Creation began on 12-16-21

Creation ended on 07-07-22

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Hope from the Past: Falls of the Fathers

A/N: Just so that you know, I had a hard time thinking of the new title.

Maybe it was arrogance that led them to where they were now, but Fuyutsuki was fortunate that he and Hiroko were not with Gendo when he decided to leave the carrier and return to Japan. Arrogance, misfortune…and sheer, dumb luck. The plane that Gendo had taken had been attacked by a Gyaos that had been reported to be much larger than the last time one was seen, but from what was determined, Gendo, two agents from the United Nations, two pilots for the plane and a flight attendant were the only casualties on the plane.

"Why would he decide to head back early when it was probably safer to return on schedule?" Hiroko had asked Fuyutsuki earlier in the day as the carrier reached the port of Japan with its collected cargo.

Of course, Fuyutsuki knew that Gendo always had a habit of leaving things half-done and expecting him to deal with them for him, but even at a time like this, the elder couldn't help but feel like the man had expected too much for himself from doing too little to actually contribute. To just up and leave during a priority mission because he felt like it could be taken care of by someone else, only to have your life cut short by an unexpected attack by a monster created by an ancient civilization, is tantamount to walking away from someone that can kill you just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time…and talking back to them.

"He probably felt that things were under control here," he told her instead of the simple truth, being that Gendo was a man that had little trust in others, which likely earned him his one-way ticket into the next world.

Now, as they came down the escalator, they were greeted by Dr. Akagi, who seemed to have better days than right now.

"I take it you heard about the incident?" Fuyutsuki asked the faux-blond.

"That Ikari was killed in the plane by a Gyaos?" She responded. "Everyone heard about it. The Gyaos was over eighty-five meters in height and had a wingspan of one-hundred-ninety meters. It was a Super Gyaos."

"Super Gyaos?" Hiroko questioned as she downed her medication once she was on solid ground again. "It's being called that?"

"Unofficially. My protégée suggested the designation. Anyway, with Ikari no longer in charge, that makes you the head of NERV, Fuyutsuki."

This was unexpected, as well. Because of the paramilitary chain of command being similar to the actual militaristic chain of command, with Gendo Ikari deceased, this made Kozo Fuyutsuki the new leader of NERV until the UN decided to replace him with someone that was more capable than he (and most likely under their personal control).

"What is the status of the Evas?" Fuyutsuki asked Ritsuko.

"They'll be fully repaired tomorrow," she answered.

"And the status of the pilots?"

"The First and Second Children are stable, but the Third Child's synchronization scores have been declining within the last three days."

"Does he know about his father's death?"

"That's…a bit harder to explain; I couldn't tell if he was devastated or relieved."

Hiroko wanted to express the possibility that Shinji was likely relieved to be rid of his father, but then realization that he was now an orphan would've made him feel like he was alone. Most people would find it like a dream come true to have no parents telling them what to do all the time, but in Shinji's case, it was only likely to be only half of that; his lack of parental supervision and ties left him ill-equipped to deal with people as time went by.

"Has anyone spoke with him about his father's death?" She asked instead.

-x-

How could one help Shinji move past the fact that his father, whom he had been estranged from for over ten years, was now among the deceased? How could anyone help him realize that the man he didn't have any measure of a relationship with was no longer around? He saw the news footage, saw the Gyaos, but as far as he knew and understood, there was such a thing as fake news; people in positions of power and authority could manipulate the media all they wanted and nobody would be the wiser. Even as he lay in his room, the very thought that his father was still alive was, contrary to his actual feelings, a bit worrisome; even if he was alive, there was nothing that was going to change between them, and if his father ever learned about his connection to Gamera, he would've likely tried to exploit it, to try and control Gamera.

But nobody can control Gamera or the Gyaos, he thought as he turned to his left side on his futon. You can try to, but never succeed. Gamera would refuse to be subservient to cruel hearts…and Gyaos would just eat you.

"…Are we sure that his father's gone?" Asuka asked Misato in the kitchen.

"From what we were able to piece together," the guardian replied, "he was on that plane when Gyaos attacked. It seemed that nobody on that plane was informed of the recent decision to ground all flights to and from Japan. If the plane was on the ground eight hours ago, he might've been informed."

"And if he was informed…and still chose to fly?"

"Then…he's the only one at fault. Because of the Gyaos, all air traffic to and from Japan are suspended indefinitely until they're stopped, leaving only land and sea traffic. Gamera hasn't exhibited any interest in attacking ships at sea or invading any of the cities, making the Committee suspect that out of the two creatures, Gamera is the more benevolent one, whereas Gyaos has no interest in anything other than satisfying its ravenous appetite."

"How do we stop something that's stronger than an Angel and can damage an Eva with little effort? The military can't face it, NERV can't do anything short of providing information acquired from studying the Gyaos. What can we do?"

"It's as the prophecy foretold. Against the shadow of evil, only Gamera can prevail."

Asuka couldn't believe that a giant turtle was anyone's last hope. Not when there were other factors that spoke differently about how the world could end. There were the Angels and Third Impact, the old belief that the world would end in the year Twenty-Twelve, that nonsense that was written in the Bible and every other debunked belief going back more than a thousand years. The only ones that made the most sense and had the most influence were the ones that could be proven to be true, and that was the sense that the Angels were attacking after fifteen years of absence when the First Angel was discovered and it self-destructed, causing the immense devastation that left the planet in its current state.

