Don't own anything. Well I do own things, just nothing to do with copyrights to EVA. Otherwise this weeks episode would be throwing Naota, Haruko, and the rest of the FLCL cast into Tokyo-3 to screw with Gendo's scenarios. Oh wait THAT'S MY OTHER FANFIC, look it up, Neo Cooly I'm waiting to get some reviews on it before I continue. Now on with the show.
Sorry it took so long, been distracted and just had the inspiration to finish this chapter.
Chapter Seven: Unforseen . . .
Rei finished pulling the oversized shirt on as she opened the bathroom door. The Major had insisted on her observing some basic rules of decency if for no one else's sake but Shinji's.
The Major, despite now calling her Misato when she addressed her, Rei would always think of the mauve haired woman by her rank. Something's never changed.
She looked in quietly on the living room, remaining unobtrusive as she noted the occupants. Yui, Asuka, and the Major sat around watching old movies. Rei had considered joining them but felt an intense discomfort being around both the Major and Pilot Soryu when they were in such boisterous moods, especially after the unprecedented amount of shouting between Asuka and Yui earlier in the evening. She did not need to be there so she decided to go some place else.
Rei had never had many desires, and at the moment virtually all of them were being met, primarily being comfortable, clean, and in a quiet environment. That left only one thing to fulfill, be with Shinji. In her objective based mind there was therefore only one possible thing to do. It was fortunate that her intentions had already been endorsed by her sibling.
-'I'll trade with you'- Yui had told her. Rei had not understood what her sibling had meant until she elaborated.
-'You and Shinji are quiet people', Yui had said, her familiar face had taken on a distant and thoughtful expression, 'You bunking with Asuka would probably be very stressful in the long run.' She smiled evilly again. 'Just don't do anything I wouldn't do.' She warned, half joking and half serious.-
Rei had tried to protest that the current arrangements were adequate but Yui would not hear of it.
Shinji had been a little uncomfortable knowing Rei was going to be that close to him while he slept.
When she had been in the hospital the day before he hadn't known what to think he had just been feared for her. But now . . . some of the fear OF her, had crept back in again.
The girl he had kind of liked, and had always been, well, moderately comfortable with wasn't even a member of the same species.
Rei nudged the door open quietly and looked inside. Shinji was laying on his futon S-DAT plugged in and ignoring the rest of the world. Rei studied the scene for some time. He didn't notice her, rapped up in his music player as he was.
Rei did not bother him, instead stepping softly across the floor, avoiding his field of vision, and laying down on her own futon, pulling the blankets up over herself.
It was strange to her in a way. The smell of the fabric, it was clean and fresh, not wreaking of sweat and blood like her old bed had. It was enough to make her thoughtful of washing the sheets and bedding. Something she had never considered before.
Being set adrift by the Commander was forcing her to think more. Her own inevitable death played on in the background but it was not in the nature of a living being whether it was born of a mother and father or created in a vat of LCL to brood on its own demise for any extended period of time.
'I will have to continue in my observations', she decided as she made herself comfortable. There was a muted click as the S-DAT tape reached the end of the track.
Shinji's eyes opened suddenly as he realized there was another in the room. He frowned, who was it? 'Mother', he remembered the new bunk arrangements, 'No, Rei'. He corrected frowning slightly. 'Why am I afraid of her now, I like her don't I, I'-
"Hey Rei?"
Where had that voice come from? Shinji glanced at the door, but it was still closed, so where?
"Yes Ikari?" Rei replied softly.
Shinji was startled, had he spoken?
"Uh, um, I mean", 'Quick think of something to say!' "I'm glad you didn't die," Shinji blurted out, regretting the words almost immediately. Even to him that sounded stupid, honestly what worse thing could you say to a girl? 'You have very nice gums?' Ok there were a few more idiotic things but . . ."I am glad too", Rei replied softly.
"Huh?" Shinji replied, well he hadn't expected an answer. Much less an answer that agreed with his comment.
"If I had died then I would not have discovered that there is a reason for me to continue living." Rei explained. She pondered that. If her reason for living was to be with others, specifically Shinji, and other people's reason for living was also to be with others, then was not instrumentality, all becoming one, a flawed concept? How could you be with others when there was no being but the one. If instrumentality was truly the highest calling of humanity then would people not seek to be one with all others? Humans seemed to wish to be one only with those they cared for.
