Creation began on 03-11-17
Creation ended on 03-19-17
Neon Genesis Evangelion
I want to tell you
Sometimes, Shinji didn't know whether to continue putting up with Asuka's negative treatment towards him or to give her a smack in the face and tell her to cease said treatment and just accept him as he was because there were worst ways to deal with this matter, most of which he didn't even want to think because, as much as he hated her attitude towards him, doing such would just echo everyone that said he was no different from his parents…and he was beginning to hate that reminder, as well.
"…And then, there's your low synchronization with my Unit-02," Asuka brought up while they were walking down the hall in NERV to the Eva cages for another round of sync tests after school got let out. "I'm letting you know, if my synchronization is affected because of you, I will kick you!"
"You can't let it go that I had no say in that compatibility test they made us go through?" He asked her, becoming very irritated by her unnecessary bad attitude over the test.
"No, because you were in my Eva," she claimed. "The fact that you were in it is an embarrassment to me and everything I stand for."
It was her pride that was most irritating to Shinji. He just wanted to forget that test among other things NERV-related, but this redhead just wanted to hold onto them like they were necessary to point out to him, and he was starting to lose his cool.
"Asuka," he started, but the redhead cut him off.
"What?" She went, not knowing that she was getting on his nerves. "What, Third, what?"
His right hand balled into a fist that he was slowly bringing up.
"Am I interrupting something that is unjustifiable, Ms. Soryu?" They both heard Fusei, as she appeared around a corner, looking irritated herself as she carried a small tablet in her hands. "No, no, I want to see where this goes, really. Here you are, one of the very few not chosen by a higher authority, but by a bunch of government suits and potentially-crooked politicians that could care less about your well-being, Ms. Soryu, and you want to get into a pissing match with this young man who seems to only want to knock your lights out because you refuse to let up with past events?"
Asuka wasn't about to take this from some newbie woman that came here a just a few days ago.
"I read your profile," Fusei continued. "You're of mixed heritage. Your mother was half Japanese and half German while your father was of an American background, your primary language is German, with secondary languages being Japanese and English. You're thirteen years old, having gone through one of those accelerated education programs that certain families put their children through only when they don't have the time to deal with them by themselves, obtaining a degree in computers, but your psychological profile shows issues with your personality and social skills."
"Oh, really?" Asuka questioned her.
"Yes. You suffer from a superiority complex with an equally-troublesome inferiority complex to go with a sense of narcissism. You feel that you're the only one that matters, that you don't make mistakes in anything you do, that those around you make mistakes that you feel you get in trouble for by your association, and you have to rectify the problem as best you can. You go to great lengths to be seen, heard and remembered by those around you for your achievements, even if they're only based around one thing. So…I have to ask you something that needs to be answered. What do you feel when you're inside the Eva? What do you feel?"
Shinji didn't expect to hear such a question being asked. It seemed to be a logical one, as well.
"What do I feel?" Asuka spoke. "I feel empowered. I feel like I'm on top of the world, that nobody can stop me from taking on the Angels without much assistance."
"Now, that's a terrible answer," Fusei told her. "That's not even a real answer. You dodged what the question was trying to get at."
"No, I didn't. I answered you."
"If I ask Shinji here the same question, his response would likely be very different from yours. Shinji? What do you feel when you're inside the Eva?"
Shinji looked at Fusei as he tried to find an appropriate way to answer her question.
"I feel pain," he started. "I feel fear, confusion. Every time the Eva gets damaged, there's the neural feedback, but that's only half the pain. There's difficulty in facing the Angels when you have to concern yourself with safety of the people that live in the city, that any move you make causes them pain, even when it's to try and keep them safe because nothing happens the way you wish they could. As much as I hear that Tokyo-3 is a fortress city that we're supposed to keep safe for the people against the Angels, I personally feel that it would be easier if the conflict between the Evas and Angels was elsewhere where there were no people around to endanger. If there were no people, there would be no fear of casualties. If there wasn't a city to fight in or around, there would be no fear of collateral damages from the battles. Every time I face an Angel, I have to live with the repercussions of each outcome, even when they're killed."
