Chapter 16: Outstretched Hands

Am I too late?

It's a question that's been haunting me since I even considered that there might be another path. Beyond Tavis' vision.

Everything that I've done to this point has been in helping that vision come to pass. I've put myself far down a road that leads to either death or victory. And now, I turn to others and ask them to try and follow me out of the valley we have all traveled into.

Will some of them regard me as a hypocrite and a heretic? Yes. For some things, the answer to my question is an inevitability. But perhaps, if Daniel Theisman is to be known and understood… there are fewer inevitabilities than I first thought.

- From the personal journal of Ymris Joranna

New NERV HQ, Geofront, March 10th, 2028

Daniel Theisman cracked open his eyes in the makeshift bunk that had been created for him by Kaji, sitting up as he rubbed his eyes.

Another nightmare. Now without the balm that Eleanor had provided, it had come with all the terror that he'd become accustomed to. It was chaotic, disjointed tonight. Wild eyes, flickering with a frenzied flame. A voice like thunder. A lion's head with a massive horn, charging toward him, trying to gore him…

A hand reached up to his neck, where a scar, the shadows of a brand, still sat hidden just above his sternum. Old memories replayed as he massaged his neck, ensuring that the memories hadn't made it act up somehow.

"Good morning, I hope."

He looked over to see Kaji stretching as he rolled out of his bunk, grabbed a towel, and headed off to some shower somewhere. "Good morning," Daniel replied. "Where's a shower around here?"

"I jerry-rigged one up a few days after I was first revived. Here, let me show you. "

As they walked around, Daniel studied the halls around him. "There's a lot more of this place still ruined than I thought there would be." he mused out loud.

"Ikari didn't need as much of this place after everyone else left, it seems," Kaji said with a shrug. "The places that he needs basically make a pillar going from Terminal Dogma up to that thing in the sky. I'll show you the map I've made when we're done."

"What is that, anyway? The pillar, I mean." Daniel asked as they got to the shower, appropriately enough several pipes with scavenged shower heads on them that were sectioned off by several curtains.

"Hell if I know," Kaji replied as they began their shower. "It's stumped me, and if Commander Nagisa knows, he isn't telling me anything. I'd check it out myself, but Ikari wanders around up there a little much for my liking."

They finished their showers and made their way to the information center, Kaji pulling up the promised map of the current base. It looked like a massive, bare tree, a single kilometers-high trunk branching into several prominent roots as it descended into the base and terminated at Terminal Dogma.

"So," Daniel said as he studied the map intently, "where do you think they're keeping Shinji?"

"Good question." Kaji said, zooming in on the 'root system' of the base, a particular room, cavernous in size, flashing. "It's probably going to be close to Unit-13 here, seeing as Commander Nagisa informed me that Shinji's going to be piloting it with him after some training."

Daniel nodded slightly. "I see. Are there any other points of interest?"

Kaji looked around. "Well, Ms. Ayanami's quarters, if you want to call them that, are here, next to the LCL chambers and the production facilities, Commander Nagisa's are here, likely close to Shinji's, and the gantry for the Mark.09 is here."

Daniel nodded, studying the map silently for a moment, trying to formulate a plan. "What kind of production facilities are we talking about?"

"Eva-sized equipment and probably prototypes of different Evangelions," Kaji replied. "Most of the living facilities and more non-essential areas have been converted into a massive automated factory complex. No one lives there. At least anymore. I don't even think anything alive can survive in there."

There was a long moment of silence as the two men contemplated the map. "So, Mr. Theisman…" Kaji said, more reservedly than Daniel expected.

Daniel looked over at Kaji and found the man with a contemplative, even sad expression on his face. "Do you…" he paused as he chuckled and shook his head. "Look at me, talking about this to a complete stranger."

Kaji paused again. "They're coming, I know that much. WILLE, I mean. Shinji's just too important to leave in Ikari's clutches. But… should I go back to her when they come, I wonder? Would she even accept me after everything that's happened? Would I accept her? I can't help but wonder."

Daniel contemplated the question for a moment, then sighed quietly. "I wish I knew the answer to that, Deputy-Commander. You've both changed, some in more radical ways than others."

