Evangelion: Continuum
By Daetor
Chapter 6: Aftermath
Disclaimer: Don't tell me that you STILL don't get it...
A/N: Here's chapter six, you know the drill with me and this story... oh, and if you want some more details on my work, look at the notes at the end of the chapter.
Two days after the operation in Alaska went down, John decided that Gendo had enough time to rot in his cell and it was now time to have him brought face to face with Yui. To make the situation slightly more interesting, he was going to allow Shinji to take him there in any way he wanted to and at any time. John had done his job with Gendo, he had the man interrogated by one of his specialists. To be exact, in Sanctuary there were those individuals who were able to read and influence minds with ease, just like Asuka but nowhere near her level of power. Even so, the operation was done while the former NERV Commander slept, so he didn't exactly have any defenses against mental probes, not that being awake would have helped him by much.
Now John knew why SEELE bothered to attempt to get rid of Gendo and even send one of their own to deal with him. The man knew locations, many locations with SEELE's bases and hidden operations, but above all else, he knew where the Old Men themselves were hiding, their main base. With all that information, John had all he needed to make sure that those… creatures were dead for good. In his vision, those four were not worthy of being called men anymore and now he knew where he could get them.
That of course didn't mean that he could simply jump in there to try and kill them, there were other loose ends that had to be taken care of. Plus, he knew that at his current power level, he would be unable to deal with all four. The truth was that the only way all four could be defeated at once would be if either Shinji or Asuka awoke their true potential, and it wasn't time for that yet. So they needed more time, but he also had to ensure that SEELE didn't do something harmful to the world during the wait. So, since they had other locations as well, they would be able to act against SEELE, weakening them and ensuring that they would eventually be defeated. Thus, it was pretty much a matter of time.
Thankfully SEELE had a few places where they could strike somewhat safely and maybe even attempt to draw them out. At least SEELE didn't have the bonus of being hidden in a Dirac sea, safe from any outside attacks and free to expand as much as you wanted. What they did have was a real clone army and a bunch of avatars of their own, plus those damn creatures, which were probably mass produced as well. The facilities for these things were large though, and that meant that you couldn't keep all of them in one place. Obviously that meant that they had to spread them around the world, especially since there were limits to how much they could hide in one place without
drawing attention to themselves. They still needed humanities support for the time being, seeing that they didn't have any other way of gaining the resources they needed.
SEELE was even now a parasitic organization, leeching the Earth of its resources to achieve its own goals. Sanctuary was self sustained, they used a simple trick to gain the resources they needed in what was basically a void. They turned energy into matter. Some would ask themselves if that was even possible, but the truth was that it was fairly common there. The method was used on the old Earth and it was latter used in the angels. You had to keep in mind that that S2 engine generated raw energy, not matter, to regenerate, you need matter of some sort. The angels had a method of transforming that energy into matter when they had to regenerate. The method works with the help of the AT field, so when transforming energy into matter in massive amounts, your field pretty much goes into over drive, which also explained why the "Angels" seemed to have very strong AT fields whenever they regenerated after an N2 strike for example or other massive injuries.
John sighed again, it would take a while to decide the best course of action, despite the fact that his new protégées were more than able to handle a lot of punishment thrown at them, especially inside their avatars. There were other factors to keep in mind as well, like the civilians in the area or the amount of collateral damage that could be done by simply operating with avatars in those areas. As long as he lived, Sanctuary's resources were never going to be used recklessly with the potential to cause avoidable harm to innocents, or at least bystanders if they weren't innocent. Dealing with SEELE could have been so simple if he wasn't stupid at the beginning of this.
What he didn't mention to the others when he began his story was the fact that he could have found and killed all of the SEELE members before the angel wars began, right after Second Impact. At that time they didn't have the armies or their powers, they were dying old men that could have been easily dealt with. Now though, they were back at full strength and they were probably young again as well, he wouldn't be surprised if the remaining four were just as young as he was now, at least physically.
If he would have killed them back then… all of this wouldn't have happened at all, the angel wars would have been different, as for Adam and Lilith… they might have lived up until now and might have had a chance to restart the war. It was all so confusing, all in all, John still blamed himself for what happened to Shinji and Asuka, he believed that he could have found a better way for all of this. Still, he didn't take the correct actions and got himself in a prolonged coma which also spread a temporary wave of panic in Sanctuary. There was no proper leadership in Sanctuary that was prepared to replace him should he die and leave no proper instructions. He would be forced to change that sooner or later. Just then, Sarah entered his office, she looked a bit angry and he had a feeling he knew the reason why. What most people didn't know was that in the command structure of Sanctuary, Sarah was not only a very talented doctor, but also his main advisor, thus she knew all of his plans.
"Hello Sarah, I know why you're here." John replied, he seemed tired, which was something rare for him.
"I'm here because of the plan you have, it's nothing like the initial plan and too insane compared to what I expected given this situation." Sarah replied angrily. "You can't do that! What will happen to Sanctuary if you do something like that?"
"It will survive, and so will most of humanity." John said. "What's more important? In your opinion at least?"
"Damn it John, if we can't prevent the loss of one life, how can we save the whole world?" Sarah asked. "Don't you realize what this could cause? To Sanctuary? To the Children?" Sarah went on, placing an emphasize on the word children. "Is it really worth it?"
"It is…" John replied. "You have to understand that the war would take too long otherwise and Earth would most likely be destroyed if Sanctuary would be forced to go on a full out war with SEELE's forces. Not to mention that there's no guarantee that we would win and survive as well. So this is the only real option, like this, at least I know that Sanctuary and Earth will survive and neither will have to go through extreme lengths to survive."