Fusei sighed and then nodded her head in the positive before looking back to Asuka.
"That's an answer, Ms. Soryu," she told the redhead. "Shinji answered something you refrained from answering. Now, I'll ask you again, but with simpler clarity, what do you feel when you're inside the Eva? If you had to face an Angel in the city on your own…and in the process, maybe you…unintentionally caused harm to some people, maybe even a small child, and they were either crippled, disfigured or even killed as a consequence…what would you feel?"
If she had asked Shinji, the boy would answer that he wouldn't want to pilot the Eva ever again. But with Asuka, it was anyone's guess as to how she would answer the question.
"What do I feel? What would I feel?" Asuka went. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing."
Both Shinji and Fusei were silently appalled by her response and the adult woman sighed heavily.
"You honestly feel nothing of the sort within the Eva?" She asked her.
"Even without the threat of the Angels, people die or suffer every day," Asuka told her. "It's just a fact of life that happens to be one of the most harshest ones."
"As true as that is, the fact that you answered you feel absolutely nothing when inside the Eva is a clear sign of your narcissistic attitude towards other people. You lack concern, even sympathy for others. Of course, I'm positive that protecting the rights of people's right to life wasn't part of your would-be job description when you were selected to pilot the Eva, it is expected of you to feel something for those that have to put their chances of seeing the next day of sunlight in your hands. A person that feels nothing for others…is no different from someone running over a dog or cat or small child that's on the street as your car passes by the neighborhood. Just something in your way to your next achievement for whatever it's worth. It's immoral…and inhumane."
Asuka then looked at Shinji and walked away from him and Fusei; she didn't need a migraine from either of them just because she didn't answer the lady that was both a computer expert and a licensed physician to her satisfaction on what she felt inside the Eva or should feel like the Third Child had, the pathetic boy that she felt was being treated with kid gloves just because he was able to sync with a defective Eva without any prior training.
Shinji, feeling a sense of relief now that Asuka had left them in the hall, no longer felt the need to ball up his fist, calmed down completely.
"How are you feeling today, Shinji?" Fusei asked him.
"I'm feeling fine, thank you very much," he answered her. "Yourself?"
"I've had a swell morning. Had to request several of the personnel to donate blood for emergencies that require transfusions. Then I had to donate blood myself. It's a little exhausting, but I'm hoping that it will be worth everything we're doing here. Honestly, I was looking for you right now because there was something I really wanted to talk to you about."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. It's, uh… Wow. I haven't imagined a day like this before. I keep looking forward to the reason I got here, not to fear the outcome. If I come off as intrusive or projecting myself on you, I apologize."
Shinji wasn't sure what she was trying to say to him.
"Remember when I said I was looking for something for a long time to give my life meaning?" She asked him. "I was only telling you half the truth because I wasn't sure if I should tell you the whole truth. It wasn't a thing I was looking for, you see. It was a person."
Before she could say any more, the alarms went off, indicating that a new Angel had appeared.
"Another Angel?" Shinji asked, realizing that he would have to get to the Eva soon.
Dammit, Fusei thought. "You should go get ready, Shinji."
He sighed and walked past her.
"Shinji!" She stopped him momentarily. "When you get back… I'll tell you everything I've been wanting to tell you."
He nodded in the positive; with their lunch schedules needing to be canceled due to their distractions of other obligations, neither had been able to see or speak with the other.
As he left to get into his plugsuit, he didn't realize how close he had been to knowing who he really was to this woman that spent his whole life looking for him.
-x-
Not one to let her curiosity go unanswered, Ritsuko, prior to the alarms going off to warn the personnel of the next Angel's arrival, had to look at Shinji's DNA again after looking at his blood type…and put the boy through the NERV DNA database to find a genetic match, if there were any around, since she couldn't help but believe that the chances of any blood relatives, maternal or paternal, being around NERV or Tokyo-3 were astronomical. Until she was proven wrong.
