It's been strange, being here without a quick turnaround. Kind of crowded. Not many places to read comfortably. But there is another version of Rei here. Athena. She's been reading the Iliad and the Odyssey. She's got a solid foundation. But maybe I can work with the other, other Rei, Nagisa, in order to get some quiet reading time in.
This is going to get complicated, isn't it?
- From the personal journal of Hideki Tama
Village-3, April 5th, 2028
Daniel Theisman watched with a gleam in his eyes as young Shinji and Asuka continued to hammer at their blades, the shapes now evident as they laid in the fullers and the edges. They were almost done.
"So, where were you again?" Asuka Shikinami said, pausing over a broad, somewhat curved blade. "You kind of just trailed off there for a moment."
Daniel blinked. "Ah, yes. Nosferatu Zodd. Our first run-in with him, at least."
With that, he began his story again, the harrowing battle with the monstrous creature accentuated by the clang and clash of metal beating metal into shape, sometimes feeling to all in the room like each blow made in Daniel's past was echoed here in the present.
"Then, Zodd looked down at Griffith and saw something around his neck. Something that he called the Egg of the King."
"That's the Crimson Beherit, right?" Shinji said as he paused on the long, thin blade he worked on to go and get a drink of water.
"That's right. When he saw that, he spread this massive pair of wings and promised that, should Griffith's ambitions fail, a death we couldn't escape would be upon us all." Daniel said as he raised his arms somewhat dramatically.
His arms fell back to their sides. "Well…" Daniel grew quiet, somber. "He was kind of right, in the end."
It was silent for a moment as Daniel did his best to contain the emotions. For a brief, terrifying moment, Daniel could see blood in the dying heat of the kids' blades. Then it was gone.
"Is that when you got that sword from Guts?" Asuka asked, her mood dimming as well.
Daniel shook his head. "No. That wouldn't be for a long time yet. Guts didn't even have that sword until after the Eclipse. But I don't think I'll be able to finish the story before all's said and done here."
He walked over to Shinji and Asuka's blades, studying them with a critical eye. "You're close. Just a few more hours' work, then we'll put on the hilt parts that I've been getting ready for you."
"Can we be done for today?" Shinji asked. "There's… some things that I want to do."
Daniel nodded. "I don't see a reason why not." he glanced over at Asuka. "Do you want to keep going and finish your competition? You're ahead of him just enough to make it happen."
Asuka looked over at Shinji and shrugged. "It's a bit cheaty, as Mari would put it, if I don't give him a fair chance. I'll finish it tomorrow."
Daniel nodded. "Alright. "Let's go get some lunch then."
With that, they exited the forge, waving goodbye to those smiths that had become somewhat enamored by the work that was going on behind them and strolled into the village proper.
"So, what do you guys want to do for lunch?" Daniel asked as they made their way through the stream of villagers resting from their work, waving to a few of them.
Shinji looked over at Asuka. "Have you ever been to Ms. Nozomi's house since that first time?"
Asuka shook her head. "Not really," she admitted with a shrug. "Going to the forge and back to Kensuke's is really the most I've gotten out into the village."
"Maybe we should go there?" Shinji said as he looked at Daniel. "I don't think Ms. Nozomi will mind too much if she needs to make another serving."
Daniel smiled. "With Shinji the elder helping like he's been the last little while? I wouldn't think so either. Follow me."
They ambled through the streets, which at times became slightly crowded, a stray, somewhat drunk young man bumping into Shinji and sending him bumping into Asuka. "Sorry," Shinji said, an old reflex returning to him. "S-" he began to apologize again, catching himself as he blushed slightly.
"Not bad," Asuka said, a quiet sigh the only accompaniment. "At least you caught yourself before you spiraled."
Shinji shrugged. "It's an improvement, at least."
They made their way to Nozomi's home, Asuka stopping and studying the murals on the walls, unlike the first time they'd visited. "Is this art?" she asked, and Shinji nearly gawked at how surprisingly genuine the question was.
Daniel nodded. "Indeed it is. I'm guessing that you didn't get to see much."
"I guess the closest I've ever really gotten was whatever games I have on my WonderSwan and the graffiti that was on the halls of the Wunder." Asuka regarded the sun, the way the painted light played off the images it hung over.
"Do you like it?" Shinji asked. A small part of him wondered what had Daniel smiling so slightly.
Asuka was silent for a long moment. "I'll need a little bit to think about it." she paused as they made their way to the door, Daniel knocking. "I wonder how that statue of me and the others is coming along." she wondered idly.
The door opened, revealing the elder Shinji who smiled slightly as he saw Asuka. "Hello, Daniel. Here for lunch?"
Daniel nodded. "Are we expected?"
"Well, let's just say Nozomi was going to send one of us to go and bribe Asuka into being a reference for the statue she's making."
"Bribe me?" Asuka said somewhat haughtily. "What a bold presumption to be making that I need to be bribed in order for me to contribute something to good art."
"Some food with that fine art sounds good, too." Shinji agreed as they followed the older Shinji through the hallways and toward what Shinji thought was the backyard.
"Fine?" Asuka sniffed. "Just fine? Is that really all you think about something that contains the best Evangelion pilot in the world?"
