Broken Wings [NGE]

[Teen Spirit]

Two trucks barreled towards the main entrance of WILLE, avoiding the stronger barriers in front of them, letting their speed and sheer size allow them to blow through the weaker ones.

WILLE's defenses were hampered by days of infected technicians sabotaging them. Even still, numerous gun emplacements rose out of hidden panels within the pyramid itself and began opening fire.

The first truck was struck by a rocket directly in its radiator, instantly consumed by a massive fireball. The flaming wreck nearly flipped backwards before crashing on it's side, thick oil-choked smoke rising in the air.

The next one continued forward, barreling ahead at uncontrollable speed, raked by a high volume of machine gun fire that still failed to stop it.

It impacted against the entrance, reinforced steel and glass slowing it down greatly. It lurched to a stop in the front lobby, the top of the grey truck just barely touching the hanging sign that once welcomed visitors in more peaceful time. The driver of the truck hung limply out of the cab, blood pouring onto the ground.

The few guards not busy with dealing with their infected coworkers wasted no time and fired into the truck, filling the lobby with a deafening cacophony of gunfire.

A beam of light erupted from the truck, coring it out along with a good chunk of hallway in front of it and two guards that had been unfortunate enough to be directly in front of it.

A figure emerged from what was left of the truck. Small and lean, his face covered by featureless glass mask, yet surreally wearing a standard school uniform. His arms were transformed into two crystal-like swords, and jagged crystals erupted out of his back and arms.

Ramiel had entered WILLE.

The guards retreated, throwing smoke grenades behind them. They knew they stand no chance against him.

For a moment smoke consumed the lobby, reducing visibility to virtually nothing. Then, two beams of hateful red light erupted out of the smoke, smashing into Ramiel's AT-Field. The light from the beams scattered. The smoke began to dissipate, drifting through the hole left by the truck.

Ria stood in the entrance, clad in her new armor, her eyes deep red and black.

For a moment there was silence, the two staring at each other from across the room.

"Cousin," Ramiel said as he sharpened his sword arms against themselves, an eerie hum filling the room. "So glad to finally see you in person."

Ria wasted no time with pleasantries, charging towards Andrew at full speed. At range they were equal, so a shooting match would not be of help. The way to win against Ramiel, Ria decided, was at close range, preferably with her hands at his throat.

From the shadows of a nearby doorway, an arm appeared. It reached towards Ria, growing impossibly long.

Ria stopped, halfway between where she was and Ramiel. She turned, her eyes consumed by blazing red energy before firing at the arm's source. The doorway was consumed in an explosion, craving a jagged hole in the wall, moments later two charred leg stumps fell to the ground, as did the arm.

Ria scanned the many ways out, doors and hallways leading out of the lobby, keeping one eye on Ramiel.

From another doorway, the broken remains of one the guards flew out, landing near Ria, his neck twisted nearly completely around.

Three security officers stepped out, each having an additional set of arms bursting out of their back.

Behind them walked Hikari Suzuhara, her eyes now the same color as Ria's.

Ria recoiled in horror. Hikari wasn't exactly family, not even compared to Misato, but she was still someone Ria knew well. Seeing her like this, claimed by Bardiel. 'No...How could I...how could we have missed this?!'

Without a word, two of the infected launched themselves towards Ria. The shock of seeing Hikari like this left her distracted, and she reacted too late to the attack.

The guards landed on top of her, bringing Ria to the ground as their limbs twisted and expanded, wrapping themselves around Ria like anacondas.

A blast of energy erupted from her eyes, narrowly missing the head of one of the infected.

Hikari motioned to one of the hallways behind her. Ramiel immediately dashed in the direction she'd indicated.

"Bastard!" Ria roared as she tried to fight off the guards.

Hikari and Ramiel disappeared down the hallway, the remaining officer joining the fight against Ria.

Ria pulled one of them off, throwing him at the one charging her.

One of her arms turned flat and paper-like, quicking wrapping it around the head of the officer still grappling her. She crushed his head with a sickening crunch, the body going still a moment later.

Regrettable, but she didn't know how to remove the infection. She didn't even know if it was possible.

The two remaining officers circled around, mindless jackal-like smiles across their faces.

This was going to slow her down. Hopefully she could get to them before they got to Okito.

/

Asuka watched the monitors as nearly everyone else rushed to secure the doors. The infected had left, joining Hikari in her assault.

Hikari had been Bardiel's way in. Hikari was infected, possibly beyond saving. Despite the warning, despite every precaution, the Angels had still gotten a way in.

She looked at two of the monitors. Kodama, Kenny, and Kensuke Aida were in one room, largely hiding in a corner. Mari was barricaded in her own, eyes glued to the wall.

They were relatively safe now, but they had no way of getting them here. And that sat poorly with Asuka.

"Hikari's an Angel now?!" her younger counterpart said in disbelief over the intercom.

The Pilots were all secured in their Evas, at least.

"Yeah," Asuka replied, barely holding back tears.

"...Is there anything I can do?" the other Soryu asked softly.

Hikari was their friend, the relationship had been rocky as of late, but she was still a friend. She had been her only friend when she arrived here. She had tried, in vain, admittedly, to comfort her after Arael's attack. It was so enraging to be sitting here, unable to do anything to help her.

"Not unless they come to you," Asuka replied regretfully.

Ria was battling the infected. She was winning, but they were proving surpsingly evasive. Both Koda and Kyoko where engaged with men loyal to Ramiel along with various security measures. Withdrawing them now would take time, and risk one of Iruel's friends finding Misato, and that was not acceptable.

There was nothing she could do to actually stop Ramiel. Sending men would just lead to pointless deaths and possibly more infected. And the blast doors where basically like spitting into a hurricane when it came to Ramiel. And of course the manual denotation system for Okito's collar had been keyed to Misato and Ritsuko. They hadn't found time to rekey it to Asuka.

"All pilots, prepare to launch at a moment's notice," Asuka ordered.

Ramiel may reach Okito, but he sure as hell wasn't leaving WILLE with him.

/

Okito paced around his room, limping slightly from his deformed leg.

Something bad was happening. Alarms were still blaring and the guards outside his cell looked even more tense than normal.

Ramiel was coming, Okito realized. Nothing else made sense.

He groaned. Adam's parting words bouncing around his mind again. Not that they had left, they had haunted almost every thought for the past couple days. They haunted his dreams, his waking hours, everything.

He sat down, waiting for what he knew was about to come. He did not have to wait long. A couple minutes later, Ramiel charged in and cut down the guards effortlessly. Within seconds, Ramiel and Okito were the only living beings left in the room.

The two stared at each for a moment. How long had it been since they saw each other in person? Months, Years? Despite everything, Okito found himself smiling at bit at the sight of Ramiel. It was good to see him again.

Ramiel cut the strap on his mask, letting it fall to the floor, shattering. Revealing a big goofy grin hidden underneath.

With two cuts, the glass separating them broke and Ramiel about leapt into the cell, grabbing Okito in a tight hug.

"Oh man, it's good to see you again buddy," Ramiel said warmly.

"Yeah…" Okito said, guilt wracking him.

"Let me get that off of you," Ramiel said before carefully slicing the the bomb collar from his neck. Cutting through the electronics and explosives faster than they could activate.

The broken collar fell to the floor, inert. He was free, for the first time in what felt like forever he was free. And yet he knew, only one path lay ahead of him, a path he knew he could not tread off, no matter how much he hated it.

"Let's get you out of here," Ramiel said, trying to urge him out.

Okito stood in place. "Listen, there's something we need to-"

He froze, catching sight of someone standing behind Ramiel. It was his mother, smiling at him sweetly... her eyes red and glowing.

'Bardiel!' The thought felt like a punch to the chest.

Whatever he had felt about his family, he had done his best to ensure this monster never came near them, that they would never suffer it's horrors. And he failed, again.

"What...The...Hell?!" Okito began to shake with rage.

"Look, it's not what you think," Ramiel began, getting defensive.

"Don't worry, sweetie," his mother tried to assure him. "The Angel tried to claim me, but I stopped it."

Her words only served to make Okito angrier. Bardiel was either pretending to be her, or she had been driven so crazy she willingly helped Ramiel to get him back.

He looked accusingly at Ramiel.

"It seems bad, I know," Ramiel said, holding his hands up. "But we can fix this. I promise you it can be fixed."

"How did this happen?!" Okito yelled.

"It was the only option," Ramiel blurted out. "We needed to get you out, and this was the only way we could. I'm sorry, okay? I know how you feel about this, but I was desperate. And I will fix it."

'You use me, you use me and then you use her to get me back. What sort of person are you Ramiel? How didn't I see this before?' Okito realized with horror.

"I'm fine," his mother insisted. "I'm still me."

For a moment rage blinded Okito, then he calmed down. He knew know what exactly he needed to do next.

"Ramiel," he said calmly.

Ramiel smiled, thinking that Okito had forgiven him. "Yeah?"

Two energy blasts struck him in the face, sending Ramiel reeling back.

"Burn!"

 

[Teen Spirit]

There was a time, Okito realized, that he might have kept silent and just accepted this. He wouldn't have been okay with it and he would be desperate to fix it as soon as possible, but he might have understood Ramiel's reasons.

But not now, not anymore. In that moment, Okito finally understood the full depths of the pain he had inflicted upon his family and Ria. To have someone he trusted utterly do something so horrible.

"Goddamnit, Okito!" Andrew Langley shouted, holding his now bloody head. "Could you at least try and listen to reason, for once?!"

"The one thing," Okito said, shaking with rage. "The one thing I ever demanded. The one Angel I told you never to bring into our affairs!"

"And Touji acts like you never cared," Hikari said.

"Not helping!" Okito snapped. He wasn't sure what she had become, more than Bardiel, that was clear. But still a nightmare wearing his mother's face.

'I could have stopped this,' Okito thought mournfully. 'I don't know how to save her. Why am I still alive if I can't save her?'

"I was desperate," Andrew spat. "I was desperate because of your actions. Because you started this war decades before we were ready. Corners had to cut, comprises had to be made. I lost Shamshel and Iruel had betrayed me. I was out of options."

"I know," Okito replied. "I know I messed things up, but that doesn't justify what you've done. Testing exaltation on Misato? Using Arael against Ria?! This wasn't what we talked about! This isn't the dream we planned on creating! What you're creating is an abomination!"

Ramiel's voice grew firm. "Our dream had to adjust to reality."

Okito sadly shook his head. "No... The dream died the day I first attacked. Even now, despite everything, I wish I could have seen that dream become real, build a world truly made for us. But it's impossible now. And what you're building is nothing I want to be apart of."

"Stop being so melodramatic," Ramiel shook his head. "We can still salvage this thing."

"Tell me, then: Who's idea was it to bring in Bardiel? Yours? Or did your grandfather suggest that particular course of action?" Okito asked.

Ramiel went silent, looking awkward.

"I thought as much. The old man is controlling this whole thing, you do realize that right? This is his dream you're enacting," Okito observed.

Ramiel sighed then turned towards Hikari. "Alright, seems we're going to have to take your son with us by force. You can talk sense into him later."

"It would seem so," Hikari mournfully agreed.

They both launched towards him. Mustering every once of willpower he had, Okito projected an AT-Field and pushed, throwing them out of the cell.

His deformed arm and leg bulged with muscle growth, his skin blackening as bone began to jut out, until they both looked like copies of Sachiel's limbs.

His gasped for air as he stared briefly at his new, clawed hand. He was already weary. Months in this cell, barely fed enough, little activity... He didn't have much energy. This fight would have to be over quickly.

He had to find a way to subdue Hikari. His mother. He had to find someway to knock her out without hurting her badly. He didn't know how to save her, but there had to be a way. Ramiel on the other hand... Ramiel would have to die.

Regret filled Okito's body as he moved towards Ramiel. Andrew had been a friend, not as close a friend as Ria had once been, but there was a time when Okito considered him family. But it was the only way. Only to keep his family safe, and sate a god's rage.

Ramiel swung his sword arms at Okito, narrowly missing. Okito's claw struck true though, carving huge chunks out of the left side of Ramiel's face.

A swift punch from his mother sent Okito flying into a wall.

"I don't want to do this, but you're not giving me a lot of options," she said earnestly.

"This isn't you!" he shouted back. "You have to realize this isn't you!"

"Why does everyone keep saying that?!" She said angrily, frowning just like she used to when she caught him or Kodama doing something stupid. "I choose to be here, I choose to fight to keep my family together."

"Really?! Because none of this seems like something you would do before hand. Allying with a monster seems a little out of your norm!" Okito shouted as he dodged one of her arms...

...Only for Ramiel to ram straight into him like a raging bull, his arms cutting into Okito's sides.

Okito was thrown into a wall, denting the metal on impact.

