ORACLE AT DELPHI
"In peace sons bury fathers; in war fathers bury sons."

JAPAN, TOKYO, 2002

Yui Ikari, scion of the Ikari bloodline, the nobel-prize-winning world's self-proclaimed "Best Scientist", was faced with her toughest challenge yet.
Being a mom. Baby Shinji looked at her with wide blue eyes as she picked him up from his crib and cradled him. He looked sickly, as he had for a long time, but at least he smiled at her and cooed, and well, she had no idea if he'd be fine in the future, and she hated being uncertain. She needed to know, and while most parents would "Hope for the best." or "Pray." she wasn't content with those flimsy solutions, she wanted to be sure. But she didn't know just what she *could* do for him, and that had been stressing her out. She put her down her son, and called her friend, Naoko Akagi.

"Hey, Nao, there's something I need to talk to you about, come over, at, say around 8." She said. "Please?", she added as afterthought, and wasted no time saying before abruptly hanging up.

"Looks like I'm rubbing off on you", Gendo said with a chuckle, leaning on the doorway. He strolled towards his son and looked down at him, all smiles as blue eyes met blue. Even now Gendo wore a white lab-coat, and Yui surmised he had just returned from work. Almost immediately when their eyes locked, the child pouted and began crying.

"Guess he doesn't like me very much", Gendo said, joking, but Yui noticed his slightly pained look and the way he flinched back a step or two. Sighing, she calmed down her child and began working on dinner for her upcoming guest. She didn't know what she could do, but she knew one thing for certain.

She would move heaven and earth for Shinji...
-

When Naoko arrived, she was welcomed with passable food and a bottle of wine. She knew Shinji was a delicate topic, having spent the majority of his life thus far in a hospital with breathing tubes, and had to undergo an operation before being let out. The frail boy had made glorious Yui Ikari, her friend and rival, grow several years in less than a year. She had become closer to Yui for this, though, becoming her confidante.

Yui herself sat alone at the table, her ever-busy husband probably in some lab somewhere. While Gendo chose to throw himself into his work to cope, Yui chose to throw herself into Shinji's welfare. Maybe she thought the boy would die soon and so she resolved to be the best mother he could have for his short life, or maybe she was just being lazy and didn't want to work. Naoko herself had already had a child, now a teen girl, and she had been just fine when Naoko returned to work. She didn't understand Yui's obsession with her son, but then, she didn't understand Yui.

They exchanged their niceties and pleasantries, the usual "How was your day? How's your work, your husband, the family?" and sat down to talk.
"I just wish," Yui said, and paused. "I just wish there was some way to know what will happen to him."
"Well," Naoko replied, "they have been making some progress on proving temporal determinism lately. The way technology is evolving, maybe in a decade or two you'd be able to see the future through some trendy little device", Naoko continued. She had meant it as a sarcastic, caustic comment, of a type Yui was used to, but Yui's eyes lit up at that, and her look changed in a weird way. Naoko felt a sense of dull but penetrating malaise in the air.
"A decade or two?" Yui said. "… Why not tomorrow?", she whispered to herself, and Naoko couldn't hear.
"Beg your pardon?"
"I have a lot of work to do", she stood up, resolved and determined. "Meet me again later?"
Naoko left, confused.

2 WEEKS LATER

"So, what do you think?"

Asked Yui, finishing her lengthy presentation for her latest idea; a supercomputer named "Ananke".

A pause and a look of confusion, or perhaps fear, followed.

"I think you're completely insane. A computer than can tell the future. Why? Because Shinji's a little sick? I mean, did you even think this through-"

"Excuse me?! A little sick?! Poor Shinji couldn't even breathe right without being stuffed with tubes for the first 10 months of his life! This will help me, help both of us, to know what will happen to our children. Think about it, how much good this could do for the entire world, knowing the future, changing it for the better, or preparing for the worst. Just imagine, Nao!"

Naoko sighed. When Yui wanted to be persuasive, she was persuasive. But still, she couldn't accept.

"I mean, come on. How do you even plan to develop this? Who in their right mind would fund you when your plan is to screw with time?"

Yui smiled, and Naoko knew what was coming next; this always happened when Yui had a miracle machine in the making, and more often than not said miracle machine never came to be but became the idea for a new, more workable, less Yui-level-ambition project.

"Simple. I got Kyoko and her husband to help us, they have their fancy company up in America and she was more than happy to help. Cause, surprise, surprise, Nao. Kyoko wants to know what'll happen to her daughter, and you should be interested in what happens to Ritsuko as well - no, I don't care that she's "almost an adult", I know you wanna know -, and if this whole thing is a bust, it won't upset or hurt anyone, save Mr Langley's pockets. So come on, Nao, work with me?"

