Chapter 36: Rite of Passing

We depart from Jordan, having given up halfway through our search pattern through the grids. Let the caves keep the rest of their secrets, for all I care. The greatest secret they could ever give is mine.

We found a few trinkets, which the others are satisfied with. They do not care about 'some musty scrolls' which I have been using to pass the time.

My findings show… well, it's going to be a far taller order to bring this to pass than I first anticipated. I will have to gather those who would know and accept the truth. Those who have their hands on the levers of power necessary to bring this to pass.

Slowly, though. I must be convincing. After all, it takes time to accept the truth. The truth that this is the best end for humanity. What little I hear from home only reinforces this fact.

- From the personal journals of Lorenz Kihl, July 25th, 1920

Commander's Office, HERZ-Matsushiro, 3 Days Later, Early November 2016

Though the space was usually cramped, Daniel's Interfacing stretched the floorspace of Misato's office out, allowing the 5 pilots, their trainers standing a little ways behind them, to at least stand in front of the desk as Misato looked up at them.

"I called you all here for a reason, pilots." Misato said, holding a level expression as she looked each pilot in the eyes for a moment. In each, she did not need to use her Sight to see the slight anxiety each held. After all, they had just finished their time in the training simulators before being called here before the Commander and the Deputy Commander.

"This is your last day of training." she continued with a tone of finality. "From here on out, you will all be going back to your countries, and building up your skills on your own initiative, perhaps even beginning to train others. You are the pioneers of a new era. It's a lot of weight on your shoulders, I know. Everyone in this room has been there before."

She stood, watching the new pilots tense up slightly as she did so. "Seeing as you've surmounted the training that we have determined is what it takes to become a proper Eva pilot, there's a little tradition I'd now like to institute for any who happen to pass through our doors to train."

She paused dramatically, letting the words hang in the air over the room's occupants to build the suspense. Then, she smiled slightly.

"I would like to treat you all to a steak dinner in Tokyo-2. You and your trainers. Though I'm sure you've had time to interact with each other while you were training, I feel it's important to know the people you've fought alongside, and may yet continue to fight alongside, on a more personal level. So dress casually, and be ready to just… relax. We'll do the same, and inform you of where we'll be meeting you. Before then, you're now free to go home, prepare, and do whatever's necessary while you're still here in Japan for the next few days. Dismissed, pilots."

With that, the 5 new pilots nodded, standing down from attention as they exited the room. Their trainers stayed behind, an unspoken agreement made between them as the door closed behind Mavuto, and Daniel allowed the room to shrink back down to its regular, now somewhat more cramped, size.

Asuka looked over at Misato, who held a level gaze at her before both began to slowly smile. "You know I'm getting, like, 3 steaks on your dime, right?" Asuka said in a tone that would brook no argument.

Misato chuckled after a moment. "After everything that I've promised, and that's happened, I'm not surprised, seeing as it's taken this long to finally just do it."

Mariah leaned over to look at Asuka with a quizzical expression. "So… is there an explanation for the great amount of meat you'll be consuming?"

"Well, one time we defeated an Angel by having Shinji hold it up with Unit-01's bare hands." Asuka replied, counting on her fingers. "She promised us steak for that. Then we were going to go to a steakhouse for Shinji, Rei, and I's birthday party before SEELE tried to assassinate Kaworu. And now here."

She blinked as she looked at Rei for a moment, then looked back at Misato. "We're going somewhere with veggie options, right?"

Misato nodded. "Yeah, we are. I'll make sure of it. Now shoo." she made a sweeping gesture with her hands. "You'll probably want some time to relax as well before you start doing some more training today with the second-wavers."

The Children and Daniel then made their way out, Mariah asking excitedly for the details of how, exactly, one defeated an Angel just by holding it, and Ritsuko looked over at Misato. "I'm guessing this is in response to what I said a few days ago after the Gauntlet?" she asked with an arched eyebrow and a slightly bemused tone.

Misato nodded. "Yeah, kind of. We're building bridges here. Have been since we started doing this. After all, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." she looked over at Ritsuko with a wry grin. "You would appreciate that, being a doctor and all."

"I'm a doctor of metaphysical biology, Misato." Ritsuko said with a sigh, her face twitching into a frown. "We both know how poor of a physician I am."

Silence hung between them for a moment, a reminder of past deeds moved on from but remembered all the same.

"Yeah." Misato said quietly after a moment, her own smile gone. Then she took a deep breath. "So, do you think Eleanor and Maya will be free tonight?"

Ritsuko cupped her chin thoughtfully. "I'm sure Daniel will probably bring her along. As for Maya… I assume I can convince her to come along."