"Fine has a different connotation in art, Asuka," Daniel said as they made a stop by the kitchen, a selection of different foods spread on the table that they plated up. "Fine art is the kind of art that's a cut above the rest. The elite art, if you will."
"Huh." Asuka nodded as she finished plating herself up, looking over at young Shinji with a slight smile. "Awful brave compliment of you, Shinji."
Shinji smiled as he followed everyone out, and came upon a scene that, even with the mental preparation that he'd done, still struck him as utterly odd. The statue, in what he assumed would be its final size, was most prominent, with several chairs in a half-circle facing it, many of them occupied. While the Ikari-Soryus and Nagisas were there, unsurprisingly, another couple, two women, stood in front of the statue as well, while another young woman with white and gold hair sat with the others. One of the women in front of the statue, with brown hair streaked through with bottle blonde, ran a hand through it as she looked up at Doctor Akagi. "Do I really cut my hair that short?"
Shinji found himself somewhat shocked by who had to be Doctor Akagi as Daniel sighed quietly. "Yes, indeed, Ritsuko," he said with a shrug as she turned around to face him, a somewhat resigned look on her face now.
Ritsuko looked over at Maya, a different Maya, it had to be, as she arched a brow. "Well, dear? Do you think I can pull it off?" she asked drolly.
Maya smiled slightly. "I wouldn't love you any less if you tried it out."
"Well," the older Asuka said as she looked at the new arrivals with a grin, "the greatest art reference of all time has arrived."
"Well, why couldn't they have just slapped an eyepatch on you and done it? I'm sure it would have worked." Shikinami shot back.
Asuka Ikari-Soryu merely smiled. "Let's just say it's a matter of proportions." she chuckled as the older Shinji began to blush slightly.
Asuka Shikinami rolled her eye, looking back as Nozomi ushered in another person. Another Maya, who stopped and stared almost enviously at Ritsuko and the other Maya.
Ritsuko and Maya regarded her in turn before the two Mayas closed on each other. "Well…" the one that had been at Ritsuko's side said. "I can't exactly say I was prepared for this part of things."
"Neither was I." her double replied. "Maya Akagi, I presume?"
Akagi nodded. "Yeah. I'm… guessing that's not the case here?"
Maya Ibuki shook her head slightly. "Not yet," she said quietly.
As the trio went to the side to talk further, Nozomi looked over at Asuka Shikinami. "Asuka, please, take a seat. Rei and I have been waiting for you."
Shikinami nodded as she took a seat next to the statue, and next to her glass self. "Am I good to eat while we're doing this?"
Nozomi nodded. "Be my guest. It's Rei that'll be doing the sculpting."
Shikinami glanced over at the statue for a moment, her stained-glass copy sitting on the dull, deep gray base with a foot on the base, her knee close to her chest, and her other foot going off the base and touching the ground. "It's a little… dramatic," she said.
"Isn't doing our jobs just that?" Rei said with a slight smile. "Now, Ms. Nozomi and I just need to get the details correct, so this won't be long."
Daniel regarded the artwork happening in front of him for a moment, then looked around for a moment and realized the absences as he walked over to Ritsuko and the two Mayas. "Hey," he said quietly. "I hate to intrude, but do you know where Misato and Ryoji are?"
Ritsuko looked over to her wife, a slight, amused smile on her face. "They're getting our last crew member from the Errant. He's been itching to get out and see things."
"Last crew member?" Maya Ibuki asked. "Who might it be?"
Daniel grinned in turn. "We shouldn't say. It'll spoil the surprise."
"True, true." Maya Akagi said. She glanced past them, her eyes narrowing slightly as she searched for someone. "Say, where is little Ryoji? I've heard he's usually by Natsumi's side from those few people I've talked to."
"I wonder…" Daniel cupped his chin in thought, pondering where he could have gone. It was a large space, the village and the wilderness that surrounded it, that he could hide away in. Then, a memory came to mind.
"Nozomi did this one by the old NERV base ruins. Said it was a nice place to get away from it all."
"I think I know where he is," he said quietly as he began to turn. "I'll probably be off. Have fun at the art party."
Daniel walked over to Nozomi and Rei, the two women pausing as they regarded him. "Hey, Nozomi." he began. "Does Ryoji like to go to places you've painted?"
Nozomi nodded. "Usually. Why do you ask?"
"I was just wondering. The old NERV base, how do you get to that?"
Nozomi's eyes narrowed for a moment. "You just take the west path out of town a ways, weaving up the hillside. It should be a straight shot once you get to the top of the hill."
"Thank you." Daniel nodded with a smile, walking away and putting a hand on young Shinji's shoulder.
"Care to come sightseeing with me?" he asked. "It'll be nice to get away and have a little peace and quiet, I imagine."
Young Shinji nodded. "Yeah. It will actually."
He stood, nodding to Nozomi. "Thank you for the lunch, Ms. Nozomi."
Nozomi smiled. "Anytime, Shinji. Feel free to stop by when you need it."
With that, it wasn't long before the two were on their way, the path mostly empty in the afternoon as workers toiled in their fields. It was a long, mostly silent walk, taken in contemplation. Daniel waited patiently for the questions that he was sure would be coming. He wouldn't force the issue. They were, after all, a rather delicate issue.
