We Are (Not) Cursed

by BardInTheForest

When Shinji Ikari rides the train from Nagano to Tokyo-3, he is made the epicenter of a reality altering event. With the reality he had occupied now changed forever, he must conceive of a future that will accomodate diametrically opposed ethos. A man who has never known love is now responsible for the fate of the very humans he's been kept separate from, for good or ill.

57. Chapter 57

+++++ The Runic Throne.

The Wanderer knew what he was walking into, for the most part, and did what he could to straighten out his posture and not look nearly as tired and wounded as he was. The first person he spoke to, out of design as much as convenience, was Kelly Ikari, "I assume everyone's already busy doing what they do best?"

"Misato has grabbed Mercury, your brother's Kyoko, and her counterpart from this recent dimension to go and analyze enemy force deployments, tactics, and firepower. Kiyomi, Sachiko, Yang, Tsuru, and Eve are all working to resettle people around the area to prevent interpersonal flareups from bringing entire shelters to war. The Guard is keeping an eye on our prisoner, with the assistance of several of the Sailors. Naru is helping poor Asuka get her head right. Sayako and her niece are keeping an eye on the children, and everyone else is either engaged in diplomatic efforts or back on Silent helping perform BDAs on what got through." Keeping her pace easily to his, though floating through the air instead of walking due to the height difference, Kelly made sure to show him camera feeds of various activities to help settle his fears. "Your brother is receiving medical attention…he almost died."

"Yeah, this wasn't a skirmish against raiding parties or a token scouting force." Rounding a corner, he looked askance at Kelly and shook his head. "If they weren't serious, we'd still be fighting. We got lucky, and we need to change our short-term strategy. I have to assume they'll work on replenishing their fleet just like we will be working on building ours up further. The problem I'm running into is finding people to crew it. Last number I had was four thousand two hundred and sixty-four dead…how bad is it now?"

"Not great. Of the over one thousand seven hundred non-mobile casualties remaining, around three quarters didn't make it. The weapons we were facing had CBRN components to them, direct injection into major arteries spread it through their bodies rapidly. A two front war right now would likely result in the loss of one planet or the other."

Slowing down to a halt, The Wanderer's fatigue began to show through. "Fuck." Snapping his fist over against a pillar, he only barely managed to pull back enough force to not obliterate it entirely. The remainder was cracked and webbed throughout. "Fuck!"

"…Shinji?" Yui's voice came from further down the hall in the direction they'd been heading, "Shinji, what's wrong?"

He wanted to weep. He wanted to howl. He wanted to leave all of this madness behind and find somewhere that nobody could find him. "Just upset about the loss of life," he replied with a level of detached calm he wasn't feeling, lifting his eyes up to watch a simulacrum of his mother approaching. "A lot of good, honest, people died today. Even with all of the powers I have at my disposal, I'm still not able to protect everyone."

Stopping herself at a reasonable distance, Yui refrained from embracing him as she wished to. "It is a terrible burden, being in command of an army. Having to make decisions that will lead to death, and having to choose who is best suited to those tasks at hand. I asked my people to do what they could to lend a hand, here. The one answer I don't have for them, though, is if we are expecting to return home."

"Not likely," he answered without hesitation. "Once I am sure everything here is stable, and our defenses are satisfactory, I'm going back to your world to eliminate this 'Great Will'. That could very well end what remains of your dimension."

"I see." A slight frown drew her lips tight. "Will we then be relocating to a different planet? Perhaps the one you just defended?"

"I don't know yet. I promise, you will be involved in any discussions regarding relocation. For now, I really do need to-"

Kelly interrupted smoothly, "I believe that the Court has determined that it would be better if Doctor Ikari, and those in her close circle be rehomed here to the Runic Throne. Not only for their protection, but so that their skills could be put to better use."

The Wanderer blinked twice, looking down at Kelly as if she'd gone daft. "The hell?"

"If hostile forces were to capture any of your new brother's nearest and dearest, what do you think would happen?" Pulling one side of her luscious green hair back behind an ear, she raised an eyebrow at him. "It would be the same thing that would happen if one of us was taken hostage, or killed."

"Your wife makes a good point," Yui added, quietly. "He has every right to despise me, but even so I believe that he has started to open up to the idea that I only ever wished for him to be healthy and happy."

Silence dominated the hall for some time, giving The Wanderer a chance to readjust his mindset to the new information. They weren't wrong, and even worse he should have thought of it first. He'd wanted to offer 'his mother' a chance to decide her own fate, perhaps a planet far away from any active battlefields. He was letting his own issues dictate his actions again. "I want everything that can be found on what remains of that world brought here. Supplies, mementos, anything and everything that once belonged to people. Catalogue addresses that it came from, verify those addresses against departmental records before releasing it to anyone to prevent theft. If she's staying here, I'm destroying that branch of reality."

"Of course, mo shíorghrá. I'll make sure it is done within the half day. It will give the Aspects something to do, if nothing else." In the more silent form of communication, she urged him to do better than he had been. Sweetie, she's looking for a way to stay here. She wants to help, wants to make up for the horrible things other versions of her have done. Does that strike any bells?

