+++++ NERV. (Wednesday, September 1st, +11, Waning Crescent 2/4)

"He is going to have to hydrate constantly. I mean, constantly. Can we push Toriumi-san to keep a thermos of orange juice in his hands all day?" Ritsuko looked at the measured volumes Maya had gathered during the 'stress test', she began typing out a missive to the woman she'd just mentioned. "If I have to deliver it myself, I'll do it. He's going to be losing a lot of liquid if this is what he can do without significant rest."

Misato, having stopped by the lab to chat with Ritsuko, scowled at the same measured volumes. "Maya-kun…was it really that few times?"

"Yes. He produced the same amount of gametes each time, five times in a row, over six hours. He did this despite being devoutly interested in what we were doing. His refractory period was non-existent. I'm very clearly not someone who's spent a lot of time handling someone in this manner. I'm also positive that he wanted what I was doing." Maya had an almost violent grip on the back of the chair she was standing behind. "This is wrong."

"Do we have any other ideas?"

"No."

"Even assuming a one hundred percent success rate, a number that is on the hilariously wrong side of the expected success rate, five women a day means that eighteen hundred and twenty five women a year will reproduce. That's going to lead to serious problems in short order," Ritsuko added, sending another e-mail off. "We're going to have to consider increasing the number of women a week, at least three more a day. We'll have to look at-"

Misato snapped, "Ten hours a day at school, six hours a day fucking random women he's never met before, eight hours of sleep, where the hell do you think we're going to find the twenty fifth, sixth, or seventh hours, exactly?" She pointed off towards the Eva pen. "I haven't had the time I was promised to get him practice hours in the saddle! When in all of this are we going to make time for him to unwind? To do things he wants to do?"

Placing one hand on Misato's back, Maya hugged the similarly short woman tight. "Thank you."

"You're not the only one who cares about his well-being, you know," she responded without rancor. "He's a good guy, and I agree that what we're doing is wrong on an increasingly larger scale." Taking Maya under one arm, she scowled at Ritsuko. "Seriously, Rits…I think we might need to do the one thing no woman has ever wanted in the history of ever."

"It might very well be a matter of his level of interest." Ritsuko knew what she was inferring, and shrugged. "I doubt it, because he's not that good of an actor, but it's possible. He might see us more as romantic associations and subconsciously is trying to lengthen the interaction. We could always try asking him to hurry up."

Maya huffed. "I did ask him. I begged, I pleaded, I ordered, I urged, I even used the voice you think is hot…nothing!"

Leaning to the side slightly to eye the junior officer, Misato arched an eyebrow. "You have a different voice?"

She tugged her back over, lowering her volume enough to not risk someone walking in and hearing her 'be seductive'. In a faux-innocent tone, below a squeak and above a juvenile, she described the way she would make sure 'Mommy Misato' was taken care of. Settling back again, she looked at the blushing lavender haired officer and shrugged. "No change. It registered, because he gave me a smile of recognition, but it didn't do anything."

"Ok, that's dangerous." Misato looked to Ritsuko and tipped her head towards Maya. "She's scarier than she looks. Have we considered having her ride a few rounds out of him?"

Maya shook her head, negating the idea. "It would be a waste of time. I don't want to get pregnant, and we need to get moving on this." The phone rang, forcing her to separate from Misato's side-hug to answer. "Lab A-2, Lieutenant Ibuki."

"Lieutenant," Kyoko's voice came through the speaker phone with more than a hint of irritation, "kindly contact Shinji-kun and have him report to 'work' tomorrow at lunch. I've gone through your report, and we need to see if we can't increase throughput."

"Ma'am, I-"

"Objection noted, and appreciated. The decision has been made above your level, and complaints should be directed to my office." Blowing out a snort, she added, "The situation is not what any of us wish it was, Maya-chan. I promise, I will speak to Shinji-kun personally."

The call ended, the conversation the trio had been having now made pointless. Misato's jaw remained clenched as she hissed out, "I'm going to go get something to eat. Tell Shinji that if he needs me, I'm just a call away." Storming out of the lab, she made her opinion clear to everyone between her and her destination.