"Okay, that hurt tremendously," Okito said as he picked himself up. Ramiel was already preparing for another attack, arms dripping with blood.

He wasn't going to get anywhere fighting two of them at once, that much had just become painfully clear.

Two beams of light streaked out of the darkness of one of the hallways, smashing into a hastily erected AT-Field behind Ramiel.

Ria charged out of the darkness, armored and soaked nearly head to toe in gore. She launched one of her arms towards Ramiel, only for him to effortlessly split it in half with his own.

Without flinching, Ria slammed Hikari out of the way and retracted her damaged arm. Then she looked towards Okito. For a moment she prepared to attack him. Then she realized the nature of the situation and became confused.

The fight ground to an awkward and uncertain halt. Ria at one end, Okito in the middle, flanked by the thing his Mother had become and Ramiel. Everyone keeping their eyes focused on their enemies, ready to strike again at a moment's notice.

"I was not prepared for today," Ria angrily muttered.

"We could have won, the three of us could have stomped her to the ground and forced WILLE to it's knees. But you choose now, NOW of all times! To get cold feet!" Ramiel grew increasingly angry with each word.

"It would have ended in fire," Okito wheezed. "There is not way to win this, not in any way that you'd want. Lilith-" Okito found himself interrupted by Ria nearly giving him whiplash as she rapidly dragged him away. Pushing past his mother, she quickly grabbed a grenade from her belt and tossed it behind her.

An incredibly loud bang and a blinding light filled the room behind them. For several seconds Okito couldn't hear, and various colors danced through his vision as Ria more or less dragged him through WILLE, running very fast despite her armor, taking every turn she could, doubling back and turning around at seemingly random.

"Where are we going?!" Okito said, suddenly realizing he was shouting.

"Koda and Kyoko are currently trying to rescue Misato. I figure we stall long enough and they'll be able to get back. That way we're far better prepared to counterattack." Ria explained without slowing down.

'Who the heck is Kyoko?' Okito wondered.

"Pretty sure you can take Ramiel," Okito replied.

"That's not the issue. Bardiel has infected several members of WILLE. We have to make sure every bit of them stays here, so we can burn it out completely. We can't afford to have a single trace of it left alive," Ria said, regretfully.

"That's not Bardiel. That's still, Hi... that's still my mom," Okito said.

Okito felt the grip on his arm tighten.

"Okito. I'm really glad you found your last two brain cells, and I really don't like even thinking about it, but you can't honestly think that..." Ria began.

Okito planted his feet on the ground, forcing them to start. Ria looked at him, hateful, pained, confused. She had pity for him, while also wanting to rip his throat out.

"I've met Bardiel. That wasn't them," Okito insisted. "Something is very wrong with her head! Baridel's in there, but she's still my...she's still who she was! She just needs help! We need to help!"

"How?!" Ria demanded.

"I don't know!" Okito admitted "But there has to be a way! It's why I'm alive after all. Why would Lilith let me live if not for this? Stopping Ramiel and saving my m-mother. That's what they meant for me, right?"

"I...I guess," Ria reluctantly agreed.

"You see, this is the side people forgot," Okito froze at the sound of his mother's voice. "You were a sweet boy. You just buried that and let people forget who you were."

A figure stepped out of nearby room. It wasn't his mother, it was guard, infected by her. Her words coming from his lips, same tone and... everything. It was incredibly creepy.

'No, that was the real me. The real me is a fool. Just took me to long to fully grasp that.'

Ria grabbed Okito, preparing to run again.

"Let me ask you a question, Ria." The puppet said. "What's more important to you right now, keeping Okito away from us, or protecting your fiancée?"

Ria's eyes went wide.

"You see, I've left tracking down Okito to Ramiel," his mother's voice sounded disturbingly playful. "While I'm currently heading towards Mari's room. You could take Okito with you, but then Ramiel would know exactly where Okito would be and he's... not as gentle as I am. So I would-"

The puppets word's were ended by Ria punching it's head in. The infected security officer collapsed in a broken heap.

Ria stood over it, shaking with rage and fear.

"Go," Okito said.

Ria looked at him, anger nearly overwhelming her.

"Ramiel's not taking me alive," he insisted. "Either I find a way to hide from him long enough for the others to come, I kill him, or I die trying. Either way Ramiel doesn't get what he wants."

Ria thought it over for all of a moment.

They both knew they were doing exactly what Ramiel wanted. But it was incredibly obvious that Ria's attention was now focused on the safety of Mari. Trying to do anything else wouldn't work.

"I barely in control of myself right now so maybe it's the sheer blinding rage talking but I actually believe you," Ria said, gritting her teeth. "Don't screw this up."

She ran, racing towards Mari.

"I'll try," Okito said softly. "And goodbye, Ria."

/

Mari prepared for the worst when she heard gunfire outside her door. Naturally she found herself rather confused when Hikari Suzuhara burst through the door like it was so much cardboard. Still, red eyes made it clear these were bad times.

Mari reached for her knife, only for Mrs.Suzuhara to grab her from across the room and drag her towards her.

The woman looked at her with eyes filled with madness. Something was broken within her.

"For the record, I'm not going to hurt you," Hikari tried to assure her. "Trying to rebuild my family here, can't really doing that by destroying another. But I need the bait."

The words where of little comfort coming from an abomination that clearly had a few screws loose.

Mari continued to struggle as Hikari wrapped her arm around her. She thrashed, she struggled, she even bit into the arm trapping her. All useless, but Mari wasn't not going to take this passively.

She screamed in defiant protest as Hikari dragged her away.

/

Okito pushed himself as hard as he could as he ran, physically and mentally. Trying to force himself to transform more. His body could barely handle it. He felt like he was burning. He was exhausted, his body screaming at him to stop. He ignored it. He needed to be stronger, he needed to be able to last in a fight against Ramiel. He needed to be strong enough to beat him, or at least deliver the message Tabris had given him.

He knew pushing himself like this could kill him, but Okito was long past the point of caring. He was forsaken and damned, nothing could change that. So he did his best to embrace it.

All his limbs were transformed now, and a red core had burst through his chest, bone ripping through his face. But needed more, he needed energy, something, anything. Just enough to push himself a bit more.

He heard something in the distance? Ramiel, one of Mother's infected? He couldn't be sure, he needed more time to prepared.

Thinking quickly he ducked inside an office, collapsing just inside, his head hitting the carpeted floor. He was exhausted, his whole body protesting against moving one bit. Even still, he forced himself up.

...Only to realize that across the room sat His brother Kenny, Kensuke Aida, and his twin sister Kodama. And they were all staring directly at him.

"Oh, wonderful..." Okito sighed to himself.

/

"Hikari along with three of her infected are heading directly for us," Maya called out anxiously.

"How does Mari look?" Asuka asked, now hiding behind her desk.

"She's alive," Maya replied.

"I'm going to skin that woman alive," Kirishima muttered as she looked over the pistol in her hands.

The whole room had braced themselves once it became clear where Hikari was headed. Most hiding behind thrown together desks and chairs, whatever guns where there at the ready. Shinji crouched next to Asuka, terrified but doing his best to keep it together.

The situation was a mess. Systems hampered by sabotage, security in utter disarray, squads separated and then wiped out by the infected. Bardiel, Hikari... Hikardiel, whatever she had become was proving frustratingly too quick for them to deal with using conventional tactics. And then they had Ramiel running through the place, Okito was missing. Asuka wasn't even sure where Ria was anymore.

Finally, the expected guests came. Hikari and her infected came into the room, Mari held firmly to her side. She was clearly alive, thankfully, and angry.

Every gun in the room was trained on them. Mana looked on the verge of stepping out and trying to fight Hikari one on one. Asuka urged her to remain still

"Alright," Hikari said calmly. "No one here has to get hurt. Just let me leave with my son and we'll have no further need for violence."

"Hikari," Asuka called out. "Your son doesn't even want to leave now. So if there's anything left of you in there, please calm down and put down the girl."

"I am perfectly calm," Hikari explained. "And you would do the same for Ria."

"World of difference there and you know it," Asuka shot back.

"Oh yes," Hikari's voice grew bitter. "You had the good Angel. One who was loyal, who worked past their previous issues. One who didn't have poison being whispered into their ears for years without you knowing. One who was so precious and good that we had to just deal with the fact that she was a giant abomination that once nearly killed us, even after she nearly killed Misato. We had to accept her, allow her to go to school with our children. Because maintaining this grand illusion was more important than my family's safety. Okito's not perfect, but he's a kid, just a teenager. Teenagers make stupid mistakes all the time, but they learn from them. You never gave him the chance to learn. You locked him up and tortured him. My family is a mess while yours has somehow only grown stronger! I just want what I had before back, that's all!"

A wave of emotions hit Asuka. Underneath the madness, there was pain in Hikari. So much pain. And it was hard to push away. With all the other worlds crossed into their own already, how hard was it to imagine a world where Okito and Ria's roles had been reversed?

Before she could say anything, an ear splitting roar filled the room.

Moments later, Zeruel stormed in, eyes glowing red as a setting sun.

Or blood.

All traces of Ria where gone, buried beneath a layer of Angelic flesh and muscle. Her head was covered by an angelic mask, a black, paper-like mane flowing behind. She towered over everyone else in the room, glaring down at Hikari as she pressed her way into the room, the doorframe crumpling aside as she shouldered in.

Asuka could almost feel the sheer rage and hatred her daughter was now feeling. Hikari had pushed her over the line.

"Ahh good, you're here." Hikari said "Now we can negotiate."

 

[Teen Spirit]

This felt uncomfortably familiar for Shinji. A friend subverted by the enemy, Misato missing, a Berserker facing Bardiel, and him all but powerless to stop it.

Ria was nothing like the Dummy Plug. No, the fury he was seeing now reminded him of what his mother did with Unit-01 during his fight with the Third Angel, only with perhaps a fraction of self control. The first time Ria had transformed into... whatever this state was, he had been able to see Ria was still in control, maybe not fully, but he still saw her. He wasn't seeing her this time, he couldn't see her at all.

Hikari held Mari in front of her, moving her around a little bit to try and discourage Zeruel from even thinking about attacking.

Zeruel looked down at her, standing up in a way that reminded Shinji more of a bear standing on it's hind legs than a person.

"You want someone I have, I want someone you have," Hikari said. "Seems to me the solution is obvious."

"Lady, does she in anyway look like she's even considering a deal that doesn't solely involve her smashing your face against the wall repeatedly?!" Mari chided.

Zeruel's eyes were blazing, armed like a gun ready to fire at a moment's notice. She paced in front of Hikari, her focus never shifting away, each step slamming into floor, cracking it. Her anger was getting worse and worse by the moment, only held in check by her realizing she couldn't strike without likely harming Mari. Something had to be done before Hikari pushed her past that point.

Everyone directly behind the two retreated to another part of the hastily erected barrier.

"Oh god," Ibuki muttered. "I'm going to die because a teenage girl is pissed off a housewife is holding her fiancée hostage."

"Hikari, if you want to see your family again I suggest you carefully put Mari down," Asuka urged. "My daughter is really not in a negotiating state of mind right now. You know that, I know that."

Hikari had three sets of eyes focused on Ria, with only one of the infected watching the crowd. She had blind spots. She was barely paying attention to them, if there was anything they could actually do to her without hurting Mari she would be wide open…

Shinji paused. Tactics were Asuka's strong suit but occasionally he had a good idea or two. He wasn't sure if the idea he had now was good or incredibly stupid but it was worth a shot.

He felt around on the floor, looking for something small to grab. Finally he felt something plastic, a thin black rectangle of a cell phone. Without hesitation he chucked it at Hikari, hitting her squarely in the back of her head.

Nearly everyone in the room now turns to Shinji, staring at him in confusion, including Hikari.

She and all of the infected glanced back at him. "What the hell, Shin-"

Hikari was cut off by Zeruel's arm slicing through her own, cutting it into a half dozen pieces. Before Hikari even had time to stumble, Zeruel's arm wrapped around Mari and pulled her to her side.

A split second later, Zeruel fired, a streak of crimson light flying through the air towards Hikari. Hikari dodged at the last moment, throwing herself to the ground. The beam destroyed the better part of the far wall, the smell of burning metal filling the air.

Zeruel carefully set Mari down and then grabbed Hikari by the back of the head, lifting her as her hand dug into Hikari's skull. The infected around them doubled over in pain.

"Ria!" Asuka shouted. "It's over, Mari's safe! Just keep her pinned, you don't need to kill her! Mari's safe!"

Zeruel kept pressing, causing Hikari to scream in agony, then suddenly go silent and limp.

Shinji's heart sank.

Suddenly Hikari's eyes opened again, her remaining hand grabbing Zeruel by the throat.

"Should have listened to your mother," she said as the infected grabbed onto Zeruel.