"To whom are you referring?"

Kaji and Daniel both looked up to see Kaworu step into the room, closing the door behind him. "We're talking about Captain Katsuragi and the Deputy-Commander here, Commander," Daniel replied. "They were in a relationship previous to this and he wonders if her coming to retrieve Shinji might not cause some…friction."

Kaworu blinked, then nodded slightly. "Ah. I see. It would be… unwise of Captain Katsuragi and her ship to come here."

Daniel arched his brow. "Why is that?"

"Ikari's plans have been accounted for. Outside interference could possibly upset such preparations as I have made with potentially… disastrous results."

Daniel studied Kaworu for a moment. His expression was level, even mysteriously happy, as it always seemed to be. But his time with at least a version of Kaworu had trained him to look for the little things that gave away his true feelings. He was anxious at the prospect of Katsuragi's arrival. And, more than likely, what it might mean for his time with Shinji.

"Commander Nagisa, could we perhaps talk alone for a moment?"

Kaworu blinked, his head tilting slightly. "Very well. Shall we walk as we converse?" he said after a moment as he opened the door.

"Sure," Daniel replied, making his way over to Kaworu's side before looking back at Kaji. "See you later."

Kaji waved. "Alright. See ya."

With that, Daniel and Kaworu found themselves walking down the ruined hallways of the HQ, their steps echoing in the silence between them for long moments.

"What did you wish to speak to me about?"

Daniel was silent for a moment. "How many times has this world's timeline looped?"

Two sets of footsteps became one for a moment as Kaworu, then Daniel, paused. Daniel turned to look at Kaworu and found himself both somewhat pleased and somewhat unsettled to see the boy so startled. "How did you know?" the boy whispered.

"I have my sources," Daniel replied levelly. "Again, how many? Or have you lost track?"

Kaworu was silent again. "I have stopped caring to count. The only loop that matters is the one where Shinji is finally happy."

"With you, right?"

Kaworu's brow furled slightly. "Perhaps so. Why does that matter?"

"Because your obsession with Shinji is, frankly, detrimental to him. I understand you care for him deeply. But you know far better than I how your death, your possession, makes his mind, his heart, worse. Brings it closer to shattering."

A fire lit in Kaworu's eyes as he stepped forward. "I do not desire to hurt Shinji. Every death that wounds him wounds my very soul as well. I will keep him safe. I will keep his heart safe." he said, his voice hard.

"And yet, you want him alone. For yourself. All this does is isolate him. Weaken that heart you claim to treasure." Daniel paused as he walked forward, seeing Kaworu's fists clench and feeling the subtle thrum of the boy Angel's AT Field just out of sight. "Didn't you tell him in Instrumentality the first time that even if it hurt, a life connected was worth living?"

"I was acting in accordance with Lilith at that time," Kaworu replied, his voice becoming somewhat clipped. "It was a mistake I have not repeated."

Daniel sighed. "Child… you have no idea what you're doing, aren't you?"

"How presumptuous, when you seem to know my true nature. The universe has ended and begun a thousand times over in my time. No, even more. A thousand times a thousand. How do you claim to-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Daniel showed Kaworu the breadth of his years. And, for the first time as Kaworu stumbled back, almost seeming to try at breaking to the surface from the tsunami of memories, Daniel saw in Kaworu Nagisa's eyes a most rare emotion. Fear.

"What… are you?" Kaworu whispered.

Daniel sighed wearily, the years he showed the boy seeming to pile onto his shoulders. "Human. At least, I like to think I am. And more than that, old. Older than anyone should ever be."

"But most importantly, Tabris…" Daniel stepped forward, Kaworu taking a step back. "I am the guardian of this world's Shinji Ikari. And I will help him and protect him from anyone. Even you. I hope that it won't come to that, though. So, let's work together to make Shinji happy, how about? He could always use one more friend."

It was silent between them again, then Kaworu began to walk past Daniel without a word. Daniel didn't bother following for the moment. One confrontation with the head of a potentially world-ending organization was enough for today, he thought.

. . .