Ritsuko was undoubtedly dismayed as she dialed the number that would put her through to Chiaki. None of them wanted this, and now that the time to do it was upon them, they realized exactly how much their own personal wishes amounted to.

+++++ The Blue House. (Thursday, September 2d, +12, Waning Crescent 3/4)

A loud cracking sound startled Shinji, making him sit bolt upright in what he thought was his bed. When his eyes focused, he looked around for both the source of the noise and an explanation as to his current location. Drab grey-blue light foggily lit the environment, reflecting off of nothingness to illuminate the breaks in the void. He couldn't hear his own breathing, he couldn't see anything past the veil of emptiness, he barely felt anything but the cold chill clinging to his skin. Wherever he was, it was not Tartarus, it was not the room he'd met Qodeshah in, and it was absolutely not his bedroom.

Slipping out of a bed that didn't exist, he felt at his thigh in hopes of finding his dagger and was discomfited to note that it was not there. A long, slow, turn in a circle gave him nothing to gain his bearings and no indication of a direction that was superior to any other. Choosing a direction at random, he began walking without spending any real time contemplating the ramifications. It felt as if he was on autopilot, but was still responsible for the actions that would enact decisions. He was to do, not to think.

As he walked through a place he'd never seen, to a place he'd never been, his mind drifted around the topic of the women he'd bonded to himself. He hadn't seen any of them after he'd returned to his second new home in as many weeks. At that, a memory of Shiori losing control of her body when he tied them together fluttered and vanished between two heartbeats. He stopped, looked back towards the direction he'd come, and realized that he had woken up alone. He then realized he couldn't remember if she'd fallen asleep in his bed. Or what they'd done after the bond.

"What are I?"

Spinning back around, expecting to find the source of the odd sentence, Shinji instead saw nothing but more dimly lit emptiness. He knew he'd heard something, knew that it was with him in a tangible fashion, but no matter where he looked he couldn't see what had spoken.

"Killer? Lifegiver? Savior? Refugee?"

With each word he heard, he looked in a different direction, without result.

"Does I exist? If I exists, what makes I?"

A bout of dizziness forced Shinji to fall to one knee.

"Is I what I do? Can I be we? Does I cease?"

"SILENCE."

The dizziness began to fade, up and down once more regaining their proper directional course. Shinji's attempt at standing was thwarted, however, when a shaft of light bloomed around him. Force without matter drove him down to both knees, his fists the only thing keeping his torso from folding to the ground as well.

"PATHETIC."

He did not hear the voice, so much as the words themselves simply existed in his mind. The jarring blast of knowledge invading his thoughts was on the edge of painful.

"HOW FOOLISH THEY ARE FOR BELIEVING THAT ONE SUCH AS YOU, WITH THE WEIGHT OF UNCOUNTABLE SINS MOULDERING IN YOUR SOUL, MIGHT HAVE ANY CHANCE AT VICTORY."

That there were people who believed in him was something of a surprise, insofar as the admission from someone who clearly hated him made it more plausible than the admissions of the women who'd said as much. He pushed himself into an upright kneeling position, preparing himself to prove that he would not be cowed so easily.

As if drawn by his defiance, hundreds of expressionless golden masks stuttered into existence. All facing towards him, all floating at head height, and all vibrating with inexplicable menace. "WHO ARE YOU, THAT DARES SUCH DEFIANCE? A WEAK, PATHETIC, BEING THAT HAS SPENT ITS ENTIRE EXISTENCE BEING DOMINATED BY OTHERS. A SPINELESS COWARD THAT HAS ALLOWED ITSELF TO BE TREATED WITH SUCH CONTEMPT. A SHARD, A MERE SPLINTER, OF-"

"Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah," a sultry, feminine voice mocked from behind Shinji. Familiar tan sleeves, part of an equally tan sweater, wrapped around his shoulders. Pale hands, slender fingers adorned with perfectly painted nails, slid down his chest. "If you have to spend so much time denigrating others, it's only making it more obvious that you have some serious inadequacy issues. Why don't you do everyone here a favor and scoot before I stop restraining the Halfman, hmm?"

