Disclaimer: I don't own NGE. Also, this is a continuation of "Fatal Thoughts", a one-shot by chill-guy.
Misato Katsuragi was utterly alone. She couldn't call Ritsuko, who was imprisoned deep within NERV. She couldn't call Rei; it wouldn't have mattered to the blue-haired girl. She couldn't call Asuka, who was comatose. That only left the commander himself. Misato already knew that she'd be demoted, fired, imprisoned, and replaced.
For a long time, she simply looked at Shinji Ikari's still form, her face frozen in horror. Finally, the violet-haired woman collapsed to her knees and cried. Her howls of despair echoed throughout the apartment. She hadn't even cried this hard when Kaji-san had died. He was just a kid! her mind wailed.
Eventually, the initial tears and anguish tapered off, leaving horrible silence. Katsuragi stood shakily and looked at the boy's body, which had become as pale as that of the First Child. The woman shuddered at this thought. What she had seen… the dummy plug system... it was still fresh in her mind.
Like a zombie, she stumped into her room and collapsed onto the bed. She couldn't call now. She needed time to fully compose herself. The stress and fear of the future overwhelmed her, and Major Katsuragi slept.
The Throne of Souls was once again in session. This time, Commander Gendo Ikari was the guest of honor. The only topic of discussion had been the seventeenth Angel. The old men bluff well, the NERV leader thought. Indeed they did; the monoliths had played dumb, believing that the Fifth Child had been infected on his way to the remains of Tokyo-3. Gendo didn't want to get offensive, because they could have him done away with at any point they wished.
Unfortunately for the Commander, this was to be inevitable. His cellular phone rang, and he excused himself from the room before answering the call.
"Yes?"
"This is Kouzou."
"What is it?"
"Section Two has… found something."
"What?" Gendo asked testily. He hated games like this.
"Your son…"
"What about him?"
"He's d-dead."
Silence rang out. Fuyutsuki wouldn't lie, would he? Gendo could tell that his former superior was uncomfortable about being the bearer of bad news. However, this wasn't a problem. Gendo knew better than to shoot the messenger.
"I will tell them," the younger man decided. He knew he was sacrificing himself; it was better than lying to the old men.
"What? No! That's…" the vice-commander sputtered.
"How did it happen?" Gendo cut in.
"…suicide," the older man said, both finishing his statement and answering the question.
"Goodbye, Fuyutsuki-sensei," Ikari said stiffly.
"No!" Kouzou wheezed sadly, sounding quite older than he already was. But Gendo terminated the call and returned to the meeting.
"I'm sorry to keep you waiting, gentlemen, but Instrumentality has been… delayed."
The SEELE statues lay silent. Something had gone terribly wrong. Could it be that Ikari now had the upper hand? Gendo allowed himself a very small smirk. Checkmate, he thought.
Kouzou Fuyutsuki collapsed back into his swivel chair, his head in his hands. Despite being a quiet, stoical person, there were numerous conflicting emotions within him. The Human Instrumentality Project had just been strangled to death. He would never see his former student, or the man's son, ever again. This automatically meant that he was the new commander of NERV.
The grey-haired man stood shakily and left his office. He had something very important to do. He made his way to Gendo's office and opened the door. Kouzou rifled through the desk drawers until he came across a ring of keys. He snatched it up and left the office.
Two women sat on a bench in a sunny park; one had medium-length blonde hair, and the other had short dark brown hair. They watched a small girl walk around the metallic frame of a brightly-colored playground. The child's large eyes followed everything. She giggled innocently as a butterfly sat on her short, straight hair for a moment. The taller woman turned to the brunette.
"Why don't you have any children yet?" she teased.
"Oh, you know I'm far too busy," the younger woman replied wistfully, "I barely have enough time to date."
"I think you should ask your boss for some time off," the blonde suggested.
"I… I never thought of that!" her companion exclaimed.
"As your oldest friend, I should—"
"Mama?" It was the young child. The blonde turned to her and addressed her warmly.
"Yes, dear?"
"I made a friend, mama!" Both women turned to see the girl's companion, who was looking rather confused and out of place. It was a boy who looked the same age as the girl. He was thin and had deep blue eyes and short, dull dark brown hair. Both women looked at the boy with some curiosity. The girl gripped his small hand in her own.
"He's a quiet one," the brunette said neutrally. The blonde shrugged and kneeled down to talk to the newcomer.
"Hello, young man."
The boy mumbled something like a question.
"Hmm?" inquired the girl's mother.
But it was not the voice of a boy that came from his mouth; it was the voice of a grown man that addressed her.
"Doctor Akagi?"
The woman stumbled back, a look of pure shock on her face. It was… him! In her sudden motion, her glasses fell off and tumbled to the sandy soil at her feet. Worried, the small girl picked them up and examined them, her ruby eyes wandering over the broken lenses, a look of confusion apparent on her pale face. The girl looked up at her mother, who was shaking her head violently.
"No! No!"
"Mama, what's wrong?" the girl asked sadly, her baby-blue hair swaying in the breeze. The blonde's eyes came to the girl's face, and they widened in recognition.
"No! Nooo!"
The shorter woman stood up at this point, rather concerned for her best friend. She laid a hand on the blonde's shoulder. The "mother" faced the brunette and shrieked.
"Iie!" She stumbled backwards. What this real? This couldn't be happening! It was supposed to be… different, right?
Only the young boy stood unperturbed. His sapphire eyes stayed locked on the blonde. His adult voice seemed to grow stronger, or the sounds of the park somehow dimmed.
"Doctor Akagi?" he repeated. The recipient of this statement was now crying with her face buried in the palms of her hands.
The sunny park faded away, along with the girl and the younger woman. Only the blonde and the boy remained. In the darkness, she closed her eyes.
"Doctor?"
Only her own heavy, strained breathing was reality to her.
"Doctor!" the voice finally snapped. A hand reached into the darkness and shook the arm of the subject of his inquiries.
Her eyes shot open, and she looked around. Light streamed into the cell from the door, silhouetting the interloper. She looked up.
"What's going on?" Ritsuko Akagi whispered frantically.