Creation began on 09-07-18
Creation ended on 09-15-18
Neon Genesis Evangelion
The Living Alchemist: Compassion
"…You must be proud of your success, Ikari?" Shinji heard Mustang say to him, two days after the State Alchemist Exam was finished.
"I am," he responded, "but not as much as I'm proud of their success."
Further down the hallway of Central Command, Edward and Alphonse were still processing their discovery of having been accepted into the military as State Alchemists. Although Alphonse was going down in history as the youngest State Alchemist on account of being a year younger than Edward was, since the military had to accept that their age was irrelevant to their alchemic prowess that would be sure to improve as time passed for them. The night of Shinji's success, the Elric brothers had decided to see if they could perform alchemy without circles…and to their surprise, they could do it, making Shinji suspect that, despite having undone their failed attempt at Human Transmutation to bring their mother back to life and restored Ed's arm, the other results of their transmutation couldn't be undone.
If they saw what I saw that night, the State Alchemist teen thought, it wouldn't be something that easy to forget. Anyone with a passion for alchemy would do anything they could, give anything they have, to even see half of what we saw.
Recalling his personal experience further, Shinji remembered the doors and what he saw once he was pulled into them. He saw…many things he never thought he could comprehend. It was…as though universal knowledge had been forced directly into his brain, which had most likely been the reason he was able to understand alchemy and everything associated with it. Knowledge and all the power associated with it…were now at his command.
"Personally, I think it's unusual that you three are capable of performing alchemic transmutations by simply clapping your hands together," Mustang expressed.
"How alchemists perform their alchemy is entirely up to them, Mr. Mustang," he responded. "I wouldn't call it a unique trait that only a rare few possess. Maybe a curse that carries a weight that will follow you to the ends of the world…and all the alchemist has to decide is how best to use it to their advantage. Do they hide it…or do they use it to serve others?"
Still, Mustang was bothered by the three. More so by the teen that sought to use alchemy for medical purposes than the brothers. The more he talked, the more he got the feeling that he was hiding something he didn't want anyone else to find out about.
What is your secret? He wondered.
-x-
Asuka felt crushed right now. She just found out from her friend, Hikari Horaki, that the pigtailed girl's father was moving his family away from Tokyo-3. It seemed like everyone was looking to escape the fortress city that was no longer feeling safe after what had happened. She didn't blame them, though; Tokyo-3 had lost much of its right to be called a safe city since it was the only place that the Angels seemed to attack all the time.
"Why are they called Angels?" She remembered Shinji asking at one point in the past during the city-wide blackout when the Ninth Angel arrived. "I mean, angels have always been viewed as people with wings and halos or as messengers from God. Why are we fighting monsters named after God's messengers?"
I wish I had an answer back then, she thought, wishing she hadn't shot down his way of thinking because he didn't know anything. The truth is, I don't know why they're called Angels, either. I don't know who decided to label them as such or why they decided now to attack us. I…I just don't know why, anymore.
As she sat at her desk while the teacher droned on and on about the aftermath of Second Impact, looking out the window again for the umpteenth time, Rei sighed at how empty the city seemed now…and how the people that chose to leave it seemed to be doing so in droves.
"Why do you pilot the Eva, Ayanami?" She remembered Shinji asking her the night of the Fifth Angel attack.
I told him it was my link to everyone, she recalled, except I don't feel linked to anyone, anymore.
-x-
"Obey the military," went Alphonse as he, Edward and Shinji walked down the hall towards the exit of Central Command after receiving their pocket watches that symbolized their status as State Alchemists.
"Don't create gold," said Edward.
"And don't create humans," finished Shinji, putting his watch into his pants' left pocket. "They don't seem too difficult to follow. All we have to do is make sure our moral compasses are always pointing north."
"That shouldn't be too difficult," said Al, "but now comes the hard part."
"Oh, there's a hard part?" Ed asked.
"Yeah: What are we to do now?"
"I don't know about you two, but I'm heading to the library," Shinji stated his intention. "I want to expand my knowledge by digging further into anatomy."
"I guess we'll head back to Tucker's, then," Al responded.
"Yeah, you should do that. Nina should enjoy your company more so than mine."