Impossible, she wanted to believe, but she couldn't deny the two types of searches she had the MAGI perform in order to see for herself. And none of us saw this in front of us. If Ikari finds out about this, there's no telling what he'll do. But the boy's likely to find out…unless the woman is unable to tell him.
On her computer screen, the results of a mitochondria DNA search matched Shinji Ikari to none other than Fusei Hitode, and the mitochondria match couldn't have been distant. There were too many comparisons that made Ritsuko assume otherwise.
There's no distant relation between the two, she realized. She has to be the real deal.
Destroying her search before Commander Ikari could find out about what she did behind his back, the faux-blond got ready to deal with the Angel.
-x-
"…This Angel's been dropping multiple pieces of itself in brutal fashion," said Hyuga to the rest of the Central Dogma personnel present, showing holographic displays of the Angel that was in space above the Pacific Ocean. "It's been correcting its aim in order to hit its target."
"NERV HQ," went Shigeru. "Even if it misses, what's left of Tokyo-3 will be made into an extension of the ocean…and we'll be dead."
"You mean, this Angel's one, big bomb?" Shinji asked.
"I think that's exactly what he's saying," Fusei told him. "And the strategy for dealing with it is among the craziest I've ever heard with zero chance of success without some sort of miracle."
"Misato wants us to catch the Angel with our hands," went Asuka, embarrassed by the plan. "You do realize that the only thing likely to survive the explosion this Angel will set off is the Evas themselves."
"So, it's either we catch the Angel before it lands on us…or we all die," Shinji sighed.
"Yeah," Fusei agreed with him.
"Then, we'll have to make sure we catch it."
-x-
"…You do realize that this plan of yours is completely insane, right?" Ritsuko asked Misato as they were in the ladies' room.
"What choice do we have?" Misato asked her.
"All for your so-called revenge against the Angels?"
"Don't even go there."
"If what I'm thinking is even right after what I discovered half an hour ago, the possibility of your plan failing will have a dark impact on Shinji."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'll tell you if we survive this."
Ritsuko left the restroom, leaving Misato to wonder how the possibility of her plan failing would have a dark impact on Shinji.
-x-
Fusei could have left with the rest of the lower personnel when they vacated the Geo-Front, but she chose to stay. She wanted to be there for Shinji when he returned, to say what she needed to say to him as quickly as possible. Maybe she was kidding herself with the possibility of seeing him after the battle, that he would even listen to her afterwards or want anything to do with her, but a lifetime spent looking for him didn't change her feelings toward the boy.
"…You seem to like Shinji a lot," she heard Ms. Katsuragi behind her as she looked at the monitor displaying Unit-01.
"You think it's wrong of me?" She asked her.
"All I really know is that ever since he met you, Shinji's been rather… I want to say 'cheerful', but it doesn't do him any justice."
"I wouldn't mind it if he were cheerful, but with the way he grew up, it may take something far greater than just a kind face or a mere hug to break him from his cold shackles."
"Most people that know of him tend to think he's similar to his father."
"But is blood thicker than water between the two?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"Nothing."
Misato then looked to the monitor displaying the geographical location of where the Angel was likely to land and had positioned the three Evas at three spots to spread them out and increase their chances of success against the Angel.
"You don't believe in the Evas, do you?" She asked Fusei.
"No," she answered her.
"Then why come here of all places?"
Fusei sighed and answered, "I believe in Shinji…and want to believe in him further, regardless of what others think."
Misato found this woman to be the most unusual person she had ever seen since she got here. It was like she had a hidden agenda that she wasn't being straightforward about. But there was no feeling of wanting to take down NERV. No, there was something else entirely different with this woman, something the purple-haired woman wasn't seeing.
"The Angel has begun on its descent!" They heard Hyuga inform them, and the red light that represented the Angel slowly falling onto the city above them. "It's aiming for the center, closest to where Unit-01 is positioned!"