Finally, Shinji looked over at him as they began to wind up the snaking path that led to the hilltop. "Daniel… was that… my father?"
Daniel nodded slightly. "Yes. It was. A version of him, at least."
Daniel looked over to see the look of shock and betrayal on Shinji's face, thoroughly unsurprised at it. "But…" Shinji shook his head. "Why? Why work with any version of him when you know what he's done?"
"Because this Gendo Ikari is the all-too-rare exception to the rule." Daniel smiled slightly. "Even if your mother had to metaphysically slap the living daylights out of him. That was a sight to behold."
"How did he talk to Mother?"
"Through me, after I delivered a message for her." Daniel's smile vanished. "I count myself, and all of us, lucky that he was willing to listen."
Shinji nodded. "I see. So…"
It was silent again for a moment. "Could you somehow do the same for my father?"
Daniel slowed to a stop, the top of the hill just within reach as Shinji paused a little ahead of him, turning to see a conflicted expression. "Shinji… I wish I could. But I think it might be too late for that. I got to, for lack of a better term, my version of Gendo before he could do anything truly damaging to himself. Your father… he's allowing his very soul to be eaten by a fragment of Adam. He's giving up his very soul, and I'm not even sure if he's in the driver's seat of his own body anymore."
"Shinji…" Daniel stepped forward, seeing the tears welling in the boy's eyes, feeling tears welling up in his own. "I'm sorry."
He put his hands on young Shinji's shoulders for a moment before pulling him into a hug. Shinji, after a moment, returned the hug, unafraid of not stifling the quiet sobs that they were the only ones to know of.
They stood there for as long as they needed, Shinji finally taking a breath and stepping back as he wiped his tears. "I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I… don't know what came over me."
"Don't worry about it," Daniel said, patting Shinji's shoulder. "I know it's hard, walking away from that sort of desire. But you're an Evangelion pilot. You've done the impossible before. And you have the strength, as little as it sometimes seems, to conquer whatever's placed in front of you."
"It really doesn't seem like that right now." Shinji looked away, back toward the village.
"Well, no need to move mountains right now," Daniel said with a slight smile. "Not until you're ready."
He began to walk past young Shinji. "For now, let's just get to the top of this hill."
Shinji nodded, and they began to make their way again.
After a little longer, the walk taken in silence, they crested the top of the hill, pausing to take in the sight before them. The ruins were accurate to the painting, a perfectly circular lake with a rocky shoreline surrounding it. The remains of buildings, bleached and skeletal, poked out of the water, a single foundation with a few equally white walls, what little was left of them, perched at the water's edge.
True to Nozomi's word, it was a long, straight path down the hill, towards a small section of collapsed wall that acted as a ramp up to the main building. After taking it in, Daniel nodded to Shinji. "Well, let's go see if my hunch was right."
As they made their way down the hill, Daniel felt the pulse of displaced air behind him, heard the quiet buzz of a teleporter system, and paused to look back at Misato, Ryoji, and an all-too-familiar penguin.
"I don't know how wise this is," Daniel said levelly as Shinji looked back with him, the boy's eyes widening at the sight of the Kajis.
Misato sighed quietly. "I know. But… I can't help but feel sorry for him. For what this world's version of me did. I want to help him, somehow."
"Misato? Mr. Kaji?" Shinji said quietly, turning fully to look at them as they approached.
"Yeah. We came in with Daniel to help rescue you." Misato paused as she looked down at Shinji, a sympathetic look in her eyes. "I'm sorry for what I've done to you here too. You didn't deserve that."
Shinji looked away, and Daniel wouldn't have been surprised if memories of the tests, the time spent training, were spooling through his mind.
"Shinji," Misato said quietly, taking a knee to look at him. "I know what it's like to be poked and prodded. To be an experiment that everybody thinks is dangerous. I thought she would have too."
Shinji looked back at Misato, who smiled slightly. "But it's good to see you again. Seeing you like this… brings back memories. Not all of them good… but a lot of them."
Shinji smiled slightly as Misato stood, then looked down at the penguin, now dressed up with some sleek armored plates on his fins and belly. "Hello, Pen-pen. It's been a while," he said somewhat ruefully.
"It's been never for me meeting you, kid. But it's nice to meet you." Pen-pen raised a flipper, and Shinji regarded the rather unnatural claws on the end of it for a moment before slowly taking it.
Shinji blinked at how surreal the experience of shaking a talking penguin's flipper was as Daniel and the Kajis chuckled. "Yes," Daniel said, "he's… quite the personality."
"Personality." Pen-pen scoffed, and Daniel swore he rolled his eyes somewhat. "I'd tell you where to stuff that word if Misato and Ryoji here wouldn't take my beer privileges away because of it."
"Good," Misato said with a somewhat smug smile, looking over at an equally amused Ryoji. "He's finally getting used to us being equals."
"So," Pen-pen said as Shinji let go of his flipper, "where's the kid?"
"Probably down there." Daniel nodded back to the building. "But again, I'm not sure how receptive he's going to be to seeing you, any version of you after all this time." he looked meaningfully at Misato as he finished speaking.
"That's… part of why we went and got Pen-pen?" Misato said, her tone as clearly uncertain as her smile. "He'd be a decent icebreaker, we'd hope."
