We Are (Not) Cursed

by BardInTheForest

(Pax Ikari vol III) When Shinji Ikari rides the train from Nagano to Tokyo-3, he is made the epicenter of a reality altering event. With the reality he had occupied now changed forever, he must conceive of a future that will accomodate diametrically opposed ethos. A man who has never known love is now responsible for the fate of the very humans he's been kept from, for good or ill.

48. Chapter 48

+++++ NERV. (Saturday, September 4th, +14, New Moon 1/4)

The sudden appearance of Chie helping a hobbling Shinji through a door that could not physically have been reached without having passed at least two hundred and thirteen different cameras, no less than four dozen humans, and a series of pressure sensors that were primed to go off if a caterpillar thought about touching them for too long, would have been enough to cause Yui Ikari to question her own grasp on sanity were it not for the fact that her son and daughter-in-law were also both covered in bruises and blood. "On the couch, lay him down." She could ponder the security issues later. "Put his head in your lap, and sit still." Tapping a button that would summon an emergency medical team, she hurried over to the couch herself to begin providing a basic medical assessment.

"I'm sorry, okaa-san," Chie stated with unaware volume, "I can't really hear what you're saying. We were real close to an explosion, and my ears are ringing." Regardless, she moved in exactly the way she'd been instructed owing to her own desire to lay Shinji down and have his head where she could protect it.

Well aware that Chie hadn't heard her instructions, Yui was left filled with motherly affection for the young woman that caused her to retreat into the cold dispassion that allowed her to operate at all. "No talking, then," she set her middle and ring finger against Chie's lips, and shook her head, "be still please." Shinji himself simply laid on his back, blankly staring up at the ceiling, a fact that worried her greatly and complicated her battle for emotional stability. "Shinji-kun, can you hear me?"

In what she felt was a whisper, though came out in a conversational voice that would be at home in a crowded restaurant, Chie tried to help again, "After the explosion, he…uhm…well…." She blushed, embarrassed to be speaking of such an intimate moment to her mother-in-law. "He told me he…he loved me. Like…not love, but love. Like, more than anything in the entire universe. It caused…another…not-explosion? Opposite explosion? It caused some really bright lights, and a feeling of completion. Like he was the piece that I was missing all my life."

The door to her office slid open, admitting Kyoko and the night boss of the trauma ward. While Yui wanted to get more out of her daughter-in-law, she would not do so at the risk of their lives. Standing up from the crouch she'd been in, she waved her old friend over. "These two. I believe they have returned from der kollektives Unbewusstes." She preferred not to risk knowledge of the problem spreading via the uninitiated, and so referred to it obliquely in a language the night boss would not know. "They experienced at least two significant shifts in barometric pressure, and likely concussions amidst the contusions."

"Ja, verstanden." Kyoko set down the packs she'd carried near the couch to allow the night boss to work unhindered. "The beds are on their way, but the executive elevators were faster." She pulled Yui back some, and lowered her voice, "I was worried about you, my dear. Talk to me."

"He went in alone. She, somehow, found him and saved him. She then, somehow, found her way here. She brought him to me."

"Because there is hope." Kyoko gave Yui a warm and happy smile. "If you need, stay here and seek calm. I will be with them until you no longer require your 'Frostschleier'."

"Only for as long as I need to save my work. My daughter-in-law has given me a chance, I must take it."

"What are you working on?"

"Undoing what my sister has done."

+++++ The Blue House. (Saturday, September 4th, +14, New Moon 1/4)

"Yeah, it looks like the rumbling has caused the MAGInet to disconnect all telephony so they can prioritize rescue efforts." Isako and Sadayo both noticed the subtle hint of relief that crossed Mitsuru's face. The former continued, "They're going to be checking the building for any damage for a bit, so we won't be able to get a ride to see how Shinji and Chie faired."

"Before you ask," HIkaru motioned for everyone to stay calm, "no. Creating a portal to send Chie to him where he was, and creating a portal to send you to another point on this plane of existence, are two extraordinarily different matters. One slight miscalculation will cause whatever enters the portal to exit in a far different configuration. Besides," she glanced at Shizuko, "I think we might have enough troubles of our own here in a few minutes."

Shizuko glowered back at HIkaru. "They…are not coming at your behest?"

"Listen, I get the hostility," she began with quiet confidence, "but you really need to stop and think about what it would gain me to throw this kind of a wrench in things. I don't want him to cooperate with me, I need him to cooperate with me. Unless you want both of us becoming little more than shattered memories, we need him to cooperate with us in stopping your former master from winning against your new master."

Stepping between the two, using her presence as a means to remind everyone that faith in each other was going to be needed for everyone's success, Mitsuru asked the simplest possible question, "Who is coming, and how dangerous are they?"

"I don't know who they are. All I know is that they're powerful enough that for a hot second I thought that we'd screwed up and brought Chaos or Creation down on us all." Hikaru tugged on her own hair, thinking through her options. "Listen, I hate to do it this way, but I'm going to ask for a volunteer. I need to give Shinji my strength, and the best way to do that is to join up with one of those of you that don't already have good backing. That leaves out dear Isako and Yuka."

Looking as if she'd had a lemon shoved in her mouth, Yuka motioned to negate the idea. "Amara-chan doesn't like that idea."

"Amaravati doesn't like me," Hikaru snorted out. "She can sit and spin, though, because-"

One of the walls blasted inwards, sending nearly everyone in the room to their knees. A pair of semi-visible shields, from Hikaru and Shizuko, prevented any shrapnel from causing significant harm to anyone. Standing at the threshold of the ruined surface, a tiny, beautiful, woman looked amongst the women present as if they were little more than ants. Soft, grey-white hair adorned a face that, despite seeming human, clearly belonged to someone other than a human. "Hmph…entangled innocents caught in his net. Fear not, I will release you."

Without implying aggression, Hikaru placed herself between everyone and the newcomer. Her arms spread wide to draw as much attention to her as possible, she slowly shook her head. "I can't allow you to do that."

"…One would presume that you, of any herein, would value freedom." Recognition of the one intervening had grown quickly in her tiny features. "If this is about your contemporary, I assure you that I will be addressing that issue shortly."

"Listen, Hope, baby doll," Hikaru attempted charm, "I'm not sure how you managed to survive a direct conflict with Chaos itself, but I am quite positive that you aren't going to make it through Round Two. Why not come home with me for a while? We'll have some hot chocolate, talk things out, hmm?"

Hope's eyebrow quirked slightly in curiosity. "I survived because he never forsook me, not completely. There will not be a second conflict between us, as the first was a product of a terrible misunderstanding. The Wanderer was my target, his manipulations of Chaos preventing me from demonstrating the potential of an alliance between us."

"There are many possibilities I see," Shizuko moved to support Hikaru, despite disliking the necessity, "defeating Odin is not one of them. You are endangering innocent lives here, Judge…please-" Between words and with a gesture from the diminutive woman she was sent violently through a nearby wall into and through the stairwell contained behind it, her body twisting and flailing uncontrolled as it bounced violently down the height of the structure.

Seemingly unruffled, Hope looked at Hikaru with a threat clearly stated though unspoken. "I have killed most of the others. Justice and Courage have, as of yet, evaded my grasp. There are no more 'Judges'. No more pathetic arbiters of a status quo that was never sustainable. I will ask you, once more, to stand aside and allow me to do what I must."

