Creation began on 12-31-23

Creation ended on 01-01-24

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Different from You: Meeting of the Makers

It was an odd meeting of the two would-be masters of Doji's destiny, but it was unavoidable, given the unique situation they were dealing with. So, here was the previous head of Doji, Reiji Takayama, and the current head, Masaya Wado, in the office of Doji Group HQ.

"I hope there's a reason for my being here?" Wado tells Takayama and Segawa, rather impatient.

"Oh, there is," Takayama responds, and Segawa goes to open the door to the office.

"You can come in now," Segawa informs someone.

At first, Wado was expecting Takayama's pet Witchblade wielder, Masane Amaha, but instead of the woman, a young man walked in, dressed in hospital patient clothing, dark hair and blue eyes, looking like he was alien to everything around him.

"Reiji Takayama, Masaya Wado," Segawa addressed the two men, "meet Shinji Ikari."

"Gentlemen," Shinji greeted, bowing to them.

"Hello, Mr. Ikari," Takayama replies.

"Nice to make your acquaintance," Wado responded, "but why are you here?"

"From what I was informed a short while ago, part of the reason is because of you, Mr. Wado," Shinji informs him.

"Because of me?"

"Technically," went Takayama, "because of what you had made. If you could, Ikari, show us your wrists."

Shinji complied and raised his wrists for them to see, showing them the dark, ornate bracelets with pink gems.

"I believe you're familiar with these, Mr. Wado," Shinji says to Wado. "These bracelets...are your Ultimateblade weapon."

Wado's eyes widened in realization.

"How did you get a hold of the Ultimateblade?" He asks. "The prototype was destroyed by the Witchblade weeks ago."

"It was explained that you had more than one Ultimateblade made…and I just happened to find myself unexpectedly wearing another pair of gauntlets. So, yeah, I'm wearing another you had made, and from what I was informed, this Ultimateblade is…hazardous because of what happened to the previous wielder."

"That was just an…"

But the sight of Shinji's unconventional frown put a stop to Wado's claim that the previous Ultimateblade wielder's downfall was nothing more than a tragic accident.

"I was given a clear picture of what can be expected," Shinji informs him. "Some sort of cellular breakdown, meaning my body will…unravel itself because of this weapon I'm stuck with wearing like some sort of accessory. Can you imagine that happening to yourself, Mr. Wado? Crumbling to dust or something because of an object that has become fused to your body, potentially driving you into a fit of rage because of something you can't explain? Or hurting people around you that may want to help you before it turns against you? Can you even begin to understand how that affects someone that didn't even have a say in being subject to something like that?"

Shinji made sure Wado got a good look at the Ultimateblade bracelets on his arms so that he knew what he was partially responsible for.

"For the time being, I'm told that this condition of mine is stable, but the thing of it is, none of the people that worked on your personal project can even give a guarantee for how long that stability will last, so that makes me a ticking timebomb of sorts; even right now, in this very room, in this very building, this weapon you created could kill me. While I'm told that they could try removing it from me, but that would require amputation of my hands, probably up to my elbows…and even with cybernetics in place to remedy my handicap, I don't want to risk something going wrong…and I like my hands very much. I like being able to hug my daughter or just holding her hands. So…for the time being, I'm stuck with having this living weapon of yours fused to me."

If Wado hadn't been afraid of his own creation before, he was right now because of this young man. But he was confused by something he said moments ago. Did this boy have a daughter? He had to be in his early teens. How could he have a kid of his own? Unless he got a girl his age pregnant and was trying to step up.

Wait a minute, Shinji Ikari? He thought, thinking he heard of that name from somewhere before.

"Based on what we do understand," Segawa explains to Wado, "young Ikari here is from an alternate universe, displaced here in this one with his four-year-old daughter due to an incident they were involved in. Previously, our universe had a version of the pair that died some time ago last year."

That's where he had heard the name Ikari from! It was that that family that owned the cybernetics company NERV that supplied Doji with some hardware and software.

"Eh-heh-heh," Wado chuckled slightly, unnerved by this turn of events as Shinji brought his arms down. "My apologies for your…predicament with the Ultimateblade."