"Still… are you sure about it? Is there no other way?" Sarah asked in a pleading voice. "Surely this can be done somehow, without such a horrible sacrifice…"
John didn't reply immediately and looked at the photo he always had on his desk, he picked it up and placed his right hand over the woman in the picture. He placed the picture back and met Sarah's gaze steadily. "I believe that it's time for something like this. It's time for me to follow he onward. As my distant granddaughter, you can surely understand that. Even now, after so long, I look just as young as you do, yet you're only 200 years old."
"So it's finally that time my mother has warned me about…" Sarah whispered, John still heard her though but said nothing, because he knew all too well what she was talking about. Sarah smiled sadly. "We'll both regret this, though I'll probably regret it a lot more than you will…" After that, she turned and left the office, leaving John alone with his thoughts.
'Pain is a part of life Sarah, you know that all too well and you know the consequences as well. This is the only way…'
--
In another part of Sanctuary, Asuka was just waking up after another good night, one of the many nightmare free nights she had enjoyed after starting to sleep with Shinji. Her wings were spread out like a blanket, covering both of them. She discovered quite quickly that she could pull them in her body, but it wasn't comfortable so she kept them out all the time if she didn't have to hide them and in Sanctuary she never did. As she woke up, she noticed that Shinji was awake, but unlike other mornings he was staring at the ceiling. Asuka took a better look at him and she realized that the situation was different, in the sense that she could tell that he was thinking quite intently about something. What ever it was, it was important to him.
"Shinji? What's wrong?" Asuka asked. Shinji's eyes focused and he looked at her then sighed, but didn't reply immediately as if he was carefully considering his reply. Now Asuka was worried. Despite the glimpses she had of his mind, she didn't understand how Shinji's mind worked and she had no intention to poke around his head without his permission. She did teach him German by transferring knowledge in his head while he slept and he allowed her to learn how to properly read Kanji directly from his memories, but searching his thoughts like that was something different.
"Today I can get father out of his cell and take him to mother. Still, that's not the only thing I'm worried about here." Shinji replied. "It's something that John said… he said that we're not human after the mission, but when you talked to him before I woke up, he told you that he was human. What do you think he meant?"
"That bit confused me as well for a while, but if you really think about it, from the Old Earth point of view we're all perfectly human, but from today's point of view, we're anything but human." Asuka said after she rolled the question in her head for a few times. "I don't think it really matters anymore. Since all of humanity will evolve more or less like this eventually, I think the present definition of what human means will be outdated. Maybe we're neo-humans, I don't know and I don't care. It's this thing about your father that's really bothering you isn't it…"
"I suppose that you know me a well enough by now to tell." Shinji said with a slight chuckle and a smile. The smile faded quickly though. "I'm not sure about what I really want. I mean, a part of me wants to go to him and splatter him all over the walls with my powers for everything he did to all of us. On the other hand…"
"On the other hand you still love him." Asuka stated. "I know how that feels… It's normal I suppose, after all he's still your father, no matter what he did. What ever you do, I'll always stand by you, even if you kill him or set him free in the world." She raised her head and kissed him briefly but with intensity. "Just do what you feel is right. If anyone has a right to decide his fate, that's you."
"Thanks Asuka, I guess I needed that…" Shinji replied. "Well, I guess we better get up. I'm serving breakfast, then I'm off to face him."
"Do you want me to come with you?"
"As much as I'd want you to be with me, this is something I have face on my own, so I can put some of my own demons to rest." Shinji replied after kissing her forehead. "He won't get of unpunished though…"
--
Gendo Ikari was not a happy man at the moment, he was quite distressed actually, but his face didn't show that. Even in these conditions, he attempted to keep his mask, the emotionless mask he had crafted for himself and worn for so long. Everything went to Hell as soon as that apparition that claimed to be his son came into his life, back in Alaska. Indirectly, it promised a shot at seeing Yui again, whether it was or wasn't his son was unimportant. He honestly didn't believe that it could be Shinji, how could his cowardly child become such a confident and capable warrior in such a short time? It seemed impossible, so therefore, what ever it was, it wasn't his son.
Gendo still had hope that he would see Yui eventually in life, if he didn't have that hope, he would have attempted to kill himself by now. He had been placed in a dark cell with no windows and apparently no doors either, he woke up there after falling asleep somehow. For how long he had been there, he had no real idea, the people that captured him had removed his watch and cell phone when they took him in, so it could have been any amount of time. What made things even more difficult was the fact that he didn't need to feed and he didn't receive any food since he had awoken. There were two possible explanations to that, one, he had been there a very short time, but he had no way of telling so it seemed a lot longer; two, for some reason his body didn't need food anymore for some reason.
You'd expect a rational man like the former Commander of NERV to ignore such an insane idea, but the truth of the matter was that after all he had seen, it wasn't really all that impossible. If those that captured him were experts with all that concerned angels and Evas as he suspected, then this wasn't all that impossible. They probably had their means of doing something like this. It would be a good tactic too, by denying him food while also keeping him alive, they deprived him the possibility of a routine which would allow him to measure time. He had to admit that who ever designed this system was rather brilliant. Before he could continue his thoughts on his strange situation, the wall before him shifted and a hole was formed in it.
Through the hole entered Shinji, the boy was dressed in casual clothes, but he wore the same red hilt at his belt. Gendo knew that it was a piece of the Lance of Longinus, but how it was possible, he didn't know. The hole closed and the two were isolated once more, neither of them spoke for what seemed like hours for both of them, even if in reality it was only minutes.
"I suppose that you still want to see her, right father?" Shinji asked.
"Yes." Gendo replied in a simple manner, they both knew who she was. Another awkward pause started, one of the two was pondering the situation, while the other was waiting impatiently.