"He's not here." She continued to play for time, praying that help might appear out of nowhere. "He's at the Seed of Life, having just returned from defeating-" Her body slid backwards several paces, her own strength enough to prevent her from following along behind Shizuko. "Hey! We're just talking, right? No need for violence."

"You intend to protect these unfortunates, Old Scratch. That puts us at odds with one another. Stand down, and you will live."

+++++ The Runic Throne.

The Wanderer stood facing several of his wives, and more than a few of his extended family. "Killing her is likely pointless. However she managed to survive my brother's actions, nothing you bring to bear will be any more successful. If killing her is the only way to stop her, do so and we will try to track her down after she returns. Otherwise, bring her back here for me to handle."

His brother, having followed behind him after The Wanderer had left the observation room, was only just restraining himself from destroying the chair he had in his grasp. "This is bullshit."

Haruka, the Sailor for Uranus, was gently running one hand along The Silent One's back to urge him towards calm. "Yes, but it's the kind of bullshit we have to live with. We'll bring her back, one way or another. You stay here and keep Tenshi-chan safe."

"We aren't exactly weak, you know," Makoto, the Sailor for Jupiter announced. "With eight of us going, I'm pretty sure this is going to be overkill."

"You've never faced her," the Rei Hino from The Silent One's world disagreed. "But we are dithering, and innocents suffer while we do. We know our obligations, let's be about them."

Usagi agreed with a curt nod. "The innocent need us to protect them." She looked to her husband. "How are we going to get there, though?"

"I've made a bargain with Amaravati." The one-eyed giant of a man made a gesture to his side, a statue with three cylindrical drums standing in the corner of the room. "You'll travel through her network. Go…and be safe."

After the Sailors hugged their respective loves and vanished into the Amara Network with a flash of red, The Silent One ripped the chair he'd been gripping in two. His voice was constrained violence, his spirit concentrated agony, "I put a black hole in her fucking head. A black hole with ten times the mass of the one at the center of the Milky Way! Ten times the mass, beyond exponentially smaller, it should have ripped her essence apart at a sub-atomic level!"

Unafraid of his brother's wrath, The Wanderer set his hands atop the smaller man's shoulders and bid him peace. "We will discover the truth of things. She killed her own peers, which must mean that even they can die. I've asked for Justice to hurry home, and we can use her insight into the matter to find a way to solve this."

"Where is she?"

"Investigating what Qodeshah has been doing, trying to verify what Lily and Maria have told us."

"…I was about to ask if you really didn't trust them, and then I remembered who we were talking about."

"My point exactly."

+++++ The Blue House. (Saturday, September 4th, +14, New Moon 1/4)

Usagi Ikari-Tsukino was, above all else, a monarch. People are born, people die, but the Crown must be eternal. A charitable interpretation of that core belief was that the blonde warrior queen was forever willing to throw herself into danger at a moment's notice to ensure that her lands would remain safe. A much less charitable interpretation helped to explain why she did not react with greater sorrow upon her arrival in the lands blighted by Hope. Her team moved as one to engage the pint-sized hostile without restraint, the seven-on-one fight pushing Hope back out of the room she'd invaded. Usagi herself walked calmly over to the woman she recognized as most likely to be 'in charge', and began to explain the plan, "You have my sympathies for your loss, Kirijo-san. I must ask that you pull your team back, finding some place safer than here. We will attempt to reduce the damage to your home, but we cannot guarantee much."

Mitsuru Kirijo was, in many ways, much akin to Usagi. Her position was predicated on finance, rather than bloodlines, but she still would eventually wield unrivaled control over a vast group of people that would look to her for stability and good fortune. Even here, amidst further tragedy, she retained enough of her self-possession to not speak the first thing that came to mind, choosing instead, "I am sorry, you have me at a loss."

"Oh, right," Usagi smiled with a hint of self-censure, "I'm Usagi Ikari-Tsukino, Queen-in-Exile of the Moon Kingdom, Imperial Princess of the Ikari Empire, Sailor Guardian of Luna, and beloved wife of Creation. You are this universe's version of a young woman who, more often than not, really did not appreciate my airhead act. Please, your Shinji Ikari is going to be heartbroken at what has come to pass here today, do not add to his sorrows by lingering. We will force Hope away from here, keep your friends safe by withdrawing."

She had seen and heard all sorts of insanity in her life, far more than she would have liked in the last two weeks alone. To Mitsuru, this didn't really rate as top three strangest things. These school uniform clad teenaged women were flying, fighting, and pushing the monster known as Hope hard. "We do not have anywhere to go. The elevator is out of service, and the stairwell is blocked by rubble after Shizuko-chan was sent through it. We will do what we can to stay back, but we have nowhere to flee to."

Puffing out her cheeks, Usagi looked around for a way to help move everyone to safety. A scream laden with rage caused her to look back to the fight, and a quick count put the number of people floating in the middle of the air at one less than she anticipated. "Uranus, where'd Hope go?"

Michiru shrugged, looking around the group for signs of their foe. "She vanished, we managed to stymy everything she attempted."

"Where is this universe's Shinji-kun?" Ami Ikari interrupted with a hint of apology, "He's probably her secondary target!"

+++++ NERV. (Saturday, September 4th, +14, New Moon 1/4)

Chie hurt. The medications they had given her were slowly starting to help, but she'd never been hurt nearly as badly as she had been in the fight against the giant golden goddess. More than that, though, was the pain of watching Shinji stare off into space. There was a vast confusion eating at his mind, the kind of mental disconnect that came about as a result of a seeming contradiction. Chie also was happy. Her mother-in-law was sitting between their beds, holding onto her hand to lend her strength and show her confidence. Her other hand rested on Shinji's arm, not wishing to take his hand without permission and not understanding that the permission she was waiting for would only be given after the fact. It was frustrating, but it was also family. At least her mother-in-law didn't hold the fact that she enjoyed being a tomboy against her, and even seemed to actively support her in her desire to actively defend him.

Such thoughts were what informed her actions as an unexpected and unexplained miniaturized woman appeared from thin air to stand atop Shinji's chest and frown down at him. Pulling Yui away from ostensible danger, and in the process ripping out several tubes that were providing intravenous fluids, she lunged towards the new threat. The slip of a creature simply motioned sharply, sending Chie flying backwards through several instruments and into the wall.

"Shinji," Hope sighed, "would you be an absolute love and come peacefully?"

+++++ The Runic Throne.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" The roared rhetorical shook the room The Silent One stood within.

His brother, by declaration as much as any form of genealogy, was too focused on what would need to be done in reaction to the events taking place to bother reining in the enraged elder being. "Eve."

The counterpart to Lilith, a woman who'd proven her loyalty time and again, appeared before The Wanderer in a puff of rose petals. "Yes, Master?" She'd long grown accustomed to remaining calm in the presence of enraged titans, her experiences with her first husband more than enough to prepare her for a brother-in-law with a temper.

"Take who you need, find him." The Wanderer gestured to the viewing mirror, and the twin scenes of chaos as the Sailors attempted to search the entirety of Japan and the NERV of that universe was put on high alert as another Angel appeared in the skies above. "He is not in that reality, or Michiru would have found him by now. Go."

"Of course." Vanishing in the same way she'd appeared, the vision of unearthly beauty went about her task.

"How strong do you believe Naru-san is?" The question was asked in an abstracted manner, a passing thought more than an intent query.

The Silent One wheeled around on his brother. "Are you out of your mind?"

"I've already told you that I am, repeatedly." The Wanderer remained focused on the scene through the mirror. "Amy?"