"Oh, good." Misato began to smile again. "It'll be nice to see you and the others in casual clothes again. Getting used to these has been… a process."

Ritsuko nodded, looking down at herself with slightly quirked lips. "I do wish these went with my old lab coat…" she said, somewhat wistfully.

. . .

Arashi's Fine Dining, Later That Night

The rather large group that consisted of the pilots, Misato and Ryoji, Daniel and Eleanor, and Ritsuko and Maya, streamed through the doors of the restaurant, out of the cold and the snow. The owner, stepping out to see the commotion, recognized many of them from their appearance on television and offered to give the group their meal on the house.

Despite Misato's protestations, the owner turned out to be quite insistent as he had some employees drag together a few tables in order to seat the entire group as close together as possible.

As they took their seats, the new pilots sitting across from their trainers or even beside them as the tablespaces grew slim, Ryoji chuckled slightly as he picked up a menu, putting a hand on Misato's. "My, my, Misato. All the benefits of stardom are ours, aren't they?"

Misato rolled her eyes. "As nice as he is for doing this…" she sighed quietly. "I don't know. There's certainly less controversial people he could have done this for, that much I'm sure."

Ryoji shrugged. "Well, it's keeping all the kids together. Why look a gift horse in the mouth?"

As he finished saying that and Misato shrugged, looking at the group with a slight smile, a waiter stepped up. "Hello. I can see this might take some time, so let's get you started as quickly as possible. What can I start you with?"

The order slowly made its way around the tables, and as the waiter disappeared, conversations began to start around the table in turn.

Mavuto, as he jovially talked to Toji and Hikari, looked down at the cutlery that they had been provided, taking the metal steak knife and balancing it with a critical eye, humming quietly as he glanced to either side of him, Orien on his left, Arantxa on his right. "I think I have enough space…"

"What, uh…" Toji said slowly. "What are you gonna do with that knife there?"

"This knife is surprisingly well balanced." Mavuto replied, beginning to draw attention from the rest of the table as he laid the flat of the blade on his finger, then flicked the handle, making the knife twirl on his finger. "I had a captain in my squad who taught me how to do this. Part of it is to make sure your timing and dexterity is right so you don't cut yourself."

All eyes turned to Mavuto, even as Orien and Arantxa scooted away, as he began a series of tricks, flipping and jumping the knife expertly from hand to hand. "Of course, you do still get some nicks from time to time. It's just what comes with the territory."

His gaze followed the knife steadily, his movements smooth and precise. "But those belong to beginners, after all."

He dramatically flipped the knife into the air and caught it by the blade, earning a few scattered claps from around the table as he checked his fingers for said nicks.

Asuka, looking down the table at the display as it finished, looked down and considered her own steak knife for a moment before Shinji's hand went on top of her own. "Liebling," he began patiently, "you can make your own spinning knives later. I'm sure Mavuto can teach you when we aren't at risk of stabbing anyone before we eat."

Asuka glanced over at him for a moment, then sighed dramatically as she rolled her eyes. "Alright." she said in an almost dramatically mulish tone. "And I'm supposed to be the genius here."

Across the table, Arantxa looked back at Keita with wide eyes. "My, but they don't teach that everywhere. Do you have someone in your section of the JSSDF that can do something like that?"

"Nothing quite as crazy as that. Maybe with pens, a few of them." Keita admitted as separate conversations began again. "Then again, I didn't really talk to anyone else outside of Musashi that was from my squad."

"So how did you and Musashi become so familiar then?" Arantxa looked at Keita intently, resting an elbow on the table and her face on a fist.

"Well," Keita sighed quietly, "he got placed into my fireteam after something happened with his last one. Something about some disagreement over orders. He didn't tell anyone about it, and I didn't need to ask. We were the misfits, anyway. Gossip didn't really come to us."

He paused for a moment, a thoughtful look in his eyes. "As for how we got to know each other… well, I guess I was the first one on the squad to just… sit down and talk to him, I guess."

"Ah." Arantxa nodded as she looked down at the table, a somewhat sad look on her face. "That's… something I get as well. Everyone is so strange in an actual military when you've spent your life fighting and dying by the people of your town. Until Günther, kindest man in the world, did the same thing you did."

She leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms as she looked back at him and smiled slightly. "You're a good man to do what you did." she said softly.

It was a quiet moment before Arantxa shook her head slightly. "Speaking of family, what is yours like? I've talked at length about all of mine, after all…"

The conversations continued as the meals soon arrived, and Shinji began to cut his steak, showing a remarkably rare, almost red piece.