Zeruel stumbled backwards as a blue, gooey substance leaked out of Hikari, onto Zeruel, digging it's way into her Angelic flesh.

'She's trying to infect Ria!' Shinji realized with terror.

Asuka fired her pistol into Hikari, three bullets striking her dead in the chest to little effect, more of the blue goo running from her wounds.

"Relax, I'll let her go once I'm done," Hikari said as Zeruel dropped her.

A moment later Hikari doubled over in pain, the infected dropping from Zeruel as she backed away.

A deep, unearthly roar came from the lips of the infected, the sound filling from the air as they twisted around on the floor. Then they went still, completely. No sign of breathing, their eyes staring lifeless.

Steam began to rise off of Zeruel, the infection boiling away.

Hikari stood up, now trembling with fear. Blood was now running from her nose.

"That rage." Her voice dropped to nearly a whisper as she looked at Shinji. "You brought forth a monster into this world."

Zeruel pulled herself back up, eyes focused on Hikari.

Hikari leaped away, narrowly avoiding Zeruel's fist. Two arms regrew in place of the one Hikari had lost.

Zeruel was stronger, but Hikari was faster and more maneuverable, ducking and dodging her attacks, jumping around the room. The few blows Zeruel was managing to land where dealing a great deal of damage to her, damage that Hikari was having a hard time healing.

"What do we do?" Ibuki asked. "She's moving around too much for us to stun her. And I don't even know if that would work if we could."

Hikari was a walking infection, having taken over dozens of guards. Could they even detain her? Shinji didn't like thinking about it but he could tell Asuka was already considering the fact that Hikari may be beyond saving.

Hikari leapt at Zeruel, hitting her in the head with both of her legs. The attack only knocked her back a bit, but it was enough for Hikari to use her as a springboard and jump over her, retreating as fast as she could out of the Command Center.

For a moment Zeruel stood there, looking at the corpses of the infected. Then she ran off, pursuing Hikari.

"Ria, wait!" Mari called out. But it was too late, she was gone.

/

Okito watched as Kodama's expression went from confusion, to fear, to overwhelming anger.

"Bastard!" As she shouted as she storm towards him, ignoring Kensuke's protests.

"Kodama, listen-"

WHAM

Okito's words were greeted with a fist to the face. Okito didn't flinch.

Kodama cranked her fist back for another swing. Okito grabbed it gently in a clawed hand. Fear returned to her eyes.

"You, more than most, have every right in the world to be angry with me, and I'm sorry-" he began.

"Sorry?!" She shouted "You're sorry?! You threaten dad, betray all of us, kill I don't even know how many people, reduced the Suzuhara name to mud and all I get is a 'sorry'?!"

Kenny looked on with confusion.

"I...I know it's pathetic," Okito admitted. "But I can't make up for what I've done. What I did to you, our family, Ria, everyone. If I lived a thousand years I could not begin to make up for a tenth of what I've done. I'm scum."

"Oh, don't bullshit me!" Kodama yelled. "You think this pity party is going to make me feel sorry for you? You're a monster, Ria's a monster, you're all monsters! I mean, look at you!"

He looked down at his claws, and the orb now sticking out of chest.

Okito thought of the good days. Him, Ria, and Kodama all hanging out together. Shopping, playing at the Arcade, catching a movie, him and Ria occasionally staring at pretty girls as they passed. They were never going to happen again. Not even just for Ria and Kodama. He soured things between them too much. Everything he had good in his life he ruined.

"Don't condemn them all," Okito insisted "I'm a monster, but you need to believe that some of us are still good."

"Why?" Kodama questioned.

"Because it's the only way to save our mom!" he declared.

She took a step back. "What... what happened to mom?"

"Bardiel infected her," Okito said, raising his voice to cut off any scream from Kodama. "But she's not controlled by it. It's done terrible things to her but she can still be saved."

Kodama was shaking, crying. "But we were careful! How did this happen?!"

"Ramiel, he got Bardiel near her," Okito explained. "But I think, I think the other you? I think she can help us save her, restore mom's mind. I don't have the time, means or knowledge to do it. But she might. You just need to trust her. And not give up hope in mom."

It was the only thing that made sense to him. He didn't have the means to save her directly, but if he could make sure they didn't give up hope in mom, then maybe, maybe Koda or Ria or somebody could help save her. He was beyond redemption, but their mother, there was still hope for her. He needed to make sure Kodama knew that.

She scoffed, tears rolling down her face. "An Angel infected her and you expect me to trust another Angel to help her?! Why on Earth would I do that?!"

"For the same reason you would trust dad but would never trust a member of SEELE. I'm not Ria, and I'm not Ramiel. We are each different people. Koda... she is who I should have been. I don't know her well, but WILLE seems to trust her."

"But she's an asshole!" she protested.

Okito raised an eyebrow. "No offense, but so are you, sis."

For a half second, she smirked.

"There is one more thing I have left to do," he said.

He knelt besides Kenny, who looked at him with confusion and fear, too afraid to even speak.

"Be a better brother than I ever was," was all Okito said.

He looked at Kensuke, who stared at him awkwardly.

"I don't know you," Okito said, "but my parents always spoke well of you. Please look after them."

Okito walked towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Kodama asked.

"I'm a Herald. I have a message to deliver," he said before walking out without another look back.

He travelled until he found a fallen security officer. After a bit of searching he was able to pull a radio off the guard. It was awkward and clunky in his claws but he still managed to change to an all-frequencies setting.

"Ramiel, I know you're listening. Let's settle this once and for all. No more running, no more hiding, meet me and we'll put an end to this, one way or another," he said.

"Where?" came the reply.

"In our graveyard."

/

The Vault was a misty, cold place. The lighting was poor, making even best lit sections seem dark.

Ramiel's shadow was long as he traveled towards his destination. One of Hikari's puppets was following him. Saying nothing, always keeping just barely within vision.

She didn't trust him. Only fair, he had no trust for her.

He finally reached his destination, an alcove overlooking one of the storage containers. A tomb for one of their original selves.

It was a massive thing, even as far above it as he was the size of the thing was still impressive. It was a rectangle of steel inscribed with numerous runes. The largest symbol was a "13th" which dominated the center of massive casket. Bardiel's grave, how fitting.

In another time he would have loved to grab some materials for transforming, but he didn't have the time or means. And grandfather...

Ramiel looked around, Okito was nowhere to be seen. Yet he got the sense he was near.

"I spoke to Lilith and Adam both," Okito's voice echoed from the darkness, "several times in my captivity."

"Were they real?" Ramiel questioned. "Captivity plays tricks on the mind. I'm sorry I didn't come sooner."

Ramiel scanned, looking all around, but he couldn't see any sign of him.

"I know. And they were. Zeruel saw them too." Okito replied "At first I screamed at them, yelled at them, rejected and denounced them."

"As you had every right to," Ramiel said, sympathetic. "They made us into something we weren't. Rewarded loyal service with life in a world filled with our enemy. How is that fair? You were right from the start. A little over eager sure, but we can still make things right."

Ramiel fired a shot up, the light revealing nothing but shadows as it flew up.

"I never listened, not until my last meeting," Okito went on. "They made me see what I really was. How I had never been really fighting for us, only myself. Then Adam told me something, something that horrified me to my core; Lilith is getting stronger. Everyday she is fighting back against her self-imposed exile. And on that day, if she believes that our kind is beyond salvation, or you have grown too powerful, she will kill us all. Fourth Impact is coming, for all Children of Adam if we don't atone. You, me, Ria, Leliel. She doesn't care, she will wipe us out without mercy to protect the Lilin."

Ramiel stopped. That was a terrifying idea.

"Isn't that even more reason to pursue our agenda? Make ourselves too strong for her to wipe away?" Ramiel found his conviction and certainty strengthened.

They would make themselves on par with gods, and then when Lilith came, they would defeat her and claim her spot. They would succeed where Adam had so miserably failed.

"I don't believe that's possible," Okito replied.

"You don't know that," Ramiel pointed out.

Lilith could be defeated, she must be defeated.

"No, I don't," Okito sighed, "but I won't risk it."

Ramiel heard something drop behind him. He turned just in time to see Okito grab him in a bear hug. His claws dug into his back.

"I'm sorry," Okito said, "I really am, but this is the one thing, perhaps the only thing I could do to actually protect our kind."

Okito's core began to glow bright white.

Ramiel frantically tried to escape from Okito's grip. "What are you doing?! What the hell are you doing?!" Ramiel protested rapidly.

He knew exactly what he was doing. He was going to blow himself up to stop him.

In desperation, Ramiel brought his left sword-arm up, slicing through Okito's own. Even still, he hung on, his claws digging deeper into Ramiel's back.

"Okito, stop!" Hikari shouted through her puppet as it raced towards them.

In desperation, Ramiel drove his arm right into Okito's chest…

Directly through his Core.

The Core split in half, all light now gone from it.

"Oh no... oh no..." Ramiel said as he realized what he had just done. He hadn't meant to do that, he never wanted to hurt Okito...

Hikari's puppet let out a bloodcurdling scream of terror and grief.

Okito collapsed to his knees as his Core began to splinter and fragment, blood dripping down his chin.

"I'msorry, I'msorry, I'msosorry!" Ramiel said rapidly.

"It's….fine," Okito said weakly, "I was on my last... legs as it was. At least I won't have time to regret th…"

The light went out from his eyes as his Core crumbled into dust, along with his Angelic limbs, leaving behind only the husk of the boy known as Okito Suzuhara.

 

[Teen Spirit]

Kyoko found herself rather disturbed as she traveled through the bunker. She had killed people, a half dozen. Cultists or mercs dressed up like Angels, ripping them apart with teeth and claws. Two of them died screaming. That wasn't what disturbed her, though. What disturbed her was how little she cared. Someone her age shouldn't have a kill count. Then again, that was par for the course with her family, regardless of the universe. It wasn't normal for most, but little was for the Ikari family.

She was glad this place lack mirrors, the last thing she needed to see was the horror she had become. Teeth like knives, claws, webbing between her toes, spines sticking out of her back, the increasingly uncomfortable sense that she really should be in the water. Gaghiel did not belong on land and the more she let it out the more she felt it.

The bunker was clear. Ramiel's servants had expected them, most had likely fled, and those that hadn't had died swiftly, cut down by Kyoko and Israfel before the military even got a shot off. Now they stood in front of the cell block. If Misato and the others were here, they were behind this door.

Kyoko glanced down at Israfel warily. Kyoko knew the Israfel of her world well enough to know that small, two-haired child before her was dangerous. Unlike the Israfel of her world, this girl was treacherous. She sold out Ramiel and Kyoko had no doubt the girl would turn on them as well if she thought she had something to gain. Kyoko was confident she could take her, even if she split in half. But that was not a fight she was looking forward to.

"The door's unlocked, you know," Israfel said calmly as she glared back at Kyoko.

Kyoko opened the door gingerly. The room was dark, lit only by the flashlight held by Israfel.

She was expecting the worst at this point. Ramiel had expected this after all. He'd used it as a chance to launch an assault on WILLE, an assault Kyoko could do nothing about right now.

Naturally she was rather surprised when she found Ritsuko Akagi standing at one of the cell doors, looking at her. The doctor looked ragged, certainly worse for wear, but no signs of injury or abuse.

"I've located Dr. Akagi," Kyoko spoke into her radio.

"Right," Koda replied, "this place is empty. I'm already heading back to WILLE. Hopefully I can get there before things go completely to pot."

"Well, this is not the rescue I was expecting, at all," Akagi said as she looked down at Israfel in confusion.

"Iruel made a deal with the government," Kyoko explained as she broke the reinforced glass of the door and forced it open. "Only reason we even found this place."

"Well, look at who we have here!" Israfel said with glee.

Kyoko turned around to see Gendo Ikari, still strapped to a wheelchair. Kyoko had never met the man, though she'd seen his picture, and outside of the longer beard and missing hand, he looked just about the same.

A wave of emotions hit Kyoko. The man before her was in almost every way the same man as her grandfather, he had committed the same crimes, same sins. Everything he did to the Shinji Ikari of this universe he had done to her father. She wanted to gut him where he sat but they didn't have the time for that and he might yet prove useful.

"Listen," Akagi said frantically, "Ramiel knew you were coming. He-"

"We know," Kyoko cut her off. "He's attacking WILLE as we speak. Ria's dealing with him."

"And Kyoko doesn't trust me enough to let me handle this by myself," Israfel added.

"Where's Misato?" Kyoko asked nervously, again fearing the worst.

"Over there," Ritsuko pointed to a cell on the far end of the room.

Israfel turned on the lights as Kyoko walked towards the cell.

It was immediately clear Ramiel had gone through with his threat. Misato was sitting in a chair, head slumped down hiding her face. Her purple hair now had streaks of white in it, and her skin had become slightly pale.

