Creation began on 04-03-15
Creation ended on 04-12-15
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Different from You: A Daughter's Love
Somehow, despite his luck to have survived the battle between himself and the two creatures that defeated the Angel of Might that not even the Evas were able to deal with, Gendo found that not even the power of Adam, the Seed of Life behind the Angels, didn't save him or serve as well as he had intended it to. As he walked down the street, to back the hotel he resided in for the time being, he nursed his bleeding, right hand that once housed where Adam emerged shortly after devouring him.
When the mechanical dragon grabbed him by his shoulders and took hold of his arm, the blue bird pecked the First Angel out of him and devoured the Seed for itself, depriving him of the Angel's AT-Field and other abilities that may have been afforded to him.
"You don't deserve this power," the mechanical beast said to him after the blue bird consumed Adam, "and you will not use the power of another to hurt or threaten anyone again."
This only helped to convince Gendo that these two were affiliated with the Third Child and his daughter, meaning that the two were protected, unless he could find a way to dispose of them.
Returning to his suite, he tended to the injury.
-x-
While Shinji preferred the taste of strawberry ice cream, Shado loved the taste of cookies and cream, black and white over red and white, with caramel sauce.
"Daddy, are you alright?" She asked him.
"Huh?" He responded.
"Your shoulder?"
"Oh. It's alright, sweetie."
CLATTER! Something fell over, and Shinji reacted like danger was close.
When it was revealed that a woman had just dropped a heavy load of dishes, the young man calmed and sat back down.
Shado didn't blame him for being a little defensive; they just had an unwanted re-encounter with his father, and the bad man was just as cold to them as he had been back in Japan, like he hated them, and the girl had never done anything to anyone, and she knew that her father hadn't done anything to anyone prior to finding out about her.
"Sorry, Shado," he apologized to her.
"It's okay, Daddy," she assured him; she knew that every time they were out in the city, he would have a reason to be paranoid towards anyone or anything that could be a threat to her, and she accepted this.
When they finished, they returned home.
-x-
The Angel, still hovering in lunar orbit, took its sight away from the small landmass that was Japan and put its gaze upon the large continent that was known as the USA. Something, and it wasn't sure what it was, had happened, and for a moment, the presence of Adam had been sensed.
Something has changed, the Angel thought, unsure of how to act, but it knew one thing: Something of interest was no longer in Japan.
-x-
One of the perks of living in the building that Shinji and Shado lived in was one of the activities that people from around the world brought with them, such as archery lessons, something Shinji found he enjoyed as a means to vent and relieve stress. And Shado, who watched from a safe distance among other people present, admired her father's skill with the bow.
For Shinji, he adapted to the use of a compound bow, as it felt stronger and modern than the traditional longbow or recurve bow (and he had to admit that he enjoyed the feeling of freedom when he released the arrow). While he had started his archery lessons with a longbow, he quickly transitioned to the compound bow, excelling faster than the eight others that participated in the lessons.
SWISH! Shinji fired another arrow at the target dummy, scoring another hit to the red spot that represented the heart of the target.
The distance between two points is always a straight line, thought Shinji, as he fired another arrow into his target, but everything in between those two points must be balanced in the light. In a world of darkness, there can only be disorder. Everyone has two angels upon their shoulders, one of light, the other of darkness, one that serves as your moral conscious…while the other acts upon the immorality that you try to abstain from. But I am constantly in conflict with my two angels. My morality instructs me to protect Shado at all costs, that she comes first in any situation that we're in…and my immorality instructs me that anyone around her is not to be taken lightly, that they can have ulterior motives for trying to get near you or Shado…and that you should do whatever it takes to ensure that they keep their distance. That includes committing the unforgivable towards any that try to come between you and your family. What's worst is that I have a right to commit such unforgivable acts if I feel we're threatened. The soul can only endure so much corruption around before becoming corrupted itself.
"Beat 'em, Daddy!" He heard Shado cheer him on, and he smiled at her affections.
But so long as the soul remains pure, with intentions that are pure of heart, full of devotion, like the protection and welfare of someone you love, you can endure the corruption around you.
"You cheer for your father on anything he does, don't you?" A woman asked Shado.
Shado looked up at her and responded, "Good parents deserve good praise."
SWISH! Shinji fired another arrow into the bull's-eye of the target.
-x-
Bandaging his wounded and sterilized hand, Gendo looked out the window of his hotel suite and pondered on his next move. Without Adam, he couldn't achieve Instrumentality, and therefore couldn't achieve his reunion with Yui later on. While he could blame his son and granddaughter for his loss, that only made his contempt of them heavier. It was only a matter of time before something needed to happen, something he needed to make happen.
I will not be kept from my goal by anyone, he thought, opening a bottle of hard liquor and pouring himself a cup.
-x-
It was over an hour after they had dinner, and Shado, who had awoke to answer the call of nature, stepped out of the bathroom and saw her father asleep on the couch again for the umpteenth time, with a culinary book over his chest.
He tries so hard and has waited for quite a while for a response from those people at that cooking school he applied for almost three months ago. She thought, taking the book off of him and marking the pages he had stopped on.
Then, she kissed him on his forehead and returned to her room…and returned with a blanket and sat in the armchair nearby, watching him.
-x-
In the silence of the night, high above the streets of the city, a lone figure hovered in the moonlight, hulking, almost armored in their appearance, with limbs shackled with chains broken at their ends.
"Grrr," they growled, looking down at one particular building.
A/N: Okay, this was a short chapter, but hey, we've all been there before. Any guess on who the lone figure is, anyone?