"I wasn't going to say anything, Captain." Musashi nodded towards the cut steak. "But, uh… I'm under the assumption you aren't the sort of guy to eat his steak like that."

"Yeah, Shinji." Asuka interjected, her eyes slightly narrowed as she looked away from the frankly monstrous meal before her. "What are you up to?"

"I've been testing something I recently got." Shinji replied almost absentmindedly as he pressed the flat of his knife to a portion of the cut, furrowing his brow slightly.

After a moment, the blade began to glow, lines curving and crisscrossing across the blade becoming red hot, the steak sizzling as Shinji cooked it the rest of the way, Asuka and Musashi, and soon a good portion of the group, looking over at him as he removed the knife, the glow and heat fading as he cut into the steak again, popping a piece in his mouth and chewing, swallowing before he breathed a quiet sigh. "Oh, good. I cooked it properly."

Mavuto gave a hearty laugh as Shinji said this. "And here, you had to use magic to get one better on me! I'll have to learn some of that, too, make sure I give you one better when we meet again."

Shinji chuckled, blushing slightly. "I'm sure that someone would be willing to teach you back home. With Interfacers starting to pop up everywhere as they have, I wouldn't be surprised if your government has one to help you learn."

Mavuto nodded slowly, the broad smile on his face becoming complemented by a thoughtful expression. "Hmmm. I'll have to look into that."

As the rest of the table returned to their conversations, Mariah, on Shinji's right, nudged his elbow before he could begin heating the other half of his steak in a similar fashion. "So, Puppy, you went and got some honest to god heat, huh?"

"Well, Mari, I got a fire Aspect Core." Shinji replied. "Daniel talks about having something physical to act as a medium for your Interfacing. This one just seemed to have the most utility beyond just being something physical I can tie sound to."

Mariah hummed. "I would guess so. I'm going to have to find one of those Aspect Core thingies myself soon."

"We can help with that." Asuka interjected as she swallowed a piece of her steak. "Getting your first one takes some doing, after all."

"Nice!" was Mari's only reply before she tucked into her steak.

Further down the table, Rei chewed thoughtfully on her salad as Orien looked intently at her. "Ms. Ayanami…" he paused for a moment. "What are your thoughts on Ms. Ivanov so far?"

He spoke of their second wave trainee, a tall, blonde-haired Russian woman with rather piercing blue eyes that always seemed to hold a rather imperious look within them. She had proven… interesting to work with, to say the least.

Rei paused for a moment before replying. "Well, Ms. Ivanov's standoffish attitude has been… somewhat exasperating for me, I must admit. It probably does not help matters to know that she had a brother lost in the Battle of Tokyo-3." she looked over at Orien. "I am somewhat surprised you have been as patient with her as we have. I understand there are some… underlying tensions between the United States and Russia."

Orien shrugged as he sighed quietly. "Yeah. There are still some people who cling to the whole Cold War mentality. But times are changing. Even with the Battle of Tokyo-3, people are starting to come back around. And besides, she's got a soft spot for classical Russian music. I have a cello. I think we can build bridges."

He looked over at Mavuto after taking a bite. "What about your trainee? Hua Tsung, right? How is she doing?"

Mavuto nodded, chewing and swallowing before he spoke. " She's serious. Her brother, too. It's hard to crack jokes around them when they just don't laugh. But they're polite if nothing else. She's very hard working." he emphatically jabbed his knife in the air to punctuate his point. "I've learned from them as much as they've learned from me, it feels like."

Mavuto looked over at Arantxa, tapping her shoulder and waiting as she turned away from her conversation with Keita. "How are your trainees? You've got Ms., uh… Palmeiro, right, Ms. Etxebarria? And you, Asari, you've got the other Russian. How is he?"

Arantxa and Keita pondered the question for a moment. "Well," Keita began, "Koslov is actually pretty relaxed. He's clearly seen some stuff, shared some stories, but he's pretty easy to work with on the whole. He has a thing for singing in Russian, though. It's weird, but he says it helps him concentrate." he shrugged. "I guess I don't mind, seeing as he has a pretty decent voice. What about you, Arantxa?"

Arantxa chuckled. "Oh, Blanca is an absolute fireball in the cockpit. She has this real… love of living about her. It wouldn't surprise me to find out she went cliff-diving or skydiving or any of that. She's very patient when it comes to hearing my stories, too. That's a big plus."

The group chuckled, and the conversation drifted to another topic.

Across the way, the adults engaged in more serious matters, though certainly trying to make it no less lightly than the conversations that were happening around them.

"So, dear," Daniel began, "how's work in the Geofront?"