"Misato, can you hear me? We've come to rescue you," Kyoko said cautiously. She didn't know what state of mind the woman was in, and there was something...unsettling about her presence now.

Misato looked up, Kyoko flinched and had to force herself not to back away in shock.

Misato's face now looked almost twenty years younger than she had the last time Kyoko saw her, and the sad eyes that stared back at her were now faintly red.

"Misato, it's over, we're here. Can you hear me?" Kyoko repeated.

"...Yes," Misato replied weakly. It still sounded like her, not someone tortured and pushed beyond the edge of sanity.

"We need to get you out of here," Kyoko said as she gingerly picked her up and grabbed her by the shoulder.

Misato tensed up at the sight of Israfel, glaring hard at the girl.

"Hey, I'm part of the reason you're getting out of here. So I'd watch who you're giving the evil eye," Israfel mocked.

"...What?" Misato said.

"Ignore her. Right now she's the least of our issues," Kyoko said.

/

Hikari burst into the room, looking near manic and exhausted. Touji backed up, terrified of what she might do.

She collapsed at the door, running her her hands through hair, all three of them. Blood soaked one side of her.

"I just… I just wanted things back to normal. Was that so much to ask? I didn't want anyone hurt." Hikari muttered.

She paused, smacking herself in the head with her left hand.

"I just wanted my family back. I just wanted us to be happy again… I just, I just..."

Touji wasn't sure if he should run away or towards her and try and shake her out of this madness.

He approached, gingerly. "Hikari...are you okay?"

"Of course I'm not okay!" she shouted, nearly sending Touji into retreat. She paused, considering her words. "I'm not okay. This...this isn't me, what am I doing? People are dead… people are dead because of me."

Touji grabbed her one her hands. "Hikari, listen to me. Bardiel's doing things to your head. What you're doing isn't what you want, it's what Bardiel is making you think you want. You need to fight it."

She looked at him, only her eyes were distant, as if she were staring at something miles away.

"Okito, what are you doing?" she said, her voice filling with terror.

Touji looked around, they were completely alone.

"Oh no oh no...Stop, STOP!!" she shouted, tears running down her face.

"Hikari, what are you-"

She broke his grip and ran out of the room, crying and screaming.

Touji followed as fast as he could, pushing himself as fast as he could just to keep up with her, his artificial leg protesting with each step. He begged her to stop, but she was utterly incoherent.

Then, after minutes of running harder than he had ever run, Hikari came to a sudden stop in the middle of a hallway.

Touji froze and drew his pistol when he saw what caused her to stop. It was Ramiel, standing across from them.

Carrying the still form of Okito on his back.

He was dead, Touji realized after a moment. His son was dead.

Okito was a monster, an evil person, guilty of crimes Touji could barely stomach reading about, but he was still his son. Touji's heart pounded in his chest. He had expected this to come for so long, but now that it had happened, he wasn't ready for it.

"You... killed him. You killed my boy," Hikari's voice trembled with rage.

Ramiel set Okito down gently.

"I didn't mean to." Ramiel's grief was apparent. Not that either of them cared.

Hikari launched two of her arms towards Ramiel, grabbing him and slamming him to the floor, repeatedly.

"You promised me I would have him back. I agreed to this to keep him safe. You infected me to make this happen...you...I...you...Oh god!"

Hikari let go, collapsing to ground, wailing. Ramiel stared at them for a second before running away, Touji powerless to stop him.

Hikari curled into a ball, crying, for Okito, for herself, for what she had become.

"Hikari-" Touji said as he approached her, trying to comfort her.

That's when she started to scream, her back arching as she screamed in agony. Her skin started physically boiling.

Touji watched as her whole body began to shift, changing and altering as she screamed. Her face twisting until it resembles someone else, a man in his forties with a receding hairline.

"I tried, I tried to fight against.." she said in a voice that was not her own. "But I can feel them, the v-voices, they're crawling back… They-"

Hikari began to scream again, her face and body twisting and shifting painfully. Her appearance shifting between various people, people he knew. Tokiwa, who had been last seen driving Misato to the party, among them; alongside men and women he had never met, children, teenagers, old men. Her voice shifting as every soul Bardiel had consumed was waging a war inside her.

Touji watched helpless, barely able to understand what he was seeing let alone do anything.

"Let us out!" she screamed in a chorus of voices.

"I can't!" Hikari shouted in her own voice. "I tried, but I can't! I don't know how!"

The impressions of faces began to appear on Hikari's skin, bulging out and fighting, trying to be free of her.

"Leave me alone!" She begged.

"You murdered us!" a deeper voice accused.

"It wasn't me!" Hikari defended. "It was Bardiel."

"You are Bardiel! You murdered her, you killed all of us!"

"No!" she screamed. "I'm me, I am me. I am the real me. Me. Me. I...Oh god, what have I become?"

She turned towards Touji, looking at him with desperate eyes.

"What am I?"

"Touji, grab her and run," Asuka's voice came over the loudspeakers.

"S-she's not in any state to move!" Touji shouted, barely able to form words after what he just saw.

"Ria's coming," Asuka warned. "She's in Zeruel form, basically beyond reason and is incredibly enraged. For both your sake's, grab her and run."

As if on cue, Zeruel appeared in the hallway behind them.

Touji froze. He had seen pictures of this, of her, before, but there was a gulf between seeing something like that in a photo and being near them.

Even hunched over she stood above him, glaring at Hikari through her bone mask. Her killing intent unmistakable.

Touji raised his pistol.

"Stand down!" Touji shouted "For the love of God stand down! Look at her, she's not a threat anymore."

"Ria, it's over! Ramiel's escaping! Focus on that!" Asuka urged.

Zeruel was not paying attention to them, approaching Hikari slowly, like a cat stalking it's prey.

He squeezed the trigger, firing ever round in his magazine at her. None of the shots had any effect. Zeruel didn't even seem to register she had been shot.

"Please," Hikari begged. For what, Touji couldn't tell.

Zeruel was on her, grabbed her by the throat with one hand as she slammed her against the wall. Pale fingers digging into Hikari's neck.

"Ria, I'm begging you, please, stop!" It was Shinji this time, shouting as hard as he could through the speakers.

Touji rushed towards Zeruel, all sense leaving him, as he tried desperately to pry her away from his wife. He would not lose her too.

Zeruel's flesh was like steel. He couldn't even so much as move her arm slightly.

Then, she stopped. Zeruel let go off Hikari, letting her fall to the floor without another thought. Her attention now focused entirely on the fallen form of Okito. She approached the body, staring down intently at him.

Touji dragged Hikari away, ignoring the danger that even touching her now presented. She was silent now, simply sobbing in grief.

Zeruel turned back, Touji leveled his pistol, bracing for the worst. But her body language was vastly different now, raw primal rage replaced with...shame.

A moment later, Zeruel ran off.

/

On paper, this was a victory. Ritsuko and Misato rescued, a valuable source of intel, Gendo Ikari, captured. Two of Ramiel's bases raided, his forces utterly routed. They had a truce with Iruel and his followers, a truce that was going to give them the name of every Angel allied with Ramiel. And Okito was dead. And yet every bit of it felt like ashes in Asuka's mouth.

She knew why of course. Dozens of security and staff were dead, Hikari was a broken wreck confined to a cell, Misato had been altered into something like her father, and they were forced into a truce with a group none of them trusted. And Ria was... somewhere in the building, recovering from what had happened.

Asuka did her best to focus on the meeting at hand. Hyuga and Kyoko where both in her office.

"Misato swears that at no point was she subjected to Arael," Hyuga explained. "And what we're seeing in her prelim psych evaluation seems to agree with that."

"That's... good," Asuka replied. Though it did confuse her. Why did they go through with part of the threat but not all of it? More testing was definitely going to be needed.

"The Empress assures us that they're going to be doing background checks on everyone, and and every bit of equipment found in those bases. Wherever Ramiel got his recruits and supplies, they aim to find it," Kyoko added.

Asuka nodded.

"Also…" Kyoko grew uneasy. "Iruel wants an official truce. Signed documentation and everything. Even wants someone from here to do a handshake or something."

Asuka let out a groan of annoyance. Bastard was milking this whole situation for all he could.

The door opened. Ria walked in. She was wearing a uniform that did not fit her and looked completely miserable. She walked to one side of the room and sat in a chair, her eyes focused on her hands, completely ignoring the stares from both Hyuga and Kyoko.

"Let's shelve the rest for later," Asuka said hurriedly.

Hyuga walked out, Kyoko following him.

"Wait," Asuka said, catching her at the door. "You probably should hear this as well."

Kyoko backstepped and sat down.

After a long, painful silence. Ria spoke.

"I lost control," Ria said softly.

"That tends to be a noticeable trend every time you transform," Asuka pointed out.

As useful as Zeruel was, it was rapidly becoming apparent that Ria couldn't control that form, in either size.

"No," Ria replied. "Last time I was like that, I was still in control for most of it. When I fought against Ramiel and the others, I was in control until Arael. This time...I lost control before I even transformed. I had to dig deep and force that out of me last time. This time it forced it's own way out. I lost control far too easily...and people are dead because of me."

"No, people are dead because of Bardiel. Hikari is a victim of it and you did the only thing you could in that situation," Asuka tried to assure her.

Ria sank into her chair.

"I'm sorry," she nearly whimpered.

"It's okay," Asuka replied. "What happened was beyond your control. Believe me, I get that."

Asuka's mind went to Arael. What it had done to her, that sort of damage didn't just go away, even with the engagement. Maybe what Arael did messed with her ability to control that part of her. Hopefully the therapist would be able to help her with that.

"So how are you feeling, about Okito?" Kyoko asked.

"Okito died months ago," Ria declared evenly. "I'm just glad Sachiel let go of his body."

That was fair. The good Okito tried to do in his last moments didn't make up for the mountain of crimes he committed. Asuka was frankly glad he was dead. The boy that had been Ria's childhood friend, the sweet kid who seemed so close to his daughter, he disappeared the day Sachiel returned. What died today was a monster trying to atone for it's sins.

Of course Okito brought up another subject. A subject Asuka knew she couldn't hide from her daughters.

"There's something I need to bring up," Asuka said gently, "but it's going to be hard to hear. If you feel you need time, Ria. I'll understand."

"Whatever is, I'll manage." Ria replied.

"Okay." Asuka was hesitant as she clicked on the recording.

It had been recovered from one of the security cameras in the Vault. The video was of no use but the audio proved very informative, and disturbing.

"Adam told me something," the recording of Okito said, "something that horrified me to my core; Lilith is getting stronger. Everyday she is fighting back against her self-imposed exile. And on that day, if she believes that our kind is beyond salvation, or you have grown too powerful, she will kill us all. Fourth Impact is coming, for all Children of Adam if we don't atone. You, me, Ria, Leliel. She doesn't care, she will wipe us out without mercy to protect the Lilin."

Kyoko went wide eyed, confused and horrified. Ria's face was unreadable.

"So that's what Adam told him..." she said softly.

"But...but don't Okito's actions prove that they, we aren't beyond salvation? If even the worst of us can try and do the right thing.." Kyoko replied.

Asuka could see the fear growing in her eyes. They were going to stop Lilith, whatever it took. There was no way she was going to let Wondergirl do something so horrible to her kids and the few good ones among the Angels.

"I doubt she cares," Ria was blunt. "She flat out told me she was using me. At least now I know for sure where I stand with her."

"So what should we do?" Kyoko asked nervously.

"Same thing we've been doing." Ria said, trying hard to bite back her anger. "Doesn't change anything, just means we have a sword hanging over us now."

 

[Teen Spirit]

Chapter 21: A Watchful Peace

Shinji watched from the corner as Asuka prepared to open the briefing. Mana, the Pilots, Kyoko and Koda, most of the bridge crew were here. Even Akagi was here. She had insisted upon it, in fact. There were absences though. Touji, who was more or less holding vigil at his wife's cell, Misato was still under observation, and Ria was... processing events, for lack of a better term.

"Alright," Asuka said as she stood at the head of the table. "First the good news, and there is a bit of it. For starters, Sakura Suzuhara woke up six hours ago and appears to be back to full health. And the survivors of the infected members of security have returned to normal. Naturally all three are under observation for the time being."

Cold comfort to all those who died during the attack and the entire Suzuhara family. Koda slumped in her chair, her already grim mood worsening by the moment.

Asuka went on "This, combined with the fact we know now it was Bardiel who enabled Ramiel to kidnapped Dr. Akagi and General Katsuragi. This means we can now safely end the lockdown. After this meeting, your love ones are free to go home, as is anyone who's shift has ended."

That brought a wave of relief to the room.

