Chain Lightning Studios presents Together We Stand Book Two Divided We Fall By T. L. Webb wild eyed in the spotlight what a nightmare why! there must be some kind of mistake I didn't mean to let them take away my soul am I too old or is it too late The Show Must Go On. Pink Floyd, The Wall []=======================[] Book Two: part Eight []=======================[] "How long has she been in there?" Misato asked as she and Asuka looked into Shinji's room. "She showed up about noon," Asuka replied, "said she needed to see something. About an hour later I poked my head out of my room and she was still there." "Has she been like that since then?" "More or less, she got up and changed the tape about twenty minutes before you got here, but other than that-- this is how I found her." Inside Shinji's room, Hikari was laying back on his bed looking up at the ceiling. Her face was expressionless. In her hand was a SDAT player-- its cord stretching up to the plugs in her ears. Contrary to appearances, she could hear every word that Misato and Asuka said over the soft melodies playing through the device. She just didn't care at the moment. "So are you gonna call the shrinks?" Asuka wanted to know. "Not for this... if nothing changes in the next couple of hours, maybe... lets just give her some privacy for now." The door slid shut leaving Hikari alone in the dimly lit room with her thoughts. She hadn't intended to stay as long as she had, and she hoped that Misato wouldn't worry too much, but she needed a chance to think something through. More than that, when she'd seen the SDAT she hadn't been able to stop herself from turning it on and listening. One track had turned to a tape, and one tape had progressed to another. Now, as she listened to the third of Shinji's compilation albums, she wondered why he'd selected the tracks he had. Each tape held a combination of classical music, pop music, foreign rock, and traditional Japanese musical pieces. It was an eclectic collection to say the least. But somehow she found the constant changes in tempo and mood relaxing, and there was an odd symmetry to the pieces he had put together. There was some underlying theme that she couldn't quite point out. It made the seemingly random selections flow in an odd harmony. Shinji had been gone for almost a month, and it was becoming harder for her to keep her thoughts from their behavior just after the disaster that followed their date. Even the constant training she was receiving wasn't helping to distract her from it. She constantly wondered how differently things would have turned out had she not been so furious with him... she supposed it was something she got from Kodama. The 'nitrogen queen' title that her sister had carried all through junior high hadn't been given to her as a joke. In the end she knew that they had both dealt with the situation badly. Shinji had spent so long without anyone really caring for him that his reaction to Asuka should not have been such a surprise. It didn't make what he had done right, but it put things in a different perspective. She still hadn't spoken of it in much depth with Asuka, and she knew that she would have to do that very soon-- perhaps that very evening. For the moment however she was content to listen to the music that Shinji had enjoyed enough to permanently record. []====[] []====[] About half an hour after Misato had looked in on her, Hikari finally emerged from Shinji's room. Misato looked up from her paperwork and smiled as the younger girl walked into the kitchen and greeted her. "_You_ look like you could use a drink," Misato said as she noticed the exhausted look in Hikari's eyes, "but since Ritsuko would kill me if she found alcohol in tomorrow's medical, I think some tea is in order." "I don't know..." Hikari said-- immediately worried at the mention of Misato preparing anything that was supposed to be consumed by humans. "Trust me just once, huh?" Misato asked with a wink. The idea of eating-- or drinking-- anything Misato made was a dangerous one... but Hikari was a bit thirsty and she didn't want to be rude. "Okay," she said, "I need to talk with Asuka anyhow. She wasn't in her room-- do you know where she went?" "I think she wanted to pick up some stuff for dinner. With Shinji gone we're pretty much stuck with instant food but you're welcome to join us." "Does Asuka have her cell phone?" "I think so-- she's usualy pretty good about keeping it on her person." "Just a sec then," Hikari said as she walked over to the phone and dialed up Asuka's number. It only rang a couple of times before the second child answered. "Hi, Asuka-- its me," Hikari said. "Oh... you're still at the apartment?" Asuka asked, apparently having checked the caller ID. "Yeah, Misato said you were out picking up some dinner?" "Yep, just got to the store... why?" "If you