Tokyo-2, Outer District 6
October 25, 2041
1643 hours
Kaworu dropped his school bag with a sigh as he kicked off his shoes. As luck would have it, he was the one assigned to clean the classroom today... and as expected, Tōji and Kensuke fled as soon as humanly possible to avoid having to help. Cleaning wasn't his forte, but he managed. After all, if he just plain refused to do something he didn't want to do, he probably would've starved long ago.
What he didn't expect was Rei wordlessly waiting for him at the school gate, long after everyone else had already left. That was a minor blessing, in more ways than one. For one, he didn't have to walk home. For another, cleaning duty took long enough that nobody was around to see her pick him up.
He was still having trouble getting his mind around the fact that he had a sister. Granted, their equally weird (and similar) appearance agreed with the discovery, but still. Then there were her allegations that the two of them were special. Kaworu never considered himself special, even though he was aware that he was stronger and healed much faster than other people. But Rei's claims that he was psychic too... that was stretching things a bit.
A part of his mind morbidly wondered whether Shephard even moved during the day as he walked into the kitchen and saw his senior still sitting at the table. On the very same chair as in the morning, even. Unlike in the morning, though, he was doing paperwork instead of eating.
And if his expression was of any indication, Shephard did not like doing paperwork in the least.
The man briefly raised a hand as greeting when Kaworu passed by him, leaving the teen free to sit down opposite of him and let out another sigh.
"Something on your mind?" – Shephard asked abruptly, without even looking up.
Kaworu had half a mind to deny and leave it at that, but ultimately decided not to. – "Actually... did you ever had something happen that turned your entire world upside down?"
"Honestly? I've seen and lived through shit you wouldn't believe." – Shephard shifted in his seat to resume blood circulation in his legs, pushing the documents he was working on aside with visible relief and distaste. – "How old do you think I am?"
Kaworu looked at his senior's graying blond hair. – "Umm... forty?"
Shephard smirked. – "Sixty five."
"...really?"
"Yeah. I actually had to do paperwork so that the brass didn't send me into retirement."
"You really don't look like it. How come?"
"That's where the part you wouldn't believe comes in." – Shephard sighed. – "It's a long story. Very long. I only ever told one person in the world, and she almost didn't believe me either. Hell, if I hadn't married a scientist, maybe she wouldn't have."
"Asuka's mother?" – Kaworu asked quietly.
"Yep."
"I heard what happened. She was three at the time, right?"
"Two; her birthday's in December. Anyway, considering that I spent two years in an asylum after the Occupation to get my head sorted out and still have nightmares from time to time, you can see why I never told anyone. They would've tossed my ass back there in a heartbeat."
"That bad?"
"Worse than you think. Let me tell you this: only one guy saw what I did and lived to tell the tale. One. People kiss the very ground he walks on now."
Shephard sighed again and leaned back, arms crossed.
"We all have our demons." – he said after a while. – "Some of our own creation, some not. Mine are not, but I had to go through that crap anyway. Same with Asuka. That's just how things are."
"You accepted it?"
"Hell no. But short of traveling back in time, there are some things that can never be fixed." – Shephard motioned towards the window. – "Take this world, for example. How do you suppose things would've gone if Second Impact never happened? I never would've met Kyoko and Asuka wouldn't have been born, for one. Or maybe she would've been born to some other guy and would be a redhead like her mother was."
Kaworu nodded, even though he inwardly found the mental image of Asuka with red hair rather weird. – "I see. Did Asuka get her middle name from her mom?"
"Nope, she got that from Kyoko's dad Albrecht. Kyoko's family name was Soryu, from her mom Matsuko. Asuka's half-German, half-Japanese on her mother's side."
"Did you ever meet them? Your wife's parents, I mean."
"Albrecht died during the Occupation; Overwatch caught wind of him being in cahoots with the resistance. He stayed behind to buy time while the girls made a run for it. I did meet Matsuko, though; strong woman, that one. Even after she got diagnosed with cancer, she still hung on long enough to lead her daughter to the altar."
"Asuka's got good pedigree, then." – Kaworu joked, though inwardly he thought 'I wonder if my parents were like that?'
Shephard chuckled at that. – "Damn right she does."