"Finally!" Ibuki sighed. "My wife was starting to go stir crazy, stuck in my office."

"And now for the even bigger news. Iruel's deal with the government has born us some unexpected fruit," Asuka said. "The identity of every Angel."

The screen behind filled with the images of almost every Angel, both in their original form and their human form. Most of which where school photos, though a few were images taken from security cameras. Ria, Kyoko, and Koda's pictures had a green border around them. Dimitri's had a light blue one and all the Angels associated with Iruel had a purple border, as did Leliel. Gaghiel, the one from this universe, had a question mark over her photo. Whereas Okito and Shamshel had a solid red X through their images.

The one notable exception was Bardiel and Hikari. Left off for manners of taste and to avoid confusion. Hikari wasn't Bardiel, whoever Bardiel was is dead, what Hikari had become was a question no one had an answer to yet.

Suddenly, wild laughter filled the room. Everyone turned to see Koda nearly doubled over in her chair.

"He's just so fat!" she said, pointing to the image of Iruel. "How the Hell is he so fat? Oh, I needed that"

The boy did have a noticeable heft to him, something absent from the other Angels. Shinji didn't find it funny, more confusing. He'd seen Ria eat way more than anyone ever should and never gain anything.

"Anyways," Asuka did her best to ignore Koda's outburst, "while we did know or at least suspect with a few of these, we now have as close to confirmation as we're going to get without direct interaction. There are some key figures we need to be on the lookout for. "

She looked down at her notes, preparing the list.

"First up is Itsuo Yamagishi, AKA: Sandalphon. Eight years old. Still attending his elementary School. Next is..."

Asuka visibly shuddered and tensed up.

"Adal Fletcher, AKA: Arael. Nineteen years old. Ironically enough was an ordained member of the Church of Lilith. Hasn't been seen by any of the priests of his church in over a month. Then we have Tamiko Shinano, AKA: Armisael Twenty. Business major in College. Parents reported her missing two weeks ago. And finally Sayaka Makinami, AKA: Leliel. Age Sixteen. High school student living here in Kyoto. Still attending as far as we know."

Both Kyoko and Koda focused intently on the picture of Makinami, as did the pilots. Shinji could only imagine what they were feeling, to finally be able to put a name to the face of the one who had completely thrown their life into chaos, the one who ripped them away from everyone they knew and cared for.

"Iruel, Israfel and Sahaquiel are currently protected by the government," Asuka explained. "We can't touch them until they move against us. Ramiel's more than likely gone into hiding for the time being. And Gaghiel is outside the universe. Arael and and Armisael have been missing for a while but we should still keep an eye out for them. That leaves us Sandalphon and Leliel to deal with. I know Leliel has aided us before, but how she's done so has hurt many of us and left us with little reason to trust her. If nothing else we need to have a conversation with her. Sandalphon, young as he maybe, he attacked us along with all of the others, as far as we know he's still working with Ramiel. We'll have to confront him. Now, naturally, getting our current situation squared away, making the truce official, the autopsy, and Misato's health take priority. But we need to begin planning on how we deal with these two as soon as possible."

"Not the first time I've punched an eight year old," Koda muttered.

"Why does that not surprise me?" the younger Asuka replied dryly.

Ritsuko's hand went up. "So that makes every Angel we know of, barring Ramiel, Gaghiel, and Arael, Japanese born?"

Asuka nodded. "Yeah, I found that rather stand-out as well. Not sure if it was intentional or just a massive coincidence."

A few eyes turned towards Kyoko and Koda.

"What?" Kyoko said defensively. "It's not like we know anymore than you. Maybe it's because our original selves all died here? I don't know."

"Not a bad theory, actually," Ritsuko noted.

"Anyways," Asuka finished, "we have had some very tough days recently and a long road ahead of us still. I encourage you all to get some rest soon. You're going to need it."

/

"I'm fine," Misato insisted for what seemed like the dozenth time today.

She sat on a hospital bed in the medical lab, three different doctors examining her along with all manner of instruments.

"Ma'am," one of the them sighed, "you've been violently altered on a genetic level. No one is going to be okay after that."

"I know," Misato replied, "but I'm still me. Mentally I'm fine. I feel healthy. Whatever they did to me has stabilized."

'I say that and yet I can barely stand to look at myself,' Misato mused.

The doctors were insistent that she remain here for the time being.

She understood, of course. What had happened to her was something no one at WILLE understood really. She just really really wanted to do something, anything that didn't remind her of what had happened.

She caught a glance of her reflection in one of the monitor screens, red eyes staring back at her for a moment before she looked away.

'What I wouldn't give for some hair dye and contact lenses right now.'

Though that would only superficially fix things. She'd still be looking at a face that had had the past twenty years stripped from it.

She felt fine, physically at least. Which only served to confuse her more. The trauma she had endured had been horrific, pain beyond measure, hours that felt like years, feeling isolated from everything. Dying had been less horrific. But now...she felt normal. Even if she was anything but.

'I'm not an Angel.' Misato reminded herself again. 'I'm not.'

Though in truth she now had no idea what she was. Not one of the Lilim anymore, not really.

That wasn't the question that bugged her though. What bugged her, what ate at her, what kept her from sleeping was the question that had been lingering in her brain since she saw Kyoko.

'Why was I let go?'

/

Ria looked over her armor. It was broken, cracked in half like a crab shell. It had been designed for her, after all, not for Zeruel's size.

'This would have been enough.' Ria thought. 'This would have been better, I could have been faster, stopped her. Could saved people...could have stopped myself from going that far.'

She would have killed Mrs. Suzuhara, if she had to. That wasn't the issue. If she had proven beyond saving or confining then it would have been the only sane option. But she hadn't done it for any sane reason. Only rage had been guiding her actions.

Ria sighed to herself as she looked over a section of armor that had loosened, turning the heavy chunk of metal over in her hands.

The door to the office opened and Mari walked in.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey," Ria replied.

"Okay, what's wrong?" Mari's voice grew concerned. "I mean besides the obvious. You look more out of funk now then when you came out of your transformation."

She was right of course.

"Lilith told Okito that she was going to kill every single Angel if we proved beyond redemption or Ramiel grew too powerful. As upset as I am about that, and I am upset, I can't really fault her thinking. I mean look at us, we're a collection of destructive idiots, children with the power of nuclear bombs at our fingertips."

Mari looked horrified, taking a moment to process what she heard before speaking again.

"Well... I have to ask," Mari said, still trying to absorb what she just heard, "who gave her the right to make a decision like that?"

Ria stared at her, slightly dumbstruck. "Err, she did create basically all life on Earth? And she's more or less a goddess?"

"So?" Mari shrugged. "My mom doesn't have the right to kill me if I get out of line. She's not God, big G God anyways. She doesn't get the right to condemn you all for the actions of a few."

While Mari did just create a rather interesting theological debate. It did little to ease Ria's mind.

"You told me once that part of the reason you were attracted to me is that I could scare you and yet you would still feel safe, that you always felt that you were safe with me." Ria's voice shook "Do you honestly feel safe after that?"

She had lost control and nearly killed someone in a blind rage. What if triggers easier next time. What if next time she doesn't stop or there's collateral damage? Zeruel was a force of destruction she no longer felt like she had any control over.

Mari sat down next to her, then laid down, resting her head in Ria's lap.

"I don't know, feel pretty safe right now." Mari said sweetly.

"How?" Ria said in disbelief.

"Because your first priority during that fight was my safety. You may have lost control but you were still able to do that," Mari explained as she ran her fingers through Ria's hair.

She sat up, now resting her head on Ria's shoulder.

"I'm not going to pretend what happened wasn't bad," Mari went on, "but you're not going to start hurting the people important to you. It's not like you lost control when you went on red eyed and hunky either. You're loyal, probably the most loyal person I know. But anything good can become bad if taken in the wrong direction."

'Like a mother's love being twisted by insanity,' Ria realized.

"You're going to need help. But I'll be here for you through the whole thing." Mari assured her. "I love you Ria, and nothing is going to scare me away. Not now, not eighty years from now, not ever."

Ria smiled as she wrapped her arm around her.

"Love you too. Though you know I'm going to need insulin if you keep talking like that," she said with a weak smirk.

Mari laughed as the two sat there, savoring the moment for all it was worth.

/

Gendo Ikari, after he had been given a chance to wash up and shave, barely looked changed from the last time Asuka had seen him, decades ago. More feeble perhaps, but were it not for the cane, the slight grey in his now trim beard, and the sleeve that ended in empty space, she wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

"Commander Soryu," he greeted calmly, taking a seat on his room's bed.

"Gendo Ikari," she replied evenly.

Okito's cell was wrecked, so until that was repaired they had to just lock him in one of the offices. It worked well enough for the time being. Asuka worried that gave him the illusion of having some manner of power. It didn't matter though, not really. He had lost, he had nothing, no chance to reclaim what he had lost, no supporters or allies. He was nothing now.

Asuka wanted to sneer. To think she once was jealous of Shinji because she thought this man favored him. How stupid she had been. Well, she'd been stupid about a lot of things back then. Price of being an emotionally unstable teenager.

"We will conduct a more in depth interview soon, but for now I wanted to gather some preliminary info," Asuka explained.

"Of course," Gendo nodded.

"Understand that we cannot force you to give us any information but cooperation will ensure a lighter sentence is given when the government puts you on trial," Asuka went on.

Gendo frowned nervously. It was off-putting, seeing the man who hid his emotions so well get nervous so quickly. Maybe he was always like this and he just hid it better.

"What kind of lighter sentence are you putting on the table?" Gendo asked.

"Well, for starters, you won't be hanged by an international court," Asuka was blunt. "Other than that, better cell conditions. Give us enough info and you'll spend the rest of your life in reasonable comfort."

More than he deserved but if he had useful information it was worth the cost.

"Better than your father ever offered," Gendo noted dryly.

Asuka scowled. "That does lead to my first question. How did you end up a prison of the Langley family?"

Gendo leaned to one side, hiding his mouth with his remaining hand. Asuka almost smirked at the obvious attempt to hide his emotion.

"Four years and five months ago I came ashore just north of the city of Schwerin in Germany. During processing they realized who I was and I was arrested. Shortly after that I was transferred to what remained of NATO, who your father had connections with. They transferred me to his care. Mr. Langley quickly thereafter he introduced me to his young grandson, Andrew. Then he started asking me questions about the Eigenart Initiative."

"Such as?" Asuka pressed.

"Who was a part of it, what they knew, how far along their research was, could any of them have survived. Langley clearly knew what Eigenart was already. He just wanted me to fill in some of the details and perhaps point him to some of their hiding places that the old men never got around to uncovering," Ikari explained.

"Did he find anyone who was a part of Eignart? Does he have anyone helping him?"

"Eigenart is dead," Gendo replied. "SEELE's not the kind of organization to allow a rival to exist for long. What Langley uncovered was what the old men couldn't find or didn't think was worth the effort to look for."

So how did her father know it? What gave them the idea to pursue all of this?

"Wait…" Asuka said with realization. "So who exactly is in control then? Is it my father or Andrew? Or are they equal partners?"

Gendo did little to hide his smirk.

"There's no such thing as equal partners in situations like these," he replied. "And your father... well let's just say I saw something rather hauntingly familiar in how he uses Andrew."

Ramiel treated Okito like a pawn, and her father was doing the same to Ramiel. For a second Asuka felt pity for them. What would Okito have been if he never met Andrew? And what kind of person would Andrew turn into had her father stayed out of his life?

"That's all for now," Asuka said as she closed her notebook. She turned to leave.

"Wait," Gendo said. "I have a question of my own."

"Shinji's fine," she answered without turning back. "Better than he ever was when you were in his life.Became a far better person and father too."

"That wasn't my question," Gendo replied evenly, "but thank you."

'Of course, it was too much to expect him to actually care.'

"I understand the government is making a deal with Iruel, correct? And that deal involves Iruel giving up everything he knows as well?"

"That's two questions, but yes," Asuka answered curtly.

"Has he told you where he's keeping Leliel?" he asked.

Asuka turned back around. "Leliel's not captured. We have video footage of her going to school from this morning."

Gendo leaned back in his chair. "Not her, the other one. The one Ramiel captured first."

"What?" Asuka was genuinely taken aback. What was he talking about?

"The boy, Dimitri. He liked to talk," Gendo explained. "In particular, he liked to talk about the other Leliel they found. Her name was Tsukiko Yamagishi. Ramiel captured her, used her to grab some sort of "asset" for their plans. What that asset was the boy didn't know. But he tried to rescue her during one of Ramiel's attacks, only to be stopped by the 10th Angel. Who I believe is working for Iruel. She nearly killed him and made off with Leliel in the process. Dimitri seemed pretty certain Iruel still has her."

Asuka was silent, words failing her at the moment.