'This would be dangerous ground if instrumentality were still planned', Rei decided. 'But now it is important that I think about it. These thoughts may provide greater incite'.
"Wh-what reason did you find to live Rei?", Shinji asked curious. He wanted her to be happy if nothing else. That much he felt he owed her as her friend and as the closest thing she had to family. 'God that sounds pathetic', as he thought as much, 'Rei . . .'
Rei shifted uncomfortably but pushed ahead, nothing could be gained by stopping now. Shinji felt something small and warm slide into his grip applying pressure slightly. In the moonlight he could see Rei's arm stretching across the space between the mattresses her hand laying on his.
"You", she said, tucking her head in beneath the covers. She was suddenly irrationally afraid Shinji would refuse her affection, then what? What would she do with both people she had devoted herself to denied her love in return?
'No, I must not think like this, Shinji is different from the Commander'. She was risking so much by acting this way. She knew it could lead to pain but maybe it was worth it.
His hand closed around hers. "Thank you Rei." He replied softly.
She was startled slightly, "For what?"
"For, just being you." Shinji replied, how should he explain it?
"Then why should you thank me if I am merely being myself? I have done nothing special." Rei replied, her voice remained soft and measured. It was a constant, comforting, something that had become important to him in his time piloting.
"That's exactly it though", Shinji said back. He couldn't think of anything else to say, any other way to explain it. He was thankful that Rei was who she was, yes there was a lot to be done but there was something good in her, something sincere that shown through, if you looked hard enough.
There was a long silence. "Very well, I will continue to be myself then." Rei replied.
The seriousness in that voice almost made Shinji laugh, but he at least had the sense to catch himself on that, he really didn't think he could explain humor to Rei tonight.
Rei was content, she knew Shinji was important to her. And if he had not said he loved her, he did care. That was enough, that was all she asked and he had given it.
That night Rei slept with the tiniest hint of smile on her face.
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"So, what do you think Kouzo?" Gendo asked as he moved his rook to take his second in commands knight.
The elder man, gray haired and with a presence that exuded 'Scholar', studied the chess board. "If I hadn't talked to her myself I would have thought you'd finally cracked under the pressure." He said moving his queen out of the way of Gendo's now revealed bishop.
He'd nearly passed out from terminal heart failure when Rei had called him by his first name, and proceeded to explain and prove that she was Yui Ikari, or at least a facsimile so good that there was little difference. The lunch spent with Yui and Gendo confirmed in his mind that this was his old friend, the woman he had secretly adored despite her relationship with Gendo. And the person he too wished to get back.
"Though I wonder if Rei would really have listened to orders as insane as you would have to give her to pull this off." Kouzo Fuyutsuki was a man who could be profoundly blunt when need be, and had that amazingly dry sense of humor peculiar to teachers. The last of his doubt had disappeared when Yui outright insulted Gendo over the living conditions Rei had been put in.
"I doubt she would . . . now." Gendo replied as he moved his own knight into position, forcing Fuyutsuki to choose between sacrificing either his rook or his only remaining knight, and thus sacrifice the unique movement type of the knight to Gendo.
"How so?" Fuyutsuki asked, "She isn't jealous of Yui is she?" He asked with an amused look on his face.
Gendo shook his head. "No, I believe she may however be growing rebellious." Gendo replied.
Fuyutsuki frowned, if there was a problem with Rei then Commander Ikari should have just made the current Rei disappear and replaced her with the third.
"I will not replace her yet, Kozo", Gendo said simply, answering his old teachers unasked question.
Fuyutsuki was surprised, he knew Gendo cared to same degree for Rei, or had. The poor child had only seemed happy when the commander spoke to her, but he would still use her and would still destroy her when necessary.
Kozo kept trying to justify all of this to himself, using children like this for the betterment of man even such a sickly twisted and distorted child as Rei. He would accept Ikari's final decision when it came to instrumentality, he was just along for the ride. That didn't mean he did not have his own reservations.
