Creation began on 03-04-19

Creation ended on 04-01-19

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Grimoire of Evangelion: Swords and Thread

A/N: There was more to the spiritual meeting between Tenshi Ikari and his father, Mikazuki Ikari, after he became the new patriarch of House Ikari.

After Tenshi let go of his father, they walked away from the tree and along the beachside.

"What troubles your heart, Tenshi?" Mikazuki asked his son as he noticed Tenshi was looking away from him at the water.

"I thought I'd be ready for something like this," he responded, being cryptic. "I thought we'd be ready for a day like this."

"Whatever do you mean? Haven't you spent half your time preparing to succeed me as the patriarch of House Ikari? It has been a long time since we ever spoke up about it."

"Father…that's not what I'm talking about," Tenshi stated, stopping to face him. "I thought I'd be able to get past that night…but it wasn't something I could recover from, even with Healing Magic. Suki only knows about you from our mother's point of view…but none of us, including myself, were ready to be without you. None of us were ready to be without any of you that were taken that night."

Mikazuki sighed and nodded his head in understanding. It wasn't something any of them were ready to move past because it had happened unexpectedly during a time of celebration.

"A man that hasn't prepared his family for the time of his death, whether anticipated or unexpected, has failed them," he expressed sadly.

"Except you never failed," Tenshi assured him. "You're always the one with helpful advice. As a patriarch now, how do I best protect the family from danger, from both outside and inside the Clover Kingdom? I want to do my best, but I can't be like you or the previous patriarchs before us, Father."

"You're going to struggle on the road ahead. There are murky moments yet to manifest themselves in front of you, which is why you need to surround yourself with those you can trust. Friends, family, even magical spirits, whichever ones they are that come to you. You've always been one of the kindest of souls with the warmest of hearts, Tenshi…and it is hard for anyone of that sort to be as great as those that came before them."

"Tenshi," Tenshi heard another voice call out his name, and he and Mikazuki looked up ahead, seeing something manifesting out of the darkness. "Tenshi Ikari? It's been over fifteen-hundred years. We thought you were dead because we couldn't find you. Where have you been?"

It was a…young woman, probably in her late-teens, with long, ebony hair that reached past the small of her back, with blue eyes and wore a white, orange and green dress. Adorning her wrists were strands of thread, extending down to intertwining with her fingertips.

"It can't be," Tenshi gasped. "Arachne, is it really you?"

"Only a rare few with the blessing of Thread Magic were ever able to have me as their spiritual guide, Tenshi. I've been here since forever, wondering where you've been, whether or not you were alive, waiting for you to return to the Clover Kingdom."

"She wasn't the only one, Tenshi," they heard a male voice say to him, as a second person manifested from the darkness in front of them. "You have been deeply missed. I had almost lost hope in seeing you again."

It was a man, almost as old as Mikazuki, wearing medieval armor of silver and gold, wielding a large, dual-edged sword like it weighed next to nothing. His facial features included a curved scar under his left eye and ragged, salt and pepper hair.

"You're here, too, Excalibur?" Tenshi questioned, really happy to see the both of them, his two magic spirits.

Tenshi was among the rare few within House Ikari to possess unique circumstance that afforded him access to more than one spirit associated to Spirit Magic, and Excalibur and Arachne, the Spirits of Swords and Thread, were his to command since before the time he received his grimoire and began honing his magical abilities.

"It's been too long," he told them and he bowed his head to them.

"Far too long," Excalibur expressed as he and Arachne bowed and curtsied to him, respectively.

-x-

Gasp! Tenshi awoke on the kitchen table in front of Rika, feeling like a long time had passed since he lost consciousness.

"Hey, hey," Rika calmed him. "Breathe, Tenshi. Breathe deeply."

"Mother…I saw him," he sighed calmly with a smile. "I saw Father, and Excalibur and Arachne. They were with him."