-x-
Shinji willed Unit-01 to run as fast as it could to the small hill where the Angel was falling. His orders were simple, if simple was the best word to even use at a time like this: Catch the Angel and destroy the core before it could reduce the city into an extension of the ocean. But all the while, he couldn't stop thinking a separate thought that was whatever it was Ms. Hitode wanted to tell him. All he really knew was that she was coming clean with her reason for being at NERV, that she was looking for someone, but this attack had prevented her from saying who it was she was looking for. And he just couldn't and wouldn't jump to conclusions on the who and why without the clarity of why.
What is it that you want to tell me, Ms. Hitode? He wondered, reaching the hill and spreading his AT-Field to intercept the Angel. "Aaurgh!"
SLAM! The Angel was far more massive than he had expected it to be, and felt like it weighed more than Misato's car!
"ETA for Units-00 and 02 is two minutes away," he heard Maya over the intercom.
"I don't think I have two minutes," he told her, feeling like Unit-01's right leg was about to break from the intense pressure caused by the Angel. "I seriously do not have two minutes!"
-x-
Fusei could see that Shinji didn't even have one minute, not unless the strain of the synchronization between himself and the Eva was reduced. She quickly typed in a new series of code that was sent to Unit-01 in order to lessen the pain the boy was feeling.
"Synchronization has lowered to forty-two percent," Maya informed Ritsuko.
"What did you do, Hitode?" Ritsuko asked Fusei.
"Reducing the synchronization improves his chances of holding on until help arrives," she revealed her act to her, and the holographic displays of the Evas and the city itself began to face out. Please, pull through this, Shinji.
-x-
Unit-00 had arrived at Unit-01 before Unit-02 did, helping to push back up the Angel.
STAB! Unit-02 had finally arrived, its Prog. Knife in its hands, and stabbed the Angel in its core.
"Uuurgh!" They all heard the Angel react as its body became limp and fell on the Evas.
BOOM! It self-destructed and enveloped the city in a blinding light.
Fortunately, the explosion was contained by the AT-Fields of the Evas, leaving the city obscured by light for a few moments. When it ceased, the city was left unscathed…and the Evas were laying on the ground, minor singes on their armor…and Unit-01's right leg severed below the knee.
-x-
"What's the status of the pilots?" Misato asked Hyuga.
"They're in one piece," he answered her. "Ballsy move, reducing the synchronization of the Third Child, Hitode."
Fusei wiped her forehead sweat away and sighed.
"It depends on your definition of the term," she responded.
"Women with the balls to do what men can't," went Ritsuko.
"People that try to see alternatives of what's in front of them. Minimize the damage as much as possible. Whatever it takes to ensure the least amount of bloodshed."
"And if there's no alternative available?"
"There's always an alternative available. You just have to be open to the possibilities."
For some reason, Misato got the feeling that Fusei was vastly different from Ritsuko in more ways than one, particularly the woman's sense of morality and her work ethics. And her question about her belief in the Evas was an obvious one on her part; the woman had more faith in the people, not the weapons or was just more accepting of living people instead of man-made copies of the First Angel that caused Second Impact.
"You're an unusual woman, Ms. Hitode," Ritsuko expressed.
"I'm an enigma half the time," Fusei responded. "Until I choose not to be."
-x-
Shinji groaned as he force-ejected the Entry Plug from the Eva, expelling the LCL and filling his lungs with hot air that was at least clean.
"Aaah…" He hissed as he climbed out of the plug and set his right leg onto the ground, feeling like it was stiff as it was when it fell asleep. "Stupid Angel and stupid synchronization needs."
He fell to the ground and looked up at the sky.
"You idiot!" He heard Asuka shout at him. "You nearly blew the whole mission, Third!"
The redhead, rather than accepting the success of the mission against the Angel, was looking for an excuse to vent her frustration out on Shinji.
"Asuka, this is completely unnecessary," he told her as she stood over him.
"You hesitated for a total of three seconds! Three seconds between either total success or failure!"
"Asuka…"
"What were you thinking in that length of time?! I mean, what, were you thinking about that woman from earlier?!"