Daniel regarded Misato with no small amount of shock before he chuckled. "It's good to hear a crazy plan like that from you again, Misato. You wouldn't believe how long it's been since that's happened."
Misato's expression clouded over with concern as Pen-pen waddled over to Shinji's side. "Well, no reason to leave the kid presumably moping for too much longer," he said somewhat gruffly. "Let's brighten this guy's day."
Daniel raised a staying hand to Misato and Ryoji as Shinji and Pen-pen began to walk down the path together, the couple getting the message as Daniel turned to join them.
"So, uh…" Shinji said slowly. "When did you learn how to talk?"
"Knew the whole time, apparently." Pen-pen did his best impression of a shrug. "I was part of a big old experiment myself, y'know. People doing stuff with my soul before my heart even started beating. Adding things to it, taking things away. Don't know if they ever got what they wanted. All that mattered was that Misato saved me from biting the big one."
Daniel pondered for a moment, then nodded slightly. "Unfortunately, Pen-pen… I think they might have."
He shook his head as they came to a stop in front of the ramp, taking in the utterly unprecedented sight before them. Swimming and ranging across the shore, dozens of penguins, all eerily similar to Pen-pen, simply… lived.
"Wow…" Pen-pen said, and Daniel heard, for the first time from the penguin, something approaching awe. "That's a lot of… me."
Daniel smiled slightly. "This world's Misato's tribute to you, I would guess."
He looked between Shinji and Pen-pen, then up at the lone boy, sitting at the far edge of the ruins they stood before. Old, uneasy memories stirred in his mind as he remembered seeing a version of Shinji sitting almost exactly like young Ryoji was. "Well, kids… take it away."
. . .
Shinji Ikari had no idea what to do as Daniel took a step back from the edge of the ramp. Thankfully, it seemed that Pen-pen did. "Alright. Let's get to work."
The penguin waddled up the ramp with nothing more in the way of words, Shinji only slightly behind as they walked slowly into the building proper. The space was bare, and Shinji wouldn't have been surprised to hear his steps echoing if the space weren't so open as they approached.
"I'll take the right, you break left. Got it?"
Still terribly confused by this strange talking penguin everyone else was sure was Pen-pen, Shinji simply nodded, and Pen-pen waddled a little faster to be at Ryoji Jr.'s side first.
Ryoji Jr. looked up as Pen-pen approached, and his eyes went wide for a moment before he shook his head. "Oh. Just one of you. Okay." he said quietly.
"Just one of me, kid?" Pen-pen said with a slight scoff, shaking his head. "Man, what a lucky bunch you guys are to have so many of me."
Ryoji Jr.'s eyes went even wider as he stood, looking around and catching sight of a clearly somewhat uncomfortable Shinji. "What's going on?" he whispered. "Am I going insane?"
"You've probably got as good of an idea as I do," Shinji said wearily. "Do you mind if we just… take the view in with you? It's quite pretty, actually."
Ryoji Jr., still giving Pen-pen a healthy amount of side-eye, nodded after a moment. "Aunt Nozomi painted it. Well, she's supposed to be Aunt Nozomi."
He shook his head, turning and sitting down again, his legs hanging off the edge as Shinji and Pen-pen joined him, simply enjoying the view silently for a moment.
"So," Shinji said quietly, "what brought you here?"
Ryoji Jr. opened his mouth, then closed it. "It's not important. Just something I have to deal with."
Shinji was all too tempted to simply leave it at that. But he knew what someone far bolder than him would say. Even still, the words almost had to be forced out, his mind nearly shouting at him to not make things potentially more complicated. "Well… I'm your friend. I'd like to know if I can help."
Ryoji Jr. looked over at Shinji, smiling slightly. "Well…" he sighed quietly. "I'm not sure if you knew, seeing as you were passed out in someone's arms. But… my father and mother are here. Seeing them again, after so long… especially my mother… I have so many questions."
Ryoji looked back out over the water. "I know Grandfather told me that I shouldn't hold it against Mother for leaving me here… but I can't help but wonder why it's taken her this long to even show up. I'm her son, aren't I? Shouldn't she… care a little more?"
Old, familiar words to Shinji. Words he'd thought of when he'd first seen his father, so many years ago.
"Kid," Pen-pen interjected, "I get that you've got your hang-ups with your mom. I've been around Misato a long time. She's got her screw-ups. Real bad ones, too. But there's a good person under all that. Someone who cares. It's one of those things that gets me about you humans."
Pen-pen shook his head slightly, yet another all-too-human gesture. "This version of Misato I'm with isn't even technically your mom. She hasn't gone through all the things that having you comes with. And yet… she still wants to help you. She's got a big heart, kid. One of the biggest I've ever seen."
Ryoji Jr. looked down at the water. "I… guess I understand." he was silent for a moment. "But I remember that face. It's been so long since I've seen it. I remember her face, just before she gave me away to the Horakis. It was… so serious. So sad. I didn't want to understand why back then."
He paused, then chuckled as he shook his head. "What a world. Talking about my life's problems with a talking penguin. This day couldn't get any weirder."
Shinji felt inside his pocket, the crimson marble that had been Kaworu's prison, for lack of a better word, now sporting smooth, curving nodules that rippled around its surface. "Would you be okay with meeting a new friend?" he said, cursing himself for how stupid it seemed to sound as Ryoji Jr. regarded him for a moment.