Still he knew Gendo better than just that, the man would not tolerate uncontrolled variables. Part of the reason he disliked his son. Shinji could be manipulated easily enough, but his inherent instability made it a risky proposition. Rei was so much easier, if she had become too much trouble it would be a simple process of eliminating the current one and replacing her with a memory edited copy.
"Isn't that a little risky?" Fuyutsuki asked as he scanned the board. 'What to do, what to do . . .'
"We could not have tolerated it under the original scenario," Gendo agreed, "But the unmasking of her emotions may make her more affective as a pilot against the angels."
"It may negatively affect her as well though", Fuyutsuki pointed out.
"True, but in that case it is no great loss. If she becomes ineffective in her duties then we will simply have to activate the third." Gendo responded, pushing his glasses back up slightly.
"Very well", Kouzo said slowly. Finally sacrificing his rook, watching Gendo's closest pawn take it, but moving his knight out of reach of the Commander's bishop in the process.
"SEELE will be calling anytime now, the old men are undoubtedly suspicious, the 13th Should have attacked by now." Fuyutsuki noted, rubbing his temples, 'did you have to do that Gendo?' It was only going to cause major complications in any event.
"They can't do anything yet." Gendo said simply, there was a cold smirk on his face. "None of the MP EVA's have been completed, and they rely on us to provide the dummy plug data. Even if they move now they cannot hope to penetrate the GeoFront as things stand."
That was true, though the defenses around Tokyo-3 were designed to stop angels, several strategists had done calculations suggesting that the defense grid, without the help of the Evangelions, could successfully hold off three mechanized divisions and the SSDF's full air wing before expending all surface ordinance. With the EVA's in support, it did not even warrant thinking about.
"Still we will have to move quickly if we want to put the scenario into affect." Fuyutsuki said. SEELE could not risk a direct confrontation just yet, but they would begin to stack the deck in the their favor.
"Agreed, decontamination will begin on Unit-03, it will be reassembled within the next month, hopefully before the arrival of the 14th.
"And the pilot?" Fuyutsuki asked.
"We will either use the fourth or the dummy plug system, depending on the test results." Gendo decided, the dummy plug system would be preferable as it would allow him to use his tertiary scenario. In which case SEELE could not hope to win.
Fuyutsuki sighed as he contemplated his old protégée, "We just have to get through the last four and it will all be over", he said tiredly.
"No", Gendo replied, "Only then will it begin, the fight for who will control the potential for instrumentality."
Gendo noted the board with a studied eye, moving his own knight once again to complete the complex garret of his trap, "Checkmate"
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'Cinnamon' Shinji thought suddenly as he began to awaken. 'No', it wasn't cinnamon, though the smell was sweet and faintly spicy, but there was something else, a sent of cleanness. It was very nice, just like that warm feeling on his chest . . .
His senses slowly began to return to him as he became fully awake and finally noted the ball of warmth that seemed to be localized around his mid-section, determined to get in his skin with him. He opened his eyes, the lower half of his vision was obscured by a tangle of blue. He looked down.
Considering her emotionless and some would say cold nature, he would never have imagined Rei was a snuggler.
She had shifted in her sleep, guided by the hand she had held to the nearest source of warmth, slowly rolling towards him in a tangle of limbs and blankets over the course of the night.
Most males would have happily let this touching scene go on until the girl woke up, Shinji on the other hand saw only one solution being the brave, staunch, and skilled pilot he was, when confronted by a girl he adored first thing in the morning.
The entire apartment was filled with a high pitched screaming. Yui was the first there, she almost seemed to teleport into the room. "Rei what's the matter?" She shouted, drawing attention to herself from a horrified Shinji.
The problem there being her own old habit, now reinstated as she slept in Asuka's room, of sleeping topless.
Shinji paled starring.
"What are you . . . ?" Yui looked down. "Damn it", she ducked out quickly face already turning red. Asuka was next, though she was mostly red faced out of anger more than anything else. "Baka what are you doing still in bed! If you've got energy to scream, you've got energy to cook!" She was damned if she was going to let Shinji get away with waking her unless she had food soon. Hopefully chewing him out now would make him guilty enough to make something good.