He couldn't reply without shouting, and so he just took the advice for what it was. "…Mom, I wanted to send you somewhere safe. It's a habit I have, and not one that I think is unfounded. Look at what happened today, for example. 'Safe' and 'around me' are not reconcilable locations." He paused, then shook his head. "Your actual son is going to be kept somewhere that is actually safe while he recovers. Those ladies that were attached to him are going to join him there, once I get moving again. It might be…a very long time before he wakes up. The damage that was done to him, and the damage he has done to himself, are going to be challenging to undo. I am sorry, but I can't just snap my fingers and make him whole. If you want to stay here…then that is your decision to make. Adult to adult, I just ask that you not make that decision without serious consideration."

Yui's eyes moistened. Stepping forward, she brought the goliath that was her son from a different dimension into a clinging hug. "I am so proud of you, Shinji. So…so proud of you." Curling her fingers tight, she fought against allowing herself to cry. "You have become everything I ever hoped for. A good man, a wise man…a truly strong man."

He had spent so long hating a woman he'd only barely known, after spending even longer wishing that she'd show up and take him away from the nightmare he was living, that he had no way to express or understand his own emotions. "I'll do everything I can to return your son to you, I promise."

"You are my son," she retorted with fiery conviction. "You, your brother, and the product of my womb. All three of you are examples of what might have been, and I am no less proud of them than I am of you." Leaning back, she looked up into his eyes to sear her truth into his soul. "Your birth mother may have failed you, and I may have been blind to what my sister did behind my back, but I swear to a god I no longer believe in that for as long as I am around you, you'll have anything and everything I can give."

Setting his hands against her shoulders, he successfully fought off the urge to leave again. "Then, right now, I need you to give me some time to think. I plan on having dinner later with a few of my wives, a working dinner. Could I have Kelly deconflict the time with you so you can attend?"

"I will try to find something to wear that is suitable." Yui's smile brightened her generally dour demeanor. "My clothes consist mostly of formal wear, or my uniform."

Kelly professionally freed her husband from his mother to let him get moving. "I know someone who would absolutely love to help fix that." With a wink back at The Wanderer, she moved off with Yui to start her own tasks. "I'd like your help right now, though, in organizing the gathering of everyone's stuff."

The Wanderer watched as his wife swayed her hips ever so slightly to tell him without words how proud she was of him. The sudden presence of another woman in his life behind him did not take his eyes from his 'gift'. "I remember, in what must have been another life, thinking that love could truly solve life's problems. All I had to do was convince people that everyone's lives would be so much better if they'd just listen to one another, love one another…. How fucking naïve was I?"

"I prefer to think of it as optimism," Ireul replied with patient understanding. "You weren't wrong then, and you're not wrong now. Whoever this entity is that believes themselves the embodiment of Order will find out that love doesn't necessarily mean acceptance."

Turning away as Kelly rounded the corner, he offered Ireul his arm and returned to his original destination. "Too much to do, too little time."

+++++ The Silent World.

"You don't get to argue with medical professionals just because you're in charge!" Rebecca Chambers had her finger directly in front of The Silent One's nose, and despite the enormous size difference she was taking charge of the situation with practiced ease. "You are taking a few days off of heavy motion, and you are spending the next half day in a bed. I am going to be there to make sure you do, and if you even think about pulling that vanishing trick on me you'd better be returning with flowers and personalized small gifts for all of us."

Rina Ikari chuckled, packing up her equipment. "Sounds like you've got a handle on the situation, kid. Let me know if you need anything from us, ok?"

"I will, thank you Major." Rebecca gave a sharp salute to the officer before turning back to her charge and his new wife. "Titania, could you please help me push this gurney through the portal? They've finished cleaning the house, and are waiting for us."

"Aye, that I could." The Fae Queen appreciated the fire she saw in her new family members, and was happy to spend time around humans again. "Dear, for the purposes of The Word, your paramours may be counted as co-equals. If you choose to defer to their greater knowledge there is no honor lost. Perhaps, as you know little about medical care beyond battlefield triage, you might choose to defer to the darling Miss Chambers, hmm?" Batting her eyelids coquettishly, she turned on the charm. "For me?"

"I am supposed to be helping my brother, dear." His world had just been bombarded, nearly occupied, and was once again completely barren of non-flora life. He wasn't in the mood to sit still and do nothing. "I have-"

"You have to rest, or you're going to be bound to a wheelchair for life!" Rebecca shoved the gurney through the portal, walking through behind it to continue her pressure on him. "That alien medical technology doesn't work on you, our medical technology only kind of works on you. It would take me eight minutes to finish listing out the injuries you've suffered, and at the rate you're healing it's going to take you eight days to even be able to lift something heavier than a pencil. If you won't consider yourself, at least consider those of us that love you!"