Eleanor bobbed her head from side to side. "Well, we finally found the cores that Ritsuko talked about. Dozens of them. Getting them out is going to be a chore, what with Lilith sitting on the Corite above them, but we're all brainstorming ways to get them out safely."

"Oh, good." Ryoji said as he took a sip of his drink. "We get to have some more happy reunions in the near future, then. Finding anything else, or is Lilith and the MP-Evas the biggest thing so far?"

"We're not really finding anything." Eleanor said with a shrug. "Just clearing up Terminal Dogma, getting a little further back into the base." she paused for a moment. "It's been kind of nostalgic, really." she said offhandedly.

She shook her head after a moment's recollection. "I've jumped into Lilith a few times, toyed with the atmosphere in the Geofront by expanding it and making it so we aren't pouring sheets of sweat anytime we spend more than a few minutes in there."

"Oh, good." Misato said with a sigh as she nodded at Ritsuko. "Makes the inspection Ritsky and I were going to do a lot easier on us, doesn't it?"

"Maybe." Ritsuko shrugged as she took a sip of her drink. "Sadly, a decent atmosphere isn't going to do much in terms of helping us rebuild the entire Geofront. Even with the advances we've made, it's likely going to be months before we seal it up again, let alone rebuild it and Tokyo-3."

"Maybe." Eleanor admitted, then what could best be described as a spark danced in her eyes. "But I've had an idea bouncing around in my head." she looked over at Misato. "I actually wanted to get everyone's input, and your permission, before I tried it."

Daniel arched an eyebrow after a moment of silence. "Well, go on then, darling. No need to leave us hanging in suspense for too much longer."

"So, you all know that Lilith is a biological vessel that relies on a Pneumaic system in order to accomplish… just about anything, right?"

"Yeah. Sort of." Kaji said as the other adults nodded. "What are you getting at?"

"Well, seeing as that system did… just about everything at Near Third Impact, I was thinking we could try and find a way to manipulate the system to, well, manipulate the Geofront again…"

"And use it to undo the damage done that day." Maya finished, the spark Eleanor's eyes held jumping to hers as she rubbed her chin thoughtfully for a moment.

The idea hung in the air for a moment more before Eleanor nodded. "It would shave months, even years off of our move back into the Geofront. But it's going to take a team. Me, a few of the other engineers that have just recently gotten Interfaced, and," she looked at Daniel, "I'm going to want to borrow Hikari and Rei, if you don't mind too terribly."

Daniel shrugged. "I think I can manage it. I've been meaning to interact more with our trainees, anyway." he paused for a moment. "What about Suriel? It is technically 'her' ship, after all."

"She's with Izalith, experimenting on her abilities concerning her LCL." Ritsuko replied. Then she paused, her brow furrowing slightly. "However…" she hummed in thought after a moment's contemplative silence.

Misato looked at Ritsuko. "What are you thinking about?"

"Not what, Misato. Who."

Misato's brow furrowed for a moment before her eyes widened. "Kadmonel?"

"He is the one that made the Vessels and the Eggs in the first place." Ritsuko shrugged. "If he's as skilled in those areas as I think he is, perhaps having him there will help speed up the process."

Eleanor nodded slowly. "Yes. That would make sense. He doesn't even really need a physical body. Just someone to carry him in." she paused for a moment. "He, and the Angel souls, are also with Izalith in orbit right now. They're tinkering around to see if they can undo what Kadomonel did to them to make them Angelic, see if they can find a way to get them into a human body."

Misato, Ritsuko, Maya, and Ryoji's brows rose. "Uh…" Misato said slowly, a small hint of alarm growing on her face. "That's… interesting. Is that a good idea?"

"Well, from what we've been told," Daniel began as he leaned forward, "Kadmonel put a sort of "shell" around the cores of the Angel's souls in order to make sure they developed in a way that didn't violate the 'no Forbidden Union' clause of the FAR's whole plan. They're on there pretty tight, from what I can tell, and they want to get them off without damaging the souls. Kadmonel's overseeing the operations. But if we can pull him away for a day or two, I'd take it."

Eleanor looked intently back at Misato. "I'll just need your permission, Commander."

The group was silent for a moment, all the other adults regarding Misato somewhat intently before Misato sighed quietly. "I guess you can go ahead if you think you're able to. If we can get the Geofront up and running again, we have a secure location for Lilith, the MP-Evas…"

"And the Lance copies." Ritsuko said quietly.

The thought of the false Lances of Longinus suddenly hung ominously over the group as Ritsuko looked over at Eleanor. "Have you and yours done anything with the Lances?" she said, switching into Japanese from English.