Good Hope, South African Safe Zone

Ymris Joranna took a deep breath of the hot, dry air as she walked through the streets of what had once been the city of Johannesburg and pondered on the place. It had long since taken on the name of Good Hope after Near-Third Impact had swept away the inequality and squalor, the tide of core material making men equal in a way no simple revolution ever could.

But even as it made men equal, it also seemed to make them, incredibly, more… kind. There were few better explanations as to how this had been one of the most quickly growing Safe Zones in the world, save perhaps for the West Coast Safe Zone. A city had sprung up from the ruins of Johannesburg, alive and growing, with new buildings in construction all over the place.

But she was headed away from all of that development, all that work, out towards what the locals could generously call 'the open wilderness'. Away from the bustling people and industry, several attempts at farming had been made to help sustain themselves and lighten the loads KREDIT would need to send them. Many had failed. She, and all the others she planned to meet with today, were headed toward one of those failures.

It was one of the richer ones, the barren land surrounding a house and a massive barn, likely used for what few reconstituted livestock were given to each of the farms.

The barn, long and open, was now long out of use, even the stench of animals gone now as she opened the door, and found herself walking into a decently lit space, several lamps showing the small cluster of people in the center, Takeshi among them. There were still a few people missing from the group, but most of them were here.

"The rest will be here soon," Takeshi said, clearly somewhat put off by the location of their meeting. "Surely there was someplace less out of the way where we could have met."

"Maybe so," Ymris replied. "But we're still trying to seize the moment when it is most opportune."

She paused, glaring at Takeshi. "Or at least we were before those Spirits that Tavis gave you all went and assaulted a gathering with the crew. Nearly killing me in the process."

The last point seemed to make Takeshi shy away for a moment before she regained her courage. "We're just trying to do what Tavis has asked of us, ma'am. I used to think that's what you were doing as well. Now, I'm not so sure."

Ymris was silent as she heard the others coming in, shutting the door behind them as she looked behind her and saw the rest of the acolytes as they shuffled in. "Well, maybe that's true. But do you all want to know the truth of what Tavis wants to accomplish here? The whole truth?"
Takeshi's brow furled as she shook her head. "What's there to say? We're going to remake the world and show the people the true value of the Unity before we go out and help others see."

"That may be the case to a certain extent," Ymris replied. "But he never said how we'll remake the world, or convince people to join our cause, did he?"

The words got the acolytes, Takeshi included, to look at each other, more than a few mutters beginning to echo through the empty hall. 'Good. I've got them thinking, at least.'

"I can tell you how he plans to do it. After all, you've all heard tell of the Mass-Production Evas we have captured, right?"

A few nods encouraged her to continue. "They are harbingers of Instrumentality. In order to rebuild this world, we are going to sweep away everything that has been built thus far. Men, women, children, it does not matter. All will be drawn into the Impact that Tavis plans to create. And then he plans to go to work on people's souls."

The murmuring began to intensify as she continued. "All free will would be pared away, replaced with an unyielding desire to serve the Unity, not born of their own faith, but from the dreams of a general looking for soldiers."

"And why would you suspect that he'd do that?" one of the acolytes, one of Takeshi's closer companions, asked somewhat incredulously.

Ymris sighed. "Because I have seen his plans unfold time and time again. I've known him since we both joined the Scions. For him, the ends justify the means. However cruel and unusual those means can be."

Ymris shook her head. "We can find other ways to restore this planet. Instrumentality is not the only way. Please, believe me when I say that we can win the people over without breaking their free will. Tavis'..."

She paused for a moment, taking a deep breath as she once again confronted the bitter truth. "Tavis' plan is wrong. I want to give you all a chance to make a choice in whether you keep following him… or help me to find a better way. A way that can allow us to convince the people to unite of their own wills."

Takeshi's eyes were hard as she stepped forward. "It sounds to me like you're just afraid of making the hard choices we need to make in order to make this work."

"Letting people choose their destiny is the hardest choice we can make as the faithful, I've found. It just took far too long for me to find that out."

It was silent again as the acolytes considered the two women, then, slowly, one of the engineers that they both worked with, one Mr. Watanabe, slowly stepped forward toward Ymris. "Is it true, what you've said?" he asked. "That Mr. Farhaven would really do… that?"