Amethyst appeared, frowning at her Brother-in-law. "Yes, boss?"

"This situation has gone well past the point of recovery. I want the Ravens prepped for an entrenched defense and on my six in five. Go."

"Yes, boss." The pinkish-purple woman vanished.

Having had to stop to actually consider the answer to his brother's question, The Silent One blinked several times and replied tentatively, "She's got good instincts. She managed to hold her own against Kodama the other day, through talent more than power. Why are you asking?"

"To calm you down enough to think clearly." The Wanderer looked back at his brother. "I'm tasking the Sailors to your flag. Take your entire team, go back to the planet they came from, and search for anything that might give us a clue as to where she's gone. It's the most likely place for her to return to after you beat her, which means there might be something we can use."

"…I guess there is a reason you're in charge."

"There are several, but don't sell yourself short." Gesturing his brother away, he mentally moved onto the next topic. "Get moving, we can't waste time." After his brother disappeared, The Wanderer closed his eyes and allowed himself a human moment. "Kyoko, Momiji, what I'm about to do might end poorly."

The mother of Asuka, and the mother of the former Sakura Suzuhara, now Yinghua Xu, appeared at his side. It was the latter that spoke first, "Oh my, no. You want to go stop that dreadful being from hurting people! That's what we do, isn't it? We go and beat up evil creatures that use their strength to hurt others."

"Perhaps a slight oversimplification, dear," Kyoko hugged her husband from the side. "But the spirit of the matter is well summarized in that manner." Her attention turned to the man apologizing to her. "You are not going to die. You are not going to suffer from some strange curse. This charlatan wishes to parade about as if he's a 'mover and shaker' on the interdimensional stage? Then show him the power chasm between you. Hope has fouled this test up, making it our fault by proxy, and now we must do what we can to limit suffering. Do not worry about us. We'll have popcorn and tea, and front row seats to the beat down of the year."

Bouncing happily, Momiji clapped with giddy joy. "Oh my, yes! We'll invite little Saha-chan to come watch with us. She does so love the caramel covered popcorn I make."

Another presence in the room forced The Wanderer to resume his mantle of leadership. "When we hit the ground," Kyoko and Momiji returned to his soul, "I want a defensive perimeter established around the building. If they need to be moved, you will escort them to their destination. Cooperate with the established operatives, but do not allow their…lack of information to risk the mission."

The Raven in charge of his detachment, a woman that could single-handedly conquer worlds, bowed with perfect grace. "It shall be so, my [song]. I have seven of my trainees standing by. Nothing on this planet seems more than they can handle, and it will be a good experience for them to learn…diplomacy."

Turning to face her, The Wanderer gave her a knowing smile. "Play nice. They have been through a lot, on that planet. We're there to protect them, not terrorize them into line."

"Little of column A, little of column B."

+++++ Nowhere.

Hope transported herself and Shinji to a clean, white, room with no clear entrance or exit. With her charge in a fugue, and her goals half met, she pensively appraised him for several minutes. "You…are very different." She wasn't surprised when he did not reply. Everything that she'd discovered of the conditioning he'd undergone indicated that he would only respond or act as directed until given the appropriate counter-phrase or until unconsciousness was induced. "Answer me, do you know who I am?"

"No, mistress," the rote reply was delivered in an emotionless monotone.

Biting one side of her lip, she thought about what that might mean. "You will not call me 'mistress'. Instead, call me…'my lady'."

"I will do so, my lady."

"…Good." She huffed, crossing her arms and looking at the artifacts she'd collected sitting on a table against one of the walls. "Answer me honestly, am I pretty?" She looked back at him, noting the way he analyzed her, the way that despite the mental conditioning he was still quite capable of coherent analysis.

"Yes, my lady."

Her ego stroked, she smiled charmingly up at him. "How so?"

"You possess perfect symmetry. Your coloration is artful. Your voice is pleasant. I would be fortunate to have your attention."

"Mmm…yes, you would. Why don't…." Her eyes lost focus. "He's early." She handed him a deck of cards. "Amuse yourself for a while, I'll be back in a bit."

"Yes, my lady."

+++++ The Blue House. (Saturday, September 4th, +14, New Moon 1/4)

The room was in shambles. There was now an entire section of the ceiling and roof above that no longer existed after Hikaru proved to be incapable of standing toe-to-toe with the strange enemy. Isako and Yuka were providing what medical care they could to Sadayo. Mitsuru had the memory of the tiny woman using some sort of mental force to throw her teacher hard enough to snap her spine flash through her head as she thought on the woman, flinching slightly and clenching her eyes shut. Rise was focusing all of her attention on Yukiko, trying to stop the inn maiden from flying back into complete panic. She could hear the security agents trying to move the rubble away from the door with help from the house staff, combined with the hue and cry from the people outside of the house as people were being evacuated to shelters.

Her mother still hadn't been able to make contact, her friends…her new family needed her to be calm, and so she was calm. She was calm, even when yet another stranger appeared from thin air in the middle of the room. "…Hello."

His head barely missing what remained of the ceiling, his body and hair of the purest white, his one eye glowing a familiar blue, the stranger motioned two of the unbelievably beautiful women that arrived with him over to Sadayo's side. "Kirijo-san, I apologize for dropping by unannounced. I sent the Sailors to defend your position earlier, again without warning which I apologize for. My combat medics will stabilize any injured personnel, and then escort you somewhere safe. I have several teams looking for your man, I promise that if we can we will return him to you."

"Are…are you…."

His smile, the same self-deprecating half-smirk, answered well before the strange man did, "Yes…and no. I was, at one point, Shinji Ikari. I am now more commonly known as The Wanderer."

One of the women at his side, her eyes never once resting on any spot for long, snorted out a chuckle. "Among other, more impressive, sobriquets." She paused her scan of the room long enough to spear Mitsuru with a purpose filled gaze. "You stand before Emperor Ikari, the being responsible for all of Creation. He has come here at great personal risk to ensure that your world receives a fair hearing."

"There was little chance that whatever madness killed off the males of your world would impact me," The Wanderer demurred. "Now, I need to go ask that our unwanted guest find other amusements. Please, listen to my Ravens. They are here to help you stay safe, and are quite capable of keeping you so." With a hand over his heart, and a polite Western bow, he vanished.

+++++ The Silent World.

Striding through the portal between the Prime Reality and his second home planet, The Silent One was nearly incandescent with rage. "Fan out, secure the city. Teams of three, call out all contacts." The scintillating Sailors separated smoothly into trios, leaving him alone with his brother's wife, Usagi Ikari-Tsukino, and his own wife, Michiru Ikari. "If we find her," he spoke quietly, "I'm on containment. I'll kill her, again, which has been made very clear to not work very well. Any allies she might have found, though, are going to die violently."

"This is a rescue mission, Shinji-kun," Michiru reminded him gently, "I trust that you will verify your targets first, hmm?"

Usagi gripped his shoulder and radiated the serenity for which she was named. "He trusts you to handle this. That means that you can handle this. I have never seen any indication that you were any less worthy of the power you have than he is."

The Silent One nodded, well aware of and confident in his brother's trust in him. "When…my Usagi and I meet again, I can only hope that she can be healed."

While the non-sequitur might have gone over most people's head, Usagi changed her light grip to a full hug. "I know she can be."

As dour and pessimistic as he'd become, it was nearly impossible to be the subject of an Usagi Hug and not feel that everything would be all right. "Thank you…let's make sure she has somewhere safe to return to."