Yui asked, holding out her hand, puppy dog eyes in full effect. Naoko stared at her for a few seconds, unsure. She bit her lip and turned to think.

"Look, I'll take your schematics to review and I'll tell you if it's doable. But no promises, okay?" She said at last.

Yui practically jumped for joy before scooping up the blueprints and handing them to her still-unsure friend. Naoko went back home, prepared some coffee, and sat at her desk. This was going to be a long night…

THREE YEARS LATER, 2005

Finally, after years of painstaking, hair-pulling work, and millions in funding, Ananke was complete. The three scientists responsible for its creation gathered together to test it.

"Before we go any further", Yui began. They had both helped so much in her project, even if it was for their children's benefit, it was something momentous. The ability to see the future! "… I wanna thank you, both of you, for helping me get this far with project Ananke. I'll admit, I started doing this only to help Shinji but as we went on, we made something really special. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you." She could feel herself tearing up, she was never good with sentimental, mushy stuff.

"Whatever, Ikari. I only did this for my girl." Kyoko said, but the sniffle afterwards betrayed her words. Naoko just gave a solemn nod and a smile. "So, ladies, shall we?"

All three women put their index on the button to see the most likely outcome for the future of their children. And as they counted down from ten, Yui's throat tightened up, this was it... 3...2...1...

What? There was nothing, it was pure static! The machine was working fine in the sims just an hour ago! Was this what they worked for? As she felt her heart sinking, the screen began to flash, red and green and blue curtains falling away.
It showed an image of a… giant creature with tentacles fighting a diamond? The screen flashed again, showing a one-armed man fighting a man wearing a mask. It kept flashing, image after image; an underground city, a crucified white giant, a doll hanging from the ceiling of a hospital room, a titan with a red sun shining behind him, an army of Purple Giants massing…

And then finally, it flashed for the final time, and what they saw... was hellish. The screen ran through several repeating images, over and over, once then twice then thrice then once more. A giant being of light with massive wings, the earth in disarray; a mechanical Red Titan fighting thirteen white giants; a similar Purple Titan ascending to the heavens, orange wings protruding from its back, all the while deafening screams erupted from the machine.

Then, after what felt like an eternity, the computer caught fire, which spread wildly, and the emergency sprinklers turned on, putting it out. All three women flinched back at the fire and then huddled in the corner of the room... and they were left in silence and darkness after it was put out. They were all breathing heavily. They couldn't believe it... That was the future? No, she wouldn't allow it, she couldn't allow it to happen.

"We can't let that happen." Yui said, breaking the silence and standing up, the two other women steadied their breathing, with Naoko being the first to speak.

"Oh, yeah?! And how the fuck do you propose we stop it?! You saw them! They were fucking huge! And the planet was fucked! I fucking told you we shouldn't have built this! But do you ever fucking listen to me?!" Naoko got up and began pacing back and forth crying. 'And honestly, who could blame her?' Yui thought. 'Being exposed to a future full of despair and suffering can do that.'
Kyoko gave Naoko a hug and tried calming her down, "hey, it's alright, that's not what's gonna happen. Everything's gonna be fine, the machine was faulty."

Her words seemed to work as Naoko's crying became a few sniffles. "But what if it isn't?" Yui said, no sadness in her face, only resolve, only determination.

"What if it wasn't just a glitch? What if that future comes to pass?"

The two other women stared at her. They didn't know if it was true. But if it was, there was no way in hell they would let it happen. "What do you suggest?" Kyoko said. Already getting some idea of what to do.

"I propose this. We make a company in the growing weapons sector. A company we can use to develop war machines to prepare for those giants to attack. There's no way I'm letting them destroy MY planet and kill MY people."

"So we're arms-dealers now? Yui, with all the wars in the world right now, I'm surprised you can even say this. Resources are running out and everyone is killing eachother for them." Naoko was baffled.
"So we're just going to let them kill our children?! Naoko, think about it this way. If we do nothing, and this comes to pass, we will have been negligent. If we successfully stop this, we will have saved the entire world. Then we can talk about world peace in our time, and not before."

All three looked at each other, two unsure and one too-sure, and nodded. They agreed that they had come up with the ideal way to go about this as to not get arrested or thrown in a mental hospital. It was a company designed to further weapons tech and research while secretly developing their own giant robot, the "Centurion".

Gendo would be the face of the company, the diplomat and administrator. Kyoko, Naoko and Yui would work behind the scenes on the war machine. Later, a Dr Katsuragi and Yui's old instructor Professor Fuyustsuki joined them. They would let nothing happen to mankind, they would let nothing happen to their children...

And from that day forth, NERV was born...

2009

It had been some years after NERV's creation.