Ymris nodded slowly. Mr. Watanabe had lost his family, his first wife, and his children, to Near-Third Impact. "Yes. I'm sorry." she nearly whispered.

Watanabe's eyes hardened as he walked over to Ymris' side. "I can't do that to anyone else. I won't be a party to something that could take someone else's family like that. Not in good conscience."

"Kamuro…" Takeshi said incredulously as more people began to nod. "You know part of using Instrumentality is getting everyone who died back, right? It would hurt for a moment, but you and everyone else would be reunited with everyone we love."

"And how could we look them in the eye after doing that?" another technician, Ms. Reika if Ymris recalled correctly, shot back. "Using the same thing that killed them to kill everyone and then do… whatever brings them back?"

"What'll it matter after it's done?" an engineer interjected. "We won't cause another one once we've succeeded. We'll be busy putting things back in order."

"He's right." the woman standing next to him said. "It's not like we'd try to do it just for fun. It's a tool, is all. A big one that requires us all to use it, but it's just a tool."

From there, a few voices became all of them, the acolytes now arguing back and forth with each other. Ymris couldn't help but feel the tragedy of the moment as the argument continued. All this talk of unity, and all it took was one person with a different point of view…

After what felt like forever, the arguing began to die down, Ymris and Takeshi becoming focal points around which those who agreed with them gathered. Ymris was grateful to see that well over a dozen had decided to try a different way with her, and concerned that so many seemed determined to stay the course that Tavis had set out to accomplish.

Takeshi took a deep breath as she scanned the group in front of her. "You know, I'm disappointed. I would have thought that after everything we've been through, after everything we've been shown, there wouldn't be so many of you who fell off the path of Unity."

She looked to her sides, to the men and women surrounding her, and they all drew pistols, Takeshi making one from a Grip she manifested. "But if you aren't going to help us… you're just going to get in the way."

The acolytes around Ymris cried out as they backed away from the wall of guns that was now aimed at them. She, however, stood firm as she sighed. "You know… I figured you'd do that. You and Tavis really are cut from the same cloth, aren't you?"

Takeshi's eyes went wide with anger as she aimed directly at Ymris. Before she could fire her pistol, or anyone could for that matter, every pistol's slide racked back and the rounds within the magazines flew out of the guns, more than a few dropping their weapons in shock.

"What the…" Takeshi said, clearly startled herself.

It was at that moment, the door behind Ymris opened, and Toph, Korra, Aang, and Eleanor walked in. "I told you I figured you would do something like that. So I made sure that you couldn't."

Takeshi's eyes flashed with anger as she saw Eleanor. "Traitor. You threw in your lot with the people trying to hold us back?"

"I've spent the last 14 years working to save the world, Takeshi. I just happened to expand my horizons in the process."

Ymris looked back at the four newcomers. "They'll be kept safe, right?"

Toph shrugged. "Anyone who follows you out of here is just another member of WILLE. Nothing less, and obviously nothing more."

She looked around at the group around Ymris meaningfully, and they seemed to get the hint, streaming past the four of them out the door, the last shutting it behind her.

"So what now?" Takeshi said, pointing her gun at Eleanor. "Are you just going to execute us now that you've weeded out the faithless?"

"That entirely depends on both if you resist and if you're Interfaced," Eleanor said as the four of them started to edge towards the group cautiously. "If you aren't Interfaced and you don't try to kill us, you can just sit tight here while we try and keep NERV from ending the world. If you are… we'll need you to come with us to the Val. We'll have accommodations aboard for you to wait things out there."

They paused by Ymris' side. "Either way, this isn't a fight you can win."

Takeshi's gun tracked from person to person. "Please, Tomomi, just…" Ymris began.

In the instant that Takeshi's gun flashed, a small pillar of stone sprang from the ground, the Metos round slamming into it and sending chips of rock flying as the people surrounding Ymris exploded into motion.

Twin whips of water lashed out from Aang and Korra as they guided them like almost living creatures, binding Takeshi as those that surrounded her dashed past them toward the door. Toph held out her hands and pulled at the air, several loose pieces of metal rattling in their places before snapping off and flying towards the ankles of those that fled, tripping them up and binding them in place one after another.