guys don't mind, I could cook dinner. You'd just have to get the supply's instead of the TV dinners." "Oh GOTT yes!" Asuka empathicly agreed, "er... I mean what do you need?" Hikari smiled at the other girl's response and gave her a short list of items before saying goodbye. She tuned back to Misato and found that she was already getting the counter cleaned off. "Sorry if I worried you back there," Hikari said as Misato put the pot on the stove. "Don't worry about it, the... situation has everyone acting strange." "I know what you mean," Hikari agreed as she rested her chin on her palms, "Rei even seems concerned, and I don't think I've _ever_ seen her do that." "Well I cant say much, you've known her longer than most of us... she does seem more open lately though, so I have to agree." "How much longer until they start the salvage operation?" "Ritsuko is going to start the procedure tonight, and hopefully it will only take a day or so." "A _day_ or so?" Hikari asked in shock. "Yeah, the Magi are good, _very_ good, but it's still going to take some time to put his body back together from a genetic level." "Have..... have Asuka or Rei said anything about the synch rates?" "You mean could this happen again?" Misato said bluntly. "Yeah," Hikari admitted with a slight blush, "its kind of frightening... is it possible?" "Unit One is... well she's different form the other Evas. I don't know the details Hikari, but I don't think that any of the other Evas could pull some of the stunts that she has." "She... she scares me," Hikari said with a slight tremmer in her voice, "its like we don't really have her under control." I don't think we really do... I think Shinji is the closest thing we really have a leash to Unit One." "So that's why they're working so hard to get him back..." Hikari said bitterly. Misato sighed as she took the pot off of the stove and poured. She wished she could tell Hikari that she was wrong, maybe the old saw was right. Maybe ignorance _was_ bliss. There were so many things about Nerv that she wished she could unlearn... some of them were causing her to loose sleep. As she served the tea, Hikari eyed it suspiciously before taking a small sip. As soon as she did her eyes lit up in delightful surprise-- the tea was delicious! "I know, I know," Misato said with a grin, "who'da thought?" "But everything else you make is so.... um I think I'll be quiet now." Misato laughed at that, "don't sweat it, after about a week with Asuka, I finally got it though my head that I just can't cook." "But what about the--" "The tea? That's a special case. You don't drink as long as I have without learning a dozen and a half hangover remedies. This is just one of the better tasting ones." After a moment of silence, Misato looked at Hikari and-- for the first time-- noticed that the girl wasn't wearing her hair in the twin ponytails she generally sported. "What's with the hair?" she asked as they sipped their tea. "Hmm? Oh. Well after the first couple of synch tests I got tired of having to tie and retie them every time I had to wear a neural sensor, so I've just been leaving it down." "Sensible, but I got to admit, the style suited you." "Maybe...but... well there is another reason." "What's that?" "I've been wearing my hair like that since third grade, and... it just didn't feel right anymore." "You're saying you've outgrown it?" "I guess so, that's one way to put it anyway." "We all have to grow up sometime," Misato said wistfully. She was about to take another sip of her tea when she saw that Hikari was looking at her with a disbelieving frown. "Hey," Misato said defensively," you may only be young once, but you can be immature _forever_!" Hikari tried fighting it, but her resolve didn't last long, and soon she was laughing out loud for the first time in weeks. []====[] []====[] After dinner Hikari asked Asuka aside so they could finally talk. They stepped out to the patio but for a few moments neither said anything. Finally Hikari broke the silence. "I'm going to forgive Shinji." Asuka looked over at her in surprise. "Why are you going to do that? I wouldn't forgive a guy for making out with some other girl if I was in your place." Hikari had expected a response like that; "I'm not you Asuka." "Still, I'd never be able to trust him again after that." "Asuka... why did you do it?" The question seemed to catch Asuka off guard. Her eyes widened and she looked away for a moment. Hikari watched her for a while before speaking again. "I can understand Shinji not breaking off the kiss. As pretty and passionate as you are I don't know many guys who would. The thing that keeps bugging me is that I don't understand why you did it in the first place." "I don't know," Asuka said quietly. "Don't give me that Asuka, there had to be some reason.You were constantly telling everyone how much