"We haven't touched them." Eleanor admitted, following Ritsuko's lead. "We've been more concerned with cleaning up around the Geofront, seeing as right now, the Corite field leading up to Tokyo-3 has offered most of the protection. What do you want me to do with them when we get to that point?"

"Probably get one or more sent over to me." Maya interjected. "We'll get started reverse engineering on the Anti-AT Field technology that SEELE started on, make sure we understand how they did it."

"And then we can start producing Anti-AT Field weaponry ourselves." Misato mused quietly. She sighed after a moment. "That's one hell of a trump card. Regardless of whatever comes our way."

It was silent again. Then Misato sighed. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it." she said in English. "Until then…" she made a small show of cutting a piece of steak and chewing on it, swallowing it before smiling slightly. "Let's get back to relaxing, shall we?"

. . .

The night wore on, and soon, all were full. Asuka even got fully through her three steaks, as promised. "Someone ought to pay me for that." she had said, before stifling a contented burp.

Now, they all stood outside the restaurant, exchanging the parting niceties of a group who soon would go their separate ways as they took in a quiet, light snowfall. The first snow to touch the ground of Japan in what felt like ages. For many of the pilots, it was the first time they had seen snow outside of a television set… ever.

"So," Musashi said to Shinji, causing him to turn in some slight surprise, "you have a Frame Titan now, right?"

"Well, yeah." Shinji nodded. "Not all of us do yet, but we're getting there."

"Oh. Cool."

They stood there for a moment silently before Musashi slowly extended his hand. "Thank you… for putting up with me, I guess. I'm kind of surprised you were able to, honestly."

Shinji blinked, then smiled slightly as he took his hand. "Well, it's alright, in the end. You're good at this. If we're ever in battle, I know I can trust you."

"Thank you."

A little ways away, Arantxa and Keita stood looking at each other. "It's been good to get to know you." Arantxa said.

"It's been good learning about you, too." Keita replied, a slight blush to his cheeks.

Arantxa chuckled slightly as she stepped forward. "Well, I'd like to talk to you more often." she rolled her eyes. "Being in different countries makes that so difficult, though. So…"

She pulled out her phone, swiping up and tapping the screen. "Here. Have my phone number."

Keita blinked, then blinked again before pulling off a glove before he almost dropped his phone pulling it out. "Oh, uh… thanks."

They exchanged phone numbers before Keita began to blush deeper. "So… would it be stupid of me to ask why you're doing this?" he asked slowly.

"Well," Arantxa began as she adopted an overly serious expression, "for one, it'll help us exchange information quickly about best training methods, current news within our organizations that we're allowed to divulge, and all other sorts of terribly official stuff."

She paused for a moment, then smiled. "That, and I think you're cute. And I'd like to get to know you some more, as hard as that's going to be while we're apart. So…"

She chuckled, only somewhat nervously. "As bad as it is wishing for some giant monster attack that needs us working together…"

"Then I'll be there." Keita said. "Because… well, after all, it's up to us to help keep the world safe. So… yeah. I'll see you at the next world-ending event, I guess."

Arantxa laughed softly. "I'll see you then."

A little ways apart from everyone, Misato, Ryoji, Ritsuko, and Maya stood together, quietly taking in the sight of the pilots, of Daniel and Eleanor, mixing together one last time. It was… nothing short of magical, in the snow like it was. Quiet, a little miracle on this street in the city, yet alive.

"So," Misato said, deigning to break the silence between the four of them, "what do you think, Ritsuko? Good tradition to establish or what?"

Ritsuko sighed quietly, smiling slightly as she nodded. "Yes, actually. I enjoyed tonight, for the most part. It was good seeing all of them interacting finally."

"Yes, indeed." Ryoji interjected. "In fact…" he looked at Keita and Arantxa continuing to talk together. "Interacting might be somewhat shy of what some of them are doing."

"They're building bridges, like you said, Misato." Ritsuko said quietly. "Building bridges, indeed." she repeated, a little quieter. She paused, a slight smile disappearing into a surprisingly deep well of concern. "I can only hope those bridges are strong for whatever comes."

"Yeah." Maya interjected. "But come on. We've watched the Children get through the Angel War. Whatever comes after can't be that bad. Can it?"

"I'd be careful saying that, dear." Ritsuko said. "After all, the Angel War was just one universe's foes. Now… there's a lot more lurking around more out there in Reality, if my memory of fiction does any sort of service."

The adults fell silent again, considering what futures could possibly lay in wait for them. One thing was sure, though. They knew that they could consider long into the next morning.