Creation began on 07-30-17
Creation ended on 09-25-17
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Jealousy and Betrayal, Hate and Desire
Fusei walked to her car and sighed before she got inside it. This was the second time she had dinner with her son…and it was nice. Sure, his guardian was a woman that had to cut back on her beer intake, was his commanding officer and they didn't get along in the beginning, but she gave both individuals the benefit of the doubt. Nobody is ever perfect, not even a woman of her status…and perfection is just another flaw.
Still, she thought as she drove away, things could have gone better or worse than what they are. I'm relieved that they didn't get any worse.
Then, just because she felt she needed to, she looked up at the rear view mirror and noticed a Sedan behind her…and became curious; they weren't common around this city…and Section Two was the only group that used them. She wasn't even eight blocks away from her apartment and this had to start up her concerns as an adult.
Let's see how this plays out, she thought, turning left on the road when the traffic lights were green.
To her disgust, the Sedan followed her. So once she drove down three blocks, she turned right to see if it would do so again.
You son of a bitch, Fusei frowned upon the fact that she was now convinced she was being tailed by a Section Two Sedan, likely setup by Gendo. Surely, there are ways to settle this subtly and without the need for such unnecessary actions.
Unfortunately, she had to assume that Gendo (or anyone like him, for that matter) was not into subtlety and actually preferred methods of these sorts if it meant removing whoever or whatever he perceived to be a threat to himself. This meant that even when she had no plans of her own on how to deal with him properly and just spend time with her son, he would rather have her dealt with to ensure that she couldn't deal with him at all.
-x-
For once, Misato was quite impressed by Shinji insisting that she go return Fusei's cellphone to her after discovering that she left it on her way out. Since the woman needed her phone, it was necessary for her to have it in case of an emergency.
And she's on the other side of the city? She thought, driving to a stoplight.
Suddenly, a dark blue Prius, identical to the one owned by the Hitode woman, drove down the other street in front of Misato's Renault, followed by a black Sedan that seemed to be tailing it.
"Huh?!" She gasped, deciding to follow the cars. "If she had her phone, I'd ask if that was her."
-x-
The place was probably the worst part of the city, but Fusei had no time to complain about it. At least the heavy construction had ended hours earlier in the day as she drove behind a crane and turned off the engine.
Now I'm hungry again, she thought as she took out her Taser gun. Try and get me, you security thugs.
A short while came and went before she saw the Sedan drive past her, and as much as she wanted to sigh a breath of relief, she felt she couldn't just yet. Then another car drove by, a blue Renault with a few dents and scrapes.
Misato? She wondered, seeing the Renault stop a few feet away and the driver's side door open up to reveal its owner stepping out. What is she doing out here?
She then got out of her car and slowly came out of hiding.
"What are you doing out here?" She asked Misato.
"I could ask the same of you," the purple-haired woman countered. "You left your phone when you left, and Shinji insisted that I make sure you get it back in case of an emergency."
Misato handed over the iPhone.
"Thank you," Fusei praised her. "I think I was being followed by Section Two."
"They're the only ones that drive Sedans," Misato informed. "But why follow you? What purpose does that serve? Their primary priority is just to keep watch over the children."
"Primarily, meaning they're capable of other decisions that don't include such a responsibility. I assume they were doing so because of Gendo."
"You really think he would go that far?"
"With him, like anyone else alive, he's capable of anything if he feels he can…and he does not like that everyone now knows the truth…even if it is in various shades."
"Or he's definitely afraid of really having to fight you. More than half the base already feels that a showdown between you two is bound to be epic."
"Epic? Really? I'd rather assault him through legal actions than to punch his face in."
Smash! Something shattered near Misato's legs, startling the two women.
Fusei looked down at what was broken…and it was a…saucer plate.
What the heck? She thought.
Smash! Something else shattered near her legs this time, and they both saw that it was a pair of bowls.
Misato looked up and saw somebody throwing down things.
"Hey!" She yelled at them. "What's the big idea?!"
But as Fusei looked up and got a good look at the assailant, she pulled Misato away just in time to avoid the next plate.
"Does Rei Ayanami live around here?" She asked her.
"What? Yeah, she lives around here. Why?"
"It was her throwing plates and bowls at us."
"What?! Are you sure?"
Smash! A bowl was thrown down and it smashed the front window of Misato's Renault.
"Aaah!" Misato gasped.
"Get in your car and drive to my place," Fusei told her, and ran back to her Prius.
-x-
Watching as the Renault and Prius drove away, Rei looked as irritable as Asuka did most of the time, only her irritation was directed at the Hitode woman. Her goal to remove her was being thrown off…and now she would have to take more drastic measures.
She is unnecessary, she thought, almost fuming over her insufficient aim, which prevented her from hitting the woman's head. She is no further use, anymore.
-x-
They reached Fusei's building and Misato got out of her car to face Fusei.
"You're sure that was Rei throwing plates and bowls at us?" She asked her.
"Blue hair, chalky skin," Fusei described their would-be attacker. "Is there anyone else fitting such a description belonging to her?"
"But four floors above us? And at night?"
"I'm told I got my father's sight."
"Okay. Although I disbelieve in the possibility of Rei attacking us with…with kitchenware… Just tell me why she would do something like that?"
"If I knew more about her, I'd probably have an answer. I'll be honest, but Ms. Ayanami's background records are completely bogus, and I say this only because I've dealt with incomplete files before. Miss Soryu and Mr. Aida have the most complete records out of the children, Shinji's are only half-true, but Ms. Ayanami's are more-or-less absent from records. No date of birth, no blood type classification, no list of a medical history, no fingerprints, not even background names of any relatives or next of kin. It's like she doesn't even exist."
It was among the coldest of truths, and Misato knew it. Even when she should've been curious about the lack of information regarding Rei, she up and overlooked it. Mainly, because it was either Ritsuko…or Commander Ikari that seemed to know more about Rei than anyone else did. Out of all the pilots, the First Child was the only one who was the enigma among them.
"I should press Ritsuko to tell me everything she knows about Rei," she told Fusei.
"Will she even divulge?"
"I'll make her divulge if I have to."