you hated him-- then you went and did that. You don't kiss someone you can't stand unless there's a reason." "I _told_ you, I don't know!" Asuka shouted suddenly-- causing Hikari to take a step back, "you think you're the first person to ask me this? Huh? No. Everyone from Misato to the shrinks have been badgering me about it ever since Superboy went and trashed the damn cage. And you know what? I don't know why I did it then, and I don’t know why I did it now. I might have given them some load of crap about kissing, and wanting to find out what the big deal was about-- but the truth is just that Hikari. I don't know why I kissed him," she had been shouting and she seemed to realize it suddenly, "just stop bugging me about it, OK?" "Asuka..." Hikari said softly as the younger girl leaned against the balcony and looked out at the city, "I'll leave it alone until you can figure it out.I'm not going to let this sit forever, but right now I've got to get home... goodnight." She walked to the door, and as she stepped inside, she took a look back at the Second Child. Asuka had always been so passionate and bold... but at the same time there was a reckless air of desperation about her. It was like the persona she put out was a shield-- something to hide whatever was inside. What bothered Hikari was that she suspected that the shield was beginning to crack, and whatever was beneath the bravado might not be able to survive without it. []===========================[] Forty three hours later []===========================[] "It's no good!" Yuri shouted, "his Ego border is fixed in some type of loop!" "Try and radiate the wave patterns from all directions!" Ritsuko ordered. The salvage operation had gone according to plan until they had reached the final stages. For some reason Shinji's soul wasn't accepting the reconstruction procedures. Without his cooperation, there was no way they could bring Shinji back, and no way to control Unit One. Taking another look at the readings Ritsuko forced herself not to panic, "No... wait a moment, this isn't right! These radiated signals are captured in Klein space." "What the hell does that mean?" Misato shouted as she watched the proceedings with only the thinest of holds over her emotions. "It means we're failing," Ritsuko said as she tried to reset the program fast enough to prevent loosing the progress they _had_ made. "W-what?" Misato whispered in horror as the others scrambled around her. "Stop the interface," Ritsuko said quickly, "reverse the tangent graph and set the additional value to zero. "Done," Makoto said from his station. "We're detecting Destrude reaction in Q area," Shigeru said, "pattern is... sepia?" "There are changes in the core pulse as well," Makoto added, "pulse three is confirmed." Off to the side, another operator warned that the water temperature was rapidly rising. "Maintaining the present conditions are our top priority," Ritsuko shouted as she typed furiously, "we have to prevent backflow at all costs!" As the others struggled to save Shinji's life, Ritsuko couldn't help but wonder, 'what's wrong... don't you _want_ to come back?' []====[] []====[] When the phone rang, Hikari woke from her fitful sleep and practically pounced it. "Hello?" she said, trying to keep from shouting. "Miss Horaki?" a familiar voice asked. "Rei? Is that you?" "Yes." "Is there any news on Shinji?" "Yes." Hikari was almost afraid to ask. From what little she knew about the salvage operation there was a strong chance of failure no matter how skilled the crew might be. She bit her lip, and was about to ask Rei what had happened when the other girl spoke up. "Shinji is alive," Rei said simply. "Oh thank God..." Hikari whispered in one rapid breath. "Also, I have a message from him." Hikari almost dropped the phone; "he's awake? So soon?" "As I understand, he woke up moments after he emerged,"Rei replied, "he asks that you meet him at the Elysium garden down in the Geofront. Are you aware of its location?" "Just outside the command center, right?" Hikari asked as she looked around for her sweater. "Yes, he will be waiting for you there," Rei told her, "good evening." Hikari was out the front door thirty seconds later. []====[] []====[] He'd wanted to come down to the garden for months. You could just barely see it from the hospital, and every time he'd ended up there, Shinji had seen it from the window, and had promised himself he'd visit. Somehow he had never quite found the time to do so. Between the constant attacks and confusion of the past few months he couldn't really say he was surpised that hadn't been able to make it down. Now as he looked around at the meticulously trimmed hedges and trees-- he regretted not coming sooner. The entire garden was of Greek design, and the view was second only to the observation platform a mile or so away. Above