"You know, it's ironic, how when this all began you were pulling most of the strings and you were playing me and the others like puppets. Now, you're at my mercy, waiting for my decision. I could even kill you if I wanted to, and no one might care." Shinji said as he took out the red hilt and morphed it into the extended double bladed claymore he used in battle. "No one would blame me if I did… They'd see it as a normal reaction after all I endured at your hands, after all you did to the ones I cared about, after what happened to the one I love because of your decisions and selfish desires. Heck, most would be surprised if you lived beyond this encounter, from what I heard, even Fuyutsuki bet that I'd kill you."
Shinji paused and took a few stances with the sword, then he proceeded to spin it around his body at a slowly increasing speed. He kept quiet as the speed of the blade was becoming faster and faster, until it was just a crimson blur around his body. The speed was so great that the blade was creating a small whirlwind in the enclosed room, Shinji seemed surrounded by a red aura, only his eyes could be clearly seen and they were glowing with an intense blue light. Gendo was pressed to the wall by the air current by now, but he desperately clung to his mask, in truth, he was afraid of the being before him, but he would never admit it. "How does it feel to know that you're helpless and so worthless that no one cares if you live or die?"
After saying that, something happened that Gendo would remember for the rest of his life, however long or short it may be. He didn't even have time to blink, because the wall behind him was suddenly full of cracks and the sword was near his head. The side of the blade was pressed to the left side of his skull, down to his skin, it was obviously embedded in the wall and it had struck with an impossible speed and strength. Shinji's face was very close to his own and his eyes were still glowing. "How does it feel to know that your life can end in an instant?"
Gendo slid down the wall trembling in fear, in all honesty, he had never faced something so fearsome in his life, not up close at least. Truly, what man could handle such a situation, especially if he's in his essence a coward, as strong as he seemed before all the others, Gendo Ikari was nothing more than a frightened man. Shinji leaned back and sniffed once, then started laughing. "So, I scared you with that didn't I? Now you know how I've felt for most of my life because of you!"
"You did all that simply to frighten me?" Gendo asked still in a state of shock.
"Well, that was one of the purposes, but the thing is, all that I said is true, so don't relax just yet. Your life hangs in the balance, one wrong step and you might push me over the edge to kill you." Shinji replied as he retracted the sword. "I don't need the sword to kill you either, I can simply splatter you with my AT field. Now, I'll get you a change of clothes and then I might take you to mother. As for the wall, I'll let you know that it's ten times stronger than the usual stuff you use for Evangelion armor. I thought you should know." With that Shinji left the cell and went to get his father a change of clothes, after all it wouldn't do to bring him like that to his mother.
--
Shinji was on his way to get his father and meanwhile his mind was racing. He had no idea how he managed to pull that of before the man that caused him so much pain. Well, he knew parts of the reason, after Third Impact, he had changed at such an alarming speed that often he felt that he couldn't even recognize himself. Shinji was glad for that fact, he didn't want to be what he was before and all that happened helped him to change. His new powers, his new outlook on life, Kaworu's and Rei's last words in Instrumentality, all that he saw, all of the training he received during the time he spent here at Sanctuary and the fact that some good did come out of what he did with the Instrumentality process had helped him a lot. Above all that was of course his new relationship with Asuka, it gave him a strength that he never imagined he could have.
So now he toyed around with Gendo, playing with his mind and scaring the crap out of him, literally. Shinji wasn't by any means a cruel person and he didn't enjoy making others suffer, but even he had his limits and Gendo had stepped way out of bounds during the Angel wars. Even though Shinji had no intention of killing the man, he was going to make him suffer a little, to get a taste of what he did to all those around him for years, long before the Angel wars even started. The question was if he would learn anything out of all this, would his father make himself worthy of a second chance? A full pardon? Shinji ended his musings as he entered his father's cell once more, it was time for the second stage.
"I see that you're ready. Come on, I'm taking you to mother, I have no idea what she'll be saying to you, but I do know that it probably won't be pleasant." Shinji chuckled as he said the last part. "Why so gloomy? Even I learned that being closed up like a shell only ensures that you suffer more."
"Who or what are you really?" Gendo asked, curiosity getting the better of him. "It's impossible for you to be my son."
Shinji stopped for a second and laughed, he laughed for a full minute before deciding to dignify his father with a reply. "I am your son, Shinji Ikari, but I changed so much that even I don't know myself, how could you recognize me? After all, you didn't know even the old me any more than the psych profile that told you that I was fit to damn the world to hell just so that you would get a fake chance of being with my mother."
"How do you know all of this? What could change you so much?" Gendo asked. "Why do you insist that you are my son? You said it yourself, I knew his psychological profile, he was desperate, in a break down, he was most likely even delirious at times and he probably couldn't even completely separate reality from what transpired in his own mind. It's a wonder that Instrumentality did not occur under those circumstances. You want me to believe that a broken boy like that would become someone like you after so little time?"
"Well, let's start with Instrumentality itself shall we?" Shinji said as he led Gendo down a door in a large room. "Mother would probably want to hear this as well." That was when Gendo saw her, Yui was standing in the middle of the room. He realized that it was a hologram of some sort, but he didn't care, he could see her for the first time in so many years. He also saw that she seemed angry, and that anger was directed at him.
"As I was saying, a key part in my change is the Instrumentality process. It started my change, also, you should know that it didn't fail, I chose to end it." Shinji said. "Most people don't know that, it seems that you don't either. Considering my state of mind, it doesn't really make sense that I was able to end it, or that I even wanted to end it. The thing is, the whole scenario had one great flaw, one that seemed so impossible that you never even considered it possible. That flaw was Asuka."
"What does the Second Child have to do with anything?" Gendo asked, honestly surprised. In all honesty, he believed that the girl would have a negative effect on his son, that's why he agreed to allow her to live with him and Katsuragi.
