WITH OR WITHOUT YOU
Sleight of hand and twist of fate
Gendo woke up slowly and painfully, his ears still ringing from the blow he suffered before losing consciousness. Groggy and feeling like he was about to throw up like the old days when he was a rowdy prick in every Tokyo bar, he sat up gingerly.
My age is definitely catching up with me now.
He was in a cold and damp dungeon of some kind. There was a sliver of light coming from a slit in the wall, motes of dust dancing gracefully though the warm golden beam like they were at a socialite's summer ball. Thick metal bars secured him inside the small room.
In the cell opposite to his was Kozo Fuyutsuki, still out but no sign of any injury to the older man. There was that at least. Every blow Gendo took was one less for his offsider.
"Fuyutsuki," Gendo said quietly, unsure he'd get any response. The older man stirred in his sleep but otherwise remained silent and still.
He thought about trying again, but decided there was nothing Fuyutsuki could do to materially help them get out of the situation for now. So Gendo stood up and looked out of the slit in the wall to try to learn more about the world in which they were imprisoned.
It was some time in the day, likely in the early morning. Wherever the building was, it was close to the bustling part of the town. Hooves and paws and boots and sandals and bare feet passed mere inches from his face, churning up the dirt ground as they moved about. Further away, people and animals scurried about going about their business, merchants spruiking their wares to any who would listen.
A few minutes of peeking was all Gendo needed to come to the conclusion that he was ill equipped to escape his current confines. Though prison cells with thick stone walls were familiar to him, he was unlikely to be able to get out of this place without inside help.
He did have to wonder though, why did the mention of the name 'Ikari' make the people here immediately turn on him? It must, must, have something to do with Shinji. If so, what could he do to warn his son about people coming after him?
If he was here at all. Shinji did eventually tell him about his experiences in a fantastical alternate reality with magic and dragons. He wouldn't have believed it had he not seen the recorded footage from Unit One himself. Of course, it wasn't until Gendo had been incarcerated that father and son finally started to talk, properly…
Gendo sat still in his chair, usual attire of loose orange jumpsuit with stainless steel bracelets and anklets limiting his movements to mere old man shuffles. It really was pointless having all these things on him. The guards had guns, and he had paper slippers. His greatest weapon was in his strategic thinking and political manoeuvres, not frontal assaults.
Besides, he had to atone for his actions. Gendo had no doubt in the back of his mind that he would be held responsible for the largest mass murder in history up to now. It wasn't like Gendo could use the excuse that if he wasn't involved and steered key moments away from the control of SEELE, everybody would be dead, and he wouldn't be on trial. And, everybody knew he was in control of humanity's greatest weapons, ones that not even nuclear fire could stop.
He doubted humanity would surpass his record. But then again, humanity was very capable of finishing the job if it so chose. It wasn't like the major nations had learnt their lesson, already there were international tensions about who had Evangelions and pilots on their rosters. Thankfully, nobody really knew how to operate them. In the aftermath of the Battle of Tokyo-3, someone or something had erased everything in the Magi. All of NERV's processes and scripts and database was just gone.
All that was left was the base operating system and empty hard drive space. And given the complexity of the computer system, nobody really wanted to revive it from scratch. It had served its purpose before the purge.
It was not long before Shinji made his way inside the visit room, flanked by hard-faced guards armed to the teeth. Father and son were separated by inches thick layers of steel and glass and Perspex. It had been such a long time since Gendo felt so emotionally close to Shinji though.
If there was a sin to atone for, this was the greatest in his mind. He had indeed betrayed Yui by not looking after Shinji. But Gendo wondered whether he would do anything differently if he was given a chance. It wasn't a question he could answer with any degree of certainty.
His son gave him a wan smile and he returned it. Gendo took any facial expression was not unadulterated rage directed at him as a positive these days.
"Shinji."
"Father."
Gendo regretted that despite weekly visits for nearly two years, Shinji still hadn't gotten out of the habit of calling him 'father' instead of 'dad'. Maybe it would never come to pass.
"How have you been?" Gendo asked. He was unsure what else to ask; it wasn't like he could discuss the weather.