"Where is she, anyway?"
"Off at one of her friends. By the way, do you have some free time tomorrow?"
"I think so. Why?"
"I asked the doc if the company has a firing range for the security guards. I thought I'd take you and her kid there, see what you can do."
"I've never held a gun in my life."
"I figured that. The way you held your gun in your last battle and hit everything but what you were aiming at kinda clued me in."
"I did hit that thing." – Kaworu retorted, though not quite as confidently as he wanted. His senior was a professional, after all.
"At that range and with automatic fire, it would've been a miracle if you didn't. I'm not training you to be a sniper or anything, but if you can nail someone in the chest from across the street with a pistol, that should be enough."
"Have you ever shot someone?" – the teen blurted out abruptly.
"More than once." – Shephard shrugged. – "Don't ask how many; I was too busy staying alive to keep count." – He suddenly paused, looking thoughtful for a moment. – "Huh... I wonder..."
"What?"
Shephard shook his head dismissively. – "Nothing, forget it. Just something that came to my mind. So yeah, I shot people before."
"What's it like?"
"I can't really say. Probably different for everyone. I mean, it's grilled into us in boot camp that if somebody's trying to kill you, don't hesitate, just shoot the son of a bitch first. If you don't, either you die or your buddy does. Shoot first, feel bad afterwards."
"So you don't have any problems with it?"
Shephard gave him a blank stare. – "Kid, if I took issues with shooting people, do you think I'd be in the military?"
"Good point."
"I'm not a psycho who gets his jollies from killing people, but if I have to kill, I kill. Same way why you sit into a giant monster to fight other giant monsters. It's part of the job." – Shephard then leaned forward and rested his elbows on the kitchen table. – "With that said... after what happened last time, I won't hold it against you if you want out."
"I'm not quitting." – Kaworu said immediately.
"You sure? If it's the doc not letting you, I can make a few calls to... convince her otherwise."
"No, it's not that. I'm just worried that if Re- if Ikari goes up against the next Angel all by herself, she might not be able to handle it."
"She won't." – Tabris assured.
'And if she really is my sister, then I definitely won't let her go alone.' Kaworu mentally added for himself. – "I mean, I might be just getting in the way, but... at least I get in the bad guys' way too, right?"
"Angel?"
Only then did Kaworu realize his slip-up. – "That's, um... that's what I call them. I mean, they're coming from the sky and have halos, so they're a bit like angels."
Shephard just stared at him blankly for about ten seconds before sighing. –"...I really can't see how that comparison works for you, but I don't have anything better to call them, so let's just roll with that. No quits, then?"
"No."
The adult gave Kaworu a nod of respect. – "Then you've got balls of brass, kid. If only we had more guys like you in the force."
"Why?"
Shephard pointed a thumb at himself. – "I'm the exception, not the rule. Hell, I'm pretty sure the only reason why I wasn't hauled away to Muspelheim yet is because I know how to keep my mouth shut."
"It's like that everywhere."
"Yeah, but you civvies don't have commissars standing over your shoulder all the damned time." – The man shook his head and muttered – "I swear, Keel must be breeding those guys..."
"That Muspelheim place, is it a prison or something like that?"
"One of the first systems that got charted way back when they started building the Waygates; 'bout twice as far from Earth as Polygonus. They found five planets, but four were gas giants. The only one that wasn't was this big-ass planet in spitting distance to the star – and I mean literally spitting distance: one year there is something like 18 hours long."
"And they put a prison there?"
"Nah, it's in space. Hiding in the planet's shadow so that it won't get burned, using the solar wind to stay in orbit so that it won't fall down to the planet either. And that's the beauty of the thing: even if you slip outside somehow, you have nowhere to go. Leave the planet's shadow? You'll get incinerated by the star. Have a heat shield? You still die from radiation. Go planetside? It's, like, 2000 degrees on the surface, plus the planet is twice as big as Earth, so it's got some mean gravity. Holiday resort, it ain't."
Shephard flexed his numb arms, one of his shoulders making a slightly audible crack.