He looked up at her and answered, "Yes, I was thinking about her…and I was thinking about what you said to her regarding the Eva and what you feel inside it. It's disturbing and cruel, the way you answered her question. You claim to feel nothing when you pilot it, that you don't feel fear from possibly causing more harm as you face an Angel, and it's messed up. And you have some nerve to speak like that."
Asuka didn't like how he used what she had said earlier against her like that. Just because she gave her answer on such a trivial matter, she felt that he wasn't entitled to call her out or criticize her on said piece of triviality.
"I don't know right now just who's worse than the rest of you," she told him. "You for your stupid hesitation, the First for having a defective prototype Eva…or that Hitode woman that some people think is after Dr. Akagi's job."
"If you're trying to pin blame on the would-be incompetence of others around you, Asuka, you're wrong for trying when it is a team effort that aided in saving the city, people's homes and lives today. We made sure they have something to come back to later…if they choose to come back at all."
"Oh, they'll come back. What choice do they have?"
-x-
Three seconds. Just three seconds worth of inactivity from Unit-01 before it moved to intercept the Angel. And it seemed like Fusei was one of the few that wasn't bothered by Shinji's minor hesitation due to simply thinking.
"…Although it ended in success, the mission could've gone the other way," she heard Ms. Katsuragi utter to her and Dr. Akagi as they stepped into an elevator with Mr. Kaji to meet the children at the Eva cages. "Is he going brain-dead or something?"
"No offense, Ms. Katsuragi," Fusei uttered, wanting her opinion heard, "but you sound like Ms. Soryu right now. You both sound like Shinji intentionally hesitated before moving in."
"You sound like you're soft on him on purpose, Ms. Hitode," Kaji expressed his opinion to her.
Fusei, on the left side of the elevator, looked at the only man opposite of her in said elevator and said, "You don't believe in positive reinforcement, do you? Simply yelling at someone younger than yourself and pointing out their flaws and errors like they're the only thing they do isn't only detrimental to their personal development, it's just plain cruel."
"No offense to your opinions, Hitode, but I have to agree with what Shinji once suggested about you," went Ritsuko to her. "You sound like you should have gone and had kids. You sound like a mother rather than a computer specialist or medical physician."
"None taken. To each their own."
"Or maybe…you're one for real…and you haven't told anyone yet."
Misato looked at Ritsuko and said, "That's hard to believe, coming from a woman that replaces people comfort with the presence of cats."
"No, really, she is."
The elevator then stopped on their destination and all but Fusei stepped out of it; what the faux-blond said really struck a personal nerve…and she had a suspicion that she knew just as much as she had discovered in such a short time that took her longer to find out.
Ritsuko noticed this and stayed behind to talk to her.
"You know, at first, I believed you were after my position," she told Fusei in the hall. "But that's not the case at all with you, is it? You're not even here to suck up to Commander Ikari or Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki. You're here for the boy. He's the only reason a woman like you bothered to come to work at NERV at all, isn't he?"
"What are you talking about?" Fusei tried to feign ignorance to her accusation.
"You can't fool me any longer, Ms. Hitode. I know I was ordered to disregard a recent discovery based off a rumor that started shortly after the Fifth Angel incident, but curiosity has a way of getting the better of people when they can't let go of the desire for the truth, the reason, behind the what, how or why, and there were some things that are either just meant to be found out…or kept further from being found out. You and the Third Child are the only two at NERV…and the whole of Tokyo-3…with the same blood type…and his mitochondrial DNA is a perfect match to yours."
"I'm sorry, I still don't understand what you're talking about."
Ritsuko looked around them…and then closed the two-feet distance in between them.
"You and Shinji are related," she told her. "Admit it. You're not like his aunt or a cousin or some other distant relative. You're his mother."
Even though she didn't express any sign of reaction to this accusation, Fusei did feel that this woman was going to jeopardize what she was here for.
"What are you implying and why would you imply that?" She asked her.