The Sailor for Neptune, the beloved of both the Sailor for Uranus and The Silent One, had been waiting for just this situation on the other side of the portal. Not giving the only man she'd ever love a chance to argue, she applied her own type of pressure. "We have been talking often, of late, about how a leader needs to be able to lead from other places than the front lines. About how we need you to be able to take charge if I, or Rei-chan, are unable to. This might be a good time for you to practice that skill, might it not?"

"I. Am not. A leader." Rage continued to grow in him, his own seeming impotence once more smeared across his face. "If you and Rei go down, you turn to my brother. It's his job to make sure people are in position, it's my job to make sure people fucking survive by killing as many motherfuckers as I possibly can before going down. We lost six thousand people today because I had to stand there with my fucking dick in my hand playing defense and directing traffic! I lost six thousand people." Without warning, he vanished.

"…Damn it," Rebecca breathed out.

Titania looked to the space where there once was a portal between worlds, silently contemplating how best to share her knowledge of the burdens of leadership to a man that was clearly far more dynamic than she'd originally thought.

As for Michiru, she shook her head and moved to find the only other person who could open a portal between worlds. She had a husband to hunt, and she and her wife would find him before he could do more damage to his body.

+++++ The Runic Throne.

After explaining the plan to his Ritsuko, his brother's Ritsuko, his Maya, and his brother's Maya, The Wanderer spread his hands to open the floor to contrary opinions. "My best guess is he'll need at least a few hundred years in recovery, at worst…several thousand. His mind is…he's developed one fully formed additional personality already, and the more strain we put him under the more likely he's just going to dissociate more. I won't kill him for being broken, but I can't keep him here and let him receive the care he needs. He needs to be away from people, away from trauma, and this is the best opportunity we have available. It won't be forever, and it isn't permanent if we find a way to help him without 'reprogramming' him. If you have a different idea, I'm all ears."

"Is…there any way that we could bind Ritsuko to him? Or to me?" Maya Ibuki looked over to 'her' Ritsuko. "He couldn't, or didn't, sever his tie with me the way he did the others. I don't know why, but…I hope that it means he still truly wants me around. I don't want to speak for Ritsuko, but…."

"You don't have to," Ritsuko Akagi assured her lover. "I'd like to know the answer too, because I'd like to go with you."

The Wanderer glanced over to his wives. "Ethics?"

"He admitted her knowing that she'd be tied to Ritsuko." Maya Ikari shrugged. "In my opinion that denotes acceptance of Ritsuko's presence in his life. If he's anything like you, he'd be appalled at the thought of separating them."

Ritsuko Ikari blew out one cheek, seeing things slightly differently. "I'd prefer to get the consent of a family member before we proceed. He's an unconscious patient, unable to perfect service of consent, and while I understand the gravity of the situation I think it's still important that we make sure everything is done as close to existing medical law as possible. We're talking about several hundred to several thousand years…I'd like to not fuck this paperwork up."

"Oh, uhm…I'm sorry for interrupting, Wanderer-san…." Rise stood in the doorway, having intended to return to her vigil of watching her friends as they recovered. "I-I'll-"

"No, no." Motioning for her to come closer, The Wanderer took to one knee to even out the height difference. "This affects you too, and I'd like you to give your opinion." Watching the much younger version of a woman that he'd danced with long ago as she approached, he didn't have to 'try' very hard to soften his demeanor. "The…short version, or the long version?"

"Short, please, sir." Rise stood far closer than many would have, faced with an entity as powerful as The Wanderer, which spoke well of her bravery and determination. "I don't think I should take up a lot of your time."

"My time is not limited for anyone who would stand up and help another person in danger," he replied with a soft smile. "But I take your meaning well. I found a place that will be able to help Shinji recover. They are knowledgeable, powerful, and best of all…they have skin in this game. My intention, if we can secure Yui Ikari's approval, is to send those ladies that were bound to him to the same place for treatment. They'll work on restoring the bonds that he cut in his…confusion. They'll work on reattaching his projected personality to his psyche as well. Are you with me so far?"

While not stupid by any measure, she wasn't the top of her class. "His personality?"

"A manifestation of twisted metal and pain. Animus is what it's chosen to be called. It's the part of his psyche that wanted to lash out at a world that hurt, scared, and confused him."

"Wait…four arms? Big thing?" She remembered Shinji tackling it the first day they met. "I thought that was an enemy! It was hunting us down in Tartarus."

"To that part of his mind, you were an enemy," Maya Ibuki replied sadly. "The only woman he ever truly knew did unspeakable things to him, and those actions tainted the darker half of his mind. A group of women coming out of nowhere to suddenly attach themselves to him? Good intentions or not, that couldn't have been well received."

The Wanderer motioned for calm, not wanting to spool Rise up yet. "That has been addressed though. Animus doesn't want to hurt you, and in fact seemed eager to have you at his side in a fight against other enemies. All of you earned his trust by being who you were, which speaks well of you all, and of him."

"Ok…." Rise frowned, trying to square two different truths. "So, they'll all be going away for help?"

"They?" He hadn't anticipated her willingly distancing herself.

