great destiny where he rescued the girl of his dreams. He unsheathed his souvenir sword as he left the fortune telling table with new purpose in his until now soulless existence.
"She's very pretty" the usually cold Gendo had to admit, already blushing over the several hair-flips that Homura had pulled for him during their trip here. They just had to keep the illusion up a little longer.
Madoka walked up to her blonde-haired friend. "Excuse me Mami. This nice gentleman here says he's looking for a girl with red eyes and short blue hair named Rei. I heard you mention to me a while ago that you saw someone like this earlier today." She subtly made a nod to Mami who subtly nodded in return. Mami had always been good at thinking on her feet and Madoka was sure she could handle this situation just as well.
"Good day sir." Mami politely said, looking up so that Gendo might see her wisdom filled eyes in the entirety of their arcane brilliance. "I take it you're looking for a certain girl who must mean a lot to you."
"You have it exactly, Miss Tomoe, is it?"
"That's right. Now I believe if my friend Madoka's description of this girl as you told her, is correct, then I did indeed see a stranger of this description on my way here today after all. I believe I also saw her accompanied by another stranger."
"Tell me of this other stranger." Gendo demanded with a hint of impatience.
"I believe it may have been a boy." Mami replied, taking care not to sound too sure. "Yes, that's it. A short, young boy with brown hair."
Gendo's already taciturn expression began to crease up even more. His hands were balling into fists as his guards tightened their grip on their guns. It was clear he was agitated.
"Where did you see them? And did you hear them say anything, anything at all?"
Mami grinned inwardly to herself. She had the puppet master of the world on a string. "You stupid fool" she mentally laughed to herself.
"I believe I saw them headed in the direction of Tokyo-3's airport." She kept her voice puzzled and unsure. "The girl was saying something to the boy about how they were going to run away together after she had taken a liking to him or something to that effect, I don't know, I was on the other side of the road so I didn't hear too well. The last thing I managed to catch as they were going was how they were never going to come back to Tokyo-3 again. And that they were going to get on the first plane, err, to New York City. Yes, that was it."
"AND WHEN EXACTLY WAS THIS?" Gendo exclaimed as the veins on his forehead begun to bulge with worry.
"Well if I were to take a ballpark, I would say it must have been hours ago. I think. I've been here for a while now, so I've lost track of the time. I hope this helps you, sir."
"Erm. Yes. It. Does." The chief of NERV worriedly glanced at his watch. "Th, thank you. Miss Tomoe. Your information was most useful to my investigation."
He turned to one of his guards.
"Give Miss Tomoe a gift for her cooperation."
Without hesitation, the tall unsmiling man reached briefly into his pocket before dipping out a one hundred yen note and placing it onto the table with the crystal ball on it.
"We must go now." Gendo quickly yelped as he began to quickly back away.
"Good luck with your search, sir." Mami said as she blew him a kiss while Homura did another hair flip and Madoka smiled innocently and waved him away. This would certainly fool them.
As they hurried away, she managed to hear the chief of NERV tell a guard to quickly run back to the headquarters and give the order to hold all ongoing flights immediately.
"Good luck with your search indeed" Mami evilly remarked when she saw that the chief and his guards were out of earshot. "You really will need it." To which Homura and Madoka grinned devilishly in reply.
"You really just couldn't resist a pretty face, could you dad?" Madoka quipped, briefly breaking character.
"Three pretty faces in fact" Homura sarcastically added.
But their victory celebration was brief as a sudden terrified crowing filled the air as a maddened flock of pigeons flew away in great fright.
Rushing hurriedly towards the three magical girls, was a completely exhausted Asuka Langley Soryu who even as she stopped in front of them to catch her breath, was wiping the sweat of her brow away with her sleeve.
Rei, Shinji and Mari had always wondered what their teammate would have looked like with short hair as part of the weird fantasies they all had as naïve children forced to grow up too quickly.
And now they had the answer.
Like an absolute sweetheart who looked as if she really could do no wrong while she spent her days engaged in the gratuitous charitable acts of petting kittens and pooling her money before a crowd of grateful, starving beggars.
So far from being relieved by this new appearance, Rei, dressed as Homura Akemi seemed immediately to immediately ignite as a match might ignite a puddle of gasoline.
With lightning speed, she undid the two braids in her hair letting it sink down to her waist in its full length. The crowd now assembling around them gasped.
She threw off her glasses, stepping on them with her shoes as without saying a word, she snatched Madoka's toy pistol she had won as a prize in addition to the cartload of sweets from her pocket, and pointed it at a still panting Asuka.
"Get lost, witch." She ordered, as the crowd around her watched the spectacle in dead silence. "Madoka doesn't need you here on her happiest day."
It was then and only then that the worn out Asuka slowly turned her face to meet the absolutely flabbergasted reactions of her three fellow pilots.
As angry as all three of them still were with the atrocities she had committed during her life to all three of them in various ways, it was still shocking to see the red on her flushed face was the same as the red of her hair.
A tear rolled down her cheeks along with a painful hiccup, as she got as sick as a parrot, throwing up a gigantic puddle all over the asphalt.
The acute symptoms of severe alcohol abuse.
One sip of Kaworu's vodka in a vapid attempt to quell her emotional turmoil had led to two. From there it had only spiralled into madness.
This wasn't your average everyday kind of sadness. This was, advanced sadness.
In a lot of movies, there will always be a kind and friendly character who only wants to do good. However there always seems to be one or more bad character who treats them badly and unfairly, but still comes out on top every time. And the narrative still regards the bad character and toxic friend as a hero.
Props once more to my reviewers for reviewing, especially to StraightedgeEpyon, fictionelement777 and Darkscythe Drake. Good luck in your stories too. You guys rock.
So Gendo is gone. What will NERV do now in his absence?