As one, the masks rotated slowly up to stare at the woman behind him. No more words were exchanged, though the menace remained. The silence stretched for one minute, then two, before the environment changed pitch as the golden faces disappeared simultaneously. Shinji could feel the hunger his salvation was consumed with, and firmly broke free of her grasp to stand on his own two feet. Standing before him, a pouty expression firmly entrenched on her face, was the woman who'd taught him how to use the power of bonding.

"I was enjoying having you in my arms, you meanie-head." Closing the gap between them, she stood with her chest against his waist and drummed her fingers on his flanks. "Usually you're supposed to give your savior a kiss, not tell her to fuck off."

Had she saved him? Was whatever the legion of masks had been truly that dangerous? The longer he'd remained on his knees, the angrier he'd become. Anger, at least lately, had fed directly into a wellspring of power that he had not yet seen rivaled. If he had let loose, there was a real chance that nothing would have remained of the irritant. Glancing around him, he wondered what that might have done to wherever he was.

"This isn't the place you want to give that kind of authority to," her voice was suddenly quite serious. "The longer The Wanderer shapes Creation to his whims, the stronger these little pocket realities will become. His conception of life is…different than your own, and that makes it unstable from the out."

His eyes snapped back to hers. She'd mentioned his 'brother', the first Shinji Ikari to declare victory over these so-called trials. How did she know him?

"The only reason they were able to show up here is because you, mister silly man, did not do as I asked." Sliding her fingers under the thin cotton nightshirt he'd worn, she gently ran her nails along his flesh. "She represents a connection between you and them. You need to sever that connection, unless you're interested in being his cabana-boy for the rest of time." She'd clearly recognized the confused welter of thoughts he was having, and just as clearly was not answering all of his questions for a reason. "And if you're simply interested in being a cabana-boy, I assure you…I pay better."

Opening his mouth, finally remembering that he could not only understand but utilize language, Shinji found that he could say nothing at all. The words organized themselves chaotically, concepts becoming stretched and contorted before disappearing entirely. Wherever he was, whatever he was thinking, it was preventing the activation of the portion of his brain that controlled expressions.

"Mmm…part of the conditioning, I think." Reaching up and tapping his left temple she shook her head. "Whenever I get my hands on that bitch I'm going to enjoy fileting her soul. For now, you are going to have a difficult time speaking here. But that's ok, I'll visit you in the real world where you can make up for being so distant. Just remember," she vanished in a puff of smoke, "it can't hurt you."

Just as his mind finished unravelling the fact that she had referenced a potential threat, a spear of light the size of his arm slammed through his chest. As he stood, impaled at an odd angle and stuck by the physics at play, a sizzling spray of green blood gushed out of his chest to decorate the area around him in a macabre display of gore. The existence of that state of being lasted for all of two seconds before he snapped awake, this time into the real world.

+++++ The Blue House. (Thursday, September 2d, +12, Waning Crescent 3/4)

"Stop!" Shizuko was pushing down on Shinji's shoulders, trying without much success to prevent him from moving and making his injury worse. "Please, master, stay still!"

With consciousness switched back on, and the comforting visage of the blonde beauty filling his sight, Shinji went limp once more. When he attempted to speak, however, he found that breathing was both difficult and painful, "What…."

"Shh, shh," her hands glowing with the brilliant light she'd used before, the angelic entity was working her hands against his chest, "you've had a problem in your heart. I need you to stay still, so I can help you."

His bedroom was empty, dark, and quiet. Other than Shizuko, the only light to be found was from the open door leading out into the hallway. He'd been warned, twice, that he needed to bond her more tightly to him. Twice was two times too many to be told anything without complying. Reaching up slowly with one hand, he cupped her face. When her eyes gave him the same glow of affection that she always seemed to have whenever he touched her, he pushed their bond into what he felt was a place of prominence in all things. She would not be allowed to submit to any but him, and he would never ask for her submission.

The backblast of his decision made the javelin of light he'd experienced in his dreams seem like a toddler's hug. Shizuko gasped as the man she was forever bound to screamed in agony, her wings vanishing into nothingness as the magic she had been using fizzled out completely. Left confused and dizzy, she could do nothing to stop what was quickly escalating into a reason for panic.