Yui blinked as she pulled a shirt on over her bare chest. Asuka's words had been nearly as loud as the initial screaming. Her son screamed like that? Well he always had been a bit too feminine. 'It would have been nice if you could have raised him Gendo', she sighed as she came back out of Asuka's room.
Misato had managed to drowze through it all, slapping desperately at the snooze timer on her clock as the noise outside her room began to build again with Asuka and Shinji's arguing. The noise finally reached a threshold.
The door to their care givers room slammed open. "SHUT THE HELL UP", she roared into the faces of both pilots.
Yui was thankfully for her hearing, in Shinji's room with Rei.
Rei on her part was awake and mildly confused. She could remember having a nice warmth pressed up against her and then having it yanked away as Shinji began screaming. She rubbed at her right eye sleepily, face still emotionless as Yui plugged her ears.
It didn't bother Rei, it was uncomfortable, but no more than the sound of construction at her old apartment. The two 'sisters' waited for the chaos to subside in the hallway before Yui poked her head out tentatively. She sighed in relief as she saw Shinji heading into the kitchen, several seconds passed before the sound of a beer can opening, a deep gulp and then a sudden "YEEEEEEEeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhaaaaaaa" broke the morning calm once more.
She flinched, 'damn you Misato', Yui thought darkly. There were some thing's, like getting plastered after a stressful day or hell even morning, that she knew she was going to miss very much. Though she had only ever done it rarely to begin with, 'Odd I'm thinking like this.' Yui noted as she headed back to Asuka's room. She had to get ready for the day just like the rest of the children. It was going to be a day with quite a few explanations involved.
'Perhaps this proves that the body does dictate the personality to some degree.' Though didn't that mean she should have been an emotionless drone? She shook her head sadly, then stopped and turned back to Rei who had just stepped from Shinji's room. "Why did Shinji scream like that?" She asked, suddenly suspicious.
Rei, being underdeveloped in many fields, such as her social skills, responded truthfully. "I believe he is troubled that we slept together." Rei's face was still neutral, but disappointment filled her, she had liked being close to Shinji, it had been warm and contenting.
Yui paled. "Rei, YOU SLEPT WITH HIM!" It would have seemed impossible for Yui's voice, nearly as soft as Rei's, to be so loud. There was a sound of breaking glass from the kitchen, followed shortly by the sound of thundering feet as Asuka and Misato both rushed in on Shinji. From down the hallway Yui could easily hear the others shout.
"YOU SLEPT WITH HER!"
Rei blinked a few times at the accusation from Yui even as Shinji was being chewed out in the background. "What is wrong?" She asked confused. She had answered honestly, she HAD slept with Shinji from what she could deduce of her situation from the moments proceeding Shinji's sudden revelation to what was laying in his arms.
Yui finally caught her self and sighed. "Rei, when you say sleep with you do mean platonically right?"
Rei blinked again, it seemed to be a signal of when the strange girl was shifting mental gears. "Are you insinuating that I have had sexual relations with Ikari?"
It was Yui's turn to blink. "Well, I . . . guess that was a little foolish of me." She said lamely. Her face flush, she was supposed to be a voice of reason and she'd just jumped to conclusions, not to mention after she had been playing matchmaker with both of these poor kids.
Rei tilted her head, "If I understand the purpose of sexual intercourse then it is possible I would like to enjoy it with Shinji . . ."
Yui paled again, already opening her mouth to speak.
". . . At a later time", Rei finished.
Yui almost collapsed in relief. "Rei dear, we're going to have to explain a little something called tact to you." Yui sighed as she placed a hand on her forehead, it occurred to her that 'at a later time' was pretty vague, but for the moment she was just going to prey Rei meant much later.
"Yes Ma'am", Rei replied.
Yui rolled her eyes to look up at the girl, "Yui, Rei, Yui, we're sisters now." Yui said as she got up and grabbed Rei by the shoulders, hugging her around from behind. The girl stiffened like a board at the sudden, forceful, physical contact. She softened slightly as she grew used to it.
It was an odd feeling, she did not entirely like this violation of her personal space, but it was endurable if it made Shinji and Yui happy. And it was not totally uncomfortable once she became used to it, still it wasn't Shinji.
'Why do I want Shinji to want to hold me?' Rei wondered, it was again something she had little understanding of. She considered asking Yui but discarded the thought. Her sibling still seemed a little agitated as she released her grip.