"I take it, they've made no mention of this to you?" he asked calmly.

Asuka quickly stormed out of the room.

 

[Teen Spirit]

"So...can't we just go to the Empress, get them to cancel the whole agreement, and send Iruel and the others fleeing?" Ria asked "I mean we have their name's, addresses. Empress backs out of the agreement and they are screwed."

Ria, her father, and her mother were all in the latter's office. Talking about what Gendo had told her.

"It's not that simple," Asuka said as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "We have no proof. We have nothing, just the word of Gendo Ikari."

"Which is worth less than nothing," Shinji finished.

That was the core it. All they had was the word of a man hated by the whole world. Indeed the only reason Asuka believed it was because she knew Gendo couldn't gain anything from this. Even if the Empress believed them, and Asuka suspected she would, that didn't change the fact it was effectively hearsay, this sort of thing required evidence before action could be taken.

"So what do we do?" Ria asked as she paced around the office.

"Get proof," Asuka said. "Until then, we play it cool, act like we know nothing."

"So we just let Iruel get away with lying to use and holding a girl who can travel to other universes?! He has plans for her, he has to!" Ria said, venting her frustration.

Asuka didn't like it either, but they lacked good options.

"We confront them, Iruel will deny the whole thing, the Prime Minister will more than likely support him and Iruel will more than likely make sure this Leliel is even more hidden," Asuka explained. "We attack them, even if you kill them, and we're going to have all kinds of trouble. The Prime Minister will accuse us of treason and we'll have no idea where to find Leliel. You kill the Prime Minister and well... that's just bad times for everyone."

There was a lot of things they could brute force. Heck if came to it Ria could probably kill the prime minister and forcibly install the "Soryu Shogunate" if Asuka asked. Even if she would have asked Ria to do something like that, which she would never, the past few days had shown just what kind of strain the brute force options put on her daughter.

Ria nodded, looking frustrated beyond belief. "Fine. I do have that inspection of the T-RIDEN-T coming up. Maybe I can find something there."

"And once we track down Makinami maybe she could tell you something," Shinji pointed out.

Ria made a disgusted noise.

"Assuming she wants to cooperate. And the intelligence is valid," Asuka replied. "Then again, if Iruel lied to us in any way we'd at least have something to go after him with."

Ria paused. Asuka watched as she could see an idea forming in her head.

"I need to go," she said suddenly.

"Where?" Shinji asked.

"Talk to Misato," Ria said as she left.

/

Of all the visitors Misato expected to see, Ria would have been the last.

Misato froze in her chair as Ria entered, regret entering the forefront of her mind. So many things she wish she could have done differently, so many words she wish she could take back. She'd been so foolish, so stiffnecked...

Ria paused for a moment, looking at her oddly with her head tilted before grabbing a chair and sitting a short distance across from Misato. The two stared at each other for a moment, awkwardly. Misato tried to think of something to say.

"You look better than I expected," Ria said finally.

"Thanks?" Misato replied nervously. "I can't say I expected to see you anytime soon."

"I haven't forgiven you, not fully, at least," Ria admitted. "But after what you've been through I'm going to cut you a lot of slack. Plus this isn't a social visit, unfortunately."

"Oh?" Misato replied.

Ria twitched in her sight, fidgeting a bit. "You know what pisses me off? Well okay a lot of things piss me off these days. But one of the top five things that really pisses me off right now is the fact that you were not as wrong as you should have been."

That took Misato completely by surprise.

"I mean the only ones we can trust are Kyoko, Koda, and Dimitri. Dimitri's captured and those two come from a completely different universe. Most of the others are idiots, monsters, or manipulative assholes. We're forced into a deal with Iruel even when we know he's lying to our faces, and I know have rage issues I can barely control. Rage issues that nearly lead me to kill Kodama's mom in a blind rage. She was infected by Bardiel, sure, but that doesn't excuse what I nearly did."

The frustration and sorrow in Ria's eyes was painful to look at. Misato felt like she was being stabbed in the heart.

"Still my fault," Misato said quietly. "Most of the idiots and some of the monsters wouldn't be involved if I hadn't pushed them towards Ramiel. And you probably would have better control if I hadn't let you stumble into that ambush with Arael."

Ria sighed, shaking her head. But Misato could tell that ultimately the girl did place some of the blame on her.

"I didn't come here to point fingers," Ria replied. "So you know the Government made a deal with Iruel and a few of the of the other Angels?"

"It's part of why I'm even here," Misato replied, her voice growing small. She hated it, she hated that her freedom came at that high a cost. She hated that once again, Angel matters had been taken out of WILLE's hands.

"The deal actually proved rather useful," Ria admitted. "We got you guys back, we got the names of all the Angels, Ramiel is on the run-"

"But, they're lying to you about something," Misato finished.

Ria nodded. "They have an Angel held hostage according to Gendo. One of Leliel's counterparts apparently."

"And you believe Commander Ikari?" Misato smirked slightly, raising a now-white eyebrow skeptically.

"As much as he can be trusted," Ria admitted.

It would be a very strange lie if nothing else.

Ria leaned back in her chair. "I'm trying to figure out what to do about it. Mom says wait until we gather more evidence, but I'm pretty sure the Prime Minister is in on it, so I worry if they'll catch on to what we're doing. And killing the Prime Minister without proof would be bad. So I'm a bit at a loss."

Misato pondered the situation for a moment. Prime Minister had always seemed a bit power hungry, that much was for sure, so this didn't surprise her at all.

"Why was this Leliel here in the first place?" she asked.

"Well…" Ria paused, mulling over the question. "I don't know."

She didn't know anything about how Leliel worked but something seemed odd about that Leliel would just let another of herselves just run around freely.

"You have Leliel's real name, right?" Misato asked.

"Yeah."

Misato nodded. "Do you think she's a friend of Iruel?"

"I highly doubt it," Ria admitted. "But she's not exactly a friend of ours either."

"You have common ground at least. Leliel brought over everyone else, she almost certainly had a hand in her counterpart being here. She probably doesn't want her in Iruel's hands. Nothing else she might know something that could point you in the right direction," Misato suggested.

She was loathe to trust Leliel, but among the Angels, Leliel was one of the few who was at least helpful. Without the younger Pilots and their Evas, they might never even have known about Ramiel and his gang.

"Do need to talk to her anyways, about a lot of things," Ria replied. "Though if she cared about this Leliel, why hasn't she contacted us?"

"Because then she'd have to admit she lied to about her involvement in both the Pilot's arrival along with Kyoko's and Koda's," Misato said.

Pride and refusing to accept you'd made mistakes was something she understood all to well.

"True enough," Ria agreed. "Thanks, I'll bring this up to Mom."

"Umm, be sure to check in with Maya," Misato said just as Ria stood up. "She has your late birthday gift, and the keys to your new apartment."

Ria's eyes lit up a bit at the mention of the apartment.

"...Thanks," she said hesitantly. "And if you ever need to talk, about what you're going through. I can't promise I'll help, but I'll at least be here to listen."

"Thank you," Misato replied, smiling. "I think I'll need that."

/

"How are you, Shinji?" Rei asked, shortly after the three Pilots ran through yet another training session.

It was odd hearing her use his first name like that. Odd, but comforting in a way.

"...I don't know," he admitted. "I mean, Misato's back but... things aren't going great."

Misato was hurt, Hikari was a mess, and Shinji felt so utterly helpless. He was a Pilot, yet all he could do was sit and watch as everything unfolded.

"How do you feel about your father?" Rei probed.

"That man is not my father!" Shinji yelled, far louder than he had wanted to.

Rei flinched in surprise, even Asuka looked up from her phone and stared.

Shinji immediately regretted his words. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

"It's fine," she replied evenly, if somewhat warily.

"I just... that man isn't my father," Shinji explained. "I don't want anything to do with him, I don't want to see him. Nothing."

One of the good parts about being here was how he was out from under his father's thumb, how he finally realized what a monster he was.

Ayanami looked awkward for a moment, before nodding. "I understand, I will not contact or interact with the man either."

Shinji blinked in surprise. He knew that Rei was close to the Gendo of her world, though that man seemed quite different from his father. Hearing her say that was reassuring.

"Thank you," Shinji replied gratefully.

The door opened and in stepped Shinji's older counterpart.

Shinji found himself tensing up, all his misgivings and anger towards the man rising towards the surface.

"Hi," his counterpart said awkwardly as he stood at the door.

"Hello, Ikari," Rei greeted.

"Why are you here?" Shinji asked, trying to be civil. It took some effort.

"I..listen. There's something you need to know. Something we've been, well... withholding from you. Something you probably would want to know-"

Asuka cut the the older Shinji off. "Oh what, another lie?" she almost snarled.

'Again?!' Shinji thought. 'Another lie, another painful truth they were withholding? What did they kill their Rei or something?'

"Yeah," The older Ikari admitted sheepishly. "This one, it's not as big as big as some of the others, but it may affect you more. It's... it's personal, for all of you really."

"So what is it?" Shinji asked.

"Commander Soryu wants a few things squared away before we tell you because it's one of those things we can't afford to screw up. And you need time to decide," his other self explained.

"Decide what?" Asuka questioned.

"If you actually want to know," the older Shinji answered. "Because once we tell you, it's something you can never un-know. And it's going to affect you. No matter what you think, it's will impact you. It's nothing we did, it's something that happened when we were kids, something you've gone through as well even if you don't remember. Just... just give it a couple of days, after 48 hours, if you want to know this secret, we'll tell you, in full detail, nothing hidden, everything explained."

Shinji searched his mind, trying to think of something that had happened to him, to him and Asuka both that would be some secret. He came up blank.

"Well, um, thanks, I guess?" Asuka was more than a little confused by this.

"We should have been more honest from the start," the older Ikari admitted. "We shouldn't have lied to you, but there are some things... some things you just can't tell a person. I hate it, I hate it more than you know. I'm sorry for how we've handled things so far. You deserve better."

With that he left, leaving the three standing there, a bit confused, and more unsettled.

 

[Teen Spirit]

"Are you sure it's wise to go after Leliel so soon?" Kyoko asked as she, Ria, and their parents waited for Ibuki.

"I don't know what she knows," Ria explained. "We can't risk this peace deal tipping her off. Plus if we can find her, she can help us. We might be able to put a stop to making the peace official."

Kyoko nodded, giving a thumbs up. "Well, you know I'm down for it. At the very least I want to go home and make sure everything's not on fire."

And Ria frankly very much wanted to get a shot at beating up the Zeruel of her world. She wasn't entirely sure if that would help her but it would really feel good.

"We should grab Koda. I have to imagine she would want in on this," Ria commented. The three of them together... if nothing else that should discourage Leliel from doing anything stupid.

Kyoko's eyes diverted, looking to the wall. "Yeah...I don't think Koda wants anything to do with us right now. She's still, you know, coming to terms."

Guilt surged back into Ria. Of course, Koda was a Suzuhara, after all. No doubt recent events had made their two families ever getting along again outright impossible.

Maya walked into the room, holding numerous keys and a couple of flyers in her hands.

"Alright, first things first," Ibuki said, "Misato wishes to extend her apologies over something she had me do."

"What did you do?" Asuka questioned.

"Back when Misato thought Ria was planning on conquering us or something. She had me spy on her computer activity," Maya explained.

Ria felt her stomach clench at that. The news was in truth not really a shock at all. But knowing that someone else knew what she did in her free time...there were some things that should remain private. Her kinks were something only she, Mari, and any other girl they brought into their relationship needed to know about.

"Well, that's just wonderful," her mother replied, looking rather embarrassed.

"Thankfully the records are all deleted and I've done my best to purge my mind of what I've seen," Maya said, giving Ria a disturbed look that suggested she had not forgotten everything.

"Anyways," Maya went on, desperate to shift topics, "here's the keys to your new apartment."

She handed a flyer and a set of keys to Asuka.

"This seems rather...mundane a task for you, Ibuki. No offense," Shinji noted.

"Misato doesn't want too many people knowing where exactly you live," Maya explained. "Anyways it's three bedroom, two bath,has a safe room, reinforced walls, doors, an exclusive fire escape, et cetera. All sorts of good things."

"Nice, nice," Shinji nodded, trying to pretend that having their home built like a fortress wasn't massively depressingly in it's own way. It was something he'd thought they'd left behind with the Tokyo-3 Geofront and the war.

"And here the keys to your apartment," Maya said as she handed a different set of keys to Ria.

Ria and her parents stared in awkward confusion at the keys.

"My...apartment?" Ria questioned.

"Yeah, last minute addition, but she gave you the two-bedroom just down the hall from your parents. Thankfully the apartments are all fortified to some degree. I thought she mentioned this to you?" Maya replied.

Ria stared at the keys. "We... she said 'your apartment', but I kind of assumed she meant, you know 'your family's apartment', not...this."