"Fine," replied Shinji blandly. There were eyes watching every action and ears listening to every word they said to each other. Gendo suspected there were separate eyes and ears doing the same to those watching, in case there was some shenanigans. After all, that's what he would have done. "I finished high school last week, so I'm just relaxing at home with mum."
Gendo nodded. "How is…your mother?"
Shinji shrugged. "She seems fine, keeps very busy. Sometimes I think I see Misato more even though she's usually deployed overseas…"
"Hmph." Gendo was glad that Yui was doing alright after being extracted from Unit One. His dream of seeing her alive again was fulfilled, but it seemed the price to pay was that he would lose her forever after all.
"How about you, father, how are you doing?"
"The usual. I eat, I sleep, I exercise. Sometimes I play shogi with Professor Fuyutsuki. It keeps me out of trouble."
Shinji smiled. It wasn't a full-blown smile, but maybe Gendo's dad jokes had finally found a chink in the boy's considerable emotional armour.
They made some more small talk, as before long, their time together was up. They said some blandly courteous farewells and after a few more minutes, Gendo was back in his cell, with only a small television set as his window to the world.
Gendo pulled himself from his memories. They wouldn't serve him well here, especially not for formulating a way to escape. He sat back down on the cold wooden bench that doubled as a bed. He tried to think. It was the only thing that could keep him distracted from the miserable conditions of the cell.
The only thing he could come up with were questions but no way to answer them. That included who it was that he or his son had pissed off, and how to get back home. But he wasn't sure going back into the cell he'd been previously was a great outcome, even if it was air conditioned.
But what could he do to get out of this predicament? He was completely at the mercy of whoever ruled this place.
The only way to regain his freedom was to understand the situation more, Gendo concluded. He wondered who he could talk to, and when.
But then what was he going to say, talk about, negotiate with? He looked at the slit in the wall; a metaphor for his position at the moment. Down, but not out. There had to be an in, just like the slit was a window to the world.
Maybe I should have taken up using metaphors in poetry as a hobby instead of bar brawls and destroying the world.
He referred to an old skill set, one that carried him to the heights of power and also the lowest of the lows. He started to list the known knowns, the known unknowns, wondered at the unknown knowns and tried to mitigate against the unknown unknowns, those that were the greatest bane to any and all plans made by man.
Gendo Ikari hunkered down in his cell and thought.
On a bed of nails she makes me wait
Kaji wondered how long he would have to keep up the charade. The uniform and armour that he'd been wearing was heavy and hot. And he was very much getting too old for this. Not that he was actually terribly old, but he hadn't been training in the gym for long enough to carry all this armour on his back.
Upon arriving at whatever this place was called – Grandton – or something like that, his squad was split up and sent back to the barracks. He had a semblance of rest that night, but he was already assigned to guard the dungeon cells deep under the township's courthouse.
Some new prisoners, he was told. He didn't ask too much else, lest he said something that gave him away as not one of their own.
He was still surprised that he was assigned to guard duty alone though. Usually, it was good practice to have a partner in these things in case one of them was seduced by an alluring purpled haired Marine Colonel, or got knocked out by some other clever trickery from the prisoners.
Obviously, whoever ran the place wasn't ISO9001 certified in corrective services.
As he marched as best he could into the courthouse, nobody batted him an eyelid. The mousy, yet cute, clerk at the front desk hurriedly opened the door to the building's lower level at his gentle request. She seemed flustered despite him not saying much to her.
Descending the stairs was an effort. Whoever designed them was obviously only concerned with making them as compact as possible, the short wooden steps creaking underneath his heavy armour and his boots protruded past every step.
Still, this beats hiking up a mountain with laser guiding gear in the dead of night with only moonlight to guide my steps.
The air at the bottom of the stairs smelled like musty storage and unwashed men. It was very quiet down there, though Kaji expected it to be rowdy on account of the fact that prisoners were housed in there. At least this made it seem like a relatively simple shift.