Ryoji Jr. simply shrugged. "I can't see how it would hurt anything," he said quietly.
Shinji nodded, pulling the crystal out of his pocket and rubbing the ridges to activate what Daniel had called its Inscription before holding it out beside him. It hovered in the air as it began to glow, a lattice-work of red stars making a roughly human-shaped skeleton that glowed a little brighter before an image of a pale boy with ashen hair and red eyes, wearing clothes all too similar to Shinji's, stood beside him, blinking and taking in the vista before him before looking down at them.
"Hello, Shinji." he said, smiling slightly before looking over at Ryoji Jr. "And hello to you as well. I am Kaworu Nagisa."
"I'm Ryoji Kaji." Ryoji Jr. replied. "Nice to meet you." he blinked, his eyes narrowing slightly as he studied Kaworu. "Are you related to the Ayanamis?"
"Somewhat," Kaworu replied as he took a seat at Shinji's side. "We are of a similar kind; cloned beings that are a mixture of humanity and the Angels. I am… of a different lineage, so to speak."
Kaworu nodded slightly over to Shinji. "I've heard a little about you from Shinji. He considers you a friend. I hope to in time as well."
Shinji nodded, thankful for the change in tone that Kaworu had had over the past few days as Ryoji Jr. nodded. "I see. The rest of the village is pretty nice too. I wouldn't be surprised if the kids are as interested in you as they were in Athena."
"Kids… that is another name for children, correct?"
Ryoji Jr.'s brow furrowed slightly as he nodded. "Yeah. You… really didn't get out much, did you?"
"I was confined and isolated in two different locations. My entire life had been, until this point, guided to a single purpose. Now… I wish to find a new one."
Ryoji Jr. smiled slightly. "Well, I'm sure you and Athena will get along just fine. Natsumi'll probably talk to you just because of how interesting you look."
"Athena… who is that?"
Shinji looked over at Kaworu. "Remember that book that you helped me get? She started reading it and picked the name for herself. She isn't just Ayanami anymore."
Kaworu's slight smile widened. "I see. I am glad that it was useful for her."
"Well, kid," Pen-pen interjected, drawing a confused stare from Kaworu, "I'm not just here to flap my beak at you. We've talked about your folks, or at least the version of your folks that I came in with. They want to meet you. Get to know you. You up for that?"
Ryoji Jr.'s expression became guarded. "Well…" he sighed quietly. "I guess it's worth a shot."
He looked over at Kaworu. "Is that whole… human form thing on a timer?"
Kaworu shook his head. "No. It is entirely within my control."
Ryoji Jr. nodded, taking a deep breath and sighing. "Alright. Let's see how this goes."
Pen-pen nodded, turning around and looking out at the ramp silently for a moment. All there turned their heads to see Daniel and the Kajis there, Daniel looking over at Misato and Ryoji and nodding before the two walked slowly in, coming to a stop as Ryoji Jr. stood and walked over to them, the three standing apart from each other by about a meter.
"Hello, Ryoji," Misato said quietly, almost too quietly for Shinji to hear. She chuckled after a moment. "It's kind of weird saying that to someone younger than me."
"Hello… Ms. Misato." Ryoji Jr. said hesitantly.
The pain that flashed across Misato's face made even Shinji look away in shame, his gaze returning to the scene as Misato stepped forward slowly. "I'm… I'm sorry. I think I'm going to be saying that a lot."
She paused in front of Ryoji Jr., putting her hands on his shoulders. "You have Shinji's eyes," she said, barely above a whisper. "I always like the color of those eyes, you know. I guess that's part of why she named you after him."
She took her hands off his shoulders and stepped away, shame on her face as she looked down. "You deserved better than what this version of me gave you. I wish I could give you what you need, but… I'm not sure I can do that. I'm sorry."
Ryoji Jr. stood there for a moment, then looked at the older Ryoji, the man he shared his name with. "And who are you?"
"Well… I'm another world's version of your dad, kiddo. I'm Ryoji Kaji." the man's expression was resigned as if he knew the unfamiliarity would happen.
"Huh." Ryoji Jr. said quietly. "So that's what you look like."
Ryoji Jr.'s gaze returned to Misato, who met it with naked hope, a vulnerable thing. "So… what do you want to do?"
Misato smiled, a slight, fragile expression. "Well, it's a nice village, but I haven't seen much of it. What's there to do that's fun?"
She looked over at Shinji and Kaworu, her face lighting up in a way that told Shinji she had an idea. "Do you guys have your instruments? I wouldn't mind hearing a little concert from you guys, and I'm sure that you'd attract quite a nice crowd."
Shinji nodded as he stood. "Yeah, actually. I have my cello here."
Kaworu shook his head. "I am unsure if there is an instrument here for me. I play piano."
Misato smiled. "Good. I'm sure that there's something here for you, Kaworu."
Ryoji Jr. looked back at Shinji. "You can finally play like you said you could, right?"
Shinji nodded, still terribly uncertain of the idea of playing for what could be such a large audience. "I can at least try."
"You'll succeed too if our experience with our Shinji's any indication." the elder Ryoji said, a slight grin on his face. "You'll do great."