She didn't hate the idea of having her own place. Quite the opposite, really. But this was rather shocking.

"So Misato decided the best gift for a seventeen year old girl… was their own apartment?" her mother said, rather besides herself at the moment. Shinji was rubbing his temples, eyes pinched shut.

"Oh, no," Maya replied, "her gift was a car."

She handed Ria a set of car keys.

"Well, this could be handy for work. Just drive myself directly to the Palace from now...on…" Ria paused as she noticed the increasingly distraught look on her mom's face.

"Oh god, Misato. Why?" she muttered. "What on Earth made her think any of this would be a good thing to give a seventeen year old?"

"To be fair," her father spoke up, "Ria was going to be moving out in a year and a half anyways. This way she stays close?"

"Yeah, this way none of us have to look for another place to live a decade down the line," Ria pointed out.

Plus it gave her the space to set up the studio that she and Mari had often talked about. A place for them to write and draw together.

Oh boy, Mari moving in with her... Ria was starting to get why her mother was so unhappy about with this.

It was something Ria appreciated though, that no matter how bad things got, her mother found a way to keep things somewhat grounded, at least for a little while.

"Though it does leave you with more bedrooms then you need." Kyoko pointed.

"Not really." Asuka replied. "There's a bedroom for me and Shinji, you, and a Guest room."

'Mom acts like I'm rushing things but she's already basically treating dad like they're married.' Ria noted. 'Ok, so it's not like that's going out on a limb, but still...'

Kyoko looked shocked, blushingly slightly.

"Oh," she said in surprise. "I mean, I didn't want assume, since you never know when I'll go back. But thank you."

"We're not pressuring you to stay, kid," Asuka assured her, "but as long as you're here, our home is your home."

"Thanks," Kyoko replied nervously.

Ria gave her a quick pat on the back. She didn't fully think of Kyoko as a sister, but she was family at least as much as the younger Asuka and Shinji were.

"Are we all good here?" Maya asked.

"Well, besides Misato grossly overstepping the line with gifts," Asuka pinched the bridge of nose and sighed. "We're good."

"Excellent," Maya nodded. "The car is in the garage. I'll have someone show you to it whenever you're ready."

The four of them walked out, Ria watching as her mother tried to process what had happened.

"I mean it's good she's trying to make up for what she did but there's a limit!" she exclaimed.

"Mom, I'm probably going to be spending most of my time here anyways. And It's not like I'm going to be any real distance away," Ria assured her.

"I hope we're not being overconfident here," Kyoko worried. "I mean, we're acting like we have a breather here. But for all we know Ramiel could be on the verge of a rampage right now."

"He just killed someone he spend a lot of time and effort trying to get," Asuka replied. "And he's lost Bardiel. If he has any sense he'll at least try to rest for a while."

"Besides we have to make the most of what time we have-" Shinji paused, staring down a hallway, directly at the room his father was being held at.

The group stopped, watching him with concern.

"Do you want to talk with him?" Ria asked.

"No," her father replied. "But I think I need to."

He looked back at Asuka.

"You do what you need to do, Shinji," she said. "We'll be waiting for you."

He nodded and walked away, heading towards Gendo Ikari.

/

Koda was starting to get why Kyoko had tried so hard to remain detached from this universe. Caring sucked.

Her mother was probably fine, her brother was alive, her dad wasn't a miserable wreck. But they were so far away. People she cared about were suffering right here, and she couldn't be there for them. After all to them she was an Angel, one of the monsters who made this mess.

Kodama was now walking towards her. Koda braced herself for the worst. Her counterpart without a doubt had to hate her the most of anyone.

To her surprise, instead of yelling at her, Kodama underhand tossed a can of tea at her.

"Catch," she said.

Koda grabbed it out of the air, doing nothing to hide her shock. What was her game? Was the tea poisoned or something?

"Figured there's no point in being miserable alone," Kodama explained as she sat next to her.

Koda opened her tea. "So...how bad is it."

"Well, she's not going to die," Kodama explained. "But the doctors...they don't even know what's happening to her. Her DNA is apparently constantly changing. Most of the time my mom's fine, just really depressed, but she's getting these...these fits where she fights against all the voices in her head, sometimes she looks like someone else entirely, sometimes she's screaming with a dozen voices...It's..I..I don't know how to deal with this."

Koda wanted to comfort her. No matter how much she disliked Kodama, no one should suffer like this.

"What happened to the Bardiel of your world?" Kodama asked.

"Not sure," Koda shrugged. "Arael of my world told me they made the mistake of getting on Zeruel's bad side. So, maybe dead? But I'm not entirely sure I believe them."

Kodama leaned back on the bench, looking up at the hallway ceiling.

"Did you lose anyone to this fight?" she asked.

Koda nodded. "One of my aunts. Her car was in the middle of my world's Zeruel first rampage."

Everyone lost someone in Zeruel's first strike. Kyoko lost Misato, most of WILLE's staff was dead. Everyone she knew at school had lost a friend or family member, and there were a lot of empty seats in some classes. At least Ramiel seem to have some manner of precision. Zeruel was a rampaging maniac. And Koda really wished she didn't see signs of that maniac in the video of Ria's fight with Hikari.

"My brother tried to kill me because of it," she added.

Kodama stared at her, eyebrow raised.

"Telling your family you're the reincarnation of a monster when another monster had just cored out Kyoto isn't exactly easy," Koda said. "Okito...took Aunt Nozomi's death harder than I expected. Woke up one night to see him standing over me with a knife. I slapped him around for a bit, then tossed him into Kenny's room. He calmed down, eventually. It... wasn't an easy night."

"Wow…" Kodama said slowly. "Damn... but that does sound like him."

"Yeah," Koda agreed. "Only difference between your brother and my brother is your brother was given something he couldn't handle and fell in with a bad crowd."

Kodama glared at her judgingly.

"Not sure if I believe that," she replied.

"Didn't ask you to," Koda said bluntly.

"Okito... I don't know why, but he said that we needed to trust you," Kodama explained hesitantly. "Said you're the only thing that might be able to save mom. He was a monster, but right then I think I saw my brother again, even if it was only for a moment."

Koda took a long drink out of her tea.

"Can you? Can you help?" Kodama asked, trying not to sound like she was begging.

Koda finished her drink. She was dreading what she was about to say.

"Yeah. I even have a plan that could restore her to sanity," she replied. "Problem is I'm pretty sure it was the Sachiel within me that made the plan."

"What makes you say that?" her counterpart asked.

"Because it's stupid, dangerous, and incredibly risky," Koda said.

/

A warehouse was not exactly what Armisael would call an ideal main base, but considering what had happened, it was the best they could do.

She had considering running away. Just abandoning this whole thing and going home. But she knew they would come for her, sooner or later. Leaving the humans may have quelled their fury, but she didn't think for a moment WILLE would spare her if she ever fell into their hands.

Armisael stood in one corner as Langley paced around, his displeasure obivious. Ramiel sat in a darkened section of the warehouse main floor, his features hidden by shadow. Arael was away, doing what she didn't know.

"We had three, count them, three perfectly good hostages and you just left them?!" Langley shouted.

"They knew where we were! Iruel is aiding them! As long as they had that strong an incentive to hunt us we would never be safe," Armisael defended herself. "This way they have other things to focus on for the time being."

"They're still hunting us!" Langley's anger grew. "All you did was take away our bargaining chips!"

"In case you haven't noticed, old man, your daughter will not negotiate with us!"

"Listen here-" Langley began.

"She's right," Ramiel said softly.

They both turned towards him.

"I'm not saying I agree with her actions," Ramiel added, "but her reasons are valid."

Well, that was unexpected.

"She threw away our test subject!" Langley explained.

"You were the test subject," his grandson corrected. "Misato was just proof it was repeatable. And we have plenty of people more than willing to volunteer for the further testing."

"She destroyed our entire plan!" Langely screamed.

"Our plan?" Ramiel's voice grew icy cold. "When was it ever 'our plan'?"

Langely paused, looking rather confused. "What do you mean? It's always been our plan."

"No no no no no. This has always been your plan, from the beginning."

Ramiel sat up and stepped out of the shadows, revealing his face, still marred by three massive gouges from Okito's claws. He hadn't healed. He hadn't allowed himself to heal.

Armisael now found herself sharply regretting her decision to stay.

"You discovered the first mention of the Eigenart Initiative and their plan for Auto Evolution. You told me to develop my powers, you pressured me into getting involved in this plan. You were the one who suggested kidnapping the General was the best way of getting Okito back."

Andrew's voice grew angrier and angrier with every sentence. "Everything single part of this you have had your hand in. And what has that gotten me? NOTHING! Okito's dead, Maria's dead and I have nothing to show for it!"

Ramiel's eyes turned bright red.

Langley backed up, looking more and more nervous. "You agreed with me. Every step of the way you agreed with me. Auto-Evolution was something you never doubted."

Ramiel stopped, calm returning to his damaged face. "Maybe, maybe. But from now on, we do things my way."

"Right, yes, of course!" Langley said, before all but running out of there.

Ramiel returned to his seat.

"I...I really hate to ask, but I'm curious, what does that mean?" Armisael asked, immediately curisng herself for speaking up.

"It means once my Asset is in position, we'll break the ultimate taboo," he said

Armisael went cold. "You don't mean..."

Ramiel nodded. "We will reveal what we are to the world. We will let them know just what WILLE has been doing and who they've been making deals with."

"But...but you realize that will create mass panic? I mean we're talking total chaos here," Armisael could barely find the words.

"Exactly," Ramiel said eagerly. "We have withered in the shadows, but we will flourish in the flames."

 

[Teen Spirit]

Every time Shinji had ever dealt with his father, the man had always had something over him. Both as the distant father Shinji so desperately sought approval and attention from, and as his commander, the man who rarely spoke but could never be disobeyed.

Now, he had nothing, no power, no hold over him. If anything, Shinji was the one in power here. It was surreal.

"Shinji…"

Even more surreal was the look of surprise on his father's face. This, this was not the man he had hated so much over the years. This was a shallow, remnant husk of that man. He had been stripped of all that man's power, all that man's motivation, everything he had used, everything he had hid behind. All that was left was a crippled man with a missing hand.

Shinji stopped himself from clenching his own artificial hand.

"Father," Shinji replied, his voice calm.

Part of him wanted to kill the man. So much of his life had been filled with pain because of him. A childhood abandoned, a year of Hell fighting a war as his father pulled the strings, all with the intent to end the world in the end anyway. There wasn't a judge alive who would convict him for putting a round between his eyes.

"You've grown up," his father said, pained.

No... He was better than that. There was nothing to gain by killing him.

"It's been twenty years," Shinji replied.

A sad smile appeared on Gendo's face. "For me, it hasn't even been a quarter of that. I kept expecting to find a boy on the verge of adulthood. Not a man grown with a daughter older than he was when I last saw him."

"You almost seem glad to see me," Shinji said warily.

"I am. You've done well for yourself, Shinji," Gendo said warmly.

"What is this?" Shinji sharply questioned. "Stop acting like you care. I know what I am to you; a pawn. That's all I ever was."

"Do you think Asuka feels the same way about Ria? And you did abandon her after all. Not so different from your old man after all, hm?" Gendo questioned.

Shinji stared, more confused than angry.

"After all, she's using her in a rather similar fashion," he added.

Okay, now he was angry. Shinji grabbed Gendo by the collar, forcing him to eye level.

"You bastard!" Shinji growled.

"I didn't think it would be that easy to provoke you," Gendo said with a slight sneer.

Shinji let go, letting his father fall back to his seat.

"I left because I had to," Shinji defended. "Because I would have just made things so much worse if I'd stayed. You abandoned me because you found me a burden!"

"I left," Gendo said with a sigh, "for the same reason you left. Because we realized we were not fit to be parents. Only difference is you seem to have found a way to be one while you were gone."

Shinji looked at his father warily. He had never seen his father this emotional.

"I won't deny what I've done, Shinji. I used you. I used a lot of people. All to get your mother back," Gendo admitted, his voice shaking. "But I only used you because I had no other option. My original intention was to only use Rei and the Dummy Plugs. The situation forced my hand. I needed you. If I hadn't I would have let you live your life in peace."

Shinji found himself believing it. Not because he thought his father had a secretly compassionate heart, but he had tried to replace him with the Dummy plug once. If he could have made it work he would have done it.

"Why are you telling me this?" Shinji asked harshly. "Trying to justify what you did?"

Gendo shook his head. "No. I'm under no delusions. I know where I sit with you, with the world. But you deserved to know. Your mother is gone, my plans are known to the world. I have nothing, nothing but the truth...and you."

"There is a Unit-01 in this base," Shinji said dismissively. "What's to stop you from trying the same with her?"