He walked along the single corridor, inspecting each cell for contents. They were all empty except for the final two. Kaji couldn't quite believe his eyes when he saw a salt and pepper haired Gendo Ikari sitting on a bench staring intently at a sliver of light and an unconscious Kozo Fuyutsuki on his own bench.
What are these old geezers doing here?
He walked up to the cell door and lightly tapped one of the bars.
"Commander Ikari," he said quietly. "What the hell are you doing in there?"
The older man flinched but tried to feign a decorum of calm.
"Who are you?"
Kaji removed his helmet and the two men's eyes met.
"Special Inspector Ryoji Kaji," Gendo said evenly. "I thought SEELE had neutralised you."
Kaji smiled. "Thankfully not. I had one more benefactor nobody seemed to know about, who got me out of a sticky situation. I've been on special operations since."
Like that time when I infiltrated Keel Lorenz's staff and called an airstrike on his arse. There were some satisfying fireworks that night.
"Hmph," Gendo snorted. "I suppose I should be glad there is someone on the other side of the lock who is not specifically out to kill me."
"What are you…we, all doing here?" Kaji chanced. Despite being in special operations, he was told even less about missions beyond vague objectives and location information. It was a frustrating way to live. But he was glad for the opportunities for improvisation in accomplishing objectives. It made for some fun and entertaining missions.
"I don't know," the former commander of NERV replied. "One minute I was in my underground cell and the next I was in this world. Then I was put in this underground cell. Seems like there is symmetry there."
Kaji chuckled at the dark humour. He supposed there were worse ways to deal with the situation. "I was on top of a mountain watching some nice fireworks. Too bad I didn't get to see the end of the show."
The two men paused, not sure what else to say. Their previous relationship was one of mutual business-related mistrust and enmity. But now, after years away from that near apocalyptic circus, maybe they could start off on a different foot.
Kaji decided he would have to break the ice. "You must be in here for a reason. I'll go find out and see if I can get you released. At least you'll have some answers."
"No doubt they will lead to more questions," Ikari quipped.
"If only life was as simple as five years ago, stop the Angels, save the world," smirked Kaji. He knew that wasn't ex-Commander Ikari's end goal, everyone knew. But in end, that was the actual result.
"I wonder…" mused Gendo Ikari. "Does this world need saving? If so, we're probably not the most suited to it."
Kaji could only nod. "Let me do what I'm best at, infiltration and intelligence. You'll know soon enough."
Through the storm we reach the shore
"I can't believe you're here," Asuka ruminated at Misato. "And I still can't believe this idiot is here too!"
The sky garden where this impromptu meeting was taking place had certainly filled up since the appearance of the new arrivals.
Shinji could only grimace at the barb directed at him. Good, he was always the spineless one. At least he wasn't slouching any more. And his shoulders were wider. And he was finally growing a squared jaw. He was even cuter than…
Shut up brain. This isn't helping. And you too, smaller brain.
"What's worse," Asuka continued, without a beat. "Is that there are two Misatos. How's this possible?"
"Allow me," interrupted Captain Ikari. "I believe I am the only one remotely capable of explaining this."
Asuka hadn't yet directed any jabs at him. After all, he was still intimidating, even if this wasn't the idiot's arsehole of a father. This Gendo Ikari seemed more like a human being rather than a badly programmed robot from her memories.
Captain Ikari continued after he was satisfied nobody else would say anything. "I believe that we have been brought here by a coincidental set of anomalies. Analysis by my crew indicates that we were pulled here through some sort of field that interfered with our systems. I suspect you were all subjected to a similar phenomenon."
"That makes no sense," retorted Asuka as she pointed at Shinji. "I was half a world and five years away from him. Why am I not the same distance away from him when we got deposited here? Huh?"
Captain Ikari conceded the point. That didn't make much sense. But then again, it made little sense to Asuka too. "That blonde woman over there says she used some magical dragon nuts to wish us here. Can you believe that? Magic. As if there's such a thing."
"Hmm, while I share your scepticism, I have seen many things in my travels that appear magical, even though they were caused by hyper advanced technology. Maybe Queen Greendrake and this world possesses such advanced technology."