"I wasn't tied to him." Her shoulders hefted, disappointment evident. "I'd be a distraction at best, at worst I'd make it so that nobody got the proper help. I…I don't like it, but I don't have to. This is what's best for them, and they are the ones that are hurting."

He was beyond proud of her now. "I don't think that they're the only ones hurting, though."

"I'll never know, will I?" Her eyes held hints of tears now. "He'll be gone for several hundred to several thousand years. They'll wake up, they'll be with him because they're meant to be. Yukiko left before he could talk to her, and now he's left before I could tell him that I thought he was a really good man with a really heavy burden. I don't know if I loved him, but I know that I didn't get the chance to find out."

A more mature version of this woman once helped him. She helped Kodama see that jealousy wasn't necessary if you held enough confidence to know your own worth. It was that memory that prompted him to open his arms enough to offer a hug. When she fell against him, her arms laced around his neck, her eyes leaking onto his shoulder, he felt a mixture of gratitude and pride. This was a woman that had, twice now, shown him the best in humanity. "You are an amazing woman, Rise Kujikawa. No matter which mask you choose to wear, you don't let it hide a heart that shines like the sun."

Barking out a laugh, she began to cry in earnest. Her friends were now leaving her behind, her life had been upended by forces beyond her understanding, her worldview smothered in misery and despair. The hint of reassuring joy growing in the pit of her stomach, however, told her that not everything was lost. She was hugging a colossal warrior that treated her with the gentle tenderness she'd never received from her own parents, basking in the praise and adulation of someone who'd fought gods. "I…I'd like…." She fought back her sobs, wanting to ask for some small thing in return for the uncountable losses she'd gone through. "I'd like to stay here. I want to help. I want to leave a history behind of what I did in their memory." Lifting her head, she looked him in the eyes, fire and fury waiting to be given purpose again. "I want to make them proud of me."

A stronger man would have denied her for her own safety. A better man would have tried to talk her out of her decision. A wiser man would have redirected her enthusiasm with a few well-placed words that held multiple meanings. A man with a self-avowed weakness for troubled redheads instead allowed her to choose her own fate, come what may. "As you wish. For now, I'll leave you with Maya, er…my Maya. She has a good eye for talent, and will find a way to fit you in somewhere that you can shine."

"I'll make sure she's ready for that dinner later," Maya Ikari responded, catching her husband off guard. "Makes more sense to me that she meets the important people. Someone might take a shine to her, and she needs a good meal or two in her."

A slight narrowing of his eyes, a signal that only his Right Hand would see, led to her shaking her head slightly in return. She wasn't doing what he worried she was, and he needed to trust her. "Then I look forward to seeing you at dinner later, Rise." Offering her a handkerchief to wipe her eyes, he added, "I'll let you say your goodbyes to your friends, before I ask that they're moved to where they need to be."

"Thank you, sir." Rise accepted the handkerchief, dabbing at her face.

"Not sir." Never sir, he thought. Not from you. "Just Shinji, please."

+++++ The Silent World.

Stumbling forward as he reappeared inside the courtyard of the ruins of the Hikawa Shrine, The Silent One nearly ended up on his knees before catching himself on the ruins of one of the gates. Once back on his feet, he ripped the gate free of its massive hinges and launched it towards the sun while screaming wordlessly in frustrated rage. The pain that lanced up his abdomen, back around up towards his spine just made him angrier. He knew he was a sight, clutching at his stomach and trying not to puke, but he was simply too full of wrath to care.

He had failed the world. He had failed billions of people. He had allowed thousands to die in defense of a world that was already just this side of dead. His vaunted powers, his terrible might, all worthless in the face of a coordinated assault by a spacefaring army. Another howl, pure sonic fury, tore free of his throat as he doubled over and deposited his own blood on the cobblestone ground. He wasn't a leader. He was barely a warrior. He was, at his best, a weapon. That's all he'd ever been. His use in the Eva was as a weapon. He'd been sheathed in Nagano just waiting for someone to pull him out and stab people with him.

"I am very disappointed in you, Uncle."

Glaring sideways up at his niece, the tiny titan of terror sitting atop the nearby wall glaring back at him in return, The Silent One asked the responsible, adult, question, "Does your father know you used your powers again without checking with someone?"

"Defense of my family," she replied without changing her posture in the slightest. "It was kind of silly of him to leave such a broad 'get out of jail free' card lying about."

"Agreed." He gave up trying to remain upright, sitting back hard onto the ground and lying backwards to stare up at her. "I'm blowing off steam, Tenshi. I'll go back when I'm not feeling like I need to tear something in half."

"What are you, five?" Scoffing, she finally stopped glaring at him and looked around at the damage that had been done. "How many people are up and walking right now because you held the line? How many people got to hug their loved ones again because you put your shoulder into it? How many times have you told me that the worst thing you can ever do is fight past battles over again?"

"You're a teenager. This is a little more involved than just beating myself up."

"So were you when grandpa Gendo put you in the Eva. We grow up fast in this family. I know why you're doing what you're doing, and I am disappointed."