"Commander Ikari would go to great lengths to keep the truth hidden," she informed her. "Normally, I wouldn't have been bothered by such a matter, but that revolved around the fact that it was believed his mother was dead and no longer involved in his life. Yet, his mother isn't dead…and wants to be involved in his life. If he were to ever find out that the Third Child knows the truth, Commander Ikari would make sure he'd never leave, even if he wanted to."
"So, hypothetically speaking, Commander Ikari would want Shinji on a tight leash if a possible relative were to show up and find out what happened to him over time?"
"Hypothetically speaking, you're right."
"But, hypothetically speaking, that's only if Shinji knows the truth. And he doesn't yet."
"Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki realized this and was incarcerated for telling him only that his parents weren't his parents. If he were to discover that his real parents had somehow found out where he was and came back for him, things would become difficult for Commander Ikari."
"Which would require the truth to be hidden at any cost, even if it means lying to the boy or covering up a sudden disappearance, death or transfer."
Ritsuko got the feeling that Fusei had a Taser on her after Misato informed her that she had tased Kaji with one for trying to hit on her in an attempt to make the tactical officer jealous.
"If you want to tell him that his biological mother is here, I'd suggest you do it soon so that Commander Ikari can have no other alternative but to explain why he has no relation to the boy," Ritsuko defended her accusation to Fusei, stepping away from her.
Fusei didn't like this one bit, but had more or less promised that she would tell Shinji everything, and walked away.
-x-
Shinji was glad to be out of the Eva again after putting it back in the cage, but really wanted to wash off the LCL before meeting with Fusei. And he wanted to get as far away from Asuka, too, not wanting to engage in unnecessary conversation with her because her pride, her ego was getting irritating to him.
"Hey, Shinji," he heard Fusei on the umbilical bridge to his right. "I'm glad you're back."
"Thank you," he responded. "It's nice to see you here, too. Um, is it okay if I go wash up before talking about what you were trying to explain earlier?"
"Uh, yes, of course. Please, go wash up."
He slowly turned away, leaving the woman on the bridge.
Fusei turned to face the head and face of Unit-01, feeling an eerie sense of minor intimidation, and shuddered a little.
Get a grip, Fusei, she thought. You have every right to let him know that you're here for him, no matter what everyone says. And he has a right to know that he was taken from you.
-x-
Just as Gendo was getting ready for his brief time over in the South Pole's lifeless ocean to retrieve a relic necessary for the Instrumentality Project, he was stopped by Ritsuko, who seemed to have something to tell him.
"What is it?" He asked, on a tight schedule right now.
"It was no coincidence," she uttered. "It was an emotional urge, an instinctual drive. Fourteen years worth of patience that has clearly paid off."
"Would you care to elaborate?"
"Blood types weren't the only match between the two. She's his mother. His real mother. She couldn't deny it when I confronted her about it, even if she didn't say anything about the truth, except with hypotheticals. Now, the question becomes… Why did she come to see him after fourteen years…if she didn't just come to see him?"
Gendo didn't say anything regarding this new discovery, only that he would be gone for a few days. And then he walked away.
Ritsuko wasn't sure if he was even affected by this revelation, but it was clear to her that something was off with what she thought was a truth about the pilots and the Evas. If it wasn't the lack of a mother/child bond that was required, then it was something else entirely, something that perverts such a bond between a mother and her child.
-x-
With a better stench than that of LCL, Shinji stepped out of the men's locker room and into the hallway. He was looking forward to finally hearing from Ms. Hitode now that there were no longer any distractions in the way.
"Hey," he heard her say to him upon finding her around a corner in the hall.
"Hey," he responded.
"How do you feel?"
"I feel fine now."
"That's…that's good to hear from you. Really, it is."
"Thank you."
There was something about the way she seemed interested in talking to him, like there was a reason to her questions about his background that wasn't revolving around his status as an Eva pilot or facing the Angels. He couldn't understand why this seemed so.
"Well…you said you were looking for someone?" He asked her.
"Yeah," she answered him. "For a long time. Maybe we should sit down. I really want for you to not feel shocked as much."