"Noted," Shinji responds, bows his head to the three men and then turns to leave the office. I am so messed up right now. This day only started and I'm split between wanting to rebuild my life with Shado…and living with the Ultimateblade attached to my body.

When he was out of the room, Takayama looks at Wado with some seriousness.

"I was only made aware of this thirty minutes ago," he informs Wado. "This doesn't change the fact that he might be in the same situation as Amaha with the Witchblade. So far, though, the Ultimateblade hasn't activated fully. However, it was brought to my attention that it engaged in conversation with Ikari. Nothing we should worry about now, as they were only talking about their current predicament. But should that change in the near future, it is you that has to answer for why a fourteen-year-old boy was in the possession of an unsuccessfully-tested weapon and how Doji was responsible if it killed him. If I were you, I'd try to find a solution to this before it evolves into something out of your control."

"Right," Wado replies as Takayama walks away. Oh, no.

"There's something else, too," Segawa informs Wado. "After confirming their identities, we contacted Yui Ikari of NERV to inform her of this turn of events. She said she'd be on her way to Tokyo to meet with these alternate versions of her son and granddaughter."

Yui Ikari, the widow of Gendo Ikari and the head of NERV. There was only so much one could comprehend from a woman like that, who had suffered one loss after another and was on her way to Tokyo to see the two people that were suddenly here. This, along with the revelation that one of his other Ultimateblades was currently in the possession of a young man, made Wado uncomfortable with the way things were shaping up.

"Did she say how long?" He asks Segawa.

"Unfortunately, no," Segawa answers him. "But based on her response, she's likely on a private jet on her way here right this minute."

-x-

Shinji looked at his wrists again, at the bracelets that were stuck to his skin, to his bones; an x-ray that had been taken after he had eaten with Shado, just as a precaution, had shown the Ultimateblade was still conforming to his body. While the people that were evaluating him had already admitted to being aware that the weapon had spoken with him, this didn't ease Shinji's concerns in the slightest. Even if it was possible to avoid the fate that the previous Ultimateblade wielder suffered by simply lopping his hands off, Shinji wasn't a big fan of pain, even if the recovery rate and the application of advanced prosthetics were marginal at best. He didn't wish to worry his daughter that something was wrong.

"You took that a little better than I had expected," he hears the previous head of Doji say to him in the hallway.

"When I'm able to talk to a living creature with an artificial background an awareness of its own, it's not easy to not be able to handle this at all," he responds. "I was informed that you were once the boss of this place?"

"Once."

"And now that other guy, Wado, is the one in charge?"

"Yes."

"With all due respect, Mr. Takayama, Mr. Wado doesn't seem to know what he's doing. How did someone like him take control of the company from someone like you?"

"A while ago, there were some murders that were connected to Doji Group. To avoid the unnecessary publicity, I voluntarily stepped down as head of Doji."

Shinji looks down the hall they both came up from and then back at Takayama.

"I take it you had nothing to do with this?" He asks, referring to the Ultimateblade.

"No," he answers the boy. "My business has been the I-Weapons and dealing with renegade X-Cons. The Ultimateblade was Wado's side project. Unfortunately, he was unable to impress the board with it."

"Failing to impress some people, that's a problem few people know how to handle coming back from. Why weapons?"

"Excuse me?"

"Why…make weapons? I'm sure that it's a good thing and all, but it seems like…another game when viewed from a different point of view."

"Making weapons…as a game?"

"Warfare as a game. Everyone everywhere wants to have the best advantage against someone they view as the enemy over something they want. But when everyone everywhere has the tools they want to use, it feels like a game they're playing, but the outcome is worse because of the people that have to deal with the aftermath of the would-be game. But while I'm sure that the weapons your company makes would put an end to sending people out to war, it just…a fringe benefit to put a smile on faces."

"War and peace are two sides of the same coin," Takayama explains. "Most of the time, it's just Japan and its allies overseas that procure our I-Weapons. What were you doing before you ended up here?"