"Our son, fell in love with her." Yui said. "You obviously didn't notice after all that you did. You used our son, MY CHILD, as a TOOL! The only remaining proof of the love between us and you tried to destroy him!" By now she was yelling, anger at her husband's actions taking over. "For what?! How could you do something like that to him? Is anything worth the monstrosities you committed? I sacrificed myself in Unit-01, when I realized that my fate was inevitable I allowed myself to be pulled in the Eva, I gave myself to it fully, so that when the time comes I would be able to protect my son from within."
"I never knew Yui, after you were lost, I was desperate, I didn't know what to do!" Gendo replied, seeking forgiveness from his only love. "I did it all to be with you again. I never once thought that I could live without you…"
"What about our son Gendo? The son that you abandoned! He was so broken when I touched his mind, alone and hurting, rejected by his own father! How could he believe that anyone else could love him when his own father seemed to hate him?" Yui asked. "I know a lot of what you did. I dare say that it's unforgivable! What you did to my son and many others!"
"But!"
"But nothing! What you did to get me back was not a proof of love Gendo, it was simple minded desperation and obsession, not real love. If you would have truly loved me, like I have loved you once, then you would have thought about what I wanted as well and what had to be done, not only your selfish desires." Yui continued. "It's a miracle that Shinji is as he is now. The world was almost damned for eternity because of your mistakes! Did you really believe that we would have been reunited in a paradise of some sort?! Did you believe that I would EVER forgive you for all that you did?!"
"Yui… I…"
"There is nothing left to be said… Rokobungi! Even half dead as I am now and I can still file a divorce." Yui replied, her voice set, never once wavering. "Being a husband also means being a father, which you have never been, despite the fact that you did bother to father a child. Even when he was little, I noticed that you didn't care much for Shinji, always busy with your work above all else. Now leave, I don't ever want to see you again!"
"Yui, listen to me please!" Gendo cried out.
"Shinji, get him out please, do what ever you want with him!" Yui replied, not even listening to Gendo's plea. The door opened behind Gendo, but he didn't notice, at least not until Shinji pushed him out with his AT field, then exited himself. The once proud man fell crumpled to the floor, to shocked to move, having all of his dreams and hopes shattered by this one event.
"I believe that I did warn you." Shinji said looking down on him. "I suppose you never did listen to the advice of those around you, whether they cared or not." Gendo said nothing, still laying there motionless. "What do you want now? I can arrange for you to go back on Earth, I can arrange for you to stay here. Hell, I can even get you a gun if you want to kill yourself. Though, that would really prove that you were worthless wouldn't it?"
"I guess you're happy now, aren't you!" Gendo said in a hateful whisper. "You ruined everything and took everything away from me, just like I had always feared you would."
"Blaming me won't change anything and it won't help you either." Shinji replied calmly. "I would suggest that you look over the situation in a different perspective. Why don't you try to make amends? Try and change for God's sakes. Even I learned to change. Sure, it took the end of the world, the help of three very powerful entities and an attack from SEELE after said end of the world to get me there, but I did start to change!"
"What's the point in changing? I did my best and I failed…" Gendo replied silently, as for Shinji, he was getting annoyed, especially since he was starting to understand how people felt around him when he was being like this sometimes.
"So, you're just going to do what I used to do? Run away with your tail between your legs? You may have lost mother, but I'm sure that you can still do something with your life. Let's move, maybe if I show you around, I can get some perspective in that single minded head of yours!" Shinji replied while pulling his father up by his right hand. That man had was willing to damn the whole world for the sake of reuniting with the woman he believed he loved and after all that he was going to let himself die like that? Shinji had no intention of allowing it to happen, Gendo had abandoned him, but he wouldn't return the favor, he would be better man in this and do the right thing.
--
Meanwhile, as the events regarding Shinji's father were underway, Asuka decided to wander around town until it was over, especially since she knew that it would probably take some time to get things over with. There were 6 towns in Sanctuary's central sphere, it was a truly amazing accomplishment. The German girl wanted to see as much of it as it was possible as the internal autumn progressed and slowly gave way to winter. The internal weather control crated realistic weather effects, the size of the sphere allowing such a strange event to take place.
To Asuka and all the children born after or not long before Second Impact, the seasons were something wondrous, one of those things which they never had the chance to live through. So she enjoyed it while she could while also exploring the town. Unlike any of the towns she had been through, this town didn't have any cars. At first she wondered why, but that was soon answered when she saw people flying one day by using their powers. There was still a question about how they were able to take care of large amounts of goods that needed to be moved. Again, the AT field provided a solution to that as well. Apparently, there were special containers that were made out of a special metal that made them easy to lift with an AT field. All you had to do was load them, get on top and take of with as many as your powers could take, which with that specially developed alloy was quite a lot for even average people.
Another odd thing around here was the communications affair, instead of phones, you had these small crystals that you could carry around anywhere. Those crystals could act as data storage devices while also being able to connect to one another over seemingly infinite distances allowing instant telepathic communication. The problem was that you had to have at least some knowledge about AT fields and be able to use them at the most basic levels to use them. This made life for the refugees slightly more difficult, but there were benefits, since they weren't forced to work until they adapted to the new conditions and they received a lot of support from the community.
As Asuka made her way around town she received nods and smiles from passing citizens who had heard who she was and what she was doing. Some of them were even people rescued from Tokyo-3 or the Alaskan base. It was surprising that a place like this could even exist, but it didn't matter, some mysteries were better left unsolved, Sanctuary was one of them. As she walks around, she decides to stop at a café down the road and simply sit down and relax while having a warm cup of coffee. The only reason for which she drank coffee these days was the fact that she was used to it, because it had no effect on her body due to her powers.