"Excalibur and Arachne, the Spirits of Swords and Thread, respectively? You saw them?" Rika asked him, amazed.

Tenshi then reached for his grimoire on the counter and opened to a page.

"Sword Spirit Magic: Excalibur's Awakening," he uttered, and then flipped several pages to another page. "Thread Spirit Magic: The Calling of Arachne."

Beside them, the two spirits appeared, exactly as Tenshi had seen them earlier, and they greeted the two Ikaris with a small bow of their heads.

"Excalibur and Arachne," Rika greeted them with a bow. "It's great to see you two again."

"It's great to see you again, as well," Arachne responded. "You look good. Magic has restored you to your state of strength back when you were at your best."

"Your appearance may have changed, ma'am, but your wisdom has extended beyond the boundaries of age," Excalibur expressed, showing respect towards the matriarch's attitude over her looks. "You couldn't look the way you do without first obtaining wisdom, which only comes through age."

"Many thanks, Excalibur."

-x-

Within the Golden Dawn Headquarters

Tenshi, walking around the confines of his quarters as his grimoire was active in the summoning of his two magical spirits while he engaged in swordplay with his katana.

"The Golden Dawn, Tenshi," went Excalibur to his mage, examining his room and robes. "Not bad. You impressed the captain to get where you are."

"So pretty," added Arachne as she danced around the walls. "But beauty, like all things, fade with time. Only the grace of wisdom has the strength to restore what once was…and preserve what is for what will become later."

Suddenly, one of Excalibur's daggers was lifted up from his right leg by a thread that Tenshi noticed coming from Arachne.

"Has your time away from us made you any different, Tenshi?" She asked, her voice unable to mask that she sought to test Tenshi in the art of defense as the dagger levitated closer to her due to her thread.

"When I couldn't use magic, I had to improvise," he told her, setting his sword down on the table. "Of all the magic I could use, Sword and Thread were…and still are…among my five primaries of magic. Tying thread to my blades was the simplest of magic that anyone without it could perform. Even without magic, there were other forms of magic that were of the intellectual variety. My exile didn't hinder me too much."

"I'll be the judge of that," she declared…and flung the dagger at him.

Tenshi stood his ground and raised his left hand up in front of him as the dagger came close enough to piece the palm.

"Nice," Arachne admitted, having stopped the dagger within an inch of his palm so as to not penetrate his flesh. "If anything, your exile and youthful restoration have made you stronger. You didn't flinch, not even a tick of your eyebrow. Good, Tenshi. Very good."

Knock-knock. A knock at the door came, and all three turned to face it.

"Who is it?" Tenshi asked.

"Mimosa Vermillion," a girl outside stated her name.

"You may enter," he permitted, and the door opened to show the girl that was, currently, the only female member of the Golden Dawn before Yui was sought after. "How may I help you this evening, Ms. Vermillion?"

"Um, just Mimosa is okay. We're on the same squad."

"To be able to address someone else by their given name on the level of a friend or ally so casually requires that both individuals have known each other for an extended period of time. We've only known each other for less than a day. I can't address you so casually just yet, Ms. Vermillion. One day, that will change, however."

Mimosa respected Tenshi's perception of addressing people and bowed her head.

"Again, how may I be of service to you this evening?" He asked her.

"Uh, well, I… The reason I came to see you is…um…" She spoke, but was nervous to ask him what was on her mind.

"Whatever it is you wish to ask me, just ask me," he told her.

"Your sister, Yui," she expressed, which caught his attention. "Is she… Has she always been so…well…odd?"

"Odd? Yui? In what way is she odd to you?"

"She…doesn't seem to have a passion for magic like everyone else does, even though she has come to accept that magic is everything around here. Her…way of thinking, this science that she seems to embrace, it's…creepy."

"With Yui, science is a constant aspect of her mindset, mainly because she grew up around it. As for being odd, it's difficult to see my little sister as anything else. She says she has good ambitions, but that…and an old agenda with bad methods of success…didn't earn her any good graces with family."