him he could see the repairs being done on at least half the buildings-- a memento from the bastard he’d been fighting before... before he had been absorbed. When hed awoken on the way to the hospital, Rei and Misato had been beside the bed. He had a fuzzy image in his head of Misato screaming his name from just after he came back-- but it was more an impression than a memory. After nearly having Misato choke him to death with a bone snapping hug, they told him how long he'd been gone. He still had a hard time believing them. It handt been until he'd stepped outside and seen how much of the repairs had been completed that he'd accepted that he had been gone an entire month. His memories inside the Eva didn't make sense conologically. Some of them felt like they lasted years, but then he'd think a little more and it didn't seem longer than a few minutes. It was confusing and jumbled and made little sense, but it had given him a few things to think about regarding his father and the things going on around him. Suddenly he heard a voice cry his name, and turned to find Hikari racing down the escalator. For a split second he was afraid. There was so much that had occurred since the last time they had seen one another that he didn't know what would happen between them. But that only lasted until he got a better look at her face. There were tears streaming down her face as she called out to him again, and without another thought of the past-- he began running towards her as well. They met halfway down the steps of the gazebo, and Shinji suddenly found his face covered with kisses. He put his arms around her and as they stood there crying in joy, they held onto one another as tightly as they could. Up above, the indoor lighing of the Geofront came to life, showering the underground chamber with the equivilent of moonlight, and casting multiple shadows of the young couple around the gazebo's starecase. "I-I when-- you," Hikari tried to say as her voice choked with tears. Shinji's eyes were identacly damp, and they both sat on the stairs for along time, merely holding onto one another as if the other would vanish the moment they let go. []====[] []====[] "So where's Misato?" Hikari asked a couple of hours later. They were curled up together on one of the gazebo's benches watching the lights of the construction crews high above them in the City, "I didn't expect to get _any_ privacy with you for awhile." He smiled and kissed her forehead, "Misato needed to talk with Kaji about something, she'll be back tomorrow afternoon." Hikari let out a little gasp, "does that mean what I think it does?" "I'm pretty sure," Shinji replied, "she didn't seem to be very subtle when she said where she was going...I doubt it will make Asuka very happy when word gets to her." "Humph, I almost feel sorry for her." "Ouch, I don't think I've ever heard you get that catty about anything." "Hey, I might not show it often, but I do have temper." "If your sister is any indication, I believe you. I think the only reason she didn't kill me outright was the mess it would make." "Well, maybe I'm not _that_ bad. Kodama was never one to hide it when something got her angry... and she can hold a grudge forever. Fortunatly she says she's allright with us now-- as long as you behave that is" "She's a scary lady," Shinji said with a chuckle, "that's for sure." "Shinji... we've been dancing around this for the past two hours... I want you to know that I forgive you for what happened." Shinji looked up at the city for awhile, then held her a little closer, "there are no words for how sorry I was the moment I realized what I'd done Hikari... I felt like the bottom of a sewer-- worse because I should have known better." "How could you have?" she asked him softly, "when you first got here you were the most introvertive person I'd ever met after Rei. For someone to show you any kind of affection would have been like... like a ray of light in the middle of the darkest night." Shinji sighed and shifted a bit, "that's better than I could have ever put it, but I still should have know better. I should have known because if it had been me in your place... it would have broken my heart." "No comment, and that's final Shinji. I don't know if you're ever going to forgive _yourself_ but as far as I'm concerned the matter is over. You're alive and we're together again and that's all I care about." "Alright," he said softly-- giving her another hug, "but here's something else I think we need to talk about-- why did you agree to pilot Hikari? You knew what it was like in those monsters... I understand you not wanting me to talk you out of it, but why do it in the first place?" "Partially because if I hadn't, they would have drafted someone else might have who didn't have as high a synch rate. Ritsuko says I'll be up to thirty percent