The three then separated once they got outside. All three State Alchemists…but with no direction to take due to having no sign of trouble the military was currently involved in, meaning they had all the time in the world right now to do other things.
Taking out his kunai to pass the time, Shinji smiled as he twirled the small blade in his hand while walking down the street.
"The world is yours," he uttered to himself.
Suddenly, he stopped in front of a back alley. A stench got into his nose that drew his attention into the alley. He followed it and found the source.
"Oh, God," he shuddered at the sight of the dead body, falling to his knees in front of it.
It was a woman. Or rather, all that was left of a woman. She had likely been young, wore a lime-green dress that was in shreds, and had strands of ebony hair.
"Who did this to you?" He wondered, removing his coat and draping it over what was left of her head and face as he got up to get the authorities; he might've been a State Alchemist, but he wasn't the law.
-x-
"…So, he was the first one to find the body like this?" Knox asked Mustang as Shinji sat against the wall across the street from where the victim was found.
"That's what he told us," Mustang answered. "You think it's the same assailant again?"
"Yeah, no doubt about it… This makes her number thirty-seven within the last three years…and the fifth one this year."
For the first time in his brief career as a State Alchemist, Shinji was glad Ed and Al weren't here to see this, even if there was a chance they could stomach the sight of blood and gore. It was the first time he ever saw a dead body…and he was horrified by it.
"Shinji Ikari," Dr. Knox spoke to him, and he looked up.
"Yes, sir?" He asked.
"I think we have enough from you to investigate this now. You may go."
"Thank you, sir."
Shinji got up and walked away.
"You should get used to seeing a lot of this later on," the doctor told him, and Shinji turned back to face him. "It comes with the territory of a State Alchemist."
"Only the ones that choose to cross the line that shouldn't be," Shinji countered. "I hope I don't ever. It would leave a bad taste in my mouth. What is your oath as a doctor?"
"First do no harm."
"That's written in shades of grey, but it's stressed by those that follow the path of a healer."
"And an alchemist that seeks to use alchemy for healing?"
"One that has either seen enough violence or hasn't experienced enough of it… Tell me…do you know who she is? I mean, who was she?"
"We don't know yet. We…we don't think she had anyone, though."
"You won't know for sure…until you question everyone that saw her…and until someone asks about her whereabouts. And you find the person responsible for this depravity…they need to know how it feels to have their life ripped from their possession. If they don't respect life, they don't deserve life."
Suddenly, it was like Knox was looking at someone that wasn't afraid of the law and had something to do about what was done to this woman.
"Look, I know you just became a State Alchemist, but don't do something reckless. Let the authorities handle this."
"Never mind them, sir, I'll find the one responsible myself and beat them into a coma before handing them over," Shinji responded as he walked away.
How old is this kid, fourteen? Knox wondered. He sounds like he's been through some other tragedy he couldn't escape from without some sort of repercussion.
"You don't believe him, do you?" Mustang asked him.
"Honestly, I only believe one part of what he said…and that's the part where he said he'd find the one responsible himself. He sounds like he knows exactly what he has to do."
"Doesn't he rub you the wrong way?"
"It sounds more like you're looking for a reason to see him as anything but what he intends to be for himself. A State Alchemist that doesn't want to harm anyone, but needs the resources he can't get elsewhere to get to his desired goal… If he can do that, it might actually save the rest of you from the blight you've become after the war."
"I doubt he can do that."
-x-
Nothing was following the original scenario, no matter how Gendo looked at it. Each time he reviewed his copy of the unpublished Dead Sea Scrolls, he found nothing that was in order. After the Twelfth Angel, the Thirteenth Angel was supposed to arrive, "masquerading as a blight of humanity", according to the scrolls, causing an inescapable suffering for the "horned one's" slave. Then, the Fourteenth Angel was to appear and "further the discord", but none of this had happened. Instead, they had to deal with the "winged one of light" and lost the Spear of Longinus too early.
Even if we were to implement the Instrumentality Project, it wouldn't change anything because he was killed before he could complete his role in the scenario, he thought as he sat in his office. You just had to go and get yourself killed, you worthless brat!