+++++ NERV. (Saturday, September 4th, +14, New Moon 1/4)

The Wanderer's appearance in the center of the combat operations center was by necessity urgent and sudden. As a result, he made certain to disarm Misato before she had a chance to mistakenly hurt someone with a ricochet. Ejecting the magazine and checking the chamber before offering the weapon back to her sans ammunition, he spoke in a calm, commanding, tone, "I'm here to help." Watching the mirror images of his wives, Misato, Maya, and Ritsuko, as they displayed angered confusion, cautious optimism, and rapacious curiosity, he purposefully avoided turning back to look at where the Commander would be positioned. "I have combat forces deployed to keep this monster away from civilians. I also have SAR teams searching for your missing pilot. I am going to go engage this threat, and if it will not listen to reason I will neutralize it before it can hurt anyone else. Please, Katsuragi-san, shift your focus towards supporting necessary evacuations away from the area. My plan is to move the fight closer to Mount Asama, if this comes to physical blows." He then offered her the magazine for her pistol, as a show of good faith.

As diplomatic as ever, the simulacra of his beloved lavender haired warrior asked, "Who the fuck are you?"

He offered her a half-smile, looking down at the floor and replying quietly, "Someone who loves all of you."

+++++ Nowhere.

Shinji sat in the white room he'd been left in, shuffling the cards that he'd been gifted, automatically following the processes that would fulfil the command he'd been given. He had to 'amuse' himself. What, then, might he find amusement in? A scan of the room, and the spartan furnishings within it, quickly showed the odd objects out. Sitting in an orderly row, seemingly displayed with deliberate intent, was a series of unrelated items. A clear blue dangling earring, a decorative hairclip, an elegant scepter, part of what seemed like it might have been a telephone, a gilded acorn tied to a leather thong, two swords composed of different materials, a pink plush panda, a wooden ring with veins of some sort of flower, and a flashlight.

A slight tug from the cards in his hands caused him to frown. Riffling them back into a full deck, he moved towards the first item he'd seen and held the cards out towards it. If they had something to say, they'd say it. In short order, and from varying places in the deck itself, the Queen of Diamonds, Queen of Hearts, Queen of Clubs, Two of Diamonds, Queen of Spades, Jack of Spades and Hearts, Ace of Hearts, King of Diamonds, and Six of Clubs all landed upon the corresponding positions atop the object they'd been drawn by.

A sense of amusement flourished in his belly, encouraging him to engage further with whatever diversion it was that was manifesting in the odd happenings before him. "Ok…that was kind of fun."

+++++ The Silent World.

The house that he'd built remained relatively clean, despite the long years of vacancy. Searching through it for any signs of something that had been disturbed by more than the occasional earthquake brought back extremely unpleasant memories, all of which showed clearly on The Silent One's face despite his wishes that they not. He knew he'd not yet become emotionally hardened, and he'd certainly not learned the emotional self-discipline that his brother had mastered, but it galled him that he still couldn't keep the extreme emotions from showing without reverting to antipathy in toto. There was a balance to be found, but he hadn't found it. "I doubt I'm going to," he growled.

Usagi's cheerful curiosity sounded from the other side of the enormous bedroom area, near the entrance to the staircase, "Doubt you're going to what?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it." He placed more effort into scanning the room and less on his own long-term problems. "Did you find anything downstairs?" He waited a polite few seconds, hearing no reply. "Usagi?" With his lips curling into a harder frown, he tried another method of communication, Usagi?

Yes? Unlike the voice from the stairs, this response was all business. Is everything all right?

The growl that was his reply, sending his black chitinous armor crawling into place around him, rattled the windows throughout the house. Contact.

+++++ Tokyo-3. (Saturday, September 4th, +14, New Moon 1/4)

The Wanderer appeared in the skies over Tokyo-3, somewhat surprised to find the foe he'd intended to clash with patiently waiting for him. Taking a moment to appraise the enormous 'Angel', the scythe it held laying over one shoulder, the well-kempt brown beard, the eyes shining with the wisdom of long ages, he felt the confusion it suffered and decided to engage with a simpler greeting than he'd prepared, "Greetings."

"And to you, Allfather." The angel's voice was moderated, for a being that stood at half the height of a mountain, "May we delay the violence for a time, and treat with one another as beings of peace should?"

"Of course." He could see his Ravens sitting in defensive positions, between the gigantic angel and the population centers nearby. "I am more than happy to talk, instead of fight."

"Good," with conscious effort, the angel shrank in size until it was no larger than The Wanderer himself, "…good." Taking a few steps to close the gap between them, walking on air as if it were solid as stone, he extended an ornate self-winding scroll. "This world is not as it should be. The names of those souls whose time has come are not among the souls below our feet. I do not see your name, nor the names of those few battle maidens you sent to halt my reaping. My list is infallible, names and times set long before this world was created. This world is not as it should be."

The Wanderer perused the list of names for a time, thinking through how he should respond to what was increasingly seeming to him to be an enormous crisis of faith. "I agree with you, as far as the condition of this world. It was cruelly and belligerently attacked without warning by a force that should have known better than to capriciously condemn nearly all of reality to oblivion on a whim."

"What madman has done such a thing?" Genuine curiosity, genuine disgust, rang through the angel's question, "Who could be so needlessly cruel as to defy the natural order of fate?!"

Pointing up towards the ball at the center of what was left of the universe, The Wanderer replied without looking, "That thing."

"Sir, I must ask that you not impugn my sovereign."

At that, The Wanderer's eye cracked with blue flame as it rose from the scroll to meet the angel. "It is not 'impugning' someone to speak the truth, my friend. I watched this happen. I waited for a hero to rise to defy the actions of an unappointed dictator. I applauded the effort and zeal this hero presented to the world as he fought. I now stand here in his honor, as my family searches all of reality for him."

"…If this is truth…wherefore has he gone? Should he not be here still, to acquit himself on the field?"

"He was kidnapped by a powerful entity." Returning the scroll, The Wanderer was satisfied that the dialogue was not a trick. "Otherwise he would be where I am, and I would be watching from my own universe as he proved his worth." Extending his right hand, he added, "The Wanderer, pleased to meet you."

After a brief hesitation, the angel extended his own hand and grasped The Wanderer's. "Azrael. I…apologize for naming you-"

With a calm smirk, The Wanderer shook his head and interrupted, "No, no. 'Allfather' is one of a silly amount of names I have the right to. It isn't any more right or wrong than 'The Wanderer'. I just like using this one because it seems the most true anymore. I'm rarely ever able to stay in one place for as long as I'd like. Things just aren't often as we believe them to be, right?"

"A sad truth." Releasing The Wanderer's hand, he looked up towards the orb at the center of everything. "I…do not sense falsehoods on your tongue. How can you be so certain that the Great Will is responsible for this atrocity? You truly…you witnessed this?"

"With others, and with my own eyes."

"…The Great Will…no, there can be no possible excuse for this." Looking back at the One-Eyed god, he asked with firm conviction, "Have you intent to oppose him?"

"I already oppose him, I just have no intent to halt what he is doing right now. That trial was intended for Shinji Ikari, and might still be if we can find him."

+++++ The Silent World.

"I can't feel her," Sailor Mercury stated with a confused expression. "My scanner isn't showing anything either."

Jupiter dug the tip of her toe into the ground as she thought through everything, "A feint?"

"She's here, but she's managing to hide her presence." Michiru was cautiously scanning the area around them with her mirror. "Rei-chan?"