-x-

"…We've received confirmation," Fuyutsuki was informed by SEELE 02 during the meeting between himself and the Committee. "We had to identify Ikari by what was left of his remains that were salvaged from the site where the plane debris rained. It would seem that this…Super Gyaos…flew right over it and caused it to explode. Ikari never saw the attack coming when it did."

"Was there any indication that he was informed that all planes were grounded?" Fuyutsuki questioned the Committee.

"There was ample information that suggests Ikari knew…but proceeded to fly, regardless of the danger doing so posed," SEELE 10 responded.

If Gendo knew, then it truly was his own fault that he died. Not even Fuyutsuki could deny this.

"Do we have the creature's location?" SEELE 01 asked.

"Yes," Fuyutsuki revealed. "It's currently grounded in the forest near Mt. Fuji. We don't know when it will awaken to attack."

"The JSSDF is making plans to use an N² missile against it. Can they guarantee that it'll be effective in destroying it?" SEELE 07 demanded to know.

"It is unknown," Fuyutsuki explained. "Despite researching the Gyaos remains, we still have no full understanding of its capabilities. It's unlike anything we've ever encountered before."

And the worst part was that SEELE felt that they were still in control, despite the fact that the Evas were proven useless against the Gyaos because of their abilities. Adding further insult to injury, the knowledge that just this one Gyaos, now bigger and more dangerous than the few they had seen earlier, could potentially spawn and unleash a legion of its brood upon the rest of the world…left the desire to prevent that raging in their bones.

-x-

While resting wasn't something it desired to do after attacking that construct in the nightly air, Gyaos needed to do so until the sunlight, its main concern, no longer affected it. Whenever it attacked those creatures that became its next meal, they were only able to do so by keeping their eyes closed to avoid the sunlight; their eyes looking at any measure of sunlight left them disoriented and unable to attack to their fullest, as the rest of their bodies were left unscathed by the light. But soon…soon, it would no longer have to close its eyes, in day or night, against any measure of light. Not even the sunlight would keep it from its prey. As it felt its eyes being adjusted by its new additions, the Gyaos gave a small smirk as it continued to rest where it perched in the forest.

-x-

"Rei?" Misato gasped slightly as the albino girl stood outside her apartment. "What are you doing here?"

"Is Ikari-Kun here?" Rei asked her.

"Yes, but he's asleep."

"He sleeps earlier?"

"Not exactly, but as of late, he does."

Only she, Kaji, Fuyutsuki and Hiroko were aware of the likelihood that Shinji was connected to Gamera, able to communicate with the giant turtle and understand its intentions, and was subject to the drawbacks of such a connection, injuries and weariness. None of them informed Ritsuko or Gendo, not wanting to risk Shinji being subjected to random questions or tests that robbed him of any more of his dignity. It was suspected by Kaji that when Shinji was asleep, it was really Gamera resting to recover from its own injuries.

"How…is he doing?" Rei asked her. "After the discovery that Commander Ikari was killed by the Gyaos?"

"He… He's not sure how he feels right now."

Misato didn't exactly lie to Rei, but she didn't say the truth, either; because he didn't know how to deal with his murder, Shinji was simply at a crossroads between feeling a sense of wanting revenge against the Gyaos for his father's death…and feeling a sense of absolution or freedom from the fact that his father was no longer around to disparage him or ignore. Personally to herself, Shinji seemed like the kind of person that should've been able to walk away from NERV after learning that Gendo was killed; it was his father's decision to have him here to pilot the Eva when he had no clue what was going on, and now that he was dead, he should be allowed to walk away and return to his life before all of this.

"Will he leave?" Rei wanted to know.

"I'm not sure what he'll do," Misato replied.

"Is there even a choice?" They both heard a male voice from behind the adult, and turned to see Shinji in the hallway. "Was there ever a choice?"

"Maybe not when your father was alive, but you have a choice now," Misato assured him.

"I gotta see the Gyaos that is left wandering around stopped," he told them. "This isn't about revenge or closure. This just about making sure that Gyaos can't eat any more people. What happened to my father, that's on him if he chose to fly when flights to and from the country were suspended. And…I can't delude myself into thinking there was ever going to be any degree of reconciliation between us."

That was a truth Shinji had come to accept. There was no way to move forward without first accepting that whatever was in the past had to stay in the past and couldn't be brought back if there was no way to expand upon it. If anyone was ever to going to get past their issues that stemmed from the past, they had to admit that they were among those issues that wouldn't have any absolution because the people they related to were no longer there.

"How are you feeling?" Rei asked him.

"I'm not over the revelation," he answered her, "but I'm not going to let that man…or that monster that might as well have eaten him…break me."

To be continued…

A/N: Shorter than I intended, but aids in the development of the plot. I hope the next chapter will be more direct towards NERV with the next attack on the Gyaos. With Shinji's new status as an orphan solidified, he is, more or less, free from his would-be obligation to the paramilitary agency and the Eva. What do you think?