"Kid-"

"How many nights have you held me when I had bad dreams? How many times have you taken me on walks so I don't hurt people for doing their jobs? How many stories did you read me to teach me the subtle differences between right and wrong? My father, my mother, they are not the only people that have dedicated themselves to raising me to not become a monster." Jumping down on the ground, she pushed her toes against his side in a pantomime of a kick. "You didn't think to come and see me? You didn't think to let me help? I'm disappointed. I'm disappointed and hurt."

The balloon of his anger had been pierced, and lying on the ground next to a puddle of his own blood The Silent One deflated slowly in the face of a young woman he'd do anything to make happy. "Shit."

"Is that all you have to say?"

"No…help me up." Lifting the arm closest to her, he was glad that she was far stronger than she looked. He was also very glad that she chose to stand under his arm and hug his side close. Placing one giant paw on her head, he sighed out, "I'm sorry, kid. That was pretty rude of me."

Leaning her head closer so he could tousle her hair, she nodded slowly. "It was. Thank you for apologizing."

"I feel like shit."

"To be honest, you look like shit."

The chuckle her retort earned caused him to wince. "You try holding up thirteen and a half billion suns at once, see how good you look."

"I would look fabulously disheveled. Benefits of being a girl."

I'm not alone, The Silent One thought with regret. I shouldn't let myself think I am anymore.

+++++ The Runic Throne

"I was actually going to go check on Hikari," The Wanderer admitted to Michiru and Haruka. "Maya's going to go see if Yui will agree to allow the women to be sent along with the new Shinji to be treated for their injuries, and I just now found out that she'd had a vision. Why?"

"Your brother fled to our world, alone." While angry at her husband, she wouldn't take that anger out on the 'him' from another timeline. Michiru was better than that.

He blew out a slow whistle, recreating the circumstances in his mind to see the whole picture. "I wouldn't recommend chasing him. A lot of people died today, and he's just needing some time alone to recharge."

Haruka, unlike Michiru, was not interested in drawing distinctions. "You need to quit defending the same lone wolf shit you get on everyone else for engaging in, mister."

While generally calm on the surface, The Wanderer was not in the mood to be castigated by a woman that was often too overbearing about how she cared for everyone else. His blue eye crackled with pent up anger, but his voice remained even, "I am not defending it, I am explaining it. Sometimes the best thing isn't the right thing, and in this case, letting him get his head on right before overwhelming him with misplaced maternal micromanagement is the best thing to do, in my opinion."

Before Haruka could further harm their mission, Michiru pinched her on the thigh to stop the taller woman from retorting. "Then, perhaps we could go with you to see how your wife is doing? A brief delay before we go track him down to let him get the worst of his anger out will not unduly hinder our desire to see him safe and healthy."

He could be angry with Haruka, but there was little chance of him maintaining that against a reasonable Michiru. The Sailor for Neptune was, in his opinion, the epitome of what it meant to be a Princess. Even in the face of a monster like himself. Turning back towards where he'd been heading, he offered his elbow to her. "I can agree to that. If this is going to be a future complication, having you there to help puzzle it out is both right and best."

In a mental missive to him alone, Michiru further mended bridges, I love you, but you are an incredibly frustrating man to love sometimes.

Taking the hint, he offered his other arm to Haruka. "Trying to keep ourselves separate is hard when powerful emotions are involved." Taking the first, slow, step to set them in motion, he added, "As powerful as love is in you Sailors…I am afraid that there are equally deep wells of…darker things in us."

Unlike Michiru, who held lightly onto The Wanderer's arm as would be expected of a proper Princess, Haruka wrapped her arms around his and leaned against him as she walked. "I know, babe…that's why I'm so fucking worried."

+++++ The Silent World.

The grounds where he'd sent Usagi and Setsuna forward in time were, blessedly, undamaged. Walking with Tenshi around the perimeter, he tried to talk his way through the complex webbing of thoughts that were lingering still. "This isn't surprising, it's not that…." He hesitated, rewording his thoughts. "I'm not surprised that we ran against something that could take us on. There's a lot of universe out there, and there was bound to be a yard with a bigger dog."

"The chances were greater than zero," Tenshi replied, not allowing her uncle to denigrate what he'd managed.

"Which is more than enough to be cautious about it," he answered her concern with appropriate caution. "Meteor wiped out the dinosaurs. Just showed up one day and set the sky ablaze. These things happen, but they happen rarely. I think we were too caught up in thinking that we would bump into someone out there. To have it come on us out of nowhere, so soon? I was starting to buy into your dad's whole 'Pax Ikari' sales pitch, and then I was holding up the sky hoping that when I died the world could carry on the fight."

"I don't care what word I gave to you, if you are about to croak on me old man I am going to unleash everything I have on whatever is stupid enough to come attack us." She pulled him to a stop, waist high to him yet with the presence of an equal. "No part of you has my permission to sacrifice yourself to hold back the end." Seeing his brow knit, she scoffed, "Did you really think your own daughter wouldn't notice? All of us did. Even Sif did, and she's not even your daughter! We talked about it, agreed that it really wasn't that big of a deal, and let you carry on pretending that you were actually separate people. It's like Auntie Kelly's constant banging on about 'patris, filii, spiritus sancti', you're one being with many faces. My sisters and I aren't worried, we know you love us regardless of the outer hardware."