"Yes Yui", Rei replied softly as she followed her sister down the hallway to the kitchen table. Asuka and Misato were already in an argument over the number of synch tests the children had to go through, it didn't stop Asuka from finding time to berate Shinji's cooking between shouts at Misato.
"How can you possibly mess up french toast!" Asuka shouted in disgust as she downed some more of her meal. She'd never admit that it was at least as good as anything she had ever had in a restaurant.
As soon as Yui entered Asuka's glare shifted to her.
The second the exhausted girl had walked through the door the night before Asuka had torn into her for not telling them about her plans to return to school with them. The fighting had gone on for several hours leaving Shinji and Rei to bare the brunt of the noise pollution generated by their room mates.
"What the hell do you think your doing?" Asuka had shouted.
"It's necessary Asuka, we're balanced on a razor as it is, we must keep up appearances." Yui had replied. That was the truth, SEELE was only agreeing to Yui's existence under the belief that she was dummy plug experiment, such data would be invaluable to the operation of the mass production units. It had taken Doctor Akagi some time to work up a bogus experiment to convince the SEELE members.
If they had ordered her death then it would have meant house arrest deep within the NERV Geofront until Gendo could arrange for her escape, or revealed his true intent. And in that case she would have to leave Shinji and Rei to there own fates.
That was something she would not do to either of them. Despite seeing both as her children they were also so totally different, genetically, and spiritually, that she could not hope to make them see each other as siblings. Even if that was what they had desired, and Yui knew it most definitely wasn't. Well she knew Rei deep down inside didn't want it that way, even if she herself didn't know it yet.
People could learn to live without there siblings, but never without their soulmate.
'Perhaps . . . Is this how Lilith thinks of us, her children, yet so different in so many ways from one another.' Yui had to suppress a snicker. 'Do Angels even HAVE incest?'
She came back to the argument as Asuka continued. "Why, does it have to be our class though?" Asuka asked, almost whining as she spoke.
Yui sighed, "Lets just say its less suspicious, and means Section Two can focus its resources on a smaller area."
Asuka snorted, "Why doesn't the Commander just keep you tucked up in the GeoFront, after all he'll send everyone else to their death for you, its worse the Wondergirl!"
Yui's eyes narrowed dangerously. "He may very well do that Asuka, but I never asked him to and you can be damn sure if he was the only one left between me and a threat he'd charge right in headfirst." Yui snarled. 'At least, if there is anything left of my Rokubungi he would.' She thought to herself.
The fighting had degenerated from there. Strangely after about an hour they both just stopped, their battle of the wills interrupted by dinner. When they came back neither of them was interested in starting up again. It was much like Asuka and Misato's relationship, they argued, but in the end they could live with each other . . . barely.
Yui shrugged as she returned to the present, smiling. "Well, it should be an interesting day for me."
Shinji nodded imperceptibly. "Are you sure your going to be ok with this Mother, you haven't exactly been in the loop for a while." Shinji warned sincerely. Ok so he wasn't seriously expecting his mother to act all that oddly, but her personality was easily on the acentric side when it came to such things.
"I'll be fine", Yui reassured him. It was part of her nature, she was the kind of person who would take whatever life through at her with open arms. Even imprisonment in Unit-01 had not seemed so terrible when she knew she could protect her son.
"Which reminds me", Yui said looking at the clock. "I need to get ready." She grabbed a piece of toast and an orange, stuffing the toast in her mouth and chewing on it as she headed back to her shared room.
Rei simply sat down and began peeling an orange, indifferent, for the moment she was content.
Shinji went back to work making breakfast, and Asuka went back to work berating him about it, now without Yui there to distract her from the target of her abuse.
Misato shrugged as she watched the Chaos, grabbed a piece of toast, and headed out the door.
Shinji was left waiting outside the apartment door a full ten minutes while Yui got ready, Rei just headed off to school without even thinking to wait. When the door finally opened it was Asuka who stood before him. "Whe-re's Mother, I thou-"
"She told me not to wait up." Asuka interrupted as she grabbed Shinji's arm and pulled him painfully along towards the elevator. They had to hurry or THEY would be late for school, uh what about moth-"
"Call her Yui baka, just try explaining a slip like that to the stoojes, you know they'd get curious then!"