"And we'll probably have a concert venue that won't be attacked," Daniel said as he approached, a slight, wry smile on his face as he took in everyone else's confusion. "I'm looking forward to finishing Thanatos. If you're up for it."
Shinji nodded, and Daniel's smile became warm and wide. "Excellent. Now, as much as I love the view here, perhaps we should get back to the village for dinner. I'm sure we've got plenty to talk about on the way to Shinji and Hikari's cooking."
"We're going to need a bigger place than Uncle Toji's dining room then." Ryoji Jr. said somewhat uncertainly. "Even with everyone who's staying there, it's getting a little cramped in the dining room."
"How big's the backyard?" Misato asked. "Because I wouldn't mind some outdoor dining in weather like this."
"It's… not small, comparatively." Ryoji Jr. said as the group began to depart from the ruins. "It doesn't have a garden in the back like most of them do."
"Then… could we join you guys for dinner?" Misato asked Ryoji Jr. "If you want a little time to think about being around us, then that's okay."
Ryoji Jr. was quiet for a moment as they walked, then nodded. "I think… I'll be okay with you guys coming to dinner."
Misato smiled. "Thanks, Ryoji."
Ryoji Jr.'s lips twitched with the ghost of a smile. "You're welcome."
. . .
The Next Day
Young Shinji Ikari lay on the futon of Kensuke's house, looking up at the ceiling and listening to the music on his SDAT player. Last night's dinner had drained his will to be social, so many people in the backyard talking to each other and him so loudly it had made his head spin at moments. It had been good, certainly. Just… draining.
He glanced up to look at Daniel, sitting with Kensuke, taking a rare day off, Asuka, and Kaworu at the dining room table, looking down at something intently while conversing between themselves. Whatever it was, it had some of them loud enough to hear their voices, but not enough to make out the words.
Then, Asuka looked over at him, a brow arched as she said something he was sure was directed at him. He paused his music, taking out a headphone. "Yes?"
"Pick a color," Asuka said.
Shinji blinked, clearly confused. What did he miss? "Uh… white?"
It was silent for a moment, then Asuka shrugged. "Well, it's a decent enough shirt color."
As Asuka looked back down at whatever was on the table, Shinji took out his other headphone and stood. "What's going on?"
"Remember what I did for Kaworu?" Daniel nodded over to the boy in question as Shinji approached, revealing a disk-shaped orange crystal a little smaller than his palm laying on the table. He worked with strange tools, something that looked like metal spider legs weaving glowing strands onto a glowing orange framework.
Shinji nodded, and Daniel continued. "Asuka told Bradley about it, and now I'm working on giving her a little motor function to go along with a view of the outside world. It's the least we can do for her while her body's cooped up in Central Dogma."
Kaworu frowned slightly. "Who is Bradley, by the way? I only recently awoke and came to the table, so I am still somewhat unsure."
"One of my clones," Asuka replied. "Like I'm Shikimami-Langley, she's Shikinami-Bradley. Commander Ikari," she said with evident disdain, "apparently decided she'd be a good backup plan, so he's kept her in a tank all this time."
Kaworu nodded. "I wondered whose soul I heard, so similar a song it was to mine."
Kensuka regarded Kaworu for a moment. "You can… hear souls?"
Daniel and Kaworu both nodded. "There's a lot of different ways to perceive a soul. Me and mine learned how to see the Frames like you see them here. Kaworu's ancestry made it so that the sensory data gets translated into sound."
Kensuke's brow quirked as he nodded. "Does… everything with a soul look like that?"
Daniel smiled. "Technically, everything physical has Frames. We just train to see what we want to see. It's part of what makes my wife a good medic and mechanic. She heals the body of a thing through its soul."
The smile became tinged with sadness for a moment before Daniel shook his head slightly, looking down at the crystal. "Speaking of souls," he said as he began to stow away his tools, the Frames floating in the air disappearing, "Let's give a warm welcome to Bradley, shall we?"
He lifted the disk from the table. "Can you hear me, Bradley?"
"Loud and clear." a voice so much like Asuka's, choked with happiness, replied. "I'm ready to walk around, even if it is kind of virtually."
"Alright, then," Daniel said as he stood, holding the disk in front of him. "Here we go."
The disk glowed, floating in the air as Daniel let go of it and stepped back, the orange crystal glowing as a familiar lattice-work of stars wove into a form that became a somewhat tall woman, with fiery red hair and brilliant sapphire eyes. She wore a white shirt, jeans, and a pair of black canvas sneakers.
If he hadn't been told otherwise, he'd have assumed that this was Asuka Ikari-Soryu, her cocksure smile much like the one he'd seen on her face as she looked around the room. "I've gotta say," she began as she looked specifically at everyone's faces, "you're all a good-looking group. I haven't seen more than… 2 people, since I transferred over to Tokyo-3?"
Daniel smiled as he stood. "Well, I hope you're ready to break that record soon enough. "I'm sure you'll want to wander around the village and check things out."
"Of course," Bradley scoffed. Then, she walked forward, her expression becoming… curious. "But there's one thing I want to test out before we go," she said quietly, coming to a stop in front of Asuka.