by the time they're ready to activate. It won't be enough to activate the AT field but it's a start." "I guess you know about what happened between the last two Angels then." "Misato called me aside after I woke up and told me most of it. The rest I got from Rei, Asuka and some of the bridge crew. My father said that you were by my side until almost the last minute." "That's more or less true... I wasn't going to go back, then Kaji told me the stakes," he let out a small, bitter laugh, "they're going to be surprised when I tell them this-- but after learning what I did, I can't leave again... I just wish you hadn't been dragged into it." "Oh, so Rei and Asuka can fight but I cant?" she asked in a mock-annoyed tone-- Smiling as she did to make sure he knew she was teasing. "I didn't mean that, it's just harder to have you in it because of how I feel about you." "I do understand Shinj-- better than you know... but I think this is for the best. Used to they wouldn't let girls fight because we aren't as strong as men, and we're tied down to our biology--don't look stupid, use your imagination. This isn't about any of that though. It's not about who's stronger, it's about who has the best synch with the Eva. And the biology doesn't factor in because we're too young to be doing that kind of thing anyway. I know I'm not much of a fighter, but neither were you when you first arrived. I had the choice of going out there and maybe making a difference or hiding in the shelters wondering if it was the end. I chose this-- I'd rather be up there fighting by your side Shinji." He down at where her head was resting against his shoulder. She was looking back up at him waiting for his reply. Finally he smiled and leaned down to kiss her. When they finally came up for air, he stood and took her hand. They walked down the path into the garden and up to the escalator, and as they rode up the lift, Shinji's face grew serious. "Hikari, there are things going on in Nerv that frighten me. My father is doing something... I don't know what, but its bigger than this war we're in. As frightened as I am that you've decided to join Nerv, I'm glad to have you by my side. Whatever happens we'll face it together." She gave his hand a squeeze as she blinked back another wave of tears. As they reached the top, Shinji glanced over at her and smiled. "By the way, I really like your new hairdo." []====[] []====[] "Come on Asuka, we're going to be late!" Misato called from the living room. It was a week later and now that Shinji had been officially given a clean bill of health they were having a party to celebrate. That wasn't the only reason, however, Touji was leaving the next day and the others had wanted to throw him a party as well. Asuka wanted nothing to do with any of it. "I told you last night, "she yelled from her room, "I'm not going!" "Damnit Asuka, stop being difficult! I don't care if you despise Suzuhara with every core of your being, this is the polite thing to do." "I don't care. They already think I'm a shrieking bitch. Won't hurt my rep any." "Gee, and I wonder how they got that idea in their heads?" Misato shot back a touch more sarcastically than she originally intended. "I don't give a good goddamn Misato, leave me alone!" "Stop _doing_ that!" Misato yelled back, "stop pushing us away Asuka! I don't know where you got this crazy idea that everyone in Tokyo Three is against you but you are dead wrong!" Suddenly the door to Asuka's room slid open and Misato was faced by two furious blue eyes. Surprised at the sudden confrontational glare from the second child, Misato found herself at a loss for words. "I'm not going to tell you this again Misato," Asuka growled, "you are nothing more than my commanding officer. I am not your daughter and you are not my mother. Now leave me the hell alone!" The door slammed in Misato's face and she had to fight the urge to storm in and strangle the girl. The infuriating part was that Asuka was technically correct. She was a collage graduate and while her parents in Germany had granted _some_ custody to look after the girl while she was in Japan-- her authority was limited. Unless it was a Nerv related activity, Misato had little choice but to let the girl alone. Sighing in defeat, she grabbed her coat and left to join the others. []====[] []====[] "Do you ever have misgivings about this?" Ritsuko asked as she stubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray beside her bed. "What regrets are there to have?" Gendou asked from where he lay back-- staring at some undefined point on the ceiling. Ritsuko decided it would be a bad idea to point out that his son had done that quite often when at the hospital. "Well some would find it odd for a person to have sexual relationships with the daughter of a former lover." "I never have regrets over who I chose to