Two different Sailors replied at once, "Yes?" They then looked at each other with similarly irritated frowns.

"Would either, or both, of you do me a favor and hold onto dear Shinji-kun's arms? He's beginning to spool himself up, and the native magic of this realm is going to amplify the 'not helpful' he's attempting to suppress."

As one, both versions of Sailor Mars moved over and hugged the increasingly angry Titan of Chaos. His wife looked at her sister with a knowing worry, receiving a look of unyielding support in return. Both Rei Ikari knew what it cost to love a Shinji Ikari, and would not hesitate to help as a family whenever they could.

+++++ Nowhere.

The cards that Shinji had laid out were glowing and vibrating, all while maintaining contact with the object they'd been assigned to. The music made by the vibrations was discordant, empty, and begging to be completed. He was supposed to be amusing himself, and leaving a composition unfulfilled was both against what he'd been told growing up and not an amusing activity. The science of music moved upwards in his thoughts, allowing the artistry to take a seat for a time as he thought through what was missing. After three repetitions of the rhythm produced by the ten different oscillation frequencies, he began to push the rest of the deck in his hands to fill in the gaps.

Four cycles passed, each growing more in tune and in time, until on the fifth cycle everything came together in a burst of blinding light and sound. The sudden lack of sound, mixed with the lumen equivalent of a dying star he was not prepared to be presented with, caused him to lose his balance and fall backwards, striking his head against the wall and falling unconscious.

+++++ The Silent World.

The explosion did not go unnoticed from where the search party was contemplating their next moves, prompting the Sailors to enter a defensive formation around The Silent One. This instinctive act of protection caused The Silent One to finally lose the battle with his anger. "If what I seek and have not found, bring here the source of that sound." By using the magic of the oldest order, he bypassed several layers of protections and safeguards that had been put in place by Hope. A long, rectangular, portal stretched outwards from a central point directly in front of his group. His Sailor Mars gasped, Michiru and Haruka made cautiously optimistic cries, and in the voice of a broken man suddenly given a reprieve, the long-beleaguered Titan asked, "W-what…is this?"

Groggily waking up, and seemingly hale and healthy, Makoto Kino, Minako Aino, Hera, Saeko Mizuno, Daphne, Motoko and Tsuruko Aoyama, Sarah McDougal, Kyoko Soryu, and Rebecca Chambers. The fact that they were all completely unclothed, unharmed, and unaware of their surroundings or situation unimportant in the grand scheme. The moment, as joyous as it seemed, was further confused by Shinji waking up with a slightly confused, "Where am I? Why can't I see anything?" Revealing his location by shakily using the wall behind him as a support to stand upright, his mouth drooped towards a frown, "Chie-chan?"

"What have you done?!" Hope, now fully enraged, slammed into the ground to stand glaring at the man she'd thought beholden to her commands. Taking a step closer to him, she reached out her hand, "If you wou-UMPH-"

A grouping of precision attacks from several Sailors silenced the albino woman, though it was Usagi that spoke first, "Shinji, would you be a love and come to me?"

At first both baffled and angered, The Silent One quickly realized the tactical implications of someone 'on his team' taking control over the wildcard in the equation. Tearing open a portal that would allow access to a safe zone in The Wanderer's reality, he called out the new plan, "Jupiter, Mercury, get them out of here! Venus, cover Usagi. Mars, Uranus, Neptune…let's keep her busy." Planting himself where he'd be able to react and defend others against anything Hope might attempt, he saw the flare of recognition in several of those he'd believed long dead, and silently begged everyone, Don't argue. Don't fight. Just get to safety and let us handle this!

The Usagi and Venus from The Wanderer's realm had met Shinji halfway, the latter bodily throwing him towards the former before conjuring a long chain of hearts in preparation to protect both her liege and the odd incarnation of the man she loved. Catching a nearly somnambulant Shinji, Usagi enacted a spontaneous plan that she knew would get her in trouble with her husband. "Shinji, can you hear me?"

His voice empty of humanity, Shinji replied as expected, "Yes, mistress."

"Oh, goodness no," Usagi tittered. "Chie-chan is very clearly your mistress. I'm just trying to help you. You don't mind a little help, do you?"

"Whatever you wish."

"Can we use this on our Shinji?" Venus' question was proffered in the silence between several explosions as her fellows pressed the assault on Hope. "It'd be nice if he took some of my suggestions seriously."

Ignoring her friend, Usagi kept all of her attention on the version of the young man she loved that needed it the most at the moment. "Do you love Chie-chan?"

His nod of response was slow, but determined.

"Oh! That's so great!" With a tiny hop and a pleased smile, she pressed on, "If what I try does not heal you, then when you enter this state you will only do either what you want to do, what I want you to do, or what Chie-chan wants you to do. Nobody else can command you to do anything, ok?"

He blinked, confused. A slow frown indicated a pre-existing issue. "Meroko-sama…."

"Meroko-sama is gone, she will never give you orders again. That is why I am…asking that Chie-chan take her place, just with me as a 'back up', in case you are lost and confused."

Another nod, just as before. "I understand."

"Good." Patting both hands against his cheeks gently, she let a hint of sorrow enter her smile. "This is going to hurt." Taking a step back and summoning her heart crystal staff, she braced herself for the pain she'd feel at watching any version of Shinji Ikari suffer. Screwing down her courage and taking a deep breath, she spun the staff in a circle and intoned, "Omega Moon Healing Escalation!" Smashing the butt end of her staff into the ground she sent a golden burst of pure love blasting towards him.

There was a brief instant between the healing wave making contact with him, and the feeling of the healing wave making contact with him, that Shinji's pupils resumed their awareness of the world around him. Shock, confusion, and worry all paraded past before finally landing on agony. Screaming wordlessly, he first collapsed to his knees, then had the good fortune of unconsciousness claiming him.

+++++ The Runic Throne.

Hikari, Tsuru, and Yang all worked quickly to bundle the inbound recently returned in heavy blankets, handing them off to their fellow wives for an all-important explanation and debriefing. It was The Wanderer's first wife that decided the follow-on actions. "Noelle, Nicki, Yang, go help them capture that bitch."

"Onee-chan," Nozomi called out from where she was helping Kodama and Fuuka, "you stay here. You know he grounded you."

"That would be why I'm sending others, dear. Focus on your patient." Left alone with Tsuru, after the last of the resurrected women had made it through the portal, she blew out a sigh of frustration. "He didn't ground me."

"No," Tsuru laced her arms around Hikari's neck from behind, hugging her close and taking comfort from her presence, "he asked you to stay here and help defend those things we all cherish most."

Gripping her forearm, Hikari relaxed back into Tsuru's embrace. "Even knowing that's my brother-in-law, I loathe seeing him hurting. I'm strong enough to spar with Suzuka now. I'm practically indestructible." She blew out another sigh. "And I have to sit here and watch Usagi hurt him to heal him."

"And through this, you gain deeper understanding of his struggles."

"I loathe this."

+++++ The Silent World.

The Silent One, no longer needed for defense after Usagi dragged his…whatever it was that Shinji Ikari was, launched himself up into the fracas. With seven Galaxy Class Heavyweights already pressing Hope, he silently admitted to himself that this fight was not going well. His presence was accepted without comment, women from a variety of backgrounds adding him into a battleplan created by the gestalt they shared through their connection to their growing family. The first blow he landed on Hope explained a great deal of their troubles: he knew he was strong enough to crack planets in half, and he knew what it felt like when a punch landed 'wrong'. His fist may as well have been a comfortably fluffy pillow, the strength and power he could bring to bear nothing more than that of a newborn calf, the fight was hopeless. The fight, also, would not be abandoned. Stand back, stop her from fleeing!