"Asuka, what are you doing around here?" Hikari's voice came from down the street just as Asuka was taking her first sip from the cup. "How come Shinji's not with you?" Hikari was accompanied by Toji, who had a look that seemed to say that he'd rather die than stand around Asuka. Sure, they were getting along far better now, but he still wanted to avoid the red headed menace if he could.
"Hikari, hi. I was just wandering around town. As for Shinji, he has to deal with his father today." Asuka replied then took another sip from the cup. "I have no idea exactly how long it will take, but I can safely bet that it will be a while until they're done. So, I'm just wandering around."
Meanwhile Hikari and Toji seated themselves at Asuka's table and ordered something to drink as well. Since the weather was cold, it was a good time for a warm drink of any kind. "I take it that he wanted to this by himself, right?" Toji asked, concerned for his previously rather fragile friend.
"Yes, and it makes sense that he wants things to be this way, we're talking about his father after all." Asuka added. "I'm not worried about Shinji though, he can handle it. It's Gendo someone should be worried about, certainly not me." Asuka chuckled evilly at the though of what Shinji was capable of.
"He wouldn't kill Gendo… would he?" Hikari asked, for her killing anyone, even a man like Gendo Ikari was bad, it was just the way she was raised. "I mean, wouldn't it be too much?"
"I would." Toji replied. "It's his fault that my sister had to go through all of that pain and because of him I was missing an arm and a leg before Third Impact." Toji was not the kind of person who would forgive someone like the former Commander of NERV easily.
"Toji!" Hikari gasped, shocked by Toji's reply.
"Well, for once I agree with you." Asuka said. "I would kill him as well. Because of him, I had to go through the 15ths attack, and that pushed me over the edge. I almost died because of his stupid desire to protect Unit-01. It was his fault as well that Shinji was as screwed up as he was."
"I can't believe you two!" Hikari said. "You're talking about killing another human being! It's a sin!"
"I don't know if Gendo Ikari qualifies as human anymore Hikari. He was almost responsible for the genocide, if that words covers the death of all humanity. Plus, even Shinji considered killing him, and that says a lot." Asuka replied.
"You don't know how horrible that man was Hikari, so you can't really understand why so many people want to kill him." Toji added. "I doubt he has a single friend in the world."
"I guess…" Hikari said, unconvinced by their arguments against the man. Though, she really had no idea how severe were Gendo Ikari's crimes against humanity. For her innocent mind, it was impossible to comprehend the horrible things committed by that man, all for the sake of a desperate dream.
--
Meanwhile, Shinji was quick to make arrangements that would allow his father to remain in Sanctuary, though he would be guarded at all times, even if he was no threat to the natives, there were still the refugees to take into account. After that, Shinji decided to go with Gendo to the only person that might not out right kill him in all of Sanctuary, but still knew the evil man. Thus, Shinji lead his father through the town to Kozo Fuyutsuki's house, the former professor lived in a small house at the edge of town where he could enjoy the peace and quiet after a rather difficult life.
He was happy these days, he didn't have to worry about secrets and other stuff like that, all he had to worry about was getting bored. Even that seemed unlikely since Sanctuary had it's own cultural life to explore, so there was a lot of new music and lots of unheard books to go through. Plus, the whole thing was fascinating, he wanted to eventually explore the entire main sphere and the remaining eight spheres. Especially since in each sphere there was a slightly different climate and in general a different type of ecosystem was being simulated.
Kozo rarely received visits, no one really knew the former Vice-Commander, so obviously not many wanted to see him. That didn't bother him at all though, also, if he really wanted to spend time somewhere he was always able to go and pay a visit to John's villa where the two children and Misato and Kaji were living. He had to admit that Shinji inherited his mother's talent for cooking. Taking all this into account, he was surprised to hear a knock on the door, signaling that someone came for a visit. Even so, he went and opened the door, he wasn't surprised when he saw Shinji, but he was shocked when he saw Gendo, especially since the man looked as if he wanted to die. Well, the answer to that was rather obvious, the meeting with Yui must have gone rather badly.
"Sorry to intrude professor, but, I think I need a your help with a problem." Shinji said as the door was opened.
"Nonsense Shinji, you know you're always welcome, not to mention that I think I know what your problem is." Fuyutsuki sighed and allowed the two to enter his house, he led them to the living room and went to prepare some tea for his guests. When he returned he noticed that despite his downcast face, Gendo was still quietly observing his surroundings.
"So, I take it that you saw Yui today Gendo, and your expression is answer enough for me to know how that went." Fuyutsuki said, trying to get the younger man's attention, but he didn't reply. "I have to say that I'm not surprised, I always did know that something like this would happen."
That got Gendo's attention, who raised his head and glared at his former teacher. "What do you mean you were expecting something like this? Why didn't you warn me?"
"How? If I didn't support you, you would have had me killed. Plus, even if there was a way to make it even partly believable, would that have stopped you? Somehow I doubt it." The former professor replied. "Now, you did what you wanted without thinking of the consequences and look where it got you. There's no going back now Gendo, all you can do is move forward and do something with whatever's left of your life."
"She hates me Kozo, after all I did, she hates me, what's worse is that I'm beginning to understand WHY she hates me." Gendo replied with a downcast voice. "She's right about everything I've done, and Shinji's right too. Her rejection doesn't hurts as much as the fact that I'm beginning to realize that I really do deserve it…"
"That's good, if you realize that you were wrong, you can start moving ahead and start making things right." Fuyutsuki replied. "The truth is Gendo that, you only believed that you loved Yui, but that wasn't true love, it was like what you had for Rei. You believed that you cared for Rei and sometimes it even seemed like it to others as well, but your willingness to use her like that showed the truth. You have to move ahead Gendo, and forget Yui."