It still didn't make sense. What else didn't make sense was that Queen Greendrake kept fawning over Shinji like they were married or something. It wasn't like they had a kid together, Shinji was way too timid – not to mention young - to do something like that. Right? So, who was the father of her daughter then? Surely Greendrake had a husband somewhere.
Why am I obsessed with this? I should be thinking about getting away from here.
"Fine," said Asuka. "We don't really know how we got here. Surely, we need to find out and reverse it right? I have students to teach at the university."
"You teach? That's… congratulations, Asuka," said a smiling Shinji. Like an idiot.
He's still cute you know.
Shut up you two!
"Yes, I do, at Humboldt in Berlin. You wouldn't even have the grades to get in, I bet."
"Uh…well, I did get a diploma in musical performance from Tokyo U. But you know…I'm not that good at it."
There he went again, always being humble and stupid.
And cute!
Anyway, she had to steer the topic back to getting home and away from her childhood memories.
"Right, so how do we get out of here?"
"Not so fast," said Queen Greendrake forcefully. "A lot of my people sacrificed their lives to get you here to help save the world. And you want to go home immediately?"
"Yes, of course I do!"
Greendrake looked crestfallen. "But…we're all going to die if you don't help us! Not just Summerise, but Boldhold, Sapphirica, Cullen and everyone else… Please, I beg of you, stay and help us!"
Asuka looked at Shinji and Misato for a reaction. Those two could never resist puppy dog eyes, and Shinji was especially vulnerable.
"I'm happy to stay and help," replied Shinji. The queen shuffled up to him in the meantime and he held her as she gave him a pitiable look. "If you want to go, I understand. These are my friends…so I'll stay and fight."
"Thanks Shinji," cooed the queen. God it was infuriating to watch this wanton display of…public affection.
It should have been me, not her!
Asuka shook her head and walked out of the room. She couldn't bear to see or hear any more of that drivel. How could he behave like that? Even if he had a spine, what exactly did some noble wench in a foreign universe mean to him? She didn't even have a PhD and tenure at one of the world's best universities. And what about the people who he lived with, fought with and saved in the real world? Didn't they mean anything to him?
She sighed, walking in a random direction within the castle. It was cavernous and corridors sprouted in each direction like whoever built it divined the use of each space rather than designing it like an engineer or architect would. Sidling up to some windows, Asuka could see everything around, the mountains, the sea and the plains. Moving her field of view down gave her clear sights of the walled town surrounding the castle itself. It was quaint. And, she conceded to herself, very pretty. She imagined that medieval life in the old German countryside before big cities and industrialisation attracted most people to the cosmopolitan metropolises of modern society.
Eventually, her wandering brought her to a corner of the castle where people calmly but efficiently worked. A refined older man came out from one of the rooms and saw Asuka. His salt and pepper hair and twinkling mischievous eyes made her think of her paternal grandfather before he passed.
"Young lady, I don't believe I've been introduced," the gentleman said. "You must be one of Anna's visitors."
"I'm here against my will if that's what you're saying," said Asuka trying to maintain her teenage rage. She found recently that she had less energy for it, what with work and exercise and being an adult.
"Hmm, I did hear that her wish seemed to drag in more than expected. How rude of me, I am Anna's uncle, Matthias the Duke of the Westerlands. And you are?"
"Professor Asuka Langley Soryu, PhD," she replied, shaking the proffered old man's hands. They had a strong martial grip, the kind that the soldiers in NERV Berlin used to have.
"If I may ask, you seem to be lost," Matthias said. "If you're hungry, I do have some snacks coming. I can take you back to Anna as we eat and talk."
Not seeing any better options, Asuka agreed with a small nod. Thankful that he seemed to not be weird and creepy, the two set off with small sandwiches in hand.
"You are aquainted with Shinji, I assume," Matthias asked.
Asuka thought about how best to answer the question. Of course she did. She knew him, she even loved him once, maybe, and had shared much of herself with him. But that was a lifetime ago.
"I am. We fought the Angels together in my world. We lived together and saved the world together. Then we grew apart and went our separate ways."