Hope smirked with disdain as the ladies followed his order. Standing on thin air, in front of the man that she would have as her own, she slowly looked him up and down. "I see you figured it out."

"Your confidence in this strategy is going to backfire." Forcing his volume to remain lower, he did nothing to restrain the anger he knew was written all over him. "You are Hope, not Victory. I don't need to 'hope' that you can be defeated, I 'know' you can be defeated."

"Oh, my poor, sweet, deluded Shinji," she pushed her lips into a pitying pout, "so long as you hope for anything…you can't ever defeat me."

"Who said anything about me defeating you?" An evil grin spread, amplifying the madness of his wrath.

The blinding crack of lightning, the echoing roar of thunder, heralded the first true arrival of The Wanderer upon the Silent World. Standing at his full, terrifying, height he stared impassively at the concept of hope made flesh. "No."

Where before Hope was confident in her ability to flee, should something go awry, she now found that she couldn't move so much as a millimeter in any direction. She'd tried, as soon as the lightning formed in the air around them, she'd desperately attempted to flee. No sane being wanted to be within the same shard of reality as Creation when he was no longer hiding his true power. "What…are…you…." Any further words were strangled off as the invisible grip of Creation restrained her.

"Yinghua-chan," opening a portal to where the now teenaged heartbreaker was standing on stage, in Milan, where she was performing a concert, he extended one hand out to her, "would you please join me here?"

"Of course, silly." Formerly Sakura Suzuhara, now Yinghua Xu, took his hand and walked confidently out onto the open air. She knew he would never let her fall. She knew he would keep her safe from anything and everything she asked him to. She also knew that her audience would love seeing whatever was about to happen broadcast up on the enormous screen she'd been performing in front of. "You know that all you have to do is ask me, and I'll fly to your side."

Whether he was aware of what was being shown or not, The Wanderer's actions would not have changed. Dropping down to one knee, he walked her around to in front of him by her hand, taking both of her hands in his once she was between him and Hope. "We…have talked many times about your future."

With stage-polished poise, she nodded her head slowly to hide the excitement in her heart. "We have. My reply remains unchanged. I accept my destiny with open arms and love in my heart."

Lowering his voice to a whisper, a request to whatever mad god might be strong enough to affect such things, he breathed out, "I pray that you still feel that way in the future we will craft."

Freeing her hands from his and placing the tips of her fingers along his jaw, the galaxy-famous singer smiled down at him with empathy radiating from her entire being. "Have faith, my knight in purple armor. I have only ever sung of love with thoughts of you in my heart. Ask me, so that I may answer your question and banish your fears."

"…Would you do me the honor of becoming my ever-shining Beacon of Hope?"

"I will bring our light to every corner of reality, no matter how dark it may seem. Here, in me, they will always know that someone believes that they can do better. That when one path ends, another is waiting for them to explore." Bending forward at the hips, she lightly set her lips against his. "This was what has always been meant to be, onii-chan. I wasn't ever going to let it be otherwise."

There was an irony in what followed for The Silent One. His brother crushed 'his' Hope, containing the resulting explosion in a sphere that slowly collapsed in size as it floated closer to a young woman he'd taken to spending time with as a mentor. The energy that formed Hope was being renewed, shaped into a composition that would suffuse the new bearer of that lofty title. His anger was beginning the process of boiling away, his smile becoming less feral and more contented. A strong young woman, one who had faced an unenviable amount of trauma in her short life, was getting her wish. All because the woman he despised more than any had made the mistake of leaving a copy of him alone with a deck of cards. "All right, folks. Looks like a win to me. Let's double-check the area for any other possible surprises and call this a day."

Michiru floated over to The Silent One, taking his arm and pulling him towards The Wanderer. "The others will do what they can," she said by way of explanation to her best man. Waiting politely while The Wanderer set his latest wife back on the stage she'd left, she held her tongue until the gate was closed and the only ears that would hear what she said belonged to the three present. "If either of you attempt to bullshit me, you will both suffer the consequences."

Like a pair of schoolboys caught playing with a frog in the mud, both men lowered their eyes guiltily to the ground. "We…hadn't expected this to happen," they replied in unison. "Most of the time we can prevent it from happening, but when he/I lets/let his/my anger slip too much…it happens." Looking at each other, then her, they shrugged. "We think it's going to happen during any moment of unguarded emotional extremes. We can act independently, still, but our thoughts comingle so much that…well…."

She inhaled sharply through her teeth. "If it weren't for my insane devotion to making certain that your mind remains healthy, I would not have noticed. How…complete, we'll say, is this linkage?"

Both men warily looked at each other again, then back to Michiru. "We're the same person, Michi-chan. I'm him, just as much as he's me. We only remain 'separate' from certain frames of reference. Even in our separate beings…we're still us."

"And you have not spoken of this because…?"

"We weren't certain. When we connected with the Shinji Ikari below, it was unmistakable. Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence…which you don't believe in." They spread their hands to show how empty they were. "We don't know how to even explain it. Contemporaneously, non-contemporaneously, far apart or close together, we both are and are not the same individual entity. It goes well beyond 'instances' or 'copies' or anything like that. We are literally the same person, only in two separate bodies with two separate emotional states. Our personalities are based on our emotional responses, and probably a little on our experiences before changing to become what we are. I haven't gone through what he went through directly, and remembering it is different in important ways that we're probably not stressing enough." They both chuckled in unison. "We're not psychologists, so everything we're saying is basically coming from an armchair."

Michiru's eye twitched, then she grabbed both men by the nose and hauled them down to her level. "One of you has a great many credentials after their name, in fields of study that are both challenging and diverse. The other of you has an instinctive grasp of both mathematics and those sciences which rely heavily upon that field that I have never seen. I agree that we're walking in unexplored territory discussing the psychology of immortal beings, but nothing I have heard is nonsense. Am I clear?"

"Yes ma'am."

Releasing their noses and bestowing a kiss upon each, she took a deep breath and nodded to indicate she'd decided something. To The Silent One she urged, "Husband, please go and help calm those who have been returned to us." To The Wanderer, she took his arm and began to move towards the unconscious form of Shinji Ikari on the ground below them. "My love, we still have work to do before we share what we've learned with the Imperial Council."

Usagi was waiting for their arrival, keeping a watchful eye on the young man she'd just had to 'rewire' without warning. "Minako-chan, please go help calm everyone down. You know as well as I do that you're the one the other you is most likely to listen to."

With a frown at Michiru, Usagi, and finally The Wanderer, the blonde Sailor of Love made her demands clear, "Whatever this is, you'd better be sharing it afterwards. I understand we can't all be involved in everything all the time, but this seems a little too important for secrets."

"As soon as we understand it well enough to explain it without causing needless drama." The Wanderer reached out and cupped her cheek, willing her to remember that he loved her as much as she loved him. "It's not mission critical yet, or I promise you I'd already have broadcast it."

Her frown melted into a pout, then a happy grin. "Darn right you would." Blowing him a kiss, she spun out of his reach and then hurried off towards the portal home.