-x-
"…So, I hear that you stumbled onto the case involving a serial killer, Mr. Ikari," went Shou Tucker to Shinji as the young alchemist was reviewing the limited information the military police had on the unknown assailant responsible in his room.
"Yeah," he responded, trying to figure out how the killer chooses their victims and was able to leave them in places where they weren't murdered. "So far, each murder took place here in Central, so whoever's behind this is clearly a resident of the city. What drives a person to do what they do like this to others?"
"Maybe it was another alchemist, perhaps?"
Shinji looked up at Shou and expressed, "I doubt that an alchemist had something to do with this. Using alchemy to kill people doesn't make all alchemists killers; it just means they're capable of it if they chose to, which would make them simple killers. What would an alchemist gain from doing something like this? What would be the point in doing something like this? There's no benefit, no comprehension, no advancement, nothing. It's just senseless depravity that can drive a person crazy the more they try to wrap their head around it."
"Speaking from personal experience?"
"No… But I've seen enough of what goes on to know that it's everywhere you turn, imbedded within society and history: The degradation…and brutality…of human evil."
Shou got the feeling that this young man was very disturbed by the fact that he saw a dead body and seemed driven to find a sense of closure by finding the people responsible for the murder.
"Say, don't you have a renewal assessment coming up soon?" Shinji asked him; no doubt while he was studying with the Elrics, the young teen had learned that State Alchemists had to submit an annual assessment report of their research results to maintain their access to military-provided services. "How do you intend to overcome that obstacle on your path to progress?"
"I have no idea yet," Shou responded, "but the Brigadier General will be on my case about it if I don't do something to impress my superiors."
"Which Brigadier General, Mr. Tucker? There are several individuals with that ranking within the military."
"I mean, Basque Grand."
"The man addressed by some as the Iron Blood Alchemist?"
"Yes."
Shinji thought about the guy for a moment, recalling how he was also present during his interview in the exam, but shuddered in disgust. Personally, the guy just made Shinji feel disgusted with him, wondering if people like him end up like that through age development or as a result of the last war this country went through. Whichever way it was, Shinji simply didn't see the Iron Blood Alchemist as anything other than a man that had no sense of morality. No, he saw the guy…as an obstacle.
"I don't understand how someone like him could be an alchemist," Shinji told him.
"He's more soldier than alchemist, interested in advancing his position rather than helping the people. It is part of the military profession that a State Alchemist can advance from the rank of Major through their service in the army."
"The greater your rank is, the greater your influence will be."
"Yeah, that's right."
Shinji sighed and returned to what he was researching on the case.
"Best of luck to you on your assessment," he told Shou.
"Thank you, Shinji," Shou responded as he walked away.
People can use alchemy to harm others, Shinji accepted, but still, the question wouldn't be how they can…but why would they? Why would anyone use alchemy to hurt people?
-x-
"…So, he's made it his priority to track down this serial killer of women?" King Bradley asked Mustang, who was trying to get Shinji removed from the case to protect the integrity of the investigation. "That wouldn't be a bad way for him to start out on his career."
"You're actually going to let him go ahead with this?" Mustang questioned. "We still don't know anything about him beyond what he was willing to put down on his information forms. There's still nothing on his date of birth, excluding the month and day, his ethnicity or nationality, not even how he got here. For all we know, he could be a spy for the Ishvalans."
King Bradley looked at him as he sat down at his desk, looking as though a line had been crossed by Mustang.
"You don't know that," he told him, "and why would Ishval use a teenage boy that doesn't have red eyes or dark skin to infiltrate the Amestrian military? Whatever his intentions, however he goes about his involvement in the case, it's up to young Ikari to prove his mettle and earn his place among the military."
Mustang was at a loss over this. Whatever the Fuhrer saw in this boy was beyond him. If there was something about him that intrigued him, it was clearly something nobody else could see.
"Even if it goes and kills him?" He asked Bradley.
"If you feel that he needs someone to keep an eye on him, you are authorized to assign a security detail to him," Bradley reminded him, making it clear to the Flame Alchemist that Shinji was to stay on the case, regardless of what other people thought about him doing so.
"Yes, sir," he responded.