Eleanor strode forward as a disk of water swirled into being in front of her face and deflected a gout of flame-like Metos from Takeshi's mouth, a plume of air slamming into the side of Takeshi's face and dazing her enough that the stream of Metos ceased.

Coming to a stop in front of a dazed Takeshi, pulling out an Expression Inhibitor in the form of a necklace with an almost computer chip-like pendant and clasping it around her, the pendant flashing with red and blue light as a field rippled over the necklace. "There we go," Eleanor said as the water ropes disappeared, Takeshi dropping her Grip as she went to her knees.

"No more shenanigans from you until we can be sure you-" Eleanor began.

Then, something appeared in Takeshi's hand, almost too quick for Eleanor to spot with her regular vision, a marble of pale white and grey bursting and coating the room in a mist that stymied even the Sight that Eleanor and Ymris switched on.

"Damn it!" Toph shouted. "Twinkle toes, can you clear this stuff up?"

"I can try," Aang replied.

"Got it." Korra also said.

After a moment's silence, the cloud was swept up toward the ceiling, dispersing to reveal… nothing.

"Aw, hell," Eleanor said quietly as she turned to see even the acolytes that Toph had apprehended had vanished. "They're in the wind now."

"Do you know where they might have gone?" Aang asked Ymris.

Ymris grimaced. "No. But that mist is Tavis' work, I can assure you that. If they went anywhere in the world, they likely just appeared right in front of him."

"That… doesn't sound good," Korra said, clearly apprehensive.

"It's going to make things very interesting then," Eleanor said. "Well, there's nothing really for it. Let's get back to town and get ready."

. . .

New NERV HQ

Shinji Ikari lay in the utterly bare room that had been provided to him, with nothing to take up its space save for a simple bed, a stool, a small box of a telephone that had no dial and didn't seem to go anywhere anyways, and a small section of the wall that slid open to give him new food (a selection of simple pastes) or clothes.

It was… mind-numbingly dull. He didn't even have his SDAT player to pass the time. 'Oh, the costs of saving the world…'

He chuckled at the thought as he swung out of bed, already dressed (as there seemed to be no other kinds of clothes for him), and walked out the pleasantly unlocked door. He stepped into the cavernous space that surrounded him, looking to his left and right to see the several other blocks, all dark and silent, wondering who was supposed to be living in them as he made his way out into the rest of the base. Did that other boy that his father said he would pilot Unit-13 with live here as well?

'Wait a minute. I'm supposed to pilot it with him. How does that work?'

Knowing his father, the man had worked out a way. He was smart enough to do that much.

As he wandered the base, he wondered what, if anything, he could do. 'Talking with Ayanami might be a good start.' he mused as he passed by what must have been a NERV logo, though the things that replaced the letters and words made no sense, appearing almost like dead computer or television screens. 'If she's as isolated as Rei was, he might not even know I'm trying something. Not that he cared anyway.'

"Ayanami!" he called out as he wandered, the ruins around him of the HQ's interior passing by almost without thought as he wandered through once familiar halls. "Where are you, Ayanami?"

The only reply he seemed to get for now was the distant rumbling of machinery. 'Where could she be?' he wondered as he continued his exploration.

In time, he passed through a doorway into a massive space, its center a massive pit lit from underneath by… something big. More immediately recognizable was the cubicle-room that resided near the edge of the drop, a small glow evident from under the curtains that covered a portion of the wall facing him. 'Surely not here.' he thought incredulously for a moment before recalling the ramshackle nature of Rei's apartment.

He felt his jaw clench, and he paused as he took a deep breath before walking forward. "Ayanami? Are you…"

A peek inside the little room was more than enough to convince him that she was not decent at all. "Ayanami…" he said after a moment to regain his composure after having stepped out of sight, "could you put on some clothes?"

"Is that an order?" he heard from beyond the curtain.

"Does it have to be?" his tone was still somewhat incredulous, though it hid the dread that was building in his chest.

"I am made to follow orders," Ayanami said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I need only that which allows me to carry out my orders."