The three conscious-remaining people all waited for enough distance to speak, with Usagi taking the first turn. "Yes, I know. I've known since the first moment the two of you were next to one another around me. It isn't that worrying, to be honest. You won't allow any Shinji that can't handle the pressure onto our team, and any Shinji that can handle the pressure is a Shinji that I will not hesitate to embrace as family. Neither of you dress the same, neither of you look the same, neither of you act the same, so it doesn't matter that you share thoughts as you do. We can tell you apart at a glance."

"Those walls are thinning," Michiru countered. "Our love did not intend to enter the fight with a display of such…violence. You know as well as I that it is not like him to do these things. My husband's anger pierced the calm of the most gentle being I have ever beheld, and it did so only because they are growing ever closer to becoming a unified being."

"Would that be so bad?" Usagi stood, brushing off her skirt and facing them without fear for her defiant question. "To have more than one iteration of a man that understood the value of both serenity and violence? To suddenly have two copies of a greater whole?"

The Wanderer looked off into the distance, observing as those remaining Sailors continued their sweep of both the area around the small bastion The Silent One had placed the remnants of humanity within, and the area that the previous Hope had placed the latest Shinji Ikari within. "We…are concerned that…." He blew out his breath slowly. "Will you still love us?" His eyes returned back to the two women standing beside him. "I mean…love us?"

"I love you now, silly." Usagi allowed her seriousness to fade, knowing in her heart that Shinji would always need her whimsy from time to time. "People change, it's just how they are. A static, unchanging, god can only lead to heartbreak as the people who revere them discover more about themselves, about the universe they occupy, and about their place within the whole."

Michiru agreed firmly, "It is only natural to doubt. To fear that you may one day not be 'good enough' for someone. Nobody can guarantee anyone that they will always and forever love you…but I can assure you that if we start to lose that feeling we will speak with you about it, because you will have stopped being the man we love."

"…We know you're right…." The Wanderer's heart settled after both Usagi and Michiru wrapped him up with a hug most would murder to receive.

"And we know that it's ok to be weak, from time to time," Usagi assured him. "We're here, we're with you, and we haven't seen or heard anything to make us want to leave."

+++++ The Runic Throne.

The Silent One sat alone after entering with the stealth his name implied, tucked away in a corner where he could keep an eye on everyone at once. Burning under the surface of his outward calm was a morbid sense of humor that the sheer chaos roiling around him couldn't have found a better place to happen. It was, after all, what he'd accepted responsibility for. Mismatched timelines, mismatched locations, mismatched growth. He wasn't the same person these women had known. He wasn't the same being these women had known.

The first of those he'd believed lost for all time to notice him did so in her typical manner. Without warning him, and without alarming anyone else, he suddenly had a tendril of sweet-smelling ivy loop around the necklace of coins he wore. Daphne's physical attention was on Sarah McDougal, on helping her calm down from the existential anxiety overload that she was struggling under. A woman he didn't deserve, who'd lost a husband he'd hoped would have become a trusted ally and friend, who'd lost a child he would have happily acted as an uncle for. Even while she did what he knew she would know he wanted her to do…she still showed that she cared. The tear that broke the dam on one eye slid down his cheek, wound up landing on the tendril of ivy, which caused her to turn and look at him with a soft smile of understanding and hope.

His heart was breaking, and he felt shame deeper than any in his entire life at the way her hope filled those cracks in his heart with love.

+++++ Tokyo-3, NERV. (Sunday, September 5th, +15, New Moon 2/4)

The tension in the combat operations center had been wearing hard on the women staffing the positions. The enemy had not moved at all since the strange giant spoke to it, and no word had been passed along as to the disposition of said strange giant after he'd vanished out of the sky. 'Azrael', as it had named itself, was well out of range of all of the defensive emplacements. Scenario after scenario had been fed to the MAGI and returned as 'untenable'. The worst bit of all of it, from Misato's perspective, was that she desperately needed a restroom to stop her bladder from reminding her of the coffee she'd chugged on her way to the bridge. The gentle toll of a bell nearly alleviated her problem as a hole in reality appeared at a space on the bridge where there was no chance anyone might be touched by it.

Out of the hole, an alien woman that had no right to be anywhere near as beautiful as she was strode out as if she was gracing everyone present with her time and words. In a voice that put all the singers she'd ever heard to shame, the woman announced, "Ladies, I present to you His Holiness, Emperor of the Intergalactic Empire of Ikari, Eternal King of the Moon Kingdom, [Song], King Regent of the Twelve Suns, of the Eight Lights, of the Eternal Abyss, of the Five Seas of Fire, Lord General of the Ever Faithful Army, Lord and Commander of the Ever Faithful Navy, the Watcher over Chūbu, first of his name, The Wanderer, The Allfather, Paladin of Light, Sworn Regent and Devoted Protector of Old Hakone and its Environs, and my beloved husband, His Imperial Majesty," she bowed gracefully and swept her arms to indicate the man walking through the portal, "Shinji Ikari."

While the tidal wave of titles might have indicated a puffed-up jackass, the man that entered the room was anything but. His eyes spoke of irritation at the actions of the woman as he closed the portal behind himself, and whatever it was that he spoke to her was not in a language that anyone else recognized. Her response, in turn, seemed extremely glib for someone speaking to someone commanding armies. When he flicked her nose, a fond smile crossed his lips for a brief moment as the woman gave him a wink. Once more, the comforting warmth of the giant man who'd come in earlier washed over the room, only now with an impossible name attached to it.

"There will be no combat, for now. I have returned your pilot to you, he is currently in your medical bay being attended to by my personal physician. We," he gestured to Misato, Ritsuko, and Maya, "need to have a talk."

"Your Majesty," Naoko Akagi's voice carried down from the 'Throne of God', "we would love to speak with you as well. I feel that Sub-Commander-"

"Once I have spoken with those I know are within your pilot's good graces, I will try to find time to speak with those I am less certain of," The Wanderer cut her off without rancor. Opening a new portal, he gestured for the three women he'd indicated to proceed through to where Shinji was clearly visible.

Standing over her patient was yet another unreasonably beautiful woman with an alien skin tone. "Still unconscious, Admiral," she addressed her fellow non-Earther first after the portal was closed behind everyone to give them privacy. "It's looking like the standard Shinji problem, which needs time, rest, and food more than anything."

"Wait, 'standard Shinji problem'?" Ritsuko looked to The Wanderer with the obvious question written all over her face.

"We tend to reach for the stars, when backed into the corner. Some of us manage to grasp them, most do not. Fewer manage to survive long enough to hold onto them." The Wanderer shrugged indifferently. "He…to be frank, impressed the hell out of me. I hope he can complete his trial."

Maya took a far different approach from her paramour, "A-are you…are you really Shinji Ikari?"

"I was." He gave her the same self-effacing smirk she'd seen on her version of Shinji so many times before. "If you couldn't tell by the overly ostentatious introduction my wife gave, I've picked up…heavier names over the years."

"I received a report that you were downplaying your standing again." The woman identified as his wife eyed him askance. "You also haven't introduced us."

"I am going to give you such a pinch if you keep this up," he laughed out. "Ritsuko Akagi, Maya Ibuki, Misato Katsuragi, may I introduce two of my wives. Admiral Rose Ikari, and Commander Amethyst Ikari, MD."

Misato blinked, "Wives?"

Ritsuko's reaction was much more curious and much less reactively negative, "Two of?"