"So…she really did do something that was…bad?"

Tenshi turned away from her for a moment and sighed before saying, "It's only bad if she managed to get away with it, but could still be held against her for a time. No, what she had intended upon doing that was bad hasn't happened because she was stopped from carrying out by removing the pieces she needed to do so. The only thing she did so far that's hard to forgive her for…is just what she did to her son when he was little. That's something a parent simply has no right to do to any child, no matter what they believe in."

"So…how does your nephew feel about her?"

"Shinji? He's, uh…"

"If she does something she's not supposed to be doing, I will deal with her myself," Shinji's declaration of how he aimed to resolve the issue regarding his mother echoed in his mind.

"I guess you could say that my nephew is still coming to terms with her presence around him. She was absent from his life for more than ten years, and when we ended up back in the Clover Kingdom, she just ended up being returned to his life…against her volition. Not that she had a choice in the matter, I mean. Shinji was stuck inside that armored behemoth that was in Hage when we returned, and our mother cast the spell that released him from it, which, in turn, released his mother, whom we had no idea was even in there. And now, after several months of adjusting, it's in fate's hands on how their relationship will change."

"Your nephew, though… He seems very powerful at the moment. I mean, he was able to defeat a former Magic Knight that attacked the kingdom twice, and all he did was talk to him after sealing themselves in a dome. None of the other Magic Knights came closest to doing that. But…I don't understand why he would choose the Black Bulls, though."

"He chose the Black Bulls because he needs to earn his place among the Magic Knights. His ambitions are pretty basic and fueled by passion. He just wants to be among the best in his family, one of the most reliable and adaptable of mages. To get there, he has to work his way up through the ranks. The status of First Class Junior Magic Knight, he got that simply because he wanted to understand his enemy in order to defeat him. To get higher in the ranks, he has to show his skills to the world, refine his techniques, earn the trust and respect of his squad mates. Maybe one day, he'll even become the captain of his squad if he desired. Maybe even become the Wizard King if he desired to."

"You really think so?"

"If he's skilled enough, if he's interested in doing so and perseveres, it's possible. Although, there's only one major obstacle that stands between him and his goals, and that's everyone that aims to prevent him from climbing the mountain to make to either the middle or the top, which means everyone, including all of the Golden Dawn, even his mother, a rival, each of us standing in the other's way."

Mimosa realized that this was true in many respects. If Shinji wanted to be among the best of them, he would have to contend with the other Magic Knights and work his way up the ranks. This included trying to be as good as her one day.

"What about you?" She asked him. "What are your ambitions? Do you aim to become the Wizard King yourself one day?"

"Me? Heh, if I wanted to," he expressed. "For now, though, I'd just settle for working up the ranks and seeing how far I can get. It's a race, but I can run at my own pace, the same as everyone else."

"Oh…and, if it's alright to ask…who are these two?"

Tenshi looked to Excalibur and Arachne, who were silent throughout the entire conversation, and answered, "You know how there are magic spirits that exist around the world, like those associated to the four elements? Well, these two are my magic spirits. Excalibur of Sword Magic and Arachne of Thread Magic, my friends since I was little."

Mimosa bowed her head to the two spirits, who bowed back.

"Spirits of Sword and Thread Magic?" She asked. "This is almost as amazing as Yuno's Wind Magic spirit, Sylph, but you have two spirits, while he only has one, which is incredible."

"It is the quality of the spirit, miss," Excalibur stated, "not the quantity."

"Any number of spirits means nothing unless they're able to serve you in any way beneficial to your goals," added Arachne, "and we hope to aid Tenshi in the present like we did in the past."

To be continued…

A/N: Now we know a little more about the degree of magic Tenshi exhibits and how advanced his abilities are, were, and could progress as time passes. I bet none of you were anticipating that someone like this could have two magic spirits instead of one.