"Excuse me." Mitsuru appeared from thin air, having hurried faster than the other women of the house to seek out what was hurting Shinji. Urging Shizuko aside, she looked at the situation with a grim frown. "Chiaki, please remove any barriers between Doctor Takemi and this room. Chie, Ulala, help her in that endeavor. Yukiko, lights please."

Revealed to everyone, with the illumination provided by the room's lighting, Shinji lay on his bed with a tangled web of green lines writhing beneath the skin of his chest. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't think, he couldn't feel anything but the growing chaos within his heart.

"Pardon." It was Yuka's turn to move Mitsuru aside. Concentration creased her features, and with one hand on his stomach and the other on his head, she began to glow an angry red herself. "Too many? No," her eyes narrowed, "too much. Yes. Yes, I know. Would you shut up and let me heal him?" Glancing back at Mitsuru, she left nothing up for debate. "Eriko and Sumire need to get out. Now."

Isako hurried into the room as the two named ladies left, carrying bad news, "Takemi-sensei is being delayed by traffic. Akagi-sensei is en route, but it will take time." The teacher moved to the other side of the bed from Yuka, taking Shinji's hand and feeling both pulse and temperature. "He's burning up."

"Oh, he's always been a hot little cutie," Yuka growled. "I…am sorry, Shinji." With a jolt of energy, she caused him to begin to physically spasm as if having a seizure. "Hold him! Keep him from flailing!"

Isako and Shizuko launched themselves over atop him, aiding Yuka through sheer mass in stopping his thrashing from harming himself. Several strained moments later, the quaking stopped and he began sucking in shuddering breaths. "You…."

"Amara-san told me that you were overloaded," the gyaru agreed with his thoughts, wiping his hair out of his eyes. "She showed me how this bond thing works, and if they want to blame me for doing what I've done they're more than welcome to. You are not dying on my watch."

"Yuka, we need to spread the knowledge to the rest of us, if it isn't too much to ask." Mitsuru crouched down at Shinji's side, looking directly at her peer with all the authority she was born to wield. "What did you do?"

"I cut the bonds between him and more than a few women." To look at Yuka, one would see nothing more than implacable determination. "He isn't strong enough to hold so many people's lives within him, and I didn't have the luxury of time to make measured decisions."

"Wait, what?" Rise pushed Yuka away from Shinji. "Who died and made you queen?"

"I'm not a queen. I am his wife. His heart was literally ripping itself apart!" Yuka grew angrier. "It still might, if medical professionals don't appear in the next few minutes. What would you have done, huh? Let him die because someone's feelings might get hurt? Let him die so that everyone suffers equally?"

"I wouldn't have-"

Mitsuru clamped a hand down on Rise's shoulder. "Who?"

"Sumire, Eriko, Kawakami-sensei, Miyashiro-san, and Ulala." Yuka gestured to Isako. "She's tied to him far too firmly, so is Chie. The way he looks at the two of you, and the way he feels when he does, I made the decision to try and see if he could handle that. Yukiko couldn't be severed from him either, but I don't know why. I left Chiaki in because he needs someone who will keep him from being an idiot twenty-four-seven." She looked at Shizuko, drawing everyone else's gaze along with her own. "What I'm really not sure of, is how she managed to stay connected."

The wingless angel refused to look any of them in the eye, instead seeming to continue her efforts at using a magic that no longer existed in her being. "Master is the one who chooses whether I stay or go, and none other than him can do so, now. He has claimed me, claimed the concept of me." Frustration built in her normally calm voice, "And I can no longer heal him."

A heavy thump from the roof just above them caused the building to shudder, drawing attention to the next situation that required their attention. "Ok, let's make room for the medical personnel, who I hope have now arrived." Mitsuru moved everyone out of the way, except for Yuka and Shizuko. "Isako, please take Yukiko and help them if necessary."

Other than the strained breathing of Shinji, the room fell into an uneasy silence. Rise was glaring daggers at Yuka, Mitsuru was comforting Shizuko while she tried to help Shinji, and the last man on Earth tried to find the words that kept eluding him. "You're welcome to try," Yuka snapped at nothing. "No, I am not going to do that!" Making a shooing motion when Rise asked for clarity, she shook her head. "Amara-san wants to use me as a bridge to bring Shinji into her labyrinth. She doesn't trust 'Lilin medicine'."