It wasn't the complete truth, but it was close enough for a stranger to hear. It was also the story she told a lot of people in Berlin who didn't question her much on the subject. Everyone seemed to keep a professional distance from her in her life, even her father. She was fine with that. She was used to that. And after letting Shinji in further than anyone else had been before, she realised that being alone was just fine with her.
Yeah, keep believing that, sister.
Shut. Up!
The old man nodded sagely. "That is a little sad. I suppose you're glad to see him again after so long?"
Asuka shrugged. "Yeah. He's…a good person. It's complicated, and…I don't even know why I'm telling you all this."
Matthias laughed heartily. "You have no idea how many of these conversations I've had with my niece, young lady. She seems to have only had eyes for one man: Sir Shinji Ikari. For her, it's simple. He helped to save us all and she loves him for it. It's no wonder she sought his help again in the hour of our greatest need."
"She did say something about that," Asuka mused. "But it didn't make much sense to me."
"How much do you know about our war five years ago?" Matthias asked her.
"Shinji didn't tell me much about it…at least I never really gave him a chance to."
"Well, let me tell you about your friend Shinji, and his adventures here. You might understand why we wished for him to come back. I'll tell you over lunch. I think it would be good for you to eat something filling."
I am pretty hungry, and what could possibly go wrong at a lunch?
"Alright, I accept. But I don't want Anna to know about this, or Shinji."
Matthias smiled and shook her hand in agreement. This was going to be an interesting couple of hours.
And you give yourself away
Shinji laid down on the comfortable looking and feeling bed in the room he'd been assigned. The furnishings were bare, but that wasn't suprising since it was meant for temporarily accomodating someone. It had been a long day, despite him not doing much of anything.
Staring at the ceiling, he tried to parse the events and make sense of them all again. He had never thought that he'd be back again in this castle. He had such fond memories of his time here, but the reality of life and the limits of human science had made him give up on the hope of ever returning. He wasn't confident anyone could figure out how to open a multidimensional wormhole within his lifetime. Little did he know that he'd be wished back.
Not that he was complaining. The bed here was far more comfortable than the futon he had at home. And not having to cook, even if only for one, was a nice change.
He wondered what he should do next, now that the day was free. It wasn't like he had to go to class or finish any assignments. If there was one benefit of being pulled into another universe, not having to worry about his usual earthly concerns was definitely one of them.
Maybe I'll just…take a nap. Those are nice.
"You can't possibly be taking a nap at your age," said a smooth, silky and familiar voice.
"Exactly right," quipped another voice enthusiastically.
Shinji shot up and immediately, he saw who had been talking to him: Rei Ayanami and Kaoru Nagisa. The two former pilots appeared to him as they had before, holding hands while all shimmery and slightly blue. Both were naked but so shiny that all their bits were hidden from view.
He rolled his eyes. Of all the times that he didn't have access to his medicines, this wasn't the best.
"Again, Shinji, we are not a mirage in your brain," Apparition-Kaoru said to him with that wide smile of his. "We became a part of you after the attempted Third Impact. I, Adam, and her, Lilith, remain your friends and guides."
"The best part is we get to watch Shinji and Asuka make babies together!" Apparition-Rei said excitedly. "Now that she's in the next room, just go over there and offer yourself to her!"
Shinji shuddered. It took some time for him to accept what his father told him about Rei; a clone with a genetic mix up of the Angel Lilith and his mother. Which made her his quarter-sister from his mother. Sometimes he wondered if anyone else had as strange a family tree as he did.
"Look, this really isn't a good time," replied Shinji.
"To make babies?!" enquired Apparition-Rei. "It's always a good time to make babies!~*!"
"That not withstanding," interrupted Apparition-Kaoru, shooting a look at his Angelic counterpart. "There is a problem that, if not fixed, will stop any and all baby making."
"Oh, right, the multiverse collapsing thing," Apparition-Rei said, all serious for a minute. "That is a big problem!"
"Multiverse…collapse?" questioned Shinji. "Even if you're just hallucinations, can you start to make sense?"