take to bed. We are breaking no laws, and I could care less what someone else thinks is 'inappropriate' behavior." "Typical answer from you. In other words-- you'll still do what you want and the rest of the world can go hang." "Well spoken, but you didn't put enough sneer in the eyes, and you need to add a touch more arrogance to your voice when delivering the last word." "So you _do_ work at being such an overbearing bastard, and here we all thought it was a natural talent." "Natural talent can only take you so far in any field. For perfection one must practice." "True, although I don't know if all the practice or talent in the world would have saved Shinji the other night-- that was more luck than anything." "How close was the procedure from failing?" "You read the report Gendou, it _did_ fail. Whatever happened, it was because of Unit One and Shinji-- not us." "The important thing is he is back and we once again have control over the project." "Speaking of control, how do you plan on keeping it over him?" "I do not think it will be necessary to resort to any threats, he seems to finally have accepted the stakes involved." "I admit I'm surprised... so he rejoined with no argument?" "Only a rather impressively veiled threat, should we place Pilot Horaki in such a position as with the thirteenth ever again." "Should I mark the calendar?" "Hmm?" "That almost sounded like a complement." "Save it for if he actually does his job-- and that will have to wait till Seele stops whining and we can unfreeze Unit One." "This is what happens when anything important is run by committee, if Kiel wasn't chairman I doubt they could ever get anything done despite the power at their disposal." "Rather pathetic isn't it?" "That's one word. I could send them charts and charts showing that the situation has stabilized but they still would shuffle their feet and make excuses. The fiasco with the Fourteenth seems to have stolen any courage they might have had. Think of it--the most powerful group of men on the planet... frightened of a fourteen year old boy." Had anyone been within earshot, they would never have recognized the sound that followed Ritsuko's statement-- that of Gendou Ikari laughing. []====[] []====[] "NOOOOOOO!" Kensuke screamed as his hovercraft was sent burning to the track below. It crashed and shattered into thousands of pieces as the other racing vehicles shot by overhead. On a small display beside his seat, a scrolling line of text revealed that his assassin had been CrymsonEyes-- a name he himself had selected as Rei's callsign. It had to be luck! He'd gone over thirty missions without being shot down, and now a newbie had just trashed him for the third time straight? Outside the pilot's compartment, he could hear the others laughing as they read the new score listings. That laughter was short lived as Rei continued cutting her unstoppable swath across the track. He sighed as his fresh ship materialized at the drop zone and he kicked the craft into high gear, "at least Asuka didn't show," he muttered, "she'd never let us forget it if _she_ kicked our butts this bad." In truth he was pleasantly surprised that the others were presenting an actual challenge to him. Touji had always been pretty good at the game, but he hadn't expected the others to do so well. Obviously it was related to the fact that the Eva's were infinitely more complicated than the VR game they were playing. Even Shinji-- who had barely been above rookie level in his first game-- was holding his own and giving Touji a decent battle. It was, however, Hikari--who had only played once before-- who impressed him the most, somehow managing to keep up with him and Rei. All in all it was perhaps the most exciting race he'd had in months. When the game ended, and they had collected their score printouts, they met Misato at a nearby restaurant for dinner. This party was being held for several reasons, but mostly it was a fond farewell to Touji. "Ok!" yelled Mari Suzuhara from her wheelchair, "now that you've managed to humble the big dork here--" "Watch it short stuff," Touji cut in-- with a good-natured grin. "-- I think it's only fair that we let him open his presents." Kensuke brought up the box holding them and started handing them one by one to his friend. The first was from him, and was the tape labeled simply 'the goddess'. He saw Shinji sneak him a sharp glare, but fortunately nothing was said, and Misato remained clueless to her presence on said tape. The others included a new jacket with the Japanese Olympic basketball team's logo from Hikari, a duplicate of an old photo of Misato that Shinji seemed to find familiar, two or three cards from people who couldn't make it, and a rather thoughtful one from Rei. Then there was the one from Shinji that Touji nearly dropped in surprise. "No way!" he whispered. Kensuke