-x-
As he walked off the plane and into the airport, the last patriarch of the Ikari sighed as he looked around himself, seeing very few people that would actually want to come to Tokyo-3.
"What a pity," he told himself, "but at least the taxi service is still in business."
He pulled his roll-along suitcase with him to the front of the building to hail a taxi to get him and take him to a hotel.
-x-
"…Ayanami?" Shinji responded to Misato's revelation of her and Fusei's minor encounter with the albino girl when she returned home. "But…why would she attack you two?"
It was natural for Shinji to be unsure of who he thought he knew did what (or tried to do what) to who somewhere else, but to hear that Rei Ayanami actually threw dishware at his mother was something he had some difficulty believing.
"I didn't get a good look at the culprit, but your mother did," Misato explained, "and she was certain that it was Rei. She's the only person we know that lives in that area."
"So, First actually threw dishes at y'all?" Asuka questioned. "What would make her do something as crazy as that?"
But then the redhead thought back to the last time she actually spoke with the albino…and suspected something that might've added up to the reason.
"She doesn't believe Fusei's your mother," she explained, "that she's playing at your desires to belong."
"But…that's crazy," Shinji responded. "She must've seen the DNA comparisons and everything. She has to know that there's no lying going on here."
"Either she knows or doesn't know," went Misato, "or simply refuses to accept the truth. Ritsuko's told and showed over a quarter of the base personnel the DNA matches and those people have told others. It's beyond a doubt that by now, the whole base knows the truth. So, Rei must be disbelieving of it of her own volition."
Or maybe because Commander Ikari told her to disbelieve the truth, thought Asuka.
But Shinji still had his doubts on why Rei would…deliberately…attack his mother like that. Even though he hadn't known her for so long since he arrived in Tokyo-3, he'd not known her to attack anyone, regardless of whether or not she was attacked, verbally or physically.
-x-
The next day at the base, Gendo, in his office, received a phone call from Ritsuko.
"Yes, what is it?" He asked her.
"He's here now, sir," Ritsuko informed.
"Alright, bring him in."
"Yes, sir."
He hung up and returned to his brooding over the printouts of the DNA comparisons on his desk. Suddenly, the door to his office opened and two people stepped inside.
Ritsuko Akagi and Gendo's father-in-law stopped in front of his desk.
"Shojiki Ikari, sir," she introduced.
"You're dismissed," Gendo told her, and she left the room. "You look well."
"And you're as unruly as ever," the man, Shojiki, responded. "Do you have any idea of the ramifications this discovery has caused? The disgrace it has made worse?"
"Nobody was supposed to know about this."
"You knew. Yui knew. I never pictured either of you capable of such an unforgivable act. You didn't even try to do things legally, did you?"
"Everything was still unstable…"
"The Hell with unstable, Gendo. It doesn't even matter to me why you and Yui did what you did, it disgusts me that I had to find out like this. That I had to be informed that a young man I've never even met isn't really my daughter's son, that she…and her…disgraceful embarrassment of a husband…just go and steal someone else's baby."
"We thought she was dead. She should've been dead."
"No, you wanted to believe that she was dead. So now, I ask…what have you done so far to rectify your crime?"
"The situation will be dealt with in due time."
"You're either going to settle this morally, legally and professionally…or just cover up one crime with another crime…and that will not do."
"It is futile to settle with legal action."
"If you can't deal with this the right way, you only prove that I was right about you from the very beginning. You are completely irresponsible and egotistical. You, my daughters, all three of you have disgraced the Ikari name with your misbegotten behavior. Disgrace, dishonor, devastation. Don't even waste your breath. I'm dealing with the matter myself."
"No, you stay out of this," Gendo told him.
Like I'd ever listen to the likes of you, he thought. "Or else what? You'll kill me? You and I both know what would happen if you so much as tried to do that."
And as much as Gendo hated his father-in-law (and the feeling was more than mutual), he knew that anything that would indicate a hit on Shojiki Ikari would result in a harsher penalty than what he could've expected from his current situation with the Third Child…and the Hitode woman.
"Unlike you, I don't have an axe to grind with anyone I don't like for selfish reasons," Shojiki expressed; this was a hard truth, since he demonstrated no cruelty towards others, whether he liked them or despised them…and refused to give mistreatment to those that did nothing wrong to him or others. "I will resolve this troubling matter myself. You do…what you're only known for doing. Try and practice some decency."
He then turned and vacated the office, leaving Gendo to fume over being told to stand aside.
When he was gone, Ritsuko returned.
"I take it that went well," she spoke.
-x-
"…Are you alright?" Shinji asked Fusei as he found her in the medical ward.
"Yes, I'm fine," she answered him, setting down a pack of surgical gloves in a cabinet. "How are you?"
"Trying not to believe that Ayanami did what I was told she did last night…until I've confronted her about it, that is."
Fusei didn't put much thought into such a possibility, but was wondering if Shinji had some degree of attraction towards the albino girl. This…and her previous encounter with Rei…made her worry that she was putting Shinji into a difficult position between the two of them, which she hadn't considered; she had been so focused on trying to find him that she didn't think much about how he was handling the situation of their relationship taken in by others. She was willing to handle it with Gendo (and whoever helped him and his wife to take Shinji), so she should've been just as willing to help her son with the girl if he needed.
"I'm sorry about this all, Shinji," she apologized to him.
"Sorry for what?" He asked her. "You didn't know. How could you have known? Even I didn't know. You…you can't predict everyone's actions and reactions. That's impossible. Don't be sorry. I'm glad that you're here."
"Ikari-Kun," they both turned and looked at the entrance to the room, seeing the albino girl, but were surprised by the look of her eyes. "Why are you here?"
It wasn't like she put on contact lenses or had dark circles under them. No, it was like they were full of some degree of disgust or resentment…or malice, even. It was as though…Rei Ayanami was full of hatred…towards Fusei…just for being around Shinji.
"Ayanami," he spoke. "I was about to come find you…"
"Why are you here?" She asked again, cutting him off, and then pointed towards Fusei. "Talking to her? Why is she here?"
This was new from Rei. She was never this direct before. It was…disturbing.