Kaworu nodded. "I know it sounds like the start of a bad science fiction movie, it appears from our travels that some sort of tear is eating away at the fabric of the universes. It would explain why when Queen Greendrake made that wish for you to return and help save her world, more than just the people she hoped for appeared here."
"And," Kaworu continued. "If the tear gets worse, then everything will be destroyed in fire."
"That means no more babies!" added Rei helpfully.
"What…uh caused the tear?" asked Shinji. He was studying for a degree in musics performance, so theoretical physics and cosmology was a bit beyond him.
"That is yet to be confirmed," answered Kaworu, his signature calm smile appearing again. But you and your companions will have to figure it out, fix it and only then, can you go home."
"So…I can't just fix it by punching things in the face with my Evangelion?"
"If only things were so simple," Kaworu said. "Those were simpler times. Units One and Two punching each other, me getting squished…"
Shinji winced. "Yeah…sorry about that."
"It's fine," the former pilot and Angel said, casually waving the events of his death away like so much detritus. "I asked you to do it, and I'm rather glad you did. I'd much prefer you to be alive than dead. Besides, you did me a favour. Without the squishing, I wouldn't have met Rei."
"Yeah!" Rei shouted. "Come on, Kaka, we have to show some others how to make babies!:$- !"
With that, Rei skipped away and Kaworu signed off with a simple wave of his hand and the two ghosts of Shinji's past disappeared into the aether.
The young man sighed and lay back down. Maybe that nap he was contemplating was a really good idea right now.
How the hell am I going to convince anyone that there's a possibility of the multiverse collapsing?
Nothing to win and nothing left to lose
The display read: "100 per cent. Task completed successfully."
It took nearly 36 hours to complete, but her latest experiment was ready to test out. And not a moment too soon. The attack against Boldhold had begun. Yui climbed outside the entry plug and looked at Ritsuko. The younger scientist was finishing her checks on the exterior of the Evangelion manually. There were no computers here, save for whatever was already installed on board, so a lot of corners were cut on the normal level of pre-flight checks.
Ritsuko gave Yui a thumbs up and stepped as far away from the purple behemoth as possible inside the cavern.
Meanwhile, Yui clambered back inside the metal tube her son once sat and settled into the pilot's seat, hands gripping the control yokes tightly.
Butterflies fluttered in her stomach as she began the internal startup procedures. The main display flickered to life, and she felt the whole unit spasm like it had been struck by lightning. Yui resisted the urge to laugh maniacally like a mad scientist in a gothic horror novel.
Initialising
Commencing entry plug insertion…Complete
Commencing LCL Immersion…Complete
American Megatrends Custom BIOS
SATA Drive 0: 2,024 GB
SATA Drive 1: 2,024 GB
SATA Drive 2: 2,024 GB
16TB Memory
AMD Opteron 939. Makes it possible
Radeon X1600 initiating
NervOS 25.81 detected
Booting…
Booting…
Welcome, NEW USER
Yui reached out and was about to start pressing buttons but a simple message on the main display stopped her.
Mama?
Yui choked back tears of joy. It worked! Evangelion Unit One was alive again!
Mama?
"Hello, my child," Yui said inside the LCL filled entry plug. She felt as if the world was a dark and confusing mess.
Where are you?
"I'm in here, my child."
Mama!
A feeling of relief washed over Yui. It seemed like everything was working as intended. She was synchronised with the Evangelion just as expected. The new entity inside was already curious and questions were flowing thick and fast in her mind.
No wonder they had to restrain me. But the mind of a child and the mind of an adult are not the same.
"Shh, it's ok," cooed Yui. It had been far too long since she'd had to do this. Though it was ironic she was going about it from within the child. Some mother she was.
Mama! You have a name! Do I have a name?
Yui thought on it for a moment. Of all the things she had been engrossed in during the development of the project, she'd never once considered what to call the entity if it ever gained consciousness. It seemed presumptuous at the time.
"Ichi," Yui said, making sure to avoid the name of Rei. It was all because of her idiotic ex-husband.
Ichi…Ichi…I am Ichi
Yui felt laughter ripple through the Evangelion. It was strange to think a giant neon green and purple colossus with a demonic mask could laugh, but stranger things had happened before.