"The place is basically a gulag. They stuff it with political prisoners and other people they want to shut up, then work them to death in the local foundry. I don't think anyone ever left that place alive, aside from the guards; those are rotated every once in a while, partly to keep them from being 'poisoned by dissident propaganda' and partly to show them what happens to those who speak up against Keel and his buddies. I never went there myself, but some guys I know did... and they all looked scared shitless when they talked about it."
A thought then occurred to Kaworu. – "If they want to shut those people up so badly, why don't they just kill them?"
"Because that would send the wrong message." – Shephard pointed out. – "If they start killing dissidents, they would be no different than the Combine – and look how that turned out. Granted, at least the Confederacy doesn't go out of their way to make everyone's life difficult just for shits and giggles. Anyway, the closest I ever got to that hellhole was the system's main colony on Sethlans, the fourth planet. Well, on one of the moons. But I hope I'll never have to go back there." – He shook his head. – "Man... I can't believe how the eggheads seriously couldn't put that fucking Waygate any closer. I mean, the ship had to burn its entire fuel supply to get there in any reasonable amount of time and it still took us three months to get to the colony after arriving to the system! Can you believe that?"
"That sounds nasty. It's like having to take a bus trip from here to Africa."
"Scratch bus. Bicycle, more like. Good thing there's a gas giant right next door; plenty of fuel to go around. Between that, the prison's foundries and that the colony is just at the right place from the star to set up greenhouses, they've got a pretty nice setup going on. The navy even set up a shipyard there last year. Lots of tourists, too."
That surprised Kaworu. – "Tourists?"
"Yep. Muspelheim's a binary system; there's another star, a red one, that orbits the bigger, yellow one. That's why the Waygate couldn't be placed any closer: its gravity is messing things up, or something like that. Anyway, it's pretty far away, but... well... you know how strong the full moon shines if the sky's clear at night?"
"Yeah."
"Imagine that in red, lasting for half a year. Bit creepy, but looks really awesome. Add in the light reflected by the gas giant and it's a stargazer's dream."
"I never would've though I'd get tourist advice from you, of all people."
Shephard laughed at that. – "Heh. What can I say? I'm a man of surprises."
Tokyo-2, Outer District 8
Same time
"So I hear Prince Charming returned to his throne."
"Can we possibly have a conversation without you bringing him up all the frickin' time?" – Asuka retorted with a scowl as she took the glass Hikari offered her.
"Asuka, why are you being so mean to him?" – the pigtailed girl asked, giving the other glass she was carrying to Mari, who promptly returned to lazing about on the sole bed in Hikari's room, with said room's owner sitting down onto the edge of the bed.
"I'm not mean." – the blond replied, taking a sip while idly swinging her legs under her chair. – "I'm just keeping him at arm's reach, so he won't try anything. It's called preemptive measures."
"And if he wanted to date you, would you do it?"
"I don't even know him." – Asuka pointed out.
Mari just grinned. – "No problem. There's this thing called a blind date..."
"I know what that is." – Asuka cut her off. – "I'm not going to jump into bed with just any random guy." – She looked at Hikari. – "Would you?"
"Of course not!"
"I don't think she'd jump into bed with anyone." – Mari supplied before her lips twisted into a cat-like smile. – "Except for Suzuhara, that is."
Hikari immediately blushed scarlet red. – "S-stop that!"
"Oooh~, is somebody getting embarrassed? Were you thinking about all the naughty things you could do with him?" – Mari teased the pigtailed girl.
"Stop that! I'm not a... a... sex-fiend like you!"
Mari laughed. – "While I'm flattered about your estimation of my prowess in bed, I'll have you know that I'm not as promiscuous as you make me out to be." – She turned to Asuka. – "In other words, don't listen to her."
The blond ran her eyes over her fellow girl's body. – "I don't know. You look like someone who would attract guys like flies."
"If you want to see things for yourself, let me know and we can arrange something. I have an open-door policy."
It was at this point that Asuka silently decided that a very quick change of topic was in order... before she unintentionally did or said something she shouldn't have. – "Those two are definitely up to something."
"What two?" – Mari asked back, eyebrow slightly raised from the sudden swerve.
"Nagisa and Ikari. When he came home from the hospital, she was with him and they went into his room. Didn't even come out for a while."
That drew forth another smile from the bespectacled temptress. – "Ah, you think they dodged in there for a quickie?"