-x-
"Whoa!" Nina gasped as Al transmuted a large horse from the ground on the front yard of her house. "That is so neat!"
"Then how about this over here?" Ed asked her, clapping his hands together and slamming them to the ground, transmuting a larger horse with wings on its sides.
"Oh, come on, you two!" Shinji, sitting on the front steps as he watched them while looking at the last case file related to the string of murders plaguing the city. "There's no competition here! Not unless it's a battle assessment! Then it's a competition!"
A minute later, Shinji noticed a car pulling up on the street, stopping in front of the Tucker estate. Its doors opened up to reveal two people in military attire, a young man and woman, and they stepped onto the estate grounds.
"Excuse us, but are you Shinji Ikari?" The man asked the young teen.
"Yes, I am," he answered. "Who are you?"
"We're your security detail assigned by Lieutenant Colonel Roy Mustang," answered the woman, and then she introduced herself. "Second Lieutenant Maria Ross."
"Sargent Denny Brosh," the man introduced himself.
"Okay, nice to meet you two, but why, exactly, do I need a security detail? I'm not being targeted on by anyone."
"All we really know is that you're looking into the investigation of the mysterious slayings and that Lieutenant Colonel Mustang assigned us to keep watch over you," Maria Ross explained, "for your own protection."
"Somehow, I doubt I'll need it in the end, but knowing the way this military ranking works, Mr. Mustang's my superior, so I must accept you as my security detail. Well, as you can see, I'm just sitting here reading this case file in order to try and find something that might've been missed by the military police…while watching the Elric brothers play with Ms. Nina Tucker. No danger present here."
They looked over at the brothers and suddenly became confused.
"They're State Alchemists, too?" Denny Brosh asked him.
"Yes, sir, the youngest ever in history," he answered.
"But…they're just kids like yourself," Maria Ross stated.
"Not in the eyes of the State Military regarding the alchemists that join up, but, yes, they are. To each, their own reason for wanting to go down this path, and theirs was to become better than they were before so they could support themselves and some friends of theirs back in Resembool. Mine is to use alchemy to heal injuries, such as ruptured organs and regenerate missing or damaged limbs."
"You sound like someone I used to hear about a few years ago, during the Ishval Civil War," Maria Ross uttered. "I think his name was…Tim Marcoh. He was a doctor that joined the State Military as an alchemist because he wanted to help people more through his alchemy…but then he went AWOL after the war ended. Some believe he was a traitor because of how the war resulted in so many lives taken."
"And what do you believe, Ms. Ross?" Shinji asked her.
"If I were him…I'd done the same thing. You join a group to do something good for the people…but you end up doing the complete opposite of what you intended to do. A large handful of people in the State Military left after the war. Some of them couldn't take the fact that it was insane to fight against people that were angry for what caused the war to begin with and that the Ishvalans were justified in their anger."
Shinji had read the official report of the cause of the war, about how an Amestrian soldier accidently shot and killed an Ishvalan child. If it had been his kid, he'd be angry and demand retribution if justice was denied. And then he learned how the State Alchemists were used to end the war…but ended up with a bad reputation by most of the people inside and outside the alchemy community for being labeled human weapons.
"PTSD can do that to people after something as harsh as war," he expressed, "especially if they don't get the counseling they need to cope with the psychological strain of their own involvement. There's sleepless nights, survivor's guilt, depression, regret, suicidal thoughts and so on. How long ago was the war?"
"It went on for about almost a decade," Denny answered him, a little confused at how this young man could be so…bright.
"I only did a crash course on the immediate history of Amestris, but tell me something: Is this country a constant participant of conflict…or does conflict come after its people over something that can be resolved without the use of violence?"
"Amestris is… Now that you mention it, I'm not sure how to describe the country. Ever since King Bradley became the fuhrer, it's been one war after another."
Constant war, huh? If that's true, then Amestris is not as peaceful as it seems on the surface.
Shinji then returned to reading the file he had…and may had found something a few other cases could've simply overlooked.
"It looks like you two get to earn your paychecks today," he told them.
"We get to earn our what?" Maria asked, confused.