She was still for a moment, then wrapped up Asuka in a hug, slowly but deliberately. "Oh, good," she said as Asuka Langley slowly, unsurely, returned the hug. Her voice was choked with emotion. "I can feel things perfectly well, too."
As Shinji watched the two Shikinamis part, Langley's eye wet with tears that she quickly wiped away, all eyes turned to the front door as they heard someone knock on it.
Kensuke walked over to the door. "I'll go ahead and get that," he said in passing, opening the door to a sight that first confused Shinji, then sent a spike of fear into his heart.
"Hello, Mr. Aida." the voice was unmistakably his as the tall, imposing man stepped into the house behind Kensuke. "I have something to ask of… ah. There you are, Shinji."
The smile on Gendo Ikari's face seemed almost impossible in its warmth to him, and he could see the slight happiness in his eyes, uncovered by those damnable sunglasses, slip into visible concern. "Are you alright? I understand my appearance to you out in the wastes would likely have been… confronting."
"What the hell?" Asuka Bradley said. "And I thought two of me would be kind of weird."
"Father," another familiar voice said from behind Gendo, revealing its owner to be Shinji Ikari-Soryu as he spoke in a warning tone. "I don't know if he fully wants to do this. You know how I cooled down after you changed and came back. He hasn't even had the chance for something like that to happen yet."
"I know." Gendo sighed wearily. "I, or at least my double in this Echo, is to blame for much of it."
He paused for a moment. "Shinji? Are you well?"
Shinji blinked as his mind finally processed the question. "Uh.. yes, sir."
Gendo sighed quietly. "Please, you have no need to be so formal with me. I hardly deserve it, anyway."
Asuka Langley rolled her eye. "Well, that's an understatement," she said sardonically. "Lock my sister up in a tank for several decades, beat the shit out of us emotionally, and leave the fate of the world in a bunch of teenagers in giant robots. What do you expect?"
"A chance to build a bridge, however meager it is, Ms. Shikinami." Gendo continued to look at Shinji as he spoke. "I cannot speak for this world's Gendo Ikari. But many of his faults are my own. I wasted precious time I could have spent with you in pursuit of trying to win back someone who would have had every right to walk away."
He paused for a moment. "So, young Shinji… would you like to go fishing?"
Young Shinji's head was starting to hurt now. "Why? What are you going to get out of it?"
"A chance to connect with my son in a way that may not fully work. And for you, at least, a chance to be with the father you should have had. You have every right to refuse should you want more space from me. I will understand."
It still felt like a trap to him. Like some great duty was somehow going to be placed on his shoulders anyway by accepting. But a part of him, so small now, yearned to accept. Here, right in front of him, was the chance to do something he'd wanted to do for years before journeying to Tokyo-3. But was it enough?
Shinji looked back at the others. Asuka Langley had, unsurprisingly, a rather guarded expression, while Bradley was simply utterly confused.
Daniel, unsurprisingly, had a patient, understanding look on his face. "It's up to you, Shinji," he said gently. "He's not your father, exactly. With all that comes with that truth."
Shinji considered the words for a moment, then nodded slowly. "Okay. But… I don't exactly know how to fish."
Gendo smiled, an expression that Shinji was unsure if he'd ever get used to. "That is alright. It is a simple thing to learn, and a simple thing to teach. We have the requisite gear as well."
Gendo, along with the elder Shinji, turned and began to walk out the door, and young Shinji looked back one more time. Daniel smiled slightly and waved him off gently. "Go on, and know him better, man."
Young Shinji nodded, and soon enough, he was out the door, walking beside his older self, and his father from another universe. It was always going to be a strange feeling to think of that and have that be reality, he decided as they wound their way through the green outskirts of the village in search of a sufficiently large pond or stream.
"So," he finally said after almost unbearable minutes of silence, "how did you change?"
He looked up at his father as the man cupped his chin, a thoughtful expression on his face. Had he really been able to hide this much emotion behind those glasses?
"Well," Gendo began, "I was able to talk with your mother, within the confines of Unit-01 as she was. It was thanks to Mr. Theisman's powers, and my Shinji's willingness and kindness, that I even got the chance to realize the truth in the first place."
The elder Shinji nodded, a slight smile on his face. "Which is to say nothing of the reaming that Mother gave you when you first talked."
"Entirely deserved, at that," Gendo replied. "Yui's anger was never easy to stoke in the best circumstances, but when it came, there was little that could placate it for the moments it burned."
Young Shinji felt that same anger in himself even now. Is that really where it came from? His mother? It made sense. "What happened to Mother?" he asked quietly.
"She was freed, not soon enough," Gendo replied. "And she is here, likely with the Akagis and the Fuyutsukis doing some sort of scientific experiments."
He smiled slightly, and young Shinji was, slowly, beginning to find himself somewhat intrigued by the warmth. "What's she like? Other than sometimes getting really angry?" the boy asked quietly.
Gendo's smile widened. "She's warm. Compassionate. Patient. Dedicated. All the traits of a great scientist, and a greater wife and mother. I owe everything good about my life to her. That included you, though I was too blind to see that for a long while after she was absorbed into Unit-01's core."
It was silent between them for a little while, the trio finding a large stream that looked promising. The elder Shinji set up a blanket, while Gendo handed young Shinji a fishing rod. "Take a seat, and I'll show you the mechanics of how it works."