looked over his shoulder and saw that it was a signed Michael Jordan rookie card. "Shinji?' he asked as he adjusted his glasses and took a closer look, "how in the world did you afford this?" "That's not very polite to ask," Shinji said from Hikari's side, "but lets just say that I had some backpay that I hadn't used sitting in my account, and then the hazard bonus amongst other things." "T-thank you Shinji!" Touji said wide-eyed. "Hold it, I have one more," Misato said with a grin. She reached under the table and brought out a small box-- handing it to Touji. Kensuke read the card and scratched his head in disbelief "Did you scan it for explosives?" he asked her. "Don't be silly, we keep them well away from her," Misato said with an almost forced laugh. Touji looked at the box-- obviously a little suspicious. Finally he shrugged and opened it, pulling out a white baseball cap with blue stripes. The attached card read-- 'no hard feelings, ok monkey face? Asuka' "I'll be damned," Kensuke said, as he took the card and examined it more closely. As he did so, however, he noticed something. He'd never tell anyone, but he recognized that the signature wasn't in Asuka's handwriting-- it was in Misato's. []====[] []====[] Most people thought that Sub Commander Fuyutski's day consisted of dealing with the trivial duties that Ikari considered beneath him, and they were dead wrong. This was mostly because people misunderstood the whys and hows of his appointment to that position. He was not only one of the top geneticist on the planet, but an expert on both physics and theoretical metaphysics. Many wondered what in the world someone like that was doing in a quasi-military organization, and not without reason. Not to say that he wasn't good at his job, but anyone looking at his qualifications would without doubt be puzzled. Much of it had to do with his being in the right places at the right times. He had known both Gendou and Yui Ikari back while they were students and Gendou's surname was still Rokubungi. Back then he had been a professor at one of Japan's most prestigious academies, with no dreams of being part of anything like what came later. It had been mostly his relationship with Gendou that had determined his fate. Apparently whatever advice he'd given the younger man had convinced him that he could have no one else as his chief advisor once Gehirn was established. He'd been mystified at the time why Ikari had insisted he take the job, but hadn't argued. In later years he'd come to suspect that the only conscience Ikari'd ever had was lost with Yui. He still didn't know if Ikari or Akagi had suspected what would happen with the test that day, but from that day he had been promoted up to sub commander and had since been the only person outside of Seele who had the man's ear. His chief duty was to advise Ikari on his decisions regarding the Human Completion Project. It was a job he hated sometimes... but sometimes it had its moments. He wasn't sure if the call he'd just received was a harbinger of one of those or not, but he was certain that the next half hour or so would be interesting. His office door opened and he smiled warmly as Shinji stepped in. "Good morning Pilot Ikari, I'm happy to see you seem to have no ill effects from your accident. Now, you asked to speak with me?" "Yes sir, thank you for doing so." "Think nothing of it, in fact--you rescued me from the tedium of signing a stack of papers that I can now delegate to a subordinate. Now, what did you need to talk with me about?" "It's about what you said back before I almost quit," he paused and seemed to take a moment to gather his thoughts, "You mentioned that you knew my mother." Fuyutski smiled and gestured for Shinji to sit down in one of the two chairs that were at the front of the desk. "There are some things I cant talk about, because most of my contact with her was during rather sensitive research that ended up as part of this very organization, but I do have something that might interest you." He reached into his desk and pulled out a small scrapbook. After thumbing through it for a moment, he found the section he was looking for, and handed the book to Shinji. []====[] []====[] An hour of old stoeis later, they were still going through the scrapbook. "And this was taken just before your father and mother left the academy to pursue their own research. I was friends with your mother, and at the time knew your father only in passing, but the two dated for some time and this was taken about then." Shinji looked at the picture with rapt interest. It showed the three in labcoats-- his mother sitting while his father and Fuyutski stood. At first his father's appearance caught his attention. He would have been in his late twenties at the time, but his unruly hair and bemused smile hid his age well. Other