"I don't think-"

"You don't think about it because thinking about it for too long makes it a lot harder," she nodded in understanding, "and that's not worth the time or headache it would cause. It's ok! This part of you is my uncle, except when he's also my dad, except when he's also the Creator of Everything. We understand, and you're not doing this because you want to be hurtful or distant. You're doing this because only one perspective on anything is the worst way for everything."

The feeling of someone praying to him began to tickle the back of his neck, leading to him frowning and looking away towards the source. "Tenshi…."

"I'm not leaving, because you're not healthy. We've practiced fighting together, so don't ask." Her gaze also had gone distant, seeing past the horizon towards the unexpected petitioner. "Is that…."

"Yeah." Now he was truly confused. "She's asking for sanctuary."

+++++ The Runic Throne.

The Wanderer watched his first true family sleep, frowning as he wondered what could have been so overwhelming that the three sisters' surgical modifications had been overridden. Michiru and Haruka both moved amongst the trio of sisters, checking both equipment and flesh to ensure that they were comfortable and safe. He was running out of steam to fuel his anger, which was pushing him further towards a listless apathy he couldn't allow. "Jorth, I'm not arguing over this. I will know, one way or another, what hurt my family."

"I have no doubt of that, dear. But the spirits are begging me to hold my tongue, and I am their servant, not yours." The words were spoken by the Norwegian Priestess from the shelter and comfort of his embrace. Standing at his side, hugging him close, she knew she could not be safer anywhere in the known universe regardless of his dander being up. "I know you are on the right path, and too much information is as damning as too little. Please, out of your love for me and little Sif, ask no further."

Though he knew she did not often ask for anything, he also knew that she knew that he would give her anything for the pain she'd suffered during his ascension to his current role as Creator. "She's not little anymore. She wasn't even 'little' when she was born. Twelve pounds two ounces is a feast day turkey, not a human baby."

"She'll always be little to us, and that's what matters." The matter was resolved, though she knew it grated on him to give in. "I promise, not only will I submit myself to your judgment once you understand my reasoning, I will submit myself to your affections once you are done with your obligations this evening. I'll even do so wearing that dress you enjoy so well."

A maudlin thought crossed his mind, allowing her to distract him from the issues weighing heavily on him at the moment. "I…worry that Vidar-"

"I do not," lightly touching his lips, she cut him off before he could wind himself up on something that she'd settled within herself, "and I believe that I am the one with greater right to be concerned. Your daughters have been returned to us, and I know in my soul that he rejoices at their new chance at life with their family. If he has not yet sought out comfort where he is, then that is his decision to make. I am eternal, and I do not choose to remain an eternal spinster watching others enjoy what I forbid myself out of some ill-conceived notion that posthumous marital fidelity must last beyond the dying of the last star in all the universe."

Now fully committed to allowing Jorth to control the knowledge Kodama, Hikari, and Nozomi might have gleaned, The Wanderer looked away from them towards the woman in his arms. "I did not bind you to me in anticipation of this."

"Of course you didn't," she snorted. "You love Vidar too much to even contemplate that."

"…I love you too much to contemplate it."

The smile that crossed her lips was trebled in her soul. "And that, my brother, is why I look forward to showing you the difference between a self-loathing Norwegian Ice Princess and a self-confident Norwegian Earth Priestess." Her fingers trailed along his torso, proving her words for truth. "All will be well. We will not let it be any other."

+++++ The Silent World.

"Move and I will render immediate judgement on your prayer for relief." Without his axes, but clad in Unit-01, The Silent One walked around from behind the woman praying to him. She was knelt upon the ground with immaculate posture, her dress properly tucked and spread around her, her hands placed lightly upon one another before her chest. "You do realize that even if this is a ruse, that by praying directly to me my judgement is final, right? That whether you think you can take me on in my weakened state, it is going to be The Word that crushes you into paste?"

"I do understand these truths." Without opening her eyes, or shifting from her penitent position, Asura ensured her compliance with his demand.

Despite her uncle asking her not to, Tenshi interjected, "That won't interest him. You're going to have to come up with something a lot more compelling to bargain with."

"Tenshi," The Silent One growled ominously.

His niece looked at him and shrugged. "I'm not beholden to The Word, I can't be. I know that you two want to bluster and posture after everything that's just happened, and I know that she's far more embarrassed than you are about how this went down. You're angry, but curious enough as to why someone so powerful would do what she's doing. She's flat-out surprised that her head is still attached firmly to her shoulders. She misunderstood who and what you are, you're completely ignorant as to why she is the way she is. Let's skip past the 'epic banter' and get on with the voyage of discovery."

"…Your prodigy has a rather tart tongue." Asura tried to avoid upsetting the man she needed aid from. "Though I believe she has had an excellent teacher."

"He is not the one who taught me," Tenshi admitted with a shrug. "Aunt Mikoto and Auntie Akane did."