"That's what I thought too, but I couldn't hear anything."
"Well, well, well... eavesdropping, are we?"
"You tell me with a straight face you wouldn't eavesdrop if a couple was fucking next door!" – Asuka retorted with complete seriousness.
"Asuka!" – Hikari reprimanded, though her cheeks visibly colored a bit as she took a sip from her glass.
"Oh, I wouldn't. Eavesdrop, that is." – Mari replied, stretching herself with a groan before dropping the bombshell. – "I'd join them in a threesome."
Even while in the middle of furiously trying to nuke that mental image out of her hormonal teenage brain for the moment, Asuka almost guffawed at the rather interesting choking sound Hikari made. That is, before Hikari started coughing and gasping for breath, slamming her glass down to the bedside counter to avoid spilling its remaining contents while her free hand balled into a fist and repeatedly beat on her own chest.
Mari immediately reached up and gave her friend a powerful slap to the back that echoed across the room like the crack of a whip. For her part, Hikari stopped coughing, supporting herself on her knees as she struggled to get her breathing back under control.
"You good?" – Mari asked, pushing herself up to her elbow.
Hikari just nodded and flashed a thumbs-up.
"So... I'm guessing you'd do it with a girl too?" – Asuka quipped, mentally noting Mari's well-toned arms – something she didn't notice before.
"In a heartbeat." – Mari replied immediately, dropping herself back down to the bed. – "Not being picky means more opportunities."
Asuka then turned to Hikari. – "And since you're friends, I'm also guessing that you're okay with this."
"She's not interested, so I'm not bothering her." – Mari added.
"Which I'm grateful about." – Hikari grumbled, releasing another cough to clear the raspiness from the throat.
"Does it really matter who pops your cherry? If you wanna do it, just get it over with. You won't fret about it anymore afterwards."
"Did you do it?" – Asuka challenged Mari, who just smirked mysteriously.
"Now that would be telling. What about you? I'm not stupid enough to think you brought this up without a reason or not notice how calm you are about the whole thing. You've got the hots for girls too, don't you?"
Asuka recoiled away, a hasty denial already on her lips. Yet the way the other girl was looking at her knowingly told her that her secret was up. – "Okay, I admit: I'm guilty as charged." – Asuka said finally, cheeks coloring at Mari's victorious chuckle.
"I knew it."
"And here I thought I wasn't the only sane person here." – Hikari interjected in a mock-disappointed tone.
"Hey, hey. Now that wasn't very nice." – Mari admonished.
"Sorry."
"What's up, sis? Not enough normalcy for you?"
The trio all looked up at the older girl leaning against the doorway. Asuka silently noted that, if she would've had twintails, she would've looked rather similar to Hikari.
"Didn't know you were at home, Kodama." – Mari said, sitting up.
"Because it's too quiet? That's what happens when Nozomi's not at home."
"Weee~ll, you could always bring your boyfriend home if you want a bit more noise." – Mari remarked in jest.
The elder Horaki laughed. – "Oh, come on. Do you really think I would be that cruel to poor Hikari?"
"S- STOP TEASING ME!"
Chapter rewrite completed on 15/09/19.
Muspelheim – named after the realm of fire in Norse mythology – is supposed to be the real-life star system of 55 Cancri, located 12.3 parsecs from Earth in the Cancer constellation. It is indeed a binary system, composed of a G8V yellow dwarf (smaller and fainter than the Sun) and a smaller red dwarf over a thousand astronomical units from the yellow one; from what I can gather, astronomers are having trouble determining its exact distance and suspect that it might actually be two red dwarfs gravitationally bound to each other and the yellow star into a trinary system.
Thanks to a detailed explanation video by Youtube user Scott Manley, I now know how this all works. Under normal circumstances, two stars being in close proximity – either by one star passing through the other's gravitational sphere of influence or by the two orbiting each other – results in a gravitational tug-of-war that destabilizes the orbits of all smaller bodies in the system, ultimately ejecting them from the system altogether via repeated gravitational slingshots. In the case of 55 Cancri, the reason why there is a stable planetary system orbiting the yellow star is because the red star is too small and too far away to yank the planets out of orbit.