"I'm within my rights to talk to her if I choose to, Ayanami," Shinji defended. "And she does work here, helping to keep us alive."
"She will eventually become unnecessary, of no use to anyone."
He wasn't even sure why, but Shinji felt like the girl had threatened his mother, just like how Commander Ikari had threatened her in front of him.
"I'm sorry, Ayanami…but was that a threat?" He asked her, feeling like he was supposed to be upset.
"No," she answered him. "It's a warning."
As she walked away, Shinji sighed as he placed his right hand on his chest, just over his heart. He never thought he could feel like he wanted to throttle the girl that he didn't want to believe had thrown dishes at his mother and Misato last night. He didn't want to believe that she had been capable of such an attempt…but now he couldn't deny the possibility…and he wanted to know why.
"I'll be right back," he told Fusei and went after Ayanami.
-x-
"…So, whenever he's not looking, people give him the evil eye?" Asuka asked Kaji, who was informing her of one of the newer results of the revelation of Commander Ikari's non-paternal relation with the Third Child and Dr. Hitode's maternal relation.
"It's certainly adding into the fact that he's not a well-liked person," the unshaven man explained. "If anything, this makes Shinji a pitiable young man whose mother is trying to get back in his life."
"That baka's mother's gonna have a bull's-eye painted on her back if that man's pushed over the edge."
You don't know the half of it, Asuka, Kaji thought, fearing for the Hitode woman. The sooner this thing with the Angels is over, the sooner she and Shinji can get outta here.
As they entered the Eva cages, they stopped walking due to the presence of a man that stood in front of Unit-01, looking up at the purple behemoth.
"Who is that?" Asuka asked Kaji.
"Never met him before," he responded.
The guy was old, but still fit enough to walk around, his graying, ebony hair doing nothing much to cast doubts about his stability. But the expression on his face was that of contorted disgust.
"So many years," they heard him utter. "Too many years…and too many people suffering because of the both of you. It's terrifying to comprehend. But then again, I doubt that you had any clarity in your conscience that was morality. And for what? What was it all for?"
He then walked away, and the two walked over to where he stood previously in front of Unit-01.
"What's going on here?" Asuka questioned.
"Who knows for sure?" Kaji spoke.
-x-
"…Ayanami!" Shinji called out to the albino girl as she walked out onto the NERV garden. "I want to know the truth! Did you do what they say you did last night?"
The girl turned to face him…and it was the first time ever that Shinji saw how her expression change to one of contempt, mirroring the expression of Commander Ikari.
"Who says I did what last night?" She asked him.
He was momentarily caught off guard by her, but stood his ground in front of her.
"Misato told me that you threw dishes at her and Dr. Hitode," he told her. "You…tried to hit one or both of them. Did you do so?"
The First Child's only thought of the Third Child trying to confirm for himself what happened last night…was how much she despised the woman who came in between them and threatened to take him away when the Angels were all defeated. And there was no way she could allow the boy to leave, no matter what happened…even when she herself didn't know the reason to why.
"And suppose that I did?" She uttered to him. "Doctor Hitode is becoming unnecessary to NERV. Her presence here will eventually be of no use to anyone."
It wasn't so much how she said it, but the way she said it, like she was echoing how someone else said something disturbingly similar about someone else…and she picked up on it.
"She's my mother, Ayanami," he told her, pretty much confirming that she did do what Misato said she did last night. "She's my mother…and she did nothing wrong to anyone to warrant some sort of outrage against her. You gave me a warning…and now I'm giving you one: Don't cross lines you can't uncross that will drive more than a wedge between people. I don't want to see something cruel happen to good people that don't deserve pain."
Then, as he walked away, Rei felt crossed by Shinji telling her, in a small way, not to do anything towards the Hitode woman. And she knew that this was something that couldn't be handled subtly. No, this was one that needed to be handled…with brutal certainty.
"Everything happens as it must," she told herself; she wasn't sure why, but those words seemed to echo someone else who used them.
-x-
"Shojiki Ikari?" Misato questioned Ritsuko, being informed of the mystery man along with Asuka and Kaji; Fusei and Shinji were elsewhere in the base.
"Yeah," the faux-blond explained; while she wasn't ordered to withhold information regarding Shojiki, she wasn't going to hide such information from the others now, either. "He's Commander Ikari's father-in-law. From what I could ascertain, he found out about the situation regarding Shinji and is here to rectify it."
"I'm sorry, rectify?" Asuka spoke; she got the feeling that such a word had a completely different meaning than what it normally meant.
"Apparently, Commander Ikari is unable or unwilling to resolve the matter with Ms. Hitode legally, so Shojiki is here to do it."
"I wonder how that will turn out?" Kaji suspected.
"Maybe he'll want to talk to Fusei first," Misato suggested.
Suddenly, the alarms went off and they got the feeling that such a possible meeting between the two was likely going to have to wait until later.
"Can't we ever get a break that lasts longer than just a few days?" Asuka requested. "How many Angels are left now?"
"After the most recent Angel attack," Ritsuko revealed, "there should be only two left."
"That's generous to know," Kaji told them. "After this, only one will remain."
"Not all that generous. Our current combat roster is one pilot and Eva short."
There was no way that Shinji was getting back in Unit-01 after the last battle. And the use of the Dummy System was unlikely to work on the purple behemoth if it refused to fall in line.
-x-
"…I'm not so keen on what's mentioned about angels," said Shinji as he stood on the bridge with Fusei and the rest of Central Dogma, looking at the latest Angel, "but why does this Angel seem like it's part of something much bigger than itself?"
"Because it looks like a giant halo, Shinji," Fusei informed him; the woman had done her homework a long time ago about angels and what they often looked like in the eyes of others. "The previous Angel resembled large wings, similar to the wings of an angel from certain religious beliefs."
"Messengers of God?" He questioned.
"Yes."
"This is weird right now. Why are these Angels starting to…look like they're pieces of traditional angels all of the sudden?"
The Bridge Bunnies and most of the rest of the command center got curious about why the remaining Angels started to look the way they were instead of as strange monsters.