"I should have listened to you more when I could still prevent some of this madness, professor." Gendo replied, he then noticed that on the table were two cups of tea and a tea pot, that and Shinji was nowhere to be seen. "That's odd, where did Shinji go?"
"So you're finally calling him Shinji eh? It's a good place to start." Kozo said as he took a sip from the warm tea. "You should drink some as well, it will help with your nerves."
Gendo raises his cup and takes a sip from the tea, he notices immediately that he can't recognize the brand and that it's better than any tea he had before. "I don't recognize this tea, and you still didn't tell me what happened with Shinji."
"Shinji's probably outside, practicing his swordsmanship, he's a surprisingly talented fighter, I suppose that's something he got from you. Did you know that when Unit-01 went berserk, it was acting on Shinji's rage and commands? Yui only forced it to go berserk, everything else was all from Shinji's pent up anger." Fuyutsuki replied. "If you hadn't abandoned him and raised him yourself, he would have become an excellent fighter in the Eva, far better than Asuka."
"I can imagine." Gendo said, thinking about all the mistakes he did in the past. "I was really foolish in my actions, I acted only on impulse and I didn't think everything as much as I should have."
"At least you're still alive. If Asuka went after you, you'd be dead right now." Kozo replied. "She still hates you for what happened with the 15th and with her powers, she could have returned the favor. She has Lilith's powers, while your son has Adam's powers."
"I see, so that's why SEELE's after them." Gendo said. "They want to use them to restart Third Impact… Still, SEELE's new display of power is incredible, how did they manage to build 7 more Evas?"
"Well, John believes that there are far more than 7 out there. The ones that resemble the MP Evas could very well be in the hundreds if not thousands, not to mention that they've managed to create an army of cloned soldiers that are capable of using AT fields." Kozo said. "So it won't be easy at all to handle this."
"Speaking of that man John, there's something off about him, like he's planning something…" Gendo said, being the schemer that he was, he was able to see that John seemed to have a hidden agenda of some sort. "Whatever it is, it doesn't sound to good from my point of view. I don't like it."
"So you've noticed too eh?" Fuyutsuki replied. "I don't know what he's planning, but I wouldn't be too worried about it, he's not as strong as some might think. Shinji and Asuka together can beat him in a fight quite easily, they already did a few times in live training exercises. So we don't need to worry."
"I hope you're right old friend, I hope you're right." Gendo said, then took a look at a watch that was on the wall. "It's getting late, I think I've wasted enough of your time. I'm pretty tired as it is after all that happened, I should go the my new residence and get some sleep."
"Any time Ikari." Kozo replied but Gendo cut him off.
"Rokobungi."
"Pardon?"
"It's Rokobungi now, Yui wants a divorce and there's no point in dragging things. If I'm to move forward, I have to start somewhere." Gendo replied.
"Very well, I hope to see you again soon." Fuyutsuki said as he lead Gendo to the front door.
As he went out, Gendo saw Shinji leaning on a street light right in front of the house. The boy had his eyes closed and seemed oblivious to Gendo's presence. The older man made his way to the relaxed boy, but said boy spoke before he got too close.
"So, was it worth the effort to bring you here?" Shinji asked, still keeping his eyes closed.
"Yes, it was. How did you know it was me?" Gendo asked.
"I can sense AT fields, and I can tell the difference between one AT field and another since each and every one is unique." Shinji replied. "I guess you want to return to your new home, right?"
"Indeed. Shinji… I… I want to thank you… for helping me… I caused you so much pain that I wouldn't have been surprised if you killed me yourself, yet you went out of your way to get me on my feet again. I hope one day that I'll be able to make it up to you." Gendo said as they made their way through the streets to Gendo's new house. "I'm sorry for all the pain that I caused you son."
Shinji smiled, but for the moment he chose to say nothing. Eventually they reached the house and Gendo went in, but before he could close the door, Shinji replied. "You made your mistakes, but I wasn't perfect either. You deserve a second chance just like the rest of us father. I did only what I thought was right."
"Thank you son, I won't disappoint you." Gendo said then closed the door.
"I hope for your sake that you don't…" Shinji said silently as he made his way back home.
--
Shinji didn't waste much time getting back home, this had taken enough of his time, but maybe it would be worth it. It was the perfect way to prove that he was nothing like his father used to be, because now, his father was only a shadow of his former self. The fake sun had disappeared some time ago and Shinji was contemplating the idea of sleep for the moment, his body might not need to rest, but his mind demanded rest from time to time, especially after such a demanding day like this one.
His senses told him that Asuka was still up, John wasn't home and Misato and Kaji were in their bedroom. Shinji derailed that train of thought before it went somewhere… inappropriate. Despite what some people might think, Shinji was many things, but not stupid, not to mention that it didn't take a genius to figure out what those two favorite pass time was. So he simply shut of his "AT sense" for the time being, because it was sensitive enough to detect movement on a very precise scale when in such small distances. Asuka's was even finer than this, if she focused, she could detect someone lightly shivering from a distance of 3 miles. Though, if what John said was true, with all of Adam's or Lilith's powers, they would both eventually be able to feel each and every person on the surface of the Earth.
As Shinji opened the door, he found Asuka waiting right in his path, though the way she was dressed caused his jaw to fall open. Asuka was dressed in a red evening dress which really accentuated all of her developing curves, it was one of those dresses that have an instant effect on all men, especially if worn by someone like Asuka. She had he wings out, creating an image that left Shinji speechless, she was the very definition of an angel in the young man's mind. He was literally routed to the spot when she approached him and laid her hands on his shoulders.
"So how do I look?" She asked with a suggestive tone.