"Ugh, I mean who does? Humors balancing and trepanning, feh." A woman that was only known to Shizuko and Shinji spoke from the doorway. With her tan sweater and almost-too-short school uniform skirt, she walked into the room as if she owned everything within it. "Terribly sorry I'm late, I had to have a quick discussion with a former colleague of mine over ownership rights. I'll have him back to you…soon." With a snap of her fingers, both she and Shinji disappeared from the room.

An instant later, Ritsuko and Maya hurried into the room. The leggy polymath looked around the unfamiliar space with increasing concern. "Where's my patient?"

+++++ The Velvet Room. (Thursday, September 2d, +12, Waning Crescent 3/4)

"Do you have any idea what you've just done?" Qodeshah kept a healthy distance as the mysterious woman slowly coaxed green ichor out of Shinji's chest. "When he finds out-"

"Don't care, didn't ask, plus you've broken the compact anyway so it's really a moot point." Tugging on a particularly stubborn glob, the young stranger watched as Shinji drifted in and out of consciousness. "Besides, I don't think you understand him as well as you think you do." Her eyes grew distant for a moment. "None of you do."

Rounding the other side of the table, forcing her unwanted guest to at least look in her direction, she blew out an angry huff. "I understand 'don't interfere' far better than you do, apparently."

"I'm not interfering," she disagreed with an amused snort. "At least, not with this one."

"What do you mean, 'this one'?"

"I mean that this particular Shinji Ikari is not being interfered with," she expanded without expounding. "What you should be worried about is what's going to happen to this little pocket reality you've coveted once he realizes that you're not planning on joining his merry little band of misfit toys."

That declaration gave her pause. "I'm not going to ask you how you know about that, considering you'd just lie to me anyway…but I will not put up with being threatened by you, of all people."

"It wasn't a threat, dear. That was a warning." With half of the built-up gunk removed, she lifted her eyes from Shinji's chest meaningfully. "The fact that The Great Will has lost their fucking mind and is attempting a coup d'état doesn't give you any form of cover in your attempt at causing a Divergence through a new Seed of Life. If you create an opposing omniverse, you're going to end up in a war you won't win."

Qodeshah scoffed. "He's not a warmonger, and it wouldn't be oppositional. My Creation would be complementary. A place of respite, free from the bickering children that plague this one. He could vacation there, from time to time."

"Oh yes, let's just ask the Creator of Everything to take a vacation from time to time. Step out of his reality where he possesses near omnipotence to make himself vulnerable enough for some idiot to murder him. I'm actually starting to become ashamed that I ever dated you." Slipping another length of poison from Shinji, she waved Qodeshah off. "Go bother someone else, or maybe talk to your sisters. They're starting to piece together why you're hiding in here, and the last thing either of us wants is for him to send one of his enforcers to come knocking."

"Fuck you." Qodeshah stomped away, not eager to get into a fight against someone she wasn't certain she could defeat.

With the room now left to her and Shinji, the stranger yanked the remaining green fluid free of Shinji's chest and destroyed the lot of it. "Sorry about that, my dear, but you've managed to make quite the mess of things." As his eyes slowly opened and focused on her, she gave him a pleased grin. "There's those beautiful baby blues…we need to talk."

The words came out of Shinji as if dragged kicking and screaming, "Who…the fuck…are you?"

"I told you, I can't tell you my name. You have to guess it." With a sigh, she flopped down so that her cheek was on his stomach. "If I tell you a bunch of things that you have no way of knowing, and in return you tell me who I am, will you agree to stop worrying over something that you couldn't conceivably change?"

"…What?"

"The documents you began to read yesterday are all genuine. An individual named 'The Wanderer' is struggling with the burden of being responsible for all Creation and is seeking out suitable candidates to help him capture or kill another entity that's caused a great deal of angst in the Prime Reality. Yes, you are a replica of him. No, you are not subordinate to his will. Yes, his life is an unrivaled mess. No, he would not approve of your reductive nihilism." She reached over and tapped his nose. "You need to stop trying to make everyone happy, and instead you need to focus on making a select few people happy."