The strategy was thus: Units-00 and 02 were to eliminate the Angel before it could reach the city. Unit-01 was officially on suspension since Shinji's synchronization with it was now in the leagues of useless, and Gendo had no choice but to accept this.
"Who's taking point?" Shinji asked Misato.
"Asuka is," she answered him.
Just outside the city limits, the floating, ring-like Angel did nothing more than be an eyesore. But unlike the previous Angel, it hadn't done anything unexpected yet.
Suddenly, the Angel collapsed onto itself, solidifying the light it emanated, and broke apart into a string-like form, propelling towards Unit-00!
Pierce! It attached to the blue Eva and caused vein-like protrusions to form under its armored hide.
The Eva grabbed the other end of the target and used its rifle to shoot it.
Bang! Bang! The rifle fired, but the Angel continued to persist without so much as a scratch.
"Asuka, quick!" Misato shouted.
The red Eva ran over to the blue Eva, but the other end of the Angel expanded into eight ends and almost grabbed the red Eva.
"Whoa!" Asuka gasped, dodging the ends and backing away.
She tried to shoot at it again with the rifle, but the bullets bounced off wherever they hit or missed completely. There was no way bullets were going to work on this Angel.
"Any alternatives? I'm open to alternatives!" Asuka shouted.
"We're sending you the Dual Saw," Misato responded, and a section of the street opened up to reveal a large weapon with the NERV logo on it.
-x-
Rei found herself in a vast place that seemed to be made of LCL. In front of her was someone that looked exactly like herself, standing a feet above the large pool of LCL she was in, but her hair obscured her face.
"Do you wish to unite with me," the lookalike Rei asked.
"No," Rei responded, but then realized something that she hadn't noticed before: The face that had been obscured by the hair was no longer obscured.
The Rei above the LCL was really her…and the one in it was the lookalike.
"Are you the Angel?" She asked the lookalike in the LCL.
"Angel? Am I of the ones you call Angels? Yes, I am." The girl answered her. "You are angry at her."
"Angry? Her? What do you mean?"
Around them, the dark orange surroundings shifted into images of Fusei Hitode. The woman's interactions with none other than the Third Child made the albino girl displeased.
"You're angry," the Angel reiterated to her. "Your anger is directed at this person…who has been trying to find her child for many years, ever since he was taken from her."
"She is not his mother!" Rei raised her voice. "What everyone says about her being so is nothing more than a falsehood!"
"Even when there is proof of their blood ties to one another? Even though the evidence is incontrovertible, you choose to disregard what has been expressed as the truth? Why is that?"
Even Rei found herself unable to respond to the question she was asked. All she knew was that she didn't like the woman for being around the boy, for being the center of attention in his mind. Oh, how it infuriated her. Oh, how it made her feel sick and disgusted by their relationship.
"Ikari-Kun's mother is deceased," Rei declared her belief, "and if this woman continues to make her claim at being his mother, then I'll make sure she's deceased, too."
"You would take his mother from him, just like that?" The Angel asked her.
"I would."
"Out of hatred towards her?"
"Yes."
"Knowing that you would be hurting the boy by doing so?"
Rei thought about Shinji, how he would feel if he lost the Hitode woman, but decided that she would've done so, regardless of his reactions to the outcome.
"Everything happens as it must," she declared.
"So, you would hurt him by doing this?"
"Yes."
-x-
Asuka found this Angel to be the most bizarre enemy to mankind so far. Not only was it able to penetrate the AT-Field of an Eva, it was able to take control of the Dual Saw and use it against Unit-02. Right now, she wouldn't have minded a little backup from another Eva.
If you're going to do something, Wonder Girl, I would suggest that you do it now, she thought, having to jump out of the way from the Dual Saw again for the sixth time.
Within the Geo-Front, Shinji was a little tempted to go against the order and try to pilot the Eva to help the girls, but knew that by the time he would eventually get out there, the situation would likely just escalate further out of control.
-x-
"Why do you want to hurt him by removing his mother from his life?" The Angel asked Rei, as veins formed under her plugsuit and on her face.
"She threatens to take him away," she answered, "and he will choose to go with her instead of stay."
"Yet, it is his right to choose whether or not to be with her, regardless of the opinions of others."
"Not when he has a role to fulfill later on. Until then, he has no say in what he does."
"Yet, because he has free will, which is considered a double-edged sword because it serves us as much as it stands to defy others, he can decide whether or not he has a say in all that he does, no matter who disagrees with him. You, nor anyone else, can make his decisions for him and expect him to simply agree with the outcome."
"I will show you," Rei told the Angel, "and then you will die."
-x-
"…Asuka, quick," Misato ordered the pilot of Unit-02. "Return to base. We're going to use an N² bomb against this Angel."
When Unit-02 jumped out of the way of the Dual Saw for the tenth time because of the Angel, the enemy released the weapon and was retracting into Unit-00.
"Misato, what's going on?" Asuka asked the purple-haired woman.
"Ritsuko!" Misato demanded.
"The bio-fusion between the Angel and Unit-00…is progressing too fast…and the AT-Field is suppressed," the faux-blond revealed.
On the displays, the blue Eva began bulging out in his torso and limbs, dents and cracks and veiny protrusions forming all over it.
"Unit-00's self-destruct sequence has been activated," uttered Maya, now worried about Rei. "The core has begun deteriorating."
Before Misato (or even Gendo, for that matter) could order Rei to evacuate the Eva, the back of the blue behemoth burst open and shot out the Entry Plug.
"Asuka, expand your AT-Field to full power!" The purple-haired woman ordered; NERV had to try to contain as much of the explosion that was to come as possible to minimize the potential damage to the city, even if it seemed impossible.
Unit-02 got back up and spread its arms out as its AT-Field was expanded.
BLAST! The blue Eva self-destructed, taking the Angel with it along with as much of everything else around it as it could.
The entire city was bathed in blinding light as it covered all
Shinji and Fusei covered their eyes to shield their vision.
When the light died down, the end result was a large, smoldering hole in the ground that exposed much of the Geo-Front to the world, a singed city that looked like it had experienced second-degree burns on many of the skyscrapers, and a partially-singed Unit-02, having fallen to its back due to the intensity of the explosion. But fortunately, the damaged had been minimized by the red behemoth, and the city was stand standing.