"Tenshi," this time The Silent One sounded more resigned. "This woman is responsible for the deaths of-"

"Very few people, in her lifetime." She looked at him with surprise. "She can't collapse a dimension, not on her own. Her boss was the one who did it, she's just the messenger."

"The Nuremburg Defense wasn't even accepted at the trials it took its name from."

"No, uncle, she literally did not do it. She argued that it would be bad diplomacy, and that trying to take a position of strength against us would backfire." Her head shook slowly. "She's not here to apologize for living under a lie, she's here to ask us to show her the truth."

With a small scowl, Asura finally opened her eyes to look at the woman revealing all of her thoughts. "That is quite rude, My Lady."

"It is, actually," The Silent One agreed. "You owe her an apology. You know better than that. If I wanted to, I could have done the same thing. It's possible that she could have done it to me. But, even amongst enemies, we do not engage in willful mindreading."

"Those were her surface level thoughts, Dad." Tenshi scowled in confusion at him. "The stuff she just was thinking about actively. You told me that if they're projecting it, it's fair game."

"That does not mean it is appropriate to speak those thoughts," Asura's voice remained neutral, her tone non-hostile.

"Exactly," The Silent One agreed with a nod. "How many times have I said that I do not speak other people's truths? I do that because I want them to trust me. I want them to understand that while I already know what they're thinking or feeling, I need them to feel comfortable enough to share those thoughts and feelings."

"…Oh." Looking down, she bowed towards Asura. "I am very sorry for speaking your thoughts, ma'am. I will not continue to do so."

"I appreciate your apology, and thank you for your willingness to demonstrate mercy to the vanquished." Pausing, she moved her eyes towards the man who would decide her fate. "She did not speak falsely, Your Imperial Majesty. I have come here to offer a trade, and to pray for sanctuary from those that will now wish to see me dead."

"You still chose to represent a being that would murder countless lives that could not offer even token resistance." Continuing what he had begun before, he allowed his daughter to ruminate on her lesson. "Why should I trust you to even understand my message, let alone help spread it throughout the multiverse?"

"When the only endpoint of your life is one of silent nothingness, is it so unbelievable that one might see things through a different lens?" Looking down at her hands, she then glanced at him with a questioning gaze.

"Yeah, yeah…sorry." He offered her a hand to use as a point of balance as she stood. "Honestly, the position isn't important to me anyway. I know in your culture it matters, but…it's what's in the heart that matters to me. The rest is just pointless fluff."

"My thanks," accepting his offer and standing slowly to avoid the appearance of hostility, she let warmth infect her tone. "You are a much different man with your mood less unstable."

"I am a much different man when I can feel my spleen regrowing. I'm too tired to be flippant right now. I'd just kill you and be done with it."

"A warning well taken." Recovering her hand without disdain or haste, she assumed a neutral posture with her hands lightly clasped in front of her. "Will you hear my offer first, or shall we discuss my prayer?"

"On the condition that you not engage in any hostility towards anyone or anything that I view as aligned with me, I offer you conditional sanctuary until further notice." He waved one hand to dismiss the question. "You knew I would, or you wouldn't have done what you did. Don't be silly, I don't have the energy for it."

"As you will." A look of concern took over her features, her eyes looking slowly along his body. "I would like it very much if you would be willing to prosecute a war against my former Patron. That you not take the wrong lesson from our battle this day, and believe that you should seek any temporary truce, armistice, or worse, alliance with Her."

"O…kay…." Now he was actually confused. "And your offer is…?"

"Myself." Clearly not thinking much of her charms, she expounded, "I am well read, well bred, and have a wide breadth of real-world experience to draw upon. I will serve in any capacity you see fit, without exception or complaint. I can offer no armies, as you would not find their service acceptable, but I do bring with my banner forty-six capital ships, four hundred and eight warships, and five dozen support vessels." Her eyes moved briefly to Tenshi, then back to The Silent One. "There are other, lesser, considerations I am able to present should you desire them."

He remained quiet for several moments, though clearly thinking through everything before him. He had questions, of that there was little doubt, however. What he wasn't sure about was whether the answers would be of any use to him. "Let's just get it all out in the open. You damn near killed me earlier, you see now how close it was. Why are you now asking to fight on my team?"

"I nearly killed one small part of you," she corrected. "A part that would have eventually resurrected, rejoined the whole, and barely noticed its absence. While engaged in combat with one of the most deadly forms of life in the multiverse, as well as sixteen capital ships, while surrounded by a hostile army and the death cries of your allies, you coordinated and enacted a complete defense of your planet. You stood under the pressure of countless gravities, you deployed countless portals to redirect my assault to where it could do no real harm, you negotiated an alliance with the Seelie Fae, and you provided morale support to your army. You fought alongside your armies, Your Imperial Majesty…She would never think to do so. She would be seen as weak, in Her mind."

"That doesn't tell me why. That just tells me that you think I can beat her."