"Oh, er right, gomen, gomen, sorry Asuka." Shinji said as she kept pulling him along.
"Idiot", Was Asuka's muttered reply.
The walk to school was surprisingly uneventful, Shinji used the time to consider how he was about to lie to his friends, reciting a few details he'd gone over with his mother the night before. Her likes, dislikes, things a person might pick up about a new friend.
The classroom was the same today as it always was, Shinji didn't seem to care about that, but Asuka had the common sense to know it was a time bomb. The school hadn't had a new student since her arrival and now they would be dealing with another student with the likeness of a person everyone here had already accepted as a quiet Ice Queen.
The affect would not be pretty, something on the order of a mallet hitting a ripe watermelon.
As soon as Shinji entered the classroom it was apparent that Hikari had been talking, Kensuke and Touji both were waiting for him when he got to his desk, eagerly anticipating the chance to pick their friends brain clean of all things involving NERV and much more importantly, Misato.
"Hey Hikari told me we're getting a new student today", Touji opened already on the advance. Kensuke backed him up.
"Yeah Ayanami's sister huh?" Kensuke asked, Shinji knew they were trying to keep him reeling so they could get the information they wanted out of his stuttered responses, knowing that didn't stop it from working.
"Yeah, I, it . . .s, Ayanami's sister, yeah, uhm, Yui . . . she's from Tokyo-2 . . An . . d uh."
"Relax we're not going to interrogate you Shin-man." Touji said, slapping his friend on the back. "We were just going to ask some questions about her, that's all, probably some cold Ice Queen like Ayanami."
"Well . . ." Shinji began.
"Hey, speaking of questions." Kensuke butted in. "Where were you yesterday, Touji?"
"Oh, I had to visit my sister, they move her to the NERV hospital." Touji replied, leaving out half of the truth, it was the truth NERV had accepted her into the hospital as they had agreed despite not having a use for him at the moment. That was the only reason he had accepted their offer to pilot, and when they told him that the EVA was being decontaminated he had been furious, thought mostly out of fear for his sisters treatment.
That was before the creepy bearded guy had come in an explained everything, he was being kept as a possible candidate as a reserve pilot until they fixed whatever was wrong with Unit-03, then he would fulfill his end of the deal by piloting. His sister would be taken care of regardless, but he was not to speak a word of the events that day on pain of his sister being put back in a normal hospital. Touji had complied, his sister needed the treatment that only an advanced medical facility could offer.
"Huh, how'd they manage to get her in there?" Kensuke asked, the boy despite his obsession with all things military, was not as naive as many would have thought.
"Eh, well, we ended up lucking out I guess. NERV just up and accepted to care for her, maybe it's good PR or something." Touji replied.
Kensuke and Shinji nodded absently in agreement.
Shinji kept a look out for Yui, hoping to catch a glimpse of her, but she didn't appear before the bell rang. The class was ordered to their seats and Hikari went through the normal morning rituals.
"Stand"
"Bow"
"Sit"
In fact it was not for another five minutes before Yui finally made her entrance, the paperwork had all been signed the day before so she had only to be to class on time. Unfortunately Yui was about as directionally challenged as she was culinarily challenged, which was to say she couldn't find magnetic north with a compass and a copy of 'Navigation for Dummies: A reference for the rest of us.'
Nobody really paid much attention when the teacher announced their new arrival, that was until she stepped into the class. Then quite a few people took notice.
There first reaction was, invariably, to look back at Rei who sat starring out the window as always. The new girl looked to be a perfect duplicate, well, almost perfect duplicate. But there was a slight spring to her steps, her hair bobbed pleasantly, and in general an air of cheerfulness seemed to emanate from her.
She turned on her heel to face the class, a bright smile on her face as she bowed deeply. "Good morning, I'm Yui Ayanami, a pleasure to meet you all." The voice was soft but filled with the same inflection a cheeriness that suffused every other aspect of the girl.