"The Angel…has been terminated," said Maya to the rest of Central Dogma, bothered by what happened. "Blue pattern is gone."
"And…what of the Eva?" Misato questioned.
"Unit-00…is also gone."
"What about…the pilot?" Ritsuko asked her.
"The First Child escaped from the explosion," she answered.
-x-
It was a bold move on her part, but Rei had to defeat the Angel by any means necessary, which included sacrificing Unit-00. Even if it meant being unable to continue fighting the Angels, this would enable her to do something else with her time, such as keeping tabs on Shinji and Fusei. She would go to extremes to ensure that they were separated from one another, no matter what.
I will separate the two, even if it means one of them suffers an accident, she thought, losing consciousness; it would be a matter of time before she was rescued by NERV.
-x-
"Are you alright, Asuka?" Shinji asked the redhead as he saw her in the hall on her way to the women's locker room.
"As okay as one can be," she stated, "considering that the First Child up and detonated her Eva, defeating the penultimate Angel, while nearly destroying the city and rendering everyone in it homeless. What was she thinking?"
"Whatever she had to do to stop the Angel."
"Except she did so without warning, and without even being ordered to. I mean, she's all…all…"
"All what, Asuka?"
Asuka then expressed, "The girl's all creepy more than half the time."
Shinji then responded, "She's only creepy when she didn't show emotion on her face…but lately, she has been…unpleasant to talk to. And then, there's her dislike of my mother."
"Yeah, she's been very uptight about Ms. Hitode, like she feels threatened by her or something."
"Threatened by her? She hasn't exactly threatened anyone beyond Mr. Kaji when he tried to hit on her and she tazed him…and that man. There's no reason for her to threaten Ayanami."
"Someone should tell her that before she does something that is beyond herself."
Shinji sighed and stated that he gave Rei a warning of not to cross lines she couldn't uncross…and Asuka was surprised to hear this.
"You think she did it?" She asked him.
"Well, she didn't exactly broadcast her guilt…but yes. Yes, I think she did. And after what she said about my mother… She has left me bothered by her behavior towards others."
"What did she say?"
"That she's becoming unnecessary…and will eventually be of no use to anyone."
Asuka thought on those choice of words used by the albino girl…and couldn't help but feel like they were something only a sadistic or megalomaniac person would say. But she didn't tell Shinji this; she felt he had more than enough things of his own to worry about.
-x-
"…We've found the plug! Over here by the trees!" Rei heard a voice yell out as she came to.
The sound of the emergency hatch being pried open as her vision cleared up was heard and she had to cover her eyes with her left hand due to someone shining a light on her face.
"The First Child is alive!" Someone else revealed.
Outside of the plug, a perimeter was setup and the group of NERV personnel present were in hazmat suits and carrying sub-machine guns.
Ritsuko was also present as the First Child was being extracted from the plug. This was going to be a problem that Gendo was going to get on her case about now that they were down to just one working Evangelion and one pilot.
"Orders, Dr. Akagi?" One of the men asked her.
"Take the First Child back to base for a seventy-two-hour psych evaluation," she told him.
As the girl was being moved away from the plug on a stretcher, the faux-blond saw her face…and mentally reeled back from her expression of rage. It was really disturbing to see her exhibit any emotion of the sort.
Why do I get the feeling that Fusei's been marked by the girl? She thought.
-x-
Shojiki looked around the small, medical storage space as he waited for Ms. Hitode to show up, seeing how less than half the money funding NERV seemed to be spent on barely helping the people rather than being more helpful, even if they didn't know.
NERV's no better than GEHIRN was when they started out, he sighed as he looked at the way the medical supplies were organized. At least whoever did this has more sense.
"Excuse me, sir," he heard a woman's voice behind him. "Are you Shojiki Ikari?"
He turned around and saw Ms. Hitode…and nodded that he was whom she was asking.
"Miss Hitode?" He spoke.
"Fusei," she uttered her name. "You…requested to see me earlier?"
"I did."
It felt strange to be meeting with the actual mother of the boy he had never met that he had been duped into believing was his grandson, but Shojiki could see in her a kindness and warmth that he wouldn't have seen in other women that went down the road to maternity, even if it either rarely showed or was being shown recently.
"I guess you've heard by now that I am Gendo's father-in-law," he explained to her.
"Yes, I have," she responded, deciding to sit down on the nearby stool in front of the man, "but I don't know what this has to do with me, sir."
"It's not something I'm proud of myself. Not with a man like him, anyway. Recently, it came to my attention that he…and one of my daughters, his wife, committed a crime against you over fourteen years ago…and why they did so."
Knowing why would help to clarify for Fusei their crime against her family, against Genshi-teki, all of them that suffered such a loss that hurt more emotionally than any physical blow could.
As he sat down on the stool opposite of her across the room, Shojiki sighed again.
"I guess it all started with a car accident Yui and I were in twenty years ago," he expressed. "We were both, more or less, injured, but nothing that was fatal. Just a broken leg for myself and non-fatal impalement for her in the abdominal cavity. But then the doctor that removed the car pieces and small rebar that impaled Yui informed us both that she suffered some injury to her uterus."
"Any degree of injury to that part of the female body would make having children difficult, if not impossible," Fusei stated, "depending on the extremity of such an injury."
"In her case, it was so-so as the younger generations would come to define such things that are neither very good or very bad. But I guess for Yui, it was just bad to discover. Nobody even suggested that she try to find out if she could still have children of her own. I think that's why she and her husband did what they did to you. She feared the possibility that she couldn't."
Fusei sighed and uttered, "Except she did have other options available to her. If she couldn't do it, there were… But it probably wouldn't have been the same to her had she did so."
"I'm a guy, so I can't really comprehend how a woman truly feels when such a revelation hits, only that it makes them feel bad."
"Grief, sir. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. I've been down that road myself. I've lost my father and my boyfriend. I thought I've never find my son or know what became of him. Some of these losses I could accept…but others were losses I couldn't just yet."