"I… uh… I really can't think of any words that would do you justice…" Shinji replies, stammering a bit. "I… take it that… you went shopping… right?"
"Yea, I didn't really have much to do around here while you were out, so I wandered around town for a bit. I ran across this dress and I had to have it. I was just checking it out with my wings out to see how it feels when you came in." Asuka replies, closing even more on Shinji, who's having a hard time in forming coherent thoughts right now. "I thought it would come in handy if we had any kind of formal outing, if you know what I mean. Especially since all of my old clothes were destroyed in Third Impact."
Meanwhile Shinji manages to regain his composure, after all, he had seen Asuka in less clothes. "I'll have to get something as well one of these days. Though, I've never been to any social events in my life."
"I know." Asuka says pointing a finger at her forehead. "I think we should both go shopping tomorrow and get some more clothes. After all, one dress isn't enough and you need more than just formal wear."
"Sounds good to me, It's not like I have anything to worry about." Shinji replied. "Plus, it'll be a chance to try something new, right?"
"That's the spirit!" Asuka says cheerfully. "I'm surprised, most boys are terrified of going shopping with their girlfriends."
"Well, most boys don't have an AT field which they can use to carry stuff on." Shinji replied. "Not to mention superhuman strength and virtually unlimited energy. Also, most boys are nowhere near as serious as I am." With that said, he pulls Asuka in an embrace and kisses her. "I'm very serious about this…"
Asuka is left speechless after what Shinji said, she couldn't believe that boy. Once again she can't help but think about how lucky she must be for meeting someone like him. In reply she kisses him back but says nothing, content to simply stay in his arms where she feels safe and loved. After a while though, she breaks the embrace and heads for her room to change out of her dress. At first she wanted to ask Shinji about how it went with his father, but she decided that it would only sour the mood and Shinji probably wanted to get his mind of the subject at least for a while.
Twenty minutes later, both teens retired to sleep, since for Shinji at least, it had been a long day.
--
The following day, four of the house's residents gathered for breakfast as always, the fifth member that was usually present was missing today. Even so, things proceeded as usual, up until Misato decided to inquire more about what happened in her charges lives. No matter what happened or how mature they proved to be, she would always think about those two as her children.
"So, Shinji, I heard that you took care of that business regarding your father yesterday." Misato said, Shinji was just chewing a piece of toast, and he didn't seem to acknowledge her statement. "How did it go?"
Shinji finishes chewing, then waits a bit to form the ideas in his mind. "It went well I suppose. Mom destroyed him and she wants a divorce after all that happened. He was in a way almost dead after he heard all that she had to say to him. Before that though, I scared him to the max with my sword play, not to mention that I gave him a rather interesting hair cut. Not much to say really."
"Serves the bastard right after everything he's done to all of us." Misato replied. "What happened to him?"
"Well, he'll be living here in Sanctuary after all this, he's under guard, not that he could do much around here." Shinji said. "He's trying to pull his life back together and move on after mom. I gave him another chance to redeem himself."
"What?" Misato asked, shocked to hear that Gendo would receive a full pardon from the very person who was mostly screwed by his behavior. "You're going to forgive him?"
"Yes, he's only human after all and I'm not sure what I would have done in his position." Shinji replied. "I won't lower myself at his level by acting like he would have in the same position. I honestly believe that most people deserve a second chance. If someone like Adam managed to get his act together and take some redeeming actions at the end, then so can my father."
"It's your choice I guess, even though I can't guarantee that I won't punch him in the gut if I run into him on the street." Misato said. "I'm not such a good person as you are Shinji. He still has to pay in my opinion and so, it's going to be along time before I ever get along with the man."
"That's your opinion." Shinji replied simply then returned to his food, until he received a signal of the telepathic kind, John wanted to make contact. Both he and Asuka were capable of protecting their own minds from mental intrusion, so, to contact them, you couldn't simply call to them if you wanted to talk privately, you had to ask for permission so to speak. If they had that level of protection during the angel wars, then the 15th angel's attack would have been pointless. Shinji opened a part of his protection to John allowing the man to communicate with him, Asuka joined them in an instant.
'Yes John?'
'Shinji, Asuka, after you finish breakfast, I want you two to join me in my office. We have plans to discuss, we're going to have another operation soon.' John said in the tone he always used when he was serious. It was easily recognizable since it held a bit of force when normally he was relaxed and slightly humorous. Apparently he could use it in mental conversations as well, that was because their thoughts were now emulating sounds. John was skilled enough to communicate like that without words, but Shinji and Asuka were still learning the tricks involving telepathy. 'I'll have to warn you right now that this one will be more dangerous than anything we've tried before, so if you want to stand aside, you can do it right now without even hearing about it.'
'John, if I know you, you're blowing things out of proportion again.' Asuka added to the conversation. She had sensed that Shinji was being contacted and joined in, knowing that John probably wanted to talk to the both of them. She was able to recognize individual mind patterns at will and John's was pretty familiar. 'We'll both be there in a bit.'
'I have to agree with Asuka on this one.' Shinji replied. 'So yea, we'll be there soon.'
'You can't blame me for being worried though. Oh, this mission won't involve the avatars, but you should let Misato and Kaji know about it since we'll be gone for a while.'
'Roger.' Shinji said and then he felt the connection fade, he turned his attention to Misato. "Well, it seems that we have more work to do."
"What do you mean?" Kaji asked in Misato's place.
"He means that we're going on another mission soon enough." Asuka said. "We're letting you guys know so easily because we're going to be away for some time. How long, John didn't say, most likely he doesn't know himself."