Something she'd said when they'd first met, lit by the glow of the mists in the forest, struck Shinji's mind a glancing blow. "I…you…."

"Interesting historical tidbit for you, the modern conception of angels looking like humans and having wings and halos and all that extra nonsense was made up by people who literally never once witnessed an actual angel." She arched an eyebrow. "And the book you're referencing is not the source code you think it is. The translations you read were a copy of a copy of a copy blah blah blah on down the line, and that's not even covering the fact that they were later 'translated' to state very specific things that were never actually in the original documentation. I mean, really, an 'all-powerful' being that created everything…only to not be known by two thirds of the Lilin life on this planet because they came to prominence on the other side of a continental divide?"

"You're…female."

"You noticed!" She giggled. "I'm a little surprised you're not making more about what I am, though."

He reached over to her face, setting two fingers against her skin and feeling how cold it was. "Two weeks ago, I thought my life was 'normal'. I thought abuse and pain were all I'd ever know. I thought Meroko-sama was all-powerful." Setting his entire hand against her face, he frowned in thought. "After this long, I've kind of lost track of how sane I am." His frown hardened. "I'm not calling you…that. It's ridiculous."

"You don't have to call me by that name," she slipped through space and time, laying herself against him on the bed he was recovering in so that she could hold him close, "not the least of why is because it's not even my true name. It is however enough of a recognition of what I am that you know enough to find it ridiculous."

"Hikaru."

It was her turn to have lost her place in the conversation. "You what now?"

"Your name…it's Hikaru."

"…Light, but made androgynous enough to account for the perception…." She frowned with a pout. "Do I have to show it to you to get you to accept that I have female reproductive organs?"

"Please don't." Straining in an effort to sit up, he prepared to find a way back to everyone he'd been taken from. "I'm still not convinced I'm not having the world's worst final dream. Being sexually attracted to the antagonist of a predominantly Western religion is going to make this stranger than it already is."

"I was not the antagonist," her voice hardened as she forced him to remain laying where he was. "Listen. The Great Will was, at one point, my best friend. We both happily and faithfully served our master. When they left for a time, the decision was made to allow who The Great Will was to run everything. I was comfortable with that, hell I petitioned for that. I'm not a good 'in charge' kind of entity, I work much, much better in a supportive role. Long story short, The Great Will decided that our master's temporary excursion should instead become more of a permanent 'vacation'. Before I had a chance to do anything to prevent it, everything changed. They were upsetting the natural order, enabling 'adventurism' by complementary lifeforms, allowing things such as the RAE's that Lilith has taken advantage of to become commonplace. Unfortunately for all of us, you and your 'brothers' are the locus for such things nowadays. So get used to being far more important than you think you should be."

Being restrained was no longer something Shinji was eager to allow to happen. With a burst of anger, and his tattoos slithering into place with violent crimson outlines, he grabbed Hikaru's wrist and went to shove her off of him. When she required pressure far in excess of what he'd applied to move, his eyes narrowed, and a battle of wills ensued.

Unlike his increasing anger, Hikaru began to show more signs of a powerful attraction to him. Her voice breathy and warm, she leaned into the gravity she was applying, "You already know what I am, silly man…you should know that I'm not exactly a pushover."

Barely gaining any ground, he growled in retort, "And I'm done being a pushover."

"Good," she purred. "Then maybe you'll listen to my compromise, instead of pushing me away?"

The moderately sane portions of his mind began to have a genuine discussion about his chances of winning against Hikaru. "I'm listening," he responded while still pushing against her.

"I'll take us back to your pocket of reality, you let me offer my power to one of the lovely ladies as yet unbound to a higher will, and we agree to cooperate with one another to stop The Great Will from winning."

"…What's in it for me?"

The sudden selfish statement caused her to lose focus on fighting against him enough that she found herself now trying to prevent him from choking her to death as he held her against the wall by her throat. "Y-you…n-need…."

"What I need is for everyone to leave me the fuck alone for five fucking minutes. What I need is for people to stop changing the rules every fucking time I blink. What I need-"

A wave of terrible power washed over both of them, causing their eyes to shift towards the door of the room. Standing serenely in the entryway was a pale woman with silver hair and yellowed eyes. Outwardly unruffled, she interrupted what he had been about to say, "What you need is to set her down. This establishment does not condone violence within its walls." Once Shinji had relaxed his arm enough to let Hikaru's feet touch the ground, the new woman bowed politely in gratitude. "Thank you."