Everything seemed to be going well, progress on the Centurion was staggering and they had even found pilots for Centurions 00 and 01. The backgrounds of the twins they found were depressing, especially since Yui's motherly instincts had forced her to take them in.

They were a boy and a girl, around Shinji's age. They had been discovered in a ruined, bombed-out town in Eastern Europe with no parents and half-starving. The two kids acclimated surprisingly well to their new surroundings and got along well with everyone. Their names were assigned as Kaworu and Rei, The First and Second Child.

NERV had managed to convince the Japanese government to endow them with some lands, with the stated purpose of "repopulating" the war-torn, destroyed countryside, and to build more military bases and keep existing ones supplied. They named their new colony "Erusaremu", after that holy city.

The twins' quarters were inside the newly constructed, and hidden, Geo-front, NERV's own military base in Erusaremu. A secret bunker deep underground to hide the Centurion and NERV's more... shady projects. Kaworu and Rei had to be prescribed medicine due to their conditions; yet another way they were similar to Shinji is their frailty, which endured them to Yui beyond consideration. Yet still, as long as it wasn't her own son getting in the front lines, she'd do anything. Like sacrificing two orphans...
She sighed, sometimes she felt like the scum of the earth...

-

2015

Finally, the promised day had arrived... Centurion 00 was built, and Rei had been prepared to test it to make sure everything was safe. But there was a minor hiccup earlier in the day when Kyoko had come with her daughter, and by the looks of it, Kyoko had barely gotten any sleep

"What happened to you?" She asked, waving lightly at a beaming Asuka, barely a teen.

"She kept me up all night because she wanted to be the "Third Child", but there's no way I'm letting her. So I let her come along to see this isn't some glory trip and it's actually extremely dangerous." Kyoko said, glaring at her carefree offspring.

"Well, as long as she doesn't interfere with anything..." Yui said, patting Asuka's head, - to which, Kyoko noticed, she grumbled something about not being a kid - "and you don't fall asleep on the job..." she continued, pointing at her fellow scientist, "I guess it's alright".

Kyoko sighed and they made their way inside, descending to the lower levels of the Geo-front and getting off at the Centurion testing area. Kaworu was standing there, waiting for Yui, a grim look on his face.

"Dr. Ikari, Ma'am. Reporting for duty." Kaworu said, trying to stand like a soldier and only managing to look silly. Rei stood behind, shyly peeking out at the newcomer. Asuka noticed and shot out both her hands.
"Hiii! I'm Asuka Langley-Soryu! Let's be great friends!" Kaworu shook her hand firmly but uncomfortably, while Rei awkwardly grabbed it and released after a few seconds. Anyone would be forgiven for thinking Kaworu was the older one due to his outgoing nature and social skills, but in fact Rei was older by 4 minutes.

As they made their way down the hall, Kaworu's expression became even more filled with worry, and Yui noticed that.

"Hey, it's gonna be fine. Centurion-00 was built specially so Rei could pilot it, you don't have to worry about her." Yui told him. Kaworu gave a nod but his expression made it clear it didn't get through to him. Her encouragements never did, and she feared they never will.

"Tell you what, you can stand on the catwalk and if anything goes wrong you'll be right there to help, okay?" Kaworu nodded with his usual small smile returned to his eyes. Asuka only groaned.

"Why do you worry so much anyway, it's gonna be fiiiiine. Piloting a giant mech isn't scary, it's cool!"

Kaworu shot her a look before muttering, "Easy for you to say."

Everyone split off, Rei and Kaworu headed to the catwalk. And Yui, Kyoko and Asuka headed to the control room... Time to see what their work amounted to...

This was it, what all Yui's life work had amounted to. The pilot had established a successful connection with Centurion 00, her neural system fully in control of the robot and all that was left was to activate it, but something went wrong.

"FIRE! ON THE RIGHT SHOULDER!"

One of the maintenance workers yelled out. They tried aborting the operation but their systems didn't respond.

"Rei! I'm coming!" Kaworu yelled as he ran across to the partially melted door and tried wrenching it open, leaving a burn on his hands. Oh dear, this was not good…

Gendo ran for the robot and helped Kaworu with the melting door, as Dr Katsuragi managed to finally restore control over the robot. Gendo helped both kids back to the catwalk and staff took them to the medical ward.

Asuka, undeterred by this little accident, said "When I'm a pilot, my Centurion will actually listen to me!"

Kyoko replied "The day you become a pilot is the day Shinji becomes one too."

Yui desperately hoped it would never, ever come to that, and made an opening in her schedule to visit the twins in the medical ward.

-
Special thanks to: Mr. RHM for help with the story, and a friend of mine for beta reading.
And thank you for reading.
I'll be aiming for weekly updates.
Original publish date for this chapter: Feb 19, 2023