I like my name, Mama. Is…is there something the matter?
"No, Ichi, I'm happy you like your name. I would like to have you help me with something though. Don't worry, it should be pretty quick and easy."
Yes Mama! I'll help!
"Alright, I'm going to do some things, don't be scared. It's all normal stuff."
Yeah, normal for a giant humanoid alien cyborg with an advanced artificial soul. Just another day at work for Professor Yui Ikari, PhD.
She searched her mind for how that last battle in Tokyo-3 went, when all the chips were on the board, when Shinji was at his most desperate and most dangerous…
"Unit One is ready to launch" said some anonymous voice over the NERV speakers. "But the Bakelite is preventing us from moving the Eva to the pad."
Shinji was already inside and listening to the battle already raging on the surface of the Geofront.
"…die arschloch!…"
Yui caught some audio snippets from Unit Two…Kyoko, and the way her daughter was rampaging up above, it sounded like it was a hell of a fight.
"Come on! Why won't it move!" Shinji shouted.
He'd been inside the entry plug for minutes now, desperately trying to do something to help Asuka. But to no avail. The only consolation she could give him was that Unit Two's S2 Engine would allow her to fight without end. But, she sensed his worry that eventually, she would tire and be overwhelmed.
Yui couldn't help him either. The Bakelite encasing her was beyond the normal strength of the restrained Evangelion to shift.
"Move! Move! Move! Please move! If this thing doesn't move now, if I don't get up there now, everyone's going to die! Asuka's going to die! I can't stand letting that happen! So! Please! MOVE!"
It was the strangest thing, to feel the Evangelion, Yui Ikari, herself, suddenly awaken a new state of being. Something burst out of her and she could suddenly see time and space as strings and vibrations, patterns of dancing atoms and quarks and mesons and electrons and they were all so beautiful. She knew the fourteen words to make someone fall in love with you forever and seven to let them go without pain, or say goodbye to a friend who is dying. She could hear smells and speak in the language of electromagnetism.
She felt joy at the audacity of hope and sorrow at all that Adam and Lilith had lost, and the despairing loneliness of each of the Angels as they experienced their last seconds.
Yui roared as all those thoughts and feelings and memories streamed through her disembodied soul. Then, she and Unit One and Shinji were suddenly up in the sky riding on wings of electric orange.
All she and Shinji could see now was seething anger as nine monstrous white Evangelion circled above Asuka and Kyoko. Shinji and Yui did not hesitate and dived immediately towards the closest enemy, Lightning Engulfed spewing electricity and cleaving it in half, as if it was made of wet tissue paper.
That feeling now replicated, and she realised that Unit One was also flying and soaring once again on those electric orange wings. This time she had willed the Evangelion to blast a hole straight up into the sky from the mountain cavern. Beneath them, snow capped peaks jutted out chaotically from the ground and a walled city could be see nestled in a clearing. And Yui could see the army attacking the city of Boldhold too, little ants swarming the walls.
Huh. That was easier than I expected. I guess it's time to save the city now.
A/N:
Howdy folks, here's the latest chapter of Prodigal Mope. May you all enjoy the read. As always, comments and feedback are welcome and I look forward to sharing the next chapter soon.
Guest - yeah, this is going to get confusing fast. I think a spreadsheet is needed to keep track of everything.
Omake
Anna looked longingly at Shinji from across the table as they ate lunch together. Amelie was happily sitting beside him, eating as politely as she'd been taught. It was the first time she'd seen father and daughter together like this. Just like the family she'd imagined.
I'm glad she has his eyes. Those deep blue eyes can really pierce the soul. No wonder I can't say no to her!
"How's the food Shinji?" Anna asked with a warm smile on her face. She wasn't sure exactly how to approach the elephant in the room.
"Oh, iss guuud," Shinji replied with a mouthful of salad in his mouth. "Jusht like I remembah!"
Anna could only smile and make more small talk. Eventually, someone would have to figure it out. But she wasn't sure how everyone would react. She wanted this bliss to last as long as possible.