"Still, it wasn't right for them to do what they did to you and your son. Worse than that, they didn't even bother to check and see if you were truly dead before they took him, according to Gendo."
"They…they thought I was dead?"
"Yes."
"Growing up, people that know me say that I am so quiet at night that I am considered a dead sleeper. Even the sounds of city traffic roaring throughout the night wouldn't wake me."
Still, it wasn't something she was proud of, and it was only because she felt that she needed to get up that third day of being a mother to feed her Shinji was how she saw him being taken away.
"It's still their fault," Shojiki stated; no matter what faults this woman might've had, past, present or future, they didn't do her any justice for losing her son for fourteen years. "If they didn't check your pulse, it's still First-Degree Kidnapping. Even if you were dead, it'd be the same crime because he wasn't theirs to take, and their crime is punishable by either life in prison or the death penalty."
"I've seen enough of the results of premature death to know that any more deaths would be a breaking point. Life behind bars is a death sentence enough, in and of itself."
"Is it really?"
"Knowing that you're going to jail and never getting out, you might as well be dead. And it keeps other people from committing similar acts that are worse than what had been committed in the past by them."
"What…what could be worse than what has been done already?"
-x-
"…With Unit-00 destroyed, we're down to just Unit-02 and Asuka," Misato told herself as she walked down the hall to the infirmary to see the status of Rei. "And with one Angel remaining, this will all be over in due time."
And in truth, she would be relieved when this was all over. The sooner this all ended, the sooner NERV could be disbanded…and the Evas dissembled…and that thing in Terminal Dogma that she was certain wasn't Adam could be properly disposed of before it did something that was worse than Second Impact. And Shinji could walk away from all this with his mother and see the rest of his family and actually have a life.
Kami knows he deserves happiness after what he's been through, she thought.
Stopping outside the door to the room that the First Child was assigned to, the tactician saw Ritsuko walking down the opposite way, looking concerned about something.
"Hey, Rits," she greeted.
"Misato," she responded. "Pray that the last Angel comes soon so that Ms. Hitode and her son can leave this place."
"Why?"
"Commander Ikari. Because Unit-00 is gone, he's considering making Rei pilot Unit-01, even though it's suspended from active duty."
"What is his deal with trying to reinstate Unit-01? It didn't respond to Rei the last time she was in it and the Dummy System couldn't be implemented."
"Would you believe in favoritism?"
"That's crazy."
"It's not like Shinji's going to get in it again. I mean, we still don't know what the ramifications of what could happen to anyone in it now that it has an S² Engine."
And there's no way in Hell I'll volunteer him for the role of the Guinea pig, she thought. "Well, how is Rei doing after the latest battle?"
"Well, physically, she's recovering from Angel's intrusion," the faux-blond answered her, "but mentally, I'm not so sure."
"If she's still the same from before, I could deal with that…to a degree. But due to last night, I still don't know her deal was."
"I fear even I don't want to know what goes on in her brain."
In the room, strapped down to the bed as a precaution, Rei, staring at the ceiling, thought of only two things that she felt were her big priorities. One was keeping Shinji away from Dr. Hitode. And the other was to make sure the Hitode woman became so unnecessary that she would be nothing more than a forgotten memory of no concern to anyone.
Get rid of the Hitode woman…and everything falls into place, she thought, balding her hands into fists. Remove her from the equation…and Ikari-Kun will do as he's told.
She imagined a vision of Shinji with Dr. Hitode in front of her. They were just talking and the boy was smiling at the woman. She never heard what they were saying (if they were saying anything of any significance), but the way that the boy reacted each time, smiling or laughing while the woman just looked at him happily, like his happiness was all that mattered to her. If anything, this just made the albino girl even more resentful of the woman and wanted her gone…for good.
-x-
"…Well, Mr. Ikari," went Fusei to Shojiki as they both stepped out of the storage room, "I thank you for your time. I hope you enjoy the rest of your day."
"I'll be honest, Ms. Hitode, after everything that has happened…and what has yet to happen," Shojiki uttered, "I hope the rest of my day is enjoyable. Yours, as well."
It was quite a conversation between the two. For Fusei, it was meeting a man who was disappointed in his daughters and son-in-law beyond a reasonable doubt for their actions, hurt to know that a boy he hadn't met in person wasn't his grandson, and was willing to do the least amount of harm to atone for his family's sins and mistakes. And for Shojiki, he got to meet the real deal behind the boy he wanted to at least see be returned to his actual roots, no matter what anyone else thought or said about him.
"Mother," Shojiki heard someone say behind him and turned around, seeing Fusei with a young man of fourteen years of age talking to her. "How have you been?"
"Fine, Shinji," she addressed. "Yourself?"
"Good. Good."
Shojiki resumed walking away from the scene; he might've never met the young man in his youth, but he didn't want to tarnish perception of the Ikaris any further by letting him think that he was similar to Gendo, whom he was going to have words with later on.
"Who was that guy?" Shinji asked Fusei, noticing Shojiki as he left.
"Just a new friend here to resolve a matter that needed his attention," she stated as simply as she could.
-x-
Even if Unit-00 was no longer around (and he wouldn't dare try to exploit the out-of-service Unit-03, even if there was a chance that it was now devoid of any Angel influence), Gendo remained confident that Unit-01 would suffice in his plans. Once the final Angel was dealt with, the ultimate goal of mankind could be implemented.
"Well, I'm pleased to say that the situation you and Yui caused is halfway resolved," he heard his father-in-law say to him as he walked into his office. "I've had quite the conversation with Ms. Hitode. Even though her resources were limited in finding her son and she had to get her education, salvage other parts of her life and everything, she still had something of immense value that you lack, Gendo, that you don't seem to take seriously."
"Is that so?" He responded.
"I could tell you, but I doubt you would understand. Anyway, I would say that I was willing to pay the woman for the years she had to worry about whether or not her son was doing fine, but money doesn't solve everything wrong with the world. She and I both agreed on something that needs to happen, but only after this situation with the Angels has been resolved completely, and that problem…is everyone responsible for the crime committed against her family…which would, of course, be only you."
Gendo raised his head up slightly, as though he'd been threatened by Shojiki just now.