-x-
"…What do you mean, the scrolls have been altered?" SEELE 01 demanded during the next meeting between the council members.
"I reviewed the scrolls," explained SEELE 06 to them, "and something has shifted to put all of mankind into…a rut, if you will."
"A rut, you say?" SEELE 10 questioned. "Elaborate."
"With the lost of Unit-01's pilot, the goal for Human Instrumentality has been for naught. The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Angels will not arise as a consequence of his demise. The pilot of Unit-02 was responsible for the defeat of the Fifteenth Angel with the Lance of Longinus, and with its defeat in this order, the scrolls' original design has come undone."
"Meaning…" SEELE 03 asked.
"We're stuck in this evolutionary dead-end. The Fifteenth Angel was the last Angel. Tabris has gone missing from NERV HQ, we can't retrieve the lance, and even if the Mass Production Evangelions are completed, they're only good as bio-weapons."
"So, the Third Child was an integral requirement in the scenario, despite the fact that the pilots are expendable?" SEELE 01 questioned.
"Yes. Out of the pilots NERV could've gone through until they were no longer necessary, he was the only one they couldn't replace, according to the scrolls. His very presence aided to move the scenario on its desired course. Because he was killed during the Twelfth Angel incident in an attempt to salvage the Eva, the original design of the scenario, the pattern that the Angels would come in order to challenge mankind, everything we striven for… It has all come undone with his death…and there's no way to rectify any of it."
There was a long silence within the council; each member was processing this new information at their own pace. There was anger within their minds, desires to blame who they felt was the most responsible for this inescapable predicament. Along with a high measure of contempt towards each other, they felt entombed within a metaphorical grave while still alive, and suffocating with frustration.
"Whose fault is this more than others?" SEELE 12 asked.
"Doctor Ritsuko Akagi initiated the operation to force-salvage Unit-01 from the Twelfth Angel," answered SEELE 02, "but it was Commander Gendo Rokubungi-Ikari that permitted her to do so, making him most directly responsible."
"Ikari," went SEELE 01 in anger. "Because of him, everything we sacrificed everything for has all been for naught. We shall have him atone…with his death."
-x-
"It's crazy," went Asuka in front of the tombstone of Shinji. "I thought I'd get some satisfaction from killing an Angel on my own…but I didn't. Nothing's the same…because you're not here. Those other two stooge friends of yours have left the city, Hikari has left the city, and everyone else's leaving the city after you got killed. Even that Fourth Child, Kaworu Nagisa, has gone missing. What kind of person leaves a note that says they have to leave and live or stay and die?"
The silence of the fact that she was in a cemetery, alone, talking to herself…because she wished she was talking to him…was getting to her.
"I couldn't imagine how your death would go and affect everyone because of what happened, you know," she told the tombstone. "I don't think it has much to do with that law as it does the fact that you were forced into piloting the Eva right from the very start, with no idea of what you were getting into. If I…if I ever saw you again…I'd just say that I'm sorry for everything, Shinji. It should've been me in that Angel, maybe then, things would be different."
She sat down in from of the grave now.
"It'd be nice just to hear your voice again, no matter what it is you say."
-x-
"It'd be nice just to hear your voice again, no matter what you say," a voice, identical to Asuka's, echoed in Shinji's mind, and he turned his head around to see if anyone was behind him, seeing nobody.
It'd be nice to see all of you again, too, he thought, turning back to his front on the sidewalk, being led by his security detail.
"Is something wrong, Major Ikari?" Maria asked him.
"Nothing," he responded. "Just old memories…and please, call me Shinji. I may be a major, but there may come a time where titles and seniorities won't matter. Speak freely to me as you would to any other person."
"Uh… Yes, sir. I mean, yes, Shinji."
"This is it," Denny told Shinji, showing him a butcher shop. "Why did you want to come here?"
"It's just a pointless hunch…until I can confirm it," he responded again. "But I'll tell you this. All the victims had this in common: They looked as though they were being chopped up, not stabbed. Butchers often use their knives to chop through meat."
"You think our culprit is someone in the butchery business?" Maria suspected.
"It's only a theory…because there's something else I need to see in order to confirm it."