Misato sighed, she wanted to tell them to refuse, or something like that, but she knew that they were right, someone had to go with John. As powerful as the man seemed at times, she knew that he had his limits, a rather live training exercise after the mission proved that point quite well…
--
-Flashback-
After they talked and rested after the mission in Alaska, the kids went back to their usual program, which included quite a bit of training in some days. Today, Shinji was supposed to have a heavy sparing match with John, solo. Both would be using real weapons and were even allowed to take the chance and cause real blows to their opponent, non-fatal blows of course, but non-fatal could mean quite some nasty wounds in both cases. Shinji could literally receive any sort of blow, including outright decapitation without dying, as long as his heart/core was left intact. Anyone could come and watch if they knew about the match of course.
Misato, Kaji, Asuka, Sarah and several members of Sanctuary's personnel were there, some were there to ensure that nothing went wrong. Asuka herself was there to ensure that nothing went wrong, while cheering for Shinji. The match took place in a specially designed training area inside the military base, friendly matches between different soldiers were rather common as they helped you to develop your powers and skill in far better ways than simple training, plus, it was the only real way to test someone's skill without actually going into combat.
The two of them were already out there, waiting for the signal to begin and doing their own versions of final preparations. Shinji was twirling his sword in his hands at a very slow speed, which was actually harder than high speed maneuvers while John seems to be meditating with his twin blades in his hands. John was relaxed, you could say that he had a serene expression on his face, on the other hand Shinji seemed a bit nervous about all of this, but you could also see the determination in his eyes.
The signal was a red light blinking three times from the ceiling, as soon as it winked out, both of them lunged at the other. Shinji jumped high while John ran straight forward. As Shinji landed, he made a vertical cleaving motion with his large sword, placing all of his strength in the blow, forcing John to parry by using both of his blades. They stood in the weapon lock for about ten seconds before jumping back and charging forward once more.
At the last moment, John dodged to Shinji's right and released his blade tentacles while slicing with his right sword. Shinji managed to block the sword with his own and also block three of the right tentacles with his AT field, but the one which was lowest slipped through and severed his leg of at knee level. Shinji staggered because of the pain and screamed, but it wasn't over, as John had sprinted forward and then turned, releasing a twin blasts of raw energy right into Shinji's back , throwing the boy for a distance of five meters.
Shinji was getting back on his left foot just as John began to charge forward. They could yield at any time, but it was rather obvious that Shinji had no intention to yield right now. Seeing that he had no real means of dodging like that, Shinji released a 4 meters tall cross flare, forcing John to jump back. John noticed that Shinji's eyes were still glowing with a bright blue flame too late, because pain exploded from his left shoulder. He looked at the shoulder and was shocked to see that there was a sort of bone spike coming out of it from behind. On the other side of the shoulder, the rest of Shinji's right leg could be seen, the calve, the ankle and the foot, the spike was being extended from where the knee was normally attached.
John was so shocked by the seemingly impossible maneuver that didn't see Shinji move until he had his sword at his neck. Incredibly, John lost in a one on one fight with Shinji. It seemed impossible, but it happened right there before their eyes. No one could understand how that happened, especially since Shinji's move was brilliant, far better than anything anyone ever expected from the boy who seemed so opposed to violence.
-End Flashback-
--
Misato had later learned from Sarah how that happened and what Shinji did. Sarah, as a trained medic knew far more about what a body can do than John, also, seeing that Adam's powers were orientated towards the body, even more so in Shinji than in Adam, she had studied the matter and helped Shinji understand his ability at a different level. Apparently Shinji could control the evolution of his body outside his avatar, meaning that he could literally experiment with biological improvements of different kinds. Sarah secretly helped him in this task with her knowledge concerning the human body, and other organisms. Being pretty old compared to normal humans herself, she was able to retain a lot of information on the subject.
Thus, she helped Shinji develop a series of regional S2 engines in his body, all of different sizes, but with a pretty obvious role. Those S2 organs were placed inside of his palms, his forearms, a couple more were about three centimeters above each elbow, one on each thigh and one on each calve, plus another one inside his brain case right between the two halves of the brain. With, these, you could cut the respective body parts of, but Shinji would still be able to use them and even change them in the middle of a fight. So in the middle of his fight with John, Shinji called his leg back and extended a bone spike from it, aiming it right at John, distracting him. Another bonus of this knowledge was the fact that Shinji could suppress his own nerves, thus stopping any pain from reaching his brain if he needed to avoid it. Also, he could change his body during a fight then completely reverse the change afterwards according to the situation.
"Well, I can't say anything about this, you're as ready as you could be and seeing that you were able to defeat John in a fight, I think he needs the help." Misato said with a sigh. "Just come back safe you two."
"Don't worry Misato, we know what we're doing." Asuka replied in Shinji's place as he simply nodded…
To be continued…
Ok, the thing is that I have this debate whether or not to post more than one story at once. The poll on my profile and some other feedback on evamade tends to say that I should and the majority of all the little feedback says that as long as i finish all of them it's ok. With barely seven votes on the poll, you can imagine that I'm hardly reassured, that's why I'm turning to the readers of the story. I'm going to wait one week for feedback from you guys, be it in reviews, PM's, emails or anything else you might consider.
After that, if the idea is a go, then I'll have a three week poll to decide which one of the dominant ideas in my had at the moment gets screen time alongside Continuum. Of course I'll accept any kind of feed back regarding the matter not just voting in the poll.
If everything goes well, after those three weeks, I'll start posting chapters, though the updates will probably be a bit more irregular than with Continuum seeing as this will be a secondary story.
Also, if you need clarification in this or that regarding this story (or any others to come for that matter) just ask through the usual channels, because I know that my writing style still needs work and it can cause some confusion.
As for flamers, you can try, but my chaotic nature will make me absorb them and just make me stronger and probably more stubborn too.