Touji was busy trying to focus on something other then the girl up front, and failing miserably, Hikari was giving him an irritable look. And Kensuke was busy pawing for his camera. There were some things you just had to get a picture of, and a girl like this was one of them. It was hard to believe that her and Rei could be related, despite being identical. It was like looking at perfect emotional opposites, even more so then Asuka and Rei.
Kensuke clumsily snapped pictures for the rest of the day, taking shots from odd angles of the smiling angel in their midst. Little did Kensuke know, he wasn't the only one taking pictures of the girl he had been smitten with on sight.
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"Let me guess, this wasn't in your scenario?" Kouzo asked snickering under his breath.
"No", Gendo replied. "It was not. We will have to do something about it." He studied the pictures of a shortish boy with light brown hair and glasses. 'Kensuke Aida'. "Have section two keep a close eye on this boy." Gendo ordered.
"Of course", Kouzo replied. "Though I wonder, are you bothered because Yui may have an admirer or because he is of the appropriate age, while you . . ."
Gendo gave Fuyutsuki a cold glare. "You know that isn't it . . ." He ground out.
Fuyutsuki stopped his prodding, it had been over ten years since he had heard Gendo use that tone of voice. It invariably promised his intent for physical violence. Like the time he had stood up for Yui in a bar fight, and been laid out flat by a sucker punch. Gendo had a glass jaw. Still there was no reason to anger him.
Few people could ever understand they way Gendo loved Yui, the romantic aspect of their relationship was only part of it. He had from the day he met her, loved her laugh, her kindness, the general feeling of warmth she gave him, she had become his moral compass and his guiding light. If she had been his daughter he would as readily have loved her as his daughter, had she been his sister he would as readily have loved her as his sister. It was the intense purity of that love that had driven him, women like Ritsuko could never understand that lust was merely the only feeble bit of the love he held for his wife that he could relive with another, without feeling it was some cheap imitation.
This didn't stop him from wanting Yui all to himself, and jealously guarding her like an overprotective father.
An overprotective father with enough firepower to level a small country.
"I didn't mean anything by it." Kouzo reassured.
"I know." Gendo said tonelessly.
"You intend to eat dinner with them tonight correct?" Fuyutsuki asked.
"Of course, Yui has requested it, and . . . I believe I am ready to try and be a father to my son, it would make Yui happy." Gendo said slowly.
'This could turn out poorly'. Was Kouzo's only thought as he made a mental note to have the special sweep team on standby near the Major's apartment. A half dozen Section Two agents in powered exoskeletons seemed about right for the job of keeping Gendo from snapping and shooting someone.
"Might I suggest a possible way to kill two birds with one stone?" Fuyustuki asked.
Gendo nodded his head slightly.
"We may be able to keep the spy out of NERV by giving him a task elsewhere." The Sub Commander explained, both parties knew full well what elsewhere meant in this case. Gendo would either like the simplicity of it, or want to kill Fuyutsuki for suggesting it. Fortunately it appeared he chose the former. "Get me agent Ryoji."
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"Gendo is changing the scenario." SEELE 01 said coldly.
"We cannot be certain of that yet." SEELE 11 replied.
"Yes but we cannot risk the nephilim being controlled by him, we should retrieve the soul fragment of Lilith." SEELE 02 suggested.
"Not yet." SEELE 01 warned. "The Nephilim's soul must not be separated from its body yet, her core must reach its full S2 potential as the prophecies have stated, 'and the First Children unto will awaken and sacrifice herself to her final challenge to be reborn as the true form of Lilith'. This will not happen until the attack of the 16th".
The other SEELE monoliths were silent for several seconds.
A consensus was reached, arrangements were made. A SEELE facility in switzerland was activated, artificial AT field generators, creating a field that even a mere human could negate by their very presence, but which were still sufficient for their intended task. The lengthy process began. If someone had been present in the facility over the next few weeks they would have been horrified to see the form slowly emerging within the LCL, first as a vague cloudy outline of higher nutrients concentrations, then slowly taking a solid form that melted into human features. The shell would be ready when it was needed. It was unfortunate that SEELE had only the dummy plug programing, but in a way that was to their advantage, they would want her to be incapable of disobeying them if they needed to utilize the tertiary scenario.
When the Nephilim known as Rei Ayanami was reborn in her third incarnation she would lie in the hands of SEELE.