In this world, I learned that NERV is a cybernetics company, but in the world Shado and I were originally from, NERV was a paramilitary agency tasked with facing giant, unknown entities called Angels. To face them, NERV made these giant robots called Evangelions. Except they needed people my age to operate them because of a calamity that occurred before my time. I wasn't very optimistic about what I was doing while there, and I can say that was because of my lack of a relationship with my father there, who was…who is…a thorn in my side from time to time. I'm not sorry to say that I'm relieved to be away from him."

"That's rough," Takayama expresses.

"I remind myself every day that the reason we never resolved anything was because he didn't want to. He didn't see me as anything other than a resource, so I never saw him as anything other than a loser. I try to do the one thing he failed to do when I found out I had a daughter, which was to actually be a father. He wanted me to give Shado up, but…I couldn't do that…and be reminded of his failures that I didn't want to echo. I keep Shado close. I always try to talk to her, get a sense of how she's feeling. Some people don't get that I'm just trying to do right by her, others have a harder time tolerating the fact that I chose to keep Shado instead of giving her away to some strangers. Does that make me the bad guy for trying to do the right thing?"

"Honestly? No, it doesn't. I know this woman with a similar situation as your own, and she just wants to do right by her daughter."

"How similar?"

"Well, as I'm sure that you're aware, there are at least three different types of blades: The Witchblade, the Cloneblade and the Ultimateblade. The Cloneblade and Ultimateblade were based off of information from studying the Witchblade, an ancient artifact that only women can wear. The Cloneblade is a biologically-enhanced copy of the Witchblade. The Ultimateblade is Wado's attempt at creating a Witchblade-like weapon that can be wielded by men."

"Except that the records based on the first Ultimateblade indicate that the first actual wielder became compromised due to instability. The Witchblade and Cloneblade are also said to cause instability in their hosts the more they're used, only it varies from user to user. Or rather, they cause physical instability to their living wielders; because Doji uses male cadavers, it's not the same as breaking down if the user is already broken. But I'm not sure how much of what is actually left upon the death of a person besides their body. I have never seen anyone die in front of me. Have you seen anyone die in front of you before?"

Takayama thought of Reina Soho, before and after she died, and sighs.

"I have," he tells Shinji. "Someone I knew."

"Did they go peacefully?"

"Yeah, she did."

Shinji smiles.

"Maybe you'll meet her again," he tells Takayama. "In another lifetime. If reincarnation is true, then people can live again, transcending death. You never know for sure."

"Do you believe in reincarnation?"

"After all I have experienced, I'm willing to believe in the one thing I want to believe in most while I'm here."

"Which is?"

"Hope that I won't meet the same fate as the previous Ultimateblade wielder."

Shinji walks away, back to the room that he left Shado in, and Takayama had to wonder if hope was on this young man's side…just as he hoped that it was on Masane's side.

-x-

A private jet was one thing, but Yui Ikari was a woman that didn't exactly want to rush to any location; her jet would take at least an hour due to being a faster model, but it would be twenty-three minutes before her flight plan was approved due to this being an unexpected move just to go to Tokyo. Sitting in her seat, looking at the information Doji had sent her regarding the pair they had found within their building, and was looking at the pictures of the two they sent her to see for herself. At first, she didn't want to believe they were who Doji had suspected they had confirmed after testing their DNA, but Yui recognized her son's face a mile away. And Shado, she recognized her, as well, although the girl seemed a little less…cautious and more like a daddy's little girl.

They look like them, she thinks as the pilot informs her that the flight plan was approved, but they're not them. They're from a different universe. How different was their life there?

She wasn't looking to develop any attachment to these two, but she did want to see them, to talk to them, to ascertain what she could about their lives before they ended up here. As the jet started to move towards the runway, she sighs as the hour-long flight would be an hour to decide whether or not she would feel anything towards these two strangers.

To be continued…

A/N: Shinji made Wado feel fear at the fact that he was wearing the Ultimateblade and what he has to lose if the weapon kills him. This, the conversation with Takayama, and Yui on her way to Tokyo just changes things further as it heads towards the ending of the Witchblade anime. I want for there to be some sort of attack where Shinji is forced to use the Ultimateblade and Shado sees him and has the same reaction to him that Riko has towards Masane later on. The first chapter of the new year, too!