They stepped into the butcher shop and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Of course, they weren't supposed to see anything unusual. It would've been too easy.
"Hello?" Shinji called as he approached the front display of several different cuts of meat that were partially refrigerated, and saw a small bell atop it.
Ding! He struck it, waiting for a response, but nobody showed up.
"What are the hours for this place?" He asked Maria and Denny.
"It's open from seven in the morning till ten in the evening," Denny answered him, and then checked his watch. "It's only six-fifteen."
"I'd hate to be suspicious, but I want to talk to this Barry Stein."
"The way you talk right now, you make it sound as though he's the one we're after," Maria told him, wanting to disbelieve that one of Central City's resident butchers was a serial killer of women. "You don't actually think that, do you, Shinji?"
Turning to face her, he had a look that spoke more than his voice could; the seriousness in his eyes, the sternness of his tightened jaw, it made him seem older and more hardened to the world around them.
"A butcher shop left unattended to, a business owner seemingly absent," he replied, "and just one last piece of the puzzle to be confirmed for me to give my exact response to your question, Ms. Ross. What do we really know about Barry Stein? The more we know about him, the less there is to suspect about him."
"He's just a simple butcher that's been around for eight years, mostly keeps to himself all the time, a widower, no family. He only has his job to look forward to each day."
Shinji had a look of deep thought before he returned his gaze back to Denny.
"How long was he married?" He asked him.
"About five years."
"And when did his wife die?"
"Around three years ago, if I recall correctly; her death was an accident."
"How'd she die?"
"The police report said she was…self-diced," Maria stated.
"Diced?"
"Inside a meat grinder, I mean."
"Ugh."
Shinji now had a sickening image of getting killed by a meat grinder in his head that he couldn't shake off. He leaned against the refrigerated display of meats…and realization hit him again.
"Refrigeration," he uttered.
"What?" They asked him.
"In some of the police reports, the bodies were said to look as though they had been thawing out a little, indicating that someone had frozen them before moving them to where they'd be found. Didn't last year introduce the first series of refrigerated trucks for the meat and produce businesses in Central?"
Maria and Denny both had a look of suspicion as they recalled that the previous year did showcase a series of refrigerated vehicles for food shop owners to use to carry their goods across the city to different markets. Even Barry Stein had access to one for his chopped meat. And they did hear small talk among the military police about how some of the female victims did seem thawed where they were found, places where there wasn't a freezer big enough to hide a body and could be moved around.
"Why can't it just this alchemist I heard was responsible for the Lab Five incident that's behind this instead of suspecting a butcher?" Denny suggested.
"Why would an alchemist have to kill someone like this?" Shinji asked him. "I get that not many people have a lot of love for alchemists that carry a military license, even for their involvement in the last war, but not every alchemist would or could do something like this. Not without an justifiable reason…and there is no reason that points to an alchemist, and I'm not saying this because I'm an alchemist. I'm saying this because we don't know for sure until we find Mr. Stein, as he's now a suspect."
-x-
"…Wait a minute, when did the UN decide this?" Misato questioned, finding out from Kaji that, to the horror of what she thought wasn't likely to happen so soon, that NERV was being disbanded.
"They're, apparently, convinced that the Angel Asuka took out was the last one," he explained as they were in Central Dogma, "and now want to shut us down."
"Except we don't know if that was the last Angel."
"So, you're saying that eleven Angels, each one more terrifying than the last one, aren't enough? They're convinced that it was the last one…and don't want to continue this over the unlikely possibility that it wasn't. They're giving us until the end of the month to clear out completely."
This was just unexpected. NERV was a UN-sanctioned paramilitary organization tasked with fighting the Angels, and if there were no more Angels left to fight, there was no longer any further need of the organization. No further need for the Evas, the MAGI, not even the children.
"What do you think are the chances this has nothing to do with Shinji's death?" She asked him.
"I think it has more to do with Commander Ikari's failure to handle the Angels more thoroughly, but…yeah, Shinji getting killed may also be a factor, even though the children getting killed was expected to be unavoidable, no matter what we did to try and keep that from happening," he answered her. "What's more, over half the city's been abandoned by the civilians. You might as well put up a sign that says the place is a hot spot and get out while you still can."