There was a bench beside them and they sat down.
"I was looking for you, Shinji," she explained.
"Why me?" He asked.
"After Mr. Fuyutsuki showed up that day and told you that your parents weren't really your parents…and before I even showed up here at all…I was looking for you for fourteen years."
"Fourteen years? But I was just a… And you must have been at least… What are you saying, exactly, Ms. Hitode?"
"Your blood type doesn't match Mr. Ikari's. In fact, your blood type doesn't match anyone here."
"But…my blood type is A-Positive."
"Are you sure about that?"
"Yes. I mean, it says so on my medical file."
"Except…I checked your blood type myself, Shinji, and it's actually AB-Negative, the same as mine."
"Meaning what, Ms. Hitode?"
Fusei slowly brought up her hands, but then placed them on her lap.
"I was thirteen when I got pregnant, Shinji," she revealed to him. "I was fourteen when Second Impact occurred. Tokyo was devastated and a lot of people got hurt, including my boyfriend, the love of my life. Before he died, I had a boy. It was difficult because of my left leg being broken due to fallen debris. It was three days later, upon waking up from a dead sleep, I saw something that was painful to experience, let alone watch. I saw two shadows departing with my baby…and I haven't been able to find him ever since…until today."
Shinji wanted to believe that this woman had become delusional and was trying to make a convincing story to sell him, but Ms. Hitode just seemed too much of an honest person to make up a false belief.
"What makes you think I'm who you're looking for?" He questioned.
"You remember that night at the ramen stand?" She reminded him. "It was after you left. I took your chopsticks and ran the DNA on the saliva you left on them. A friend of mine ran it against mine…and he called me with the results, which he wouldn't lie to me about. Do you know what mitochondrial DNA is?"
"No."
"That's the DNA one only gets from their family's maternal side, passable only by the mother. We both have the same mitochondrial DNA, Shinji."
Time seemed to pause for a brief moment around Shinji, permitting him only a moment to wrap his head around all this information that Ms. Hitode was sharing with him. Mitochondrial DNA, something that you only receive from your mother's side of the family, the sub-commander telling him that the Ikaris weren't his relatives, Ms. Hitode being a teenager by the time she started her entrance to motherhood, Second Impact, her boyfriend being dead, and the truth that was being revealed. All he knew before this was that he had no memory of what his mother, a woman he had thought was his, looked like because a man he thought was his father had disposed of every picture, and now he was beside a woman that claimed to be the one that breathed life into him, that carried him under her heart.
"I don't really expect you to accept all of this at once," Fusei told him, looking away from his face. "I just want you to know that I have spent your whole life trying to find you, to be a part of your life, whatever size that part may be. Because…I grew up knowing that a mother never forgets about her child…and should never not be there in case they need her."
Except Shinji was trying to take this all in at once, trying to understand what was truth and what he had thought was the truth. And why he felt such a positive feeling whenever he was around this woman. He knew he shouldn't have tried to, to simply take it a day at a time, but he found it hard right now.
"Ikari-Kun," they heard Rei Ayanami a few feet away from them, still in her plugsuit. "Doctor Akagi requests your presence."
Shinji sighed and got up. He was going to ask Ms. Hitode something that might have explained much to him, but the fact that he was reminded how Dr. Akagi wasn't very patient with most people would have meant that he had to go see her immediately. As he turned to face Ms. Hitode, who was getting up herself, and couldn't help but give her a smile and a wave before walking away.
-x-
"…Since your synchronization had to be reduced in order to keep the Angel at bay," Ritsuko explained the reason for this unscheduled meeting with Shinji, "I need to make sure you're not experiencing any side-effects of what happened in the Eva."
Sitting in a chair beside a tray of medical instruments, the Third Child sighed and expressed, "Actually, it was only because of the reduction in the synchronization that I didn't have a splitting headache or lose sensation in my hands. It was probably Ms. Hitode that had a hand in the reduction, right?"
"That's right," went Misato, who was in the room with them. "She might've actually saved you from neural overload by reducing the synchronization."