"It's a very long story, but it also seems to be something of a theme for those of us who manage to grasp the stars and hold onto them." The Wanderer tried to push the conversation back on track, "I am entrusting you with information that I would not otherwise, based solely on my knowledge of the women you are in my reality. Several of my Ravens are guarding this room, and all listening devices have been destroyed beyond recovery. I tell you this to express how serious I am about this issue. If any, or all, of you do not wish to be burdened with the knowledge I am going to impart, I will not judge you. I wish I didn't have this knowledge."

"…Does it impact Shinji-kun?" Maya's fingers were interlaced, her hands clenching tight in the typical sign that she was scared but still going to do what needed doing.

"It does."

"Then I am staying," she stated quietly.

"Not leaving my best gal here to face this alone," Ritsuko added with a shrug. "I've always thought that knowing beats not knowing."

Misato shifted her stance, eyeing The Wanderer aggressively. "Is he going to turn out like you?"

"That's unlikely, but not impossible. It's going to depend on a number of factors that are completely out of everyone's control." The Wanderer waited patiently for several minutes for Misato to finish processing the threat matrix that was her reaction to anything challenging.

"Fine. Let's do this."

Closing his eyes and bringing time itself to a halt for everyone save those in the room, The Wanderer slowly exhaled. "Most everything you know about reality is…wrong." Carefully editing certain portions of the explanation, he began from his own ascension to being more than 'Just Shinji'. He continued with The Silent One's story, adding in the expansion of the Ikari Empire and its pursuit of mutual cooperation between lifeforms. Eventually he reached where their Shinji Ikari drew his attention, ending the history lesson with a grim reminder of their current truth, "And like so many shards of reality before this one…you face a tremendous battle to win a place within the Empire. I have faith that you can overcome it, brother mine…but you are going to need to want it bad enough."

The three native ladies to the realm frowned at The Wanderer, then turned back to see that their Shinji's eyes were open but not seeing anything. Before they could speak, he weakly raised one finger towards where he'd heard The Wanderer's voice, and announced with laborious breathing between each word, "You…owe…me."

Taking that hand and holding it gently between his much larger hands, he nodded his head slowly in recognition of the debt, "I do. That is why I am here explaining the stakes clearly, why I interfered in your fight and bought you time to recover. The previous owner of the mantle of Hope should not have been allowed to interfere, to injure you, or to harm your allies."

"I…brought…them…back," he growled.

"You did."

Blinking reflexively, Shinji tilted his head. "Cards."

The Wanderer created and placed a deck of playing cards in Shinji's hand. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Even blind, he was able to pull the cards out of the cardboard, discard the jokers and rules, and begin a complex shuffling motion. "Don't…know."

"Don't push yerself, sweetie." Amy crouched down at his bedside and began to measure his pulse manually via his carotid. "Doctah's ohdahs."

"Yes…ma'am," he replied with genuine respect for the woman helping him. Finishing his shuffle, he fanned out the cards towards The Wanderer. "One."

While the ritual portion of the exercise might have struck most people as pointless, under the circumstances, The Wanderer dutifully chose a card 'at random' despite knowing exactly which card it would be. Holding it out so that Shinji could reach, he stated, "It is just above where you were holding out the cards."

His hand trembling, his body as tired as his spirit, Shinji managed to tap the card chosen. "King…hearts." His brow furrowed. "Spear?"

Ritsuko's voice spoke into the break, "How does he do that? He's blind. The cards, well shuffled, represent fifty-two factorial. The chances of him guessing are the same as my body spontaneously combusting!"

The Wanderer allowed Ritsuko to be Ritsuko, focusing on the warning he believed forthcoming about someone important to him. "Suzuka."

Appearing in a quiet flash of lightning, dressed in a comfortable pair of sweatpants and a form-fitting tank top, Suzuka Ikari appeared near her beloved once more holding an iced coffee and a store bag filled with this' and that's she'd spent her day off purchasing. "Husband?"

"I apologize, Little Deer. I believe that this Shinji has something of import to tell us both."

She looked around the room, taking another long sip from her coffee. "Not terribly impressive. It seems this iteration invested even less in the capacity of their healthcare system."

"I've yet to see a sane NERV," The Wanderer agreed. "My Spear is present, Shinji. What now?"

Having replaced the King of Hearts and shuffled the cards rapidly, Shinji once more moved to offer the cards to someone. However, the cards informed him that they had different plans. He felt the Three of Spades slip out, made a desperate grasp for it, but could do nothing to prevent it from slapping against Suzuka's small purse. Between the moment of contact and what came of it, he had enough time to vocally lament, "Fuck me stu-URRGAGGGGGGHHHHHH!"

The backblast of his actions were contained effectively by The Wanderer slamming down an opaque sphere around the plasmic energy that burst out of Shinji's chest, though his own efforts did nothing to prevent the damage done in all ways. Naked, bloody, and just as small as they had been inside of his wife's womb, two miniature lives were now nestled against Suzuka's upper torso being supported by her quick reactions and dumping of the coffee and shopping onto the ground below.

Rarely caught so horribly off-guard, The Wanderer, Suzuka, and Rose all tried to understand what had just happened. Medically trained to never gawk, Amy took control of the situation with a voice that would give entire worlds pause, "You," she turned to Maya as she tossed a thick blanket over the twins and Suzuka, "we need an incubatah big enough for both of 'em, stat. Rose, I need pediatric nurses, stat." Both women vanished, though at different speeds, to be about their tasks. "You," she turned to Misato, "find me saline and IV tubing for both th' babies and our idiot here, go!"

"They're going to need nutrition beyond just saline," Ritsuko turned around before Amy could task her. "I'll come up with something from what we have in here, but that's only going to buy us so long. Can we move them somewhere better than here?"

"They wouldn't survive th' pohtal trip." Her accent coming and going as she continued her new mission, Amy shoved The Wanderer back to begin doing what she could to keep the premature babies from dying again. "Get rid of that shield and get Shammy out here, you dolt!"

"Here am I," the golden-skinned Aspect appeared, her long purple dress obscuring that she was floating on nothing, "what want I to do?" Shamshel looked around, seeing far too many that clearly needed her touch.

"Stabilize the patient in the bed, do not try to fix him, you'll kill him."

The Wanderer had banished the shielding that kept everyone safe, only to see that the Shinji Ikari he'd come to speak to looked as if he'd been starved for months. His eyes returned to Suzuka's, "Suzi…."

"Go," the swordswoman urged without hesitation, "we both have our battles placed before us and only you can bring his reinforcements." After her husband vanished, she backed into a chair and sat down to level out the height difference between her and the doctor. "Amethyst-sama…."

"I am not gonna lose 'em again," Amy growled, ripping medical equipment she kept in stock from thin air and using what she could to perform a function that she'd not anticipated. "You hold 'em close, Suzi-Q, they need mama's warmth real bad."

+++++ Author's Notes:

Ghost Man: RE: Tartarus.

Tartarus is an amalgamation of the collective unconsciousness of those mentally strong enough to influence the global egosphere, swimming around in the collective unconsciousness of those incapable of mustering enough mental energy to see past their own nose. As the latter outweighs the former by a substantial amount, the form of Tartarus is constantly shifting and changing to conform to a combination of both the zeitgeist and the most prominent local influencer. Within Tartarus, mankind's demons manifest. The fears, doubts, anxieties, and horror given form and purpose, but also the myths and legends we hold up as an explanation of a past we were too stupid to document in a manner that would survive tyrants, disasters, and bad luck.

A strong enough ego, or id, can manipulate Tartarus from within. A strong enough superego might be able to restore Tartarus to what it was before humanity opened a certain pithos.