"Yeah," she agreed with him, though more on the hot spot suggestion than the leaving part. "If something like this had happened earlier, Shinji would've probably been relieved to have to no longer pilot the Eva."
Meanwhile, in his office, Gendo had just received a message from SEELE that with NERV now being shut down, his very use to them was over…and that he should try to hide somewhere…while he was still breathing.
So, they're going to kill me because their scenario is no longer viable? He thought, looking at his right hand. I didn't kill the Third Child, but they hold me responsible for allowing Dr. Akagi to use all those N² bombs to destroy the Angel and salvage Unit-01.
But try as he might to redirect the blame of his own involvement in the incident, Gendo couldn't escape the fact that he let Dr. Akagi do it, so it was more his fault than it was her own for Shinji being dead and the scenario for Human Instrumentality being voided. This was the only reason NERV was being disbanded. This was the only reason SEELE wanted him dead now. And worse, he was the only one they wanted dead; they didn't feel any fear from other people that had worked so closely with NERV, like Akagi and Fuyutsuki, so they were ignored.
His hand, which once had the Adam embryo, was deprived of the Seed of Life, as it had disappeared a long time ago after the Twelfth Angel incident, leaving on the scarred outline where it had been grafted.
Even Lilith, despite regaining her legs after many years since the creation of Unit-01, began to show degeneration in her body, indicating that she was dying.
How did things get so wrong here, Yui? He wondered.
-x-
They waited across the street from the butcher shop for Barry to return; it wasn't much of a stakeout, but Shinji didn't want to risk losing sight of the man once he saw him. Also, it kept him from having to think about other things for the time being…or thinking about other people.
"You're unusually quiet, Shinji," Maria told the boy in the back of the car.
"People are quiet when they think, Ms. Ross," he responded, keeping his eyes on the butcher shop. "Of course, whatever it is they're thinking about is up to interpretation."
"Well, what are you thinking about?" Denny asked him.
"Just some people I knew a while ago, wondering what they're currently doing, how they're currently doing, and where they are."
"I guess they're from wherever you're from?" Maria asked.
"Yeah, you could say that," he answered her. "Sometimes, I'd wish for time away from them, but instead, I'd get that and space."
"Why don't you try contacting them?"
"If I could, I would."
"Let me guess," went Denny, "no means of communication where you're from, right?"
"Yeah," Shinji lied with his half-truth; because he was in a different place and time (along with the fact that he was clearly in another dimension), with earlier variations of the technology he knew from his own time being more advanced, communication between here and there was not only unlikely to happen, it was impossible.
"What brought you all the way to Amestris, if you don't mind my asking?" Maria uttered, curious about why someone like Shinji would leave wherever it was he was from to come to a country like this one.
"A while back…I was involved in something my father was doing," he spoke in another half-truth, "something he knew was wrong, but didn't care about the morality of it. He wanted to fight people I had no quarrel with because I didn't even know them, along with two girls my age. For a while, I did as I was told, but I couldn't stomach the brutality of what he was forcing upon me. So, when an opportunity presented itself, I up and left home…even though it didn't feel like home. That's how I wound up here and met the Elrics."
"Sorry to hear that," Denny told him.
"But it's okay. I told myself that any life I find here will be better than what I had there. So, whatever possible nightmares await me in the future, the unwanted violence of my past…is a dream compared to them. I just wouldn't be able to see some of the people I left behind one last time, letting them know that I didn't forget about them."
Suddenly, a large truck drove up the street and into a back alley beside the butcher shop.
"That's Barry Stein's truck," Maria uttered and then got out of the car. "If we're not back in five minutes, that's your sign to send for backup, Shinji."
Before he could respond that it was unnecessary, his security detail had gone into the alley.
Even if they're packing firearms, they don't know what this man is capable of, Shinji thought, unwilling to let these two get hurt just to help him confirm whether or not the man was their culprit behind the murders of over three dozen women, and got out to pursue them.
To be continued…
A/N: Hopefully, by the time of the next chapter, you'll get to hear Shinji use his official State Alchemist designation that will make him one day respected by the people and feared by anyone serving Dante.