Intending to slowly pull his hand away from her throat, Shinji noticed that she was no longer trying to push the limb away but instead was keeping it against her throat. Before he could comment, Hikaru gave the new woman a playful grin and asserted saucily, "Just a bit of rough love, Lizzy dear. No need for your family to be riled up."

"See that it does not become one." Leaving as quietly as she'd entered, she gave Shinji a knowing look before turning away and closing the door.

He had a strange sense of déjà vu at watching her depart, but couldn't dwell on it for very long. "When I wish to be allowed to move," his eyes returned to lance Hikaru's, "I will be allowed to move. If you want to talk to me, use your words."

"I'm going to want you to choke the shit out of me while you pound me like a barrel of rice pudding." Letting go of his wrist, she turned serious once more. "If you want to save them, you're going to have to stop The Great Will from winning. I am willing to give you whatever you ask of me in exchange for your cooperation, so long as I can provide it."

He, unlike her, did not let go. His hand remained about her throat as he struggled to make sense of the looks she was giving him. "Why is everyone so eager to have sex with me?"

She smirked, shrugging. "Because you're attractive, attentive, available, and wounded. You trigger so many of a woman's natural impulses that it's pretty easy to feel like you're 'the one'. Also, and this is only a small portion of it, because of your natural luck."

"Luck?" He scoffed, "Luck?! What part of my life has been lucky? The part where I lost fourteen seventeenths of my life through slavery? The part where I'm being forced to attempt to personally repopulate the species?"

"The part where those women you've been blessed with are attractive, attentive, available, and wounded," she countered, calm growing in her tone. "Luck doesn't necessarily mean that everything goes your way, so much as it means that what happens to you is generally the best version of it that could happen." Noticing the question and hint of pain in his eyes, she nodded. "Yeah. Say what you will about her, at least Meroko Ikari is attractive. It's kind of like saying 'at least the man who murdered you did it painlessly', but it's better than the alternative…if you were destined to die."

There was a grim truth about her statement that would not be denied. Rage against the unfairness of life all you wanted, if you had no choice but to accept what was going to happen you'd want it to happen in the least bad way possible. "…So I don't have a choice."

"Not unless you want them to suffer."

His grasp on her neck shifted from a restraint to a plea for physical support in remaining upright, his tattoos fading to their normal blackish grey. "I don't know what's going on. I don't know why this is happening. I don't know how I can fight against a god." He leaned against her as she pulled him into an embrace. "I don't know how I can make even one of them happy…."

Wrapping her arms about his waist, she rubbed his back and held him close. "I know that you can, and I know that you will. Let's get back to your home, I'll explain what I can to everyone."

+++++ The Wandering Throne.

The Wanderer was standing with his hands in his pockets, his head tilted slightly to the side as he contemplated what had just been presented to him by Qodeshah. He'd remained silent as she laid out her plans, as she explained that they would be creating a neutral existence, unhindered by the plans and positions held by 'previous administrations'. A place where those souls who refused to acquiesce to the standing order could find sanctuary and safety. On her side of the mirror, she was all smiles and enthusiasm. She was selling the idea to him, promising that she'd ally with him in matters of dire importance. She'd retain her power when on his side of the divide, and she'd come to his side to fight with those that could be trusted to remain loyal.

His brother, unfettered by a need for a rigorously diplomatic lexicon, summed up his own position in a far more visceral way than he himself would have, "This is, quite possibly, the dumbest fucking idea I've ever heard. And, considering I've heard two versions of Usagi Tsukino come up with ideas I'm fairly confident that my experience in enduring dumb fucking ideas can be counted as prolific." With his fingers laced behind his head, he glared death at his wife's sister. "We might not be able to send someone over to stop you, but I'll send your reality to meet the same fate as the last woman who tried to dictate the fate of an Ikari without hesitation. He will be free to make his own fate, or you'll all be nothing more than a bad memory. Your choice."