"It doesn't matter if you weren't completely in the loop on what happened," Shojiki explained. "You still helped Yui to take Shinji from his mother. In this day and age, even back all those years when half the world went to Hell, Fusei had every right to keep her kid…even if she was only fourteen, didn't know how the world works and had a friendly boyfriend that was willing to marry her after their son was born and they had recovered from their own injuries. When all the Angels have been dealt with…you're going to be locked away for the rest of your life, Gendo. I've already filed all that was discovered about this matter with the authorities, so whatever affairs you have left, I suggest you use your grace period to put them in order."
Now Gendo felt really crossed by his father-in-law! The fact that he wasn't the one that decided to take the Third Child didn't matter to anyone that knew the truth to a degree, but the fact that he was still an accomplice and the only one still alive meant that the same consequences applied to him! First-Degree Kidnapping, Custodial Interference, and any other charges that could be put on him all led to the same penalty, which was life without parole!
"You can't do this to me," he told Shojiki.
"I just did," Shojiki responded, and then turned to leave his office.
-x-
Although a little singed, the city still had some life in it. But that didn't lift Shinji's spirits when he found out the next day that some people were considering leaving after word got out that one of NERV's Evangelions had self-destructed and was indirectly responsible for the damages done. Of course, he couldn't blame them for wanting to leave; if something of this sort had happened and he were a simple civilian, he'd want to leave the city, too.
It feels weird, spending the time I usually spend in the Eva out here, he thought as he walked down the street, seeing some people spraying the sides of the buildings with water hoses to wash the soot off them. It's been so long, I've forgotten what I used to do with my free time.
It had only been a few months since his fourteenth birthday, but even that was too long to have forgotten how to just waste his time at places like a library or an underground arcade. Now, the matter that NERV was involved in was going to end soon, and he could go back to that regular part of his life…and rebuild his life, too. He'd be able to get to know more about his mother, his father, see his aunt, his grandmother. He was really looking forward to such a reunion.
"Hey, Shinji!" He heard someone call out to him, and saw Toji running up the street towards him. "I'm glad I found you before I had to leave!"
"Leave?"
"That last attack nearly caused the hospital to come falling down," the school jock explained. "My sister's being transferred to a hospital over in the Chiba Prefecture. I'm going with her so that she's not alone over there."
"Is she doing okay?" He asked her.
"Her left leg is still mending, but she's doing well. What about you?"
"With some luck, things at NERV will be over soon."
"That's great to hear. Hopefully, I'll see you around."
The jock then ran off, leaving him alone on the sidewalk.
I hope this all ends soon, Shinji thought, wanting to be done with NERV as soon as possible. The sooner the last Angel shows up, the sooner this chapter can be closed.
-x-
Standing in front of Unit-01, Gendo, fuming with rage over this recent discovery that once the last Angel was disposed of, he would spend the rest of his life in a prison cell somewhere for helping his wife take someone's child. It didn't even help his situation to know that SEELE weren't going to do anything about this, as this was beneath their list of concerns that involved him.
First the woman shows up and confirms that the Third Child is her bastard son, he thought, reaching into his right pants pocket and pulling something out, then Fuyutsuki escapes from custody, and now this nonsense your father has revealed that threatens to condemn me for the rest of my life. Not unless I rush the progress of the Instrumentality Project. Now that the Spear of Longinus has been disposed of, nothing and nobody can come between us, Yui.
In his right hand was a small case that he opened up, revealing the regenerated body of Adam. If this was to be his grace period to get his affairs in order, then he would exploit this period of time to get closer to his objective. There was no way in Hell he was going to rot in a jail cell for his involvement in a kidnapping charge. Not as long as he had something to say about it.
-x-
Lake Ashi seemed to look less tranquil than it was supposed to be right now. Even Asuka found the lake to be unable to quell her disappointment in finding out that Hikari was leaving the city after the last attack because of the explosion caused by Rei.
"So, all our friends are leaving the city?" She asked Shinji, who was with her just to view the lake.
"Everyone except Kensuke," he explained.
"Except he's on the mend, so what's the point of him being around? Also, Unit-03 is suspended from duty, so he can't pilot it."
"I doubt that man will even permit him to be evacuated."
"Good luck to you and your mother after this is over," she told him.
"Thanks," he praised her. "What are you going to do after this is over?"
"I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't think I could ever go home, though."
"Home? You mean, Germany?"
"Yeah. It hasn't really been…home for a long time."
"But…you still have seasons there, right? There's…snow and brown leaves?"
"Those don't exactly make it home. The people there… I don't feel close to them. My step-parents and I… There isn't much to say. After my mother died, let's just say that I don't deal very well with relationships that involved her."
"Maybe if things get better, you can come back here."
"Why? You heard me complain about you Japanese. You live in cramped spaces, your sliding doors don't have locks, and don't get me started on your monetary system."
"But…there are people here you know, right?"
Asuka sighed and realized that he was right about that. Despite disliking Japan due to its perpetual summertime, it had a handful of people that she did know…and put up with her crap to a degree.
"You remember that question your mother asked me regarding the Eva?" She asked him.
"What you feel when you're inside the Eva?" He responded.
"Yeah."
"What was it that you felt when you were in it?"
"That I had to make sure that the people of this city have something to come back to after every attack, that nobody gets hurt because of me."
"And…what do you feel now that you're out of it and may never get back in it?"
"Honestly…I feel…relieved to be out of the Eva."
"Relieved? Why?"
"It's not something that I wanted to be committed to. It's not even something that I would ever view as a job of sorts that anyone should do forever."
"You know how I feel?"
"Bitter?"
"That there won't be any recognition for those that were involved in the matter regarding the Angels. This all falls into obscurity, like it all never happened."
"Would that be a bad thing if it did get forgotten about?"
"You're a simple person. You wouldn't mind it at all. But the world should know who was involved and what they went through during the whole thing."
"Well, maybe the UN will give the NERV personnel pensions for their services and awards."
"Oh, really?"
"I mean, it is a possibility."
The redhead returned her gaze to the lake.
"What about you? Your aftermath?" She asked him.
"Aftermath?"