than a total lack of facial hair there wasn't much different. The eyes still seemed to bore holes in the observer and the angular face was the same. Even his posture was unchanged-- one hand in his pocket as looked at the camera with a confidence that was jarring even in a photo Looking on to Fuyutski there was much less of a difference. The hair was a little darker in the photos and he seemed to be more energetic somehow, but he looked about the same. Finally he focused on his mother. He had few memories of her, and most were marred by the painful image of her last moments-- a memory he'd pushed from his mind for years. Looking at her now he was comforted somehow to see that while he'd gained many of his fathers features, the hard glaring eyes were not among them. As he looked at the photo, Fuyutski smiled and spoke up again, "I have some work to get to, but you can hold onto that album for awhile if you like." Shinji's eyes snapped up and he tried to speak-- to say that he couldn't take something so personal, but his voice was held up in his throat by the emotions cause by seeing an image of his mother for the first time in so many years. "I insist," Fuyutski said, reading his reaction, "now run along, I don't have time to lollygag all day, Ikari." As Shinji got up and reached the door, he paused "I... I don't know how to thank you sir." "No need, the look on your face was enough reward-- not to mention the dozen or so times you've saved all our lives.Take care of that for me now, okay?" "Y-yes sir!" Shinji said empathicly as he bowed and stepped out of the office. As he walked back to Misato's apartment he looked at some of the other photos of his mother in the album, and couldn't help a nagging thought in the back of his head... for some reason the pictures made him think of... Rei? []=================[] To Be Continued []=================[] Author's Incoherent Babbling Ok-- right off the bat I want to make something clear, and that's why Shinji's acting all spiny now. Do y'all remember what Misato said just after the 13th angel? How "this is the real Shinji talking, I've never heard him so determined about anything!" well that was the same Shinji that could make the decision to go back and kick the living hell out of the 14th. What happened to that Shinji? Where did he go? It's possible that the experience in Unit One knocked his ego back down to the Shinji we're more familiar with... but there _is_ another possibility. We don't know much about his first few days back from the Eva, but we do know that Misato ran off to Kaji in order to get vital info. Was Shinji's newfound self-esteem the casualty of that decision? I don't think so, but it was defiantly a factor. Shinji acted much more boldly after the 14th, but continuously found himself a helpless onlooker as the later angels tore two girls he cared about apart in body and soul (not in that order of course) I think that the last three angels had more to do with Shinji's emotional breakdown than Misato's rondivue with Kaji. I think that the Shinji with the steel stones (do you have any idea how hard it is NOT to chant 'all hail lord iron balls' just now? ^_^) stuck around for awhile, and I also think that if he'd had someone there for him emotionally he might have been even better off as the final stages of Anno's tale took its sharp turn downward. Then again that wasn't the type of story Anno was aiming for, was it? ^_^ So-- with Hikari and Shinji's bond even stronger now, Shinji has a much more stable emotional state. Which brings the question-- how can I call this part of the story Divided We Fall if it's still got five chapters left and the lovebirds are back together? Heh-heh-heh.... See, for every action there are reactions. Consequences to decisions. We still have three angels left. And these angels will still devastate the pilot corp. But think of this-- who was there for Asuka when the fifteenth tore her mind asunder? Ok enough plot teasing now. The only other thing I can think of is the little scene with Gendou and Ritsuko up there. I deliberately left out as much description as I could there. Basically I was experimenting to see if I could emulate the Misato-Kaji scene where there was nothing but voice and a shot of a glass of water. finally, the time has come for me to announce the TOP SECRET PROJECT's title. my newest project is a side story to Strike Fiss's Sailor Moon: Omoi series. It will be set during the Seven Knight's story arc. More details will follow in my NEWS section so check that out if you're interested in learning more and btw, I HIGHLY recomend the Omoi series. I wasn't even much of a fan of Sailor Moon untill I read that fic. at any rate, the story is titled: Sailor Moon Omoi: Mojo Rising more news will follow ^_^ I'm out. Hotwire Chain Lightning Studios http://www.chainlightningstudios.com