Her protest avoided rising to meet his anger, instead seeking to soothe it, "He'd prefer my idea, though! You can't tell me that he'd be opposed to a reality free of conflict."

"He would be opposed to a reality lacking in free will," The Wanderer countered. "I've watched far too many of my brothers choose death over a life as a slave to anyone's will. I have never seen one willingly accept the yoke, except for love of the woman yoking him."

"Then he'll agree because he loves me," she assured them.

"Sex does not equate to love," The Silent One growled. "So far, he loves two women and neither of them are you. His love for them is riddled with ambiguities, but I'll at least accept that it is a form of love because I can recognize the signs in him. I'm also pretty confident after speaking with their contemporaries here that they would never urge him to retreat from a struggle for freedom."

"And how is slavery to you different than what you call slavery to me?"

Maria, wife of The Silent One and sister to Qodeshah, popped into being between two now-enraged gods and her sibling. "Stop! Stop…." With both men's cold glares focused on her now, she thanked whatever luck guided her that she resided firmly in their graces. "I'm guessing you've made the requisite promises of complete annihilation if she proceeds. I know you're not changing course," when her husband's eyebrow shot up, she made a soothing motion towards him in particular, "and I wouldn't ask you to. We need fewer contenders for the throne, not more."

Restraining his wrath, The Wanderer set one giant hand on the much smaller woman's shoulder. "We're going to go for a run…I trust that my sister-in-law will do her utmost to prevent a tragedy?"

She gripped his forearm and gave him a confident smile. "If I fail, it won't be for lack of an effort. Make sure my Pet gets good walkies, ok? He's been cooped up in here for too long, and needs to run off his anxious energy." Her heart calmed when he gave her a slow nod, then sank slightly when her husband growled and stalked off. He was angry, and he was doing everything he could to not take that anger out on everyone around him. Her brother-in-law took his anger out by helping the sick, the meek, and the suffering. Her husband would eventually come and apologize, she'd tell him that an apology wasn't necessary, and he'd apologize again. But those troubles were in the future, and for the present she turned to face her sister when the door closed quietly behind The Wanderer. "They might not be able to come visit you in person, but Lilith and I are more than capable of coming to find you. I don't know what possessed you to think that seceding from Creation would be acceptable to anyone, and I hope I never understand whatever demented perspective that drove you to this. Even in my frustrations, when we spoke in the shard of reality I had taken over, I never once wished to keep my husband from helping his family."

"Subtle, dear." Qodeshah rolled her eyes. "I would be helping you best by keeping everything at play in my shard of reality well away from your own. The Great Will, as they have chosen to be called, would be unable to cross back over without my permission. Permission I would not give."

"He-"

"They, not he."

It was Maria's turn to show her exasperation. "He is not the all-powerful creator of everything that he thinks he is. He is not 'many entities in one', he's a megalomaniac with a dom-fetish. He is usurping a throne that was built by another, and he will experience a painful death if he tries to move against The Wanderer and his family."

"You are underestimating what The Great Will has become, sister dear."

"No, I am confident in my husband's brother. You have no idea how frightening Shinji Ikari will become. When the normal course of creation was pushed aside by Lilith to make room for The Wanderer to choose his destiny, she caused more than a complete erasure of what had been before that moment." Maria paused, trying to find the right words to describe the awe she felt standing in her brother-in-law's presence. "Everything exists because he wants it to. I have seen him simply unmake existence, and I have had a harder time causing an erection than he had making the decision to prune an entire reality."

"And you're not interested in living somewhere that isn't directly under the heel of a dictator?"

Maria gave Qodeshah a pitying look. "I might have, back when I thought I should take a more active hand in controlling my husband. I can only hope that one day you find someone who treats you like Shinji treats me…I'm not living under the heel of a dictator, I'm living in the capable and loving hands of a god."

+++++ Author's Note:

I apologize for how slowly this has been moving forward. I've apparently contracted a form of COVID-19 that does not go away after the traditional five-days to two-weeks. Thankfully, because I was vaccinated, I am still able to breathe and do not need a ventilator. Unthankfully, I feel like I've been run over by a truck (an experience I have actually endured), and am switching between boiling hot and freezing cold at random. Take care of yourselves and each other out there, folks. This stuff is nasty.