Ritsuko took an ophthalmoscope and shined a light in his left eye.
"Any double vision?" She asked him.
"No, ma'am," he answered.
"Seeing things that aren't there?"
"No."
"What about hearing voices others can't?"
"Nope."
"Anything recent that has happened to you lately? Anything at all?"
"Just…speaking with Ms. Hitode."
"That's all?"
"That's all."
Misato then uttered, "Ritsuko here has told me something that she felt would have a dark impact on you if the mission to take out the Angel didn't go well that involved the new lady in your life."
"Huh?" Shinji reacted.
"Whatever Ms. Hitode might've told you, you'd do best to believe her," said Ritsuko to him.
"What are you talking about?" He asked her.
"Heh… She tried the exact same thing when I tried confronting her about it."
"I really don't know what you're talking about."
"Didn't she say anything to you that might've explained what the sub-commander told you?" Misato asked him.
"Even if she had, I'm sure it would've been viewed as trying to take advantage of someone who didn't know what was true," Shinji responded, trying to be logical and honest. "Like someone saying they spent a long time looking for people and then claiming they were looking for you."
"Shinji, we know what's really going on with you two," Misato clarified to him. "If she told you anything about heritage or genetic relations, it pretty much reveals all."
But Shinji wasn't convinced just yet that they did know what was going on with them.
"Try and humor me, then," he tried. "What is it that you think is going on between us?"
"I ran her DNA to compare against yours, and the results were conclusive for a mitochondrial match," explained Ritsuko to him. "Mitochondrial DNA is inherited from the…"
"The mother's side of the family," Shinji cut her off, sighing. "She had explained that to me earlier."
"That confirmed that she's…that she's your… She's your biological mother, Shinji." Misato expressed.
So they knew, as well, and it was both startling and unbelievable that he had been told…and how hard it was to process this.
"But…I was always told my mother was dead," he explained. "I mean, I always thought she was dead because I don't have a picture of her or anything…and my… That man wouldn't tell me anything about her… So I always…"
"It's more than likely you were just led to believe in that, Shinji," Misato cut him off. "Rits here ran your DNA to find any relation to the Ikaris, and there wasn't any. Whatever the truth behind this all, Fusei's your mother…and…you should let her know that you believe her. We'll deal with any other matters later on."
"I…I… What should I say to her? She's spent my whole life looking for me…and we don't even know each other very well."
"Well, just talking to each other is a good way to start," went Ritsuko, giving him a clean bill of health.
Shinji got up and left out the room afterward, none the clear-headed because of the revelation he had gotten from three women today. He was having a difficult time trying to deal with what he learned of to be truth and breaking much of what he had been led to believe was the truth for a long time. A man he had believed…and hated knowing most of the time to be his father wasn't his father, a dead woman that wasn't his mother, and a woman he had only met a few days ago revealing herself to be his mother. He wasn't sure if he wanted to believe the new truth or think this all as nothing more than a weird dream he was unable to wake up from.
-x-
"…Still hard to believe," said Misato to Ritsuko, looking at a small monitor that displayed Shinji and Fusei's pictures and DNA. "She's his mother. It's insane."
"Yes, but DNA doesn't lie. People can lie about DNA, even fabricate it if they want to lie, but this is truth here. And because of it, it brings into question why there's no indication that the Third Child was adopted by the Ikaris or obtained through some sort of surrogacy attempt."
"Yeah, that's an interesting thing to know about. If there's nothing to indicate either of those, then what was Shinji doing with people he has no relation to?"
"There's only one other possibility that could explain why. He was kidnapped and passed off as Commander Ikari's son."
"Kidnapping? But that's a major crime, punishable by life in prison or the death sentence. Why risk those extremes by kidnapping a child?"
"The only people that could tell you…are the ones that committed the crime."
To be continued…
A/N: What do you think now? Surprised? Of course, this wasn't going to be happy just yet, but now Shinji's aware of the relationship between himself and Fusei and will likely know who his real father was and what happened to him.