"I don't think you quite understand my position," she motioned for patience, "no one can defeat Her. I have lived my entire life with that truth as the bedrock foundation of every thought, waking or dreaming. She is immortal, unbreakable, unbeatable. Countless have tried, all have failed. Her military has never suffered a significant setback, to say nothing of an outright defeat."

"Then why not use all of those capital ships to put me down?" He gestured vaguely towards space. "Another dozen or so and this wouldn't be a conversation we're having."

"They were occupied in other systems. To be frank, they are not gathered in larger numbers than two. I have two currently orbiting a small world that was being put to flame for refusing to worship Her glory, and two others that were eradicating a fast-breeding population of insectoids. It was unthinkable that more should have been required to put down an unremarkable world in an empty corner of the galaxy."

"…Past tense?"

"I do not believe it would have been prudent to enter negotiations with you while simultaneously acting against your values. I have vented each vessel, sending Her armies into the void. They now make their way here, where I will surrender them to you should we reach an agreement."

One eyebrow raised. "And if we don't?"

"Then I will send them into your star before committing suicide," she stated as if declaring her lunch plans. "I will not return to a life I now know to be unnecessary. I will use the only freedom I have ever had, though it would be my last act."

Unit-01's helmet, upper torso, shoulders, arms, and gauntlets slid back to where they hid while waiting for his need. He needed the stability that the legs and lower torso provided to remain upright. Bare to the chest, and showing the greens, purples, reds, blues, and browns that mottled his skin, he now scowled at her openly. "…Can you see why I might hesitate to welcome you?"

The fingers of her right hand lightly traced the perimeter of one of his worst bruises, feeling the temperature difference between the areas. Her eyes remained on her motions, her volume low and pleading, "Can you not see why I would rather be ruled by a god that is willing to suffer for their chosen people?" Genuine regret flooded her face, her soul. "I wished to take the fragment of you back to my home, away from all of this combat…to study, to speak, to learn and grow through a new and unprecedented perspective. I want knowledge, Shinji…I don't want to hurt anyone, I don't want to hurt. I just want to know why a cruel and uncaring universe has somehow given birth to both a tyrant and a peace-loving man, either of which could end everything at any point."

He knew she was telling the truth. He could sense it with each portion of his awareness, but he still needed to know that he wasn't just being soft-hearted. "You will perform penance."

"With enthusiasm and gratitude for the opportunity," she replied, looking up into his eyes without fear.

"You will treat the family welcoming you with respect."

"I will learn to love them as much as you have."

Reaching out, he set one hand against the side of her neck, lightly gripping her spine and collarbone. "You will learn to give and accept forgiveness."

"Perhaps, once you do." Her challenge to him wasn't given with hostility, simply an acknowledgement that such things took time. His reply to her was the warm pulse of bonding, locking her soul to his forevermore. Now given full exposure to the thoughts, feelings, and fears of the man she'd come expecting to have to grovel before, she felt her breath catch. "I-I…I didn-" She was shocked when The Silent One grabbed her and hauled her to shelter behind him as Unit-01 reappeared fully, complete with the axes gifted to him by Ares and Usagi.

"I would have gone to the headsman with complete confidence in my decision defending you against the allegation of infidelity, My Lady." A strange man, clad in regal garb, stood several dozen feet from the trio. Contempt oozed off of his every word, cocksure arrogance from his motions. "Yet here I stand, seeing with my own eyes how you allow some lowborn monkey to manhandle you. Shocking, truly shocking."

"Uncle." Tenshi kept her eyes on the prat, motioning for The Silent One to stay back. "Keep my new Aunt from interrupting, please."

Pride urged him to tell his niece to disengage, honesty reminded him that he was only upright on a loose technicality. "Make it quick, kid. I want to find Michiru before she finds me."

"A child?" The man scoffed in disbelief. "You would send a stripling, barely off her mother's apron strings, against me? Have you no-" His head was smashed violently to the side by a solidified column of air, then ripped back the other direction by a glob of liquid ice. Before he could raise an effective defense, he had the fist of his opponent inside his mouth and down his throat gripping several important body parts.

With flames dancing around her, her eyes glowing with plasmic thunderclouds, Tenshi growled out a warning to all of Creation, "Nobody threatens my family." Ripping back, she hauled the man's esophagus, stomach, and parts of his lungs out through his mouth before kicking him away to die choking on his own blood. Tossing away the effluvium, she looked at her uncle and new aunt with some concern as The Silent One appeared to have some difficulty breathing. "You ok?"

"Not really." Lowering his armor completely, he fell to one knee and propped himself up on the hafts of his axes. "I just sent his ship into a white dwarf before it could finish calculating a firing solution, which hurt more than I wanted it to."

"If I may offer critique, my dearest niece, you must retain awareness of all opponents regardless of their distance." Asura ducked under her new Patron's shoulder, helping him stand. "I do not doubt your ability, I only urge more judicious use of it in the future."

Tenshi blushed in embarrassment. "Ah…ship…right. I thought he'd just kinda done the thing we do." Popping open a portal back to The Runic Throne, she motioned for Asura to haul her uncle through. "My bad. I'll own this one to Aunt Michiru."