It was a rather brief explanation, and after a rather squeamish moment of spearing worms onto the hooks to act as bait, the hooks were lowered into the water. "Now what?" young Shinji asked.
"Now," Gendo said, "we wait. This is a game of patience, as it were. We have the chance here to take in nature's beauty."
It was the most poetic that young Shinji had ever heard Gendo Ikari, any version of him, be in front of him. But it sounded, at the very least, peaceful.
So, they sat there, mostly silent, for a long while, waiting for bites; they didn't fully care if the occasion arose, simply that it could happen.
Young Shinji spent a good amount of time thinking. So many of those thoughts swirled around his father, or at least the man that was sitting next to him. Even as open as the man seemed, he was still so… mysterious. Then, he remembered something that the elder Shinji had said back at Kensuke's house. "Fa… Gendo." he settled on. 'Father' still seemed too familiar right now. "The older me mentioned something about you 'coming back'. Did you leave NERV at some point?"
Gendo sighed quietly, the rod dipping slightly in time with his head. "No, Shinji. I died."
Young Shinji's eyes went wide. "How?"
"As part of the plan to stop the Third Impact from coming to pass, I had to kill the body of Adam, which I had implanted in my chest. I'd removed it, but that left it at risk. While SEELE used the Russian and Chinese militaries to attack Tokyo-3, the Scions of Unity infiltrated NERV-HQ and stole the body of Adam. In the moment before Adam could be implanted into a stolen clone of Rei, I shot it, killing Adam."
He paused for a moment, which Shinji was grateful for as he tried to get the events that Gendo spoke of so casually straight in his mind. It all seemed so wild for a moment, and yet… for what his life had become, it had all too quickly become expected.
"In reprisal, the leader of the Scions, a man named Tavis, attacked me, then-Major Katsuragi, and Ryoji Kaji. I pushed them away, taking the brunt of the attack to my unarmored form."
He paused again. "I died shortly thereafter. Daniel Theisman caught my soul, and turned custody of it over to Shinji, to do with as he pleased. It is thanks to him that I still exist in any meaningful capacity."
The father looked over to his son, and young Shinji could only see the reaction his older self had, subdued though it was, his brows raised just slightly. "Thank you, son," Gendo said quietly.
The elder Shinji smiled, an equally slight thing. "You're welcome, Father."
Gendo nodded and looked back at young Shinji. "To get to that point took much in the way of introspection," he said quietly. "I wish I had had that gift like you do before Yui's anger forced it on me."
Shinji looked back out at the water, wondering silently. The silence was met in kind, and they simply sat there quietly for another period of time none of them cared to try and count.
"What are you thinking about, Shinji? If you don't mind me asking." the elder Shinji asked as he looked over at his younger double.
Young Shinji sighed. "I'm just wondering… can I get my father to be like yours, somehow? When this Gendo leaves… will I be able to have something like this?"
"I mean," he continued as he looked at Gendo, "if I could help change you where you're from… could I do it here? I know what Daniel's said makes a difference, but... if I could somehow make it work..."
Gendo looked thoughtful, then Shinji felt a small pebble of dread form in his gut as Gendo's expression became tinged with sadness. "I feel that you could have, to some small extent." he paused. "But I fear that time has now long since passed."
Young Shinji dipped his head in sorrow, then nearly flinched when he felt Gendo's hand on his shoulder. "But at the end of it, you don't really need me in your life."
Young Shinji looked back up at Gendo as he continued. "In this world and mine, you managed to make a family of your own. One that did not include me, and rightfully so. Though your found family has endured many hardships, I am the cause of most of them. And you have shown spectacular endurance, even in failure."
"I am, sadly, an all-too-rare exception to the rule when it comes to this collection of universes. And I will be paying for my mistakes for the rest of my existence. With what your father has done, with what I am sure he plans to do… you must be willing to gather the strength to stop him and move on. As Gendo Ikari, you have my hope that you will keep your father from destroying everything for the sake of lost love."
Gendo's hand came off young Shinji's shoulder. "And if you and my Shinji are anything alike… I can be sure that you have the willpower to do what must be done for the sake of those you love."
A moment of pure praise from Gendo Ikari. Not in passing, like what had been thrown to him after the 8th Angel, but genuine and heartfelt. It was… utterly strange. But it was still a treasure nonetheless.
Then, as he contemplated on the singularity of the moment, his rod twitched in his hands. "I think I've got something," he said as he began to pull back on the fishing rod.
"Keep your grip tight and keep pulling back." Gendo cautioned. "This is a test of endurance, not just one of strength."
Shinji took the advice in stride, and after a seemingly mighty effort, he pulled a decently sized fish free from the water, a nice, vibrant trout.
"Good job, Shinji," Gendo said, chuckling slightly. "That's quite the fish. I'm sure you, both of you, could make a fine meal out of that."
"Well," the older Shinji chuckled, "I don't know how well we can clean a fish off. All our cooking was store-bought."
"I'm sure you could find someone who is able to teach you," Gendo said. "Now, we wait for a little longer. Enjoy the decent weather."
It was a strange moment of time for one Shinji Ikari as they sat and fished. But it was one that almost felt… right.