"Well, you found out that you were taken from your mother when you were a baby, so that's defined as an unpleasant discovery. Commander Ikari will likely be facing jail time for that. What will you do when you meet the rest of your real relatives?"
"Rebuild my life, one day at a time," he answered her; he really couldn't answer any other way than that. "See what's out there for me beyond this."
"I hope that you at least grow up happy after this is over."
Shinji looked out at the lake and had to admit that it was nice to hear Asuka say that to him.
-x-
Rei had managed to get free from the restraints on the bed and was now wandering the halls of the infirmary and found the Fourth Child in his room.
"Oh, hey, Rei," Kensuke greeted her, but then noticed her expression was one of contempt. "Uh, are you alright?"
"I'm fine," she responded. "I just need to know one thing: Is Dr. Hitode still here?"
"Uh… I don't really know. You see, she came by earlier after you were found after the battle with the Angel, and that was just to check my leg. Afterward, I think she left."
"Is that so? A pity."
Kensuke was bothered by Rei now. He'd never known her to ask for the whereabouts of anyone…and he'd never known her to use the word "pity" before, either.
"Should you see her again, could you give her a message for me?" She asked him.
"Yes, of course," he told her.
When the girl gave him the message, he soon wished he hadn't heard those words she used in front of him at all.
-x-
It felt like a cool night, but the tension seemed anything but. Rather than go home just yet, Fusei stopped by the park where she first met Shinji when she showed up in the city. Even though Asuka had prevented its destruction, it didn't feel as welcoming to her as it had been once before. She guessed it was because things were reaching a head and nearing their conclusion faster than ever.
"Of all the people this could've happened to, it had to be the both of us, Genshi-teki," she sighed as she sat on the bench she spoke with Shinji on when they first met. "The two people responsible have been reduced to just one person, and that man will spend the rest of his life rotting away in jail when this madness is all over. I'm being called out by a fourteen-year-old girl I don't even know, but instead of finding myself worrying about that, I worry about Shinji and how he's doing with this all."
All Fusei could suspect about this personal feeling was that she chalked it up to her maternal instincts. They haven't stopped ever since that day Shinji was born…or when he was kidnapped…not even when she found him. They were a twenty-four/seven force that refused to be made to give up on her emotional drive.
Tilting her head back, she looked up at a nearby streetlight as one of her memories from when she was pregnant resurfaced in her conscious.
"Ahh… He moved," she had told her boyfriend, placing her left hand on her swollen belly in her room.
"Huh?" Genshi-teki uttered under her.
"Shinji," she explained to him, "he just moved."
"Really?"
"Yes. Feel right here."
She had placed his right hand against her distended gut and waited for a reaction from their son.
"Oh!" Genshi-teki reacted to their child's activity. "You're right. He's up and about."
She then got off his lap and held his hands in front of her, smiling at him.
He was happy at our being together, she thought, smiling from the immense happiness that had been shared between the three of them.
"He's happy for us both," she had told Genshi-teki. "This means he can tell what his mommy's feeling right now. He feels my love for the both of you…and he feels your love for the both of us, too."
"He can feel all of that?" He questioned, surprised by his girlfriend's belief of this.
"That's right…so make sure you never stop loving us."
Even through the horrors of Second Impact's results and the devastation it caused Tokyo, Fusei had held onto hope that the both of them and Shinji would be alright. She would've waded through a legion of other girls that had more potential than she did and didn't fool around with their boyfriends or get pregnant at an early age if it meant doing right by her son.
We keep you alive in our hearts and memories, Genshi-teki, she thought, bringing her head back up to view the park around her.
"It was nice to meet you," Shinji's voice went in her mind.
"It was nice to find you after so long, Shinji," she uttered to herself as she got up.
-x-
"…Ikari can't be depended upon any further," said SEELE 01 to the rest of the council members present. "His errors are known and his lack of reliance has come under fire. His days are numbered beyond our use of him."
"And now this," said SEELE 06, "refusing our request to speak with the First Child. If he denies our request further by sending in a substitute in place of her, we will have no other alternative than to have NERV neutralized."
"Give him twenty-four more hours to oblige our request," suggested SEELE 10 to the others. "If he continues to refuse…then we will seek other means to ensure our agenda."
With no other suggestions expressed, the council had agreed on the choice made. And so, the disgrace known as Gendo Ikari had at least one more day to permit them a meeting with the First Child…or else he would face the consequences for his disobedience.
-x-
Rei stood in front of Unit-01, unable to sleep or think of anything beyond the thought that ran through her consciousness. This dark train of thought that had gone into motion the day of the compatibility test where the Hitode woman was present and Shinji revealed that he had met her over a day before…and the anger that coursed through her nerves at the mere sight of her face.
"This…is all your fault," she spoke towards the purple behemoth. "You drove us to this…and all because you didn't consider the possibility of someone who knew him, that was related to him that would go to their limits to find him. If she takes him away from the both of us, we get nothing but agony over this…and it'll be your fault. He'll want to go with her."
The Eva never responded, but the girl knew it couldn't have said anything to her. And even if it could have done so, what would be spoken? How would any response have been taken?
"Remove the woman, and he will have no one that claims to be family to him," she continued. "Keep him where he can't be taken, and the woman loses her hold on him."
-x-
Shinji didn't sleep well that night. He kept looking out the window and up at the sky. The stars, the darkness, the airglow and eeriness left him feeling like a few hours had gone by before he realized that he must've been daydreaming at night.
Why do I feel like something terrible is going to happen? He thought, seeing the night sky shift into the daylight as the clouds were grayish-blue.
His left hand reached for his mother's charm around his neck, finding comfort in its presence. For another brief moment, he felt like he was with Fusei and Genshi-teki. He still had to hold onto that hope that after the last Angel showed up and was dealt with, NERV would be disbanded, the Evas would be decommissioned or dismantled, and he would leave the city to be with his family.
Mother… I'm still waiting for us to leave this life behind and move onto a happy future.
To be continued…
A/N: Jeez, I couldn't get that background music from the last episode of the second season of Attack on Titan where they get away and it was my cousin's birthday. What do you think is going to happen next?