Shinji considered the words for a moment, thinking of the person that shared this girl's face. His sister. "You're human, though. It doesn't matter where you come from. You should still do the things you want to."

It was silent again between them. "Is that an order?" Ayanami repeated.

Shinji sighed quietly. "Yes. That's an order. For now."

Shinji waited until he heard the click and hiss of a Plugsuit, then he parted the curtain further, nearly stepping on the thin bedroll on the floor as he took in the state of things. The only other things that took up the space were a simple lamp on the floor and a rolling stand with medical diagnostic equipment, the top of the monitor that sat upon it serving as a table for a few packets of medicine.

He remembered a talk with Rei after they had been reunited. He'd asked her about the medicines that he'd seen in her apartment.

"They were there to ensure that I would follow orders." She'd replied. "Experiencing life without them has been… interesting."

"Why are you taking those pills?" he asked.

"So that I am able to follow orders."

Shinji considered the emotions, subtle though they had been, that had manifested themselves in the wake of their reunion on the Wunder. "... Who do you take orders from?"

"My superiors."

'Likely my father. Maybe that boy.' he mused. "Would… I be one of your superiors?"

Ayanami regarded him silently for a moment, and he wondered what was going through her head. "Yes," she said, as level as ever.

Shinji nodded. "What if I ordered you to stop taking those pills? So… that you could pilot the Eva more effectively?"
Ayanami blinked. "I…"

Not for the first time, Shinji had seemed to stump her. "I don't know."

Shinji nodded. "We'll figure that out, hopefully."

He looked around. "This is worse than your last place, Ayanami. Or at least, the last place Rei was in." he chuckled ruefully. "You don't even have any books."

"Books?"

"To read. You used to have an English one that you seemed to like. Maybe I can try and find it again for you."

Ayanami blinked. "What is 'like'?"

Shinji couldn't help but blanch inwardly at how much his father had seemed to carve away in order to have more control over this version of Ayanami. "It's…" he paused, scratching the back of his head as he tried to put what he knew of such a nebulous concept into words. "It's when you do something without being ordered to. Because you want to do it."

"Want…"

Shinji took heart as he saw Ayanami, hopefully at least, pondering the explanation.

"Hello, Shinji. Hello, Ayanami."

Shinji started somewhat at the soft, gentle voice behind him, turning to see the boy from yesterday. The boy who he would pilot Unit-13 with.

"Hello," he said, stuttering slightly. "Uh… what's your name?"

The slight, pale boy, seemingly so much like Ayanami in front of him with his red eyes and pale skin, yet topped with a head of ashen hair, smiled slightly. "I am Kaworu Nagisa. As I'm sure you recall, I am to be your co-pilot."

"Oh." Shinji fully turned to face Nagisa, stepping out of the room to extend a hand. "Nice to meet you, Nagisa, even if it's here."

Nagisa's smile grew, and Shinji couldn't quite puzzle out the twinkle in his eyes. "Please, we will be working quite closely together. Just call me Kaworu."

Shinji was surprised at the boy's forwardness. "Oh, okay… Kaworu."

"Wonderful. It's nice to meet you at last. Working with your father for so long has been… an experience."

Shinji wondered what the true meaning of those final words was. "I'm surprised you managed to hear anything from him."

"Oh, no. But I have heard and seen much, Shinji." Kaworu released his hand after holding it for just long enough for it to become somewhat uncomfortable. "Now, I will get to see the full breadth of your skills as we train."

He turned away and started walking towards the door Shinji had entered the room from. "Come. We must waste little time getting to the training simulator."

Shinji stood there for a moment, somewhat in shock. 'Do I have… a fanboy?'

Either way, it seemed that he had someplace to be now. Someplace that would be important if he was going to try and remake the world.

He looked back at Ayanami, who continued to stand in her place. "I'll get you that book I was talking about. I hope that you read it when I do. See you later."

With that, he turned and followed after Kaworu, wondering what, exactly, a training simulator for two pilots in the same Eva would entail.

And as Ayanami watched Shinji Ikari disappear, she found, for whatever reason, that a word that he'd said had stuck out to her. She wasn't sure why, but even saying it aloud produced… something within her. "Hope…"