A/N: Putting this at the beginning, because it's admittedly a big ask for a lot of people: the main characters of this fic are Yui and Kyoko, and the story is written almost entirely from their POVs, and maybe a couple POVs from the other adult characters later on. The kids will obviously show up frequently, but any chapters or scenes written from their perspective will be extremely limited.

If that's cool with you, then I hope you enjoy the story. Also, there's a prologue and the first chapter being uploaded today.


PROLOGUE: "Man Plans…"


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When Kyoko showed up late, Yui Ikari knew something was off. Kyoko Langley Soryu was never late. Their schedules were both far too busy to allow for any lapses. And then the woman got out of her car, walking through a field of reeds and dried stalks of grass, and didn't stop speaking for what felt like thirty minutes. And when she stopped speaking, that's when Yui knew they were screwed. Well and truly screwed.

Little Asuka was sitting in the backseat of the car. At this point, Asuka was practically an adopted daughter to Yui, and the lack of movement from the girl set Yui on edge. The girl was alive, unharmed, but stared at her shoes as if blissfully unaware of the rest of the world and the horrible situation her mother had put them all in.

"Alright, alright," Yui said. "so, we're just going to have to work around this somehow. Right?"

Kyoko paced in front of her, eyes fixated on the ground. "We're not going to be able to proceed as planned. Or, I'm not going to be able to."

"Okay, first of all, were you followed? Are there police on the way?"

"I don't know. I don't think so"

"Is Asuka okay?" Yui stomped her foot on the ground, anger billowing inside of her. "How could you be so stupid, Kyoko? With Asuka right there? What if she – "

"She's fine, Yui." Kyoko said, stopping and meeting Yui's eyes. "When we first met, you said you would do anything to keep Shinji safe, Yui. Well, this is me doing anything. Anything to save my daughter from the apocalyptic death-cult we work for."

"I know, I know. It's just…I wish you had done it better." Yui put her finger to her chin. "Just how many people saw you? Like, general estimate."

Kyoko made a face, then put her hands into her pocket. If Yui didn't know Kyoko any better, she'd say the woman was actually somewhere in the ballpark of being apologetic.

"What does that mean?" Yui asked. "Ten? Twenty? More?"

"It was crowded when I left. No one saw anything, technically, but I'm sure they're capable of putting two-and-two together."

"Oh, Kyoko…"

"So, what do we do?"

"How should I know? I'm a biologist, not a criminal mastermind." Yui pulled her cell phone from her coat pocket, examined the device for a moment, then thought better of it and put the phone back. "I should call Gendo, but...I don't know, would they tap my phone or something? We're known associates, right?"

"If we can get back to HQ, we can contact him."

In the far distance, Yui heard sirens and saw a considerable amount of dust being kicked up. She met Kyoko with a look of exasperation, her eyes wide, and nerves steadily being shredded to bits.

"That fast, huh?" Kyoko said, chuckling. "They're nothing if not efficient."

"This isn't funny."

"I never said it was. I'm laughing from despair."

"They're going to kill us, you realize that? They already didn't like that we were in direct contact, and now this…" Yui started pacing as the overpowering drone of the sirens grew louder, her hands moving in a nervous and twitchy fashion. "I don't know how to get us out of this. The best-case scenario is that they keep us under heavy surveillance from now on."

Kyoko frowned. "A slow death."

"Yes." Three police cars were surrounding them now, the vehicles painted in blue, silver, and neon yellow that you could hardly miss, the field around them was awash pulsating shades of blue; Yui raised her hands in the air and Kyoko did the same. "There might be a way out, to eventually work our way back into their good graces and get things back on track. But they might just decide we aren't worth the trouble, if we go this way."

"And what's this other way?"

Yui sighed.

"I'm going to tell them the truth."

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