"Besides the fact that I'd be stopped before I could do anything?" Gendo replied dryly. "She's not my Yui. She's someone other Gendo's Yui. There was only one of her, and she's not even on this planet anymore."

"You still carry a torch for her. Even after what she did to you, to us?" Shinji questioned.

Yui Ikari had gone into Unit-01 knowing exactly what would happen to her, knowing she would abandon her son and husband. Knowing full well what kind of man she had for a husband. Misato had been more of a mother than Yui ever had, even if Misato was a self-declared failure at it.

Gendo shook his head. "Yui...I know what she did. But that doesn't change how I feel about her. Yui...before her I was nothing, she was the light of my life. She pulled me out of a dark pit and actually made feel like I was someone worthwhile. I would have done anything to get her back."

What disturbed Shinji most was he understood exactly what his father was feeling. He never felt like he had been destined to end up with Asuka, but ultimately there had been no one else who came even a tenth as close to his heart. The closest anyone else came was Kaworu, and that had only been for a brief period of time. After Third Impact, it had only been her. No one else had ever even caught his attention. He would do anything to protect his family, he had and Asuka had talked about doing horrible things to keep Ria safe after all. Was that the Ikari legacy? People willing to burn the world to protect the ones they loved?

"Why did you come here, anyways?" Gendo asked.

Shinji paused, thinking over his answers.

"A lot of reasons," Shinji admitted. "I wanted answers, to scream at you for everything you put me, Asuka, Rei, Misato, and Touji through. To look you in the eye and denounce everything that you were. I...I wanted to make sure I had not become you."

"If you had become anything like me," Gendo replied, "you would have had me shot within an hour of my arrival."

/

"You sure this is wise?" Kyoko questioned as they walked towards the house of one Sayaka Makinami, AKA: Leliel.

"Why do you keep asking that?" Ria replied. "We want her help, we're not going to get it by playing tricks on her. We need to be direct and forthright in how we approach her."

"Better than she deserves," Kyoko muttered.

Ria nodded. "No argument here."

The house was nice, located on the edges of Kyoto. Wealthy, maybe even super-wealthy. More traditional Japanese style, with a Zen garden dominating the front. Definitely something that had been in the family for a few generations.

"So...how are you holding up?" Kyoko asked.

"Fine," Ria replied curtly. "Well... not really fine, but I'll manage. Talk to a therapist tomorrow."

"That's good."

"Soo…" Ria shifted topics, trying to get her mind off her own discomfort, "been meaning to ask. Do you have someone back home? Boyfriend, girlfriend? Sapient Computer program?"

Kyoko sighed in annoyance. "I'm 14, so no."

"Hey, I had a girlfriend when I was 13," Ria replied.

"Yeah, well most of us don't devout 50% of our brain power to thinking about pretty girls," Kyoko said.

Well, maybe when she was single. But what was wrong with thinking about pretty girls?

"So, odd question," Kyoko said. "Do you want to have kids?"

Ria paused, looking at her with a tilted head. "Well, I mean Mari's mentioned wanting to adopt, but that's very long term."

"You think it's even possible for us to have kids?" Kyoko wondered. "I mean naturally, or at least one that's biologically ours?"

"What do you mean?" Ria questioned.

"Well, we're sort of hybrids. Like mules, and mules are sterile. But if we aren't...then what would our kids be like? Would they be human or something else?" Kyoko asked.

"I don't know," Ria shrugged. "I guess, maybe...could we just deal with one issue at a time without creating new ones?" It really wasn't a question she wanted to give much thought right now.

"Right, right. Sorry," Kyoko replied.

They approached the front of the house. An old brass bell hung by the thin door.

Kyoko rang it. A few seconds later a woman, roughly their mother's age, appeared at the door. The woman wasn't fully Japanese, looking more British than anything, dressed in rather upscale attire.

"Hello," the woman greeted with a noticeably Osakan accent. Osaka was close, but Ria had lived in Kyoto all her life, the differences in accents were unmistakable.

At least this was a sign they were on the right track.

"Hello," Ria greeted with a bow. "My name is Ria Ikari-Soryu. I'm here on behalf of WILLE and the Imperial Government. We believe your daughter may be-"

"Leliel, we know," the woman interrupted.

Ria paused, caught flat footed by her words.

"Err... I was gonna say 'witness to cult activities' but yeah, Angel works too," she awkwardly finished.

The woman turned to a young teenage boy standing behind her, looking on with worry.

"Go get your sister, tell her the Soryu girl has come to visit."

The boy ran further into the house.

"So I take it you know?" Ria said.

"Yes, yes. Come in, come in." The woman motioned them inside.

Ria walked in, the house was what you would expect from a traditional home. Paper walls that slide open, tame but expensive decorations, and not a chair in sight. Kyoko and Ria sat cross legged by one of the low tables.

"Would you like some tea while you wait?" the woman offered.

"Um, sure," Ria replied.

The woman disappeared for a second before coming back with a fancy tea set, steam rising off of it.

"Did you know my mother-in-law actually went to college with your grandmother? They were even roommates," the woman explained as she poured cups for them.

"Really?" Ria questioned. "Was she SEELE?"

"No, no," the woman replied dismissively. "At least not that my husband could prove."

Kyoko spoke up. "How aware are you of what's going on? You seem to be taking this... really calmly."

This was getting increasingly bizarre with each passing moment.

"Oh, Sayaka explained quite a bit months ago. What she was, what the child of the two Pilots was. That some of her kind were up to very bad things and they had to be stopped," the woman replied calmly.

"And you're not worried about why we're here?" Ria asked.

"Oh, if you were here to attack us you wouldn't have come in through the front door, in full view of the hidden cameras that upload to an offsite server and would be uploaded to the internet if anything happened to us," the woman's voice gained a slightly menacing edge.

"Though I do question how you knew where to find her," the woman went on. "Sayaka was pretty sure no one knew where she lived."

"Iruel knew who she was," Ria explained. "Name, address, high school, everything."

"How annoying," the woman said evenly.

"Ma'am, are you aware of what your daughter is doing?" Kyoko questioned, her frustration starting to build.

"Keeping the world safe," the woman replied, her voice full of pride. "Beyond that and her personal safety, what she does is not my concern."

'That just feels like bad parenting,' Ria noted.

"She's in her room," the boy from before said, interrupting whatever reply Kyoko had. "I can take you to her."

The two put down their tea and followed the boy.

"The girl's throwing chunks of other universes around like cinder blocks and her mom just goes 'not my business'? Who does that?" Kyoko hurriedly whispered.

"More money that sense, I bet," Ria whispered back. "That or she's doing a great job of hiding how terrified she is of her."

"Oh, mom tried to stop her once," the boy butted in. "Hard to stop a living shadow though. As far as mom's concerned, as long she doesn't embarrass the family or get herself killed, it's cool."

Ria stared at him in surprise.

"Your sister dragged me, along with an entire city block, into this universe, forcing us to fight in a war that wasn't ours at all," Kyoko said angrily.

"And what am I supposed to do about it?" the boy shrugged. "Anyways, here we are."

The boy gestured to the door and then walked off.

Ria about slammed it open, revealing an opulent bedroom, black carpet on the floor. With... Mari, sitting at the computer desk.

Ria stared in shock for a second before she realized this girl wasn't her Mari. Her hair, her outfit, even the smell was the same, but the look in her eyes made it clear, she was an Angel.

"Oh great, my nightmare and my dream all in one," Ria muttered. Frustrated and thrown off by the sight of this Angel version of her love.

"Another Leliel, I presume?" Kyoko asked, looking ready to fight.

"Quite. We felt it in our best interest to protect Sayaka until we could be certain of your intentions," the Leliel-Mari explained.

Ria shuddered. Hearing someone who looked liker her fiancée say those things was incredibly unsettling.

"We came to talk. Her family seemed to realize we're not a threat," Kyoko replied.

"Yes, but you didn't seem to consider the fact that we did not wish to speak with you. That if we had need of you we would have sent a message."

"Why, you bitch!" Kyoko shouted, fists shaking at her side.

The sheer arrogance in her voice snapped Ria back to reality.

"You realize we want to work together. I mean, one of your own is kidnapped and I imagine Iruel is just as much your enemy as he is ours." Ria said.

"We're dealing with that problem," Leliel said dismissively. "And who says we need your help?"

"You dragged me and Koda here!" Kyoko shouted. "You tore us from everything I knew and threw us here, without explanation or even asking!"

Ria felt rage build inside her, but then she paused. Her rational side overcame her anger. This was too arrogant, nonsensically so. And why would they use Mari? They had to know they were just pissing them off...

"And who says we needed to ask you anything?" Leliel sneered.

Ria looked down, instead of black carpet, they were now standing on something far darker, an abyss devoid of features...

A living shadow.

"Crap," Ria muttered.

Kyoko screamed as she charged towards Leliel. Only for her feet to sink into the black shadow beneath her, stopping her charge in her tracks.

Ria watched as the shadow consumed her as well, drawing both of them in like quicksand.

"This feels grossly unnecessary," Ria complained.

"We do apologize."Leliel said in a far less arrogant voice "But we didn't feel safe speaking here. And we suspected you would not come willingly. We will talk more once you've reached Yggdrasil."

Ria could only stare at her in frustration and confusion as the shadow consumed her.

 

[Teen Spirit]

Bright, everything was bright white light. For a second it was all Ria could see, bright white light. Then after a few blinks her eyes adjusted to the change.

She was lying in a hallway of sorts, with dozens of paths splitting of from it in every direction, including up and down. Everything around her had the texture of a tree, the thick gnarled bark of an ancient forest. The walls were made of roots woven in and around each other. Everything looked like it had been made from a tree. Ria ran her fingers over the floor. Even the floor felt like it, except it seemed to be made of light as well. It almost resembled a forest made of crystal. The whole hallway glowed softly with white light.

Ria sat up. Kyoko did the same. Before them stood the Mari Leliel, along with a dozen other figures. Most of them were women, with one or two men. Some of them she recognized, some of them seemed vaguely familiar, and others were complete strangers. Each of them seemed to be radiating darkness, like black ink spots upon the plain canvas of the hallway.

"Welcome to Yggdrasil" one of them said, presumably Sayaka Makinami judging by how similar she looked to the other Makinami's at the estate.

"Yeah," Ria groaned with annoyance. "Care to explain what that means, or is Norse Myth real and we're actually Frost Giants?"

"It's just a name," Sayaka admitted, "but it is a fitting one. Yggdrasil is a construct, or rather a series of overlapping constructs made by numerous different NERVs and similar organizations. It is the bridge between universes. It's roots go to a dozen versions of reality, it's branches reach thousands, twisting through the very fabric. Existing at every point in time."

"Okay," Kyoko said. "Why the heck are we here, though?"

"Because we needed a place free from prying eyes to speak," a bottle-blonde haired Leliel replied.

"And you needed be in control as well, I imagine," Ria snarked as she looked over the group. "What is this, anyways? Did you form a Leliel club or something? Because that's hilariously egotistical."

"More of a mutual alliance," Ria flinched as she realized the Leliel talking was another Kodama. "We aid each other, help solve our problems, fix other universes. Protect what can be protected."

'Really starting to get why Lilith hates her so much,' Ria grumbled mentally.

"By throwing other people at the problem so they can fix it for you?" Kyoko snapped.

"Wait, if the tree exists at every point in time, couldn't you just go back and fix things?" Ria questioned. "Seems like you're making this more complicated than it needs to be."

"It's not that simple," Sayaka replied. "Come, walk with us."

Ria and Kyoko reluctantly followed Sayaka and the others to what appeared to be an arched doorway with a door of frosted glass.

"This leads back to your home," one of the Leliel explained. "To when we left, plus however many minutes we've been here. If we were to travel to another door and exit there, we would wind up in that universe at roughly the same time. Time is constant at the doorways."

Ria pinched the bridge of her nose. "But you just said..."

"We are in a space outside of time," Sayaka interrupted. "The doors are bound by the flow of time due to being part way in the other universes they travel to. But Yggdrasil itself..."

She ran her hand along the wall, blackness briefly hiding some of the light.

"Imagine each branch is a river, flowing from the Big Bang of each universe, to its final end," she explained. "The doors are like rafts without oars, carried by the river in one direction, never stopping. But Yggdrasil is an imperfect structure, there are weak points in it that can be used to force an entrance with enough strength."

"So you're not only playing god, you're also intentionally using the massive, trans-dimensional structure that connects to everything that ever existed in a way it was not designed for?" Ria was aghast. "This is why Lilith hates you, you know."

"Well, it doesn't connect to every universe," the Kodama-Leliel chimed in. "'Only' a few thousand universes at best. I mean, theoretically there's an entire omniverse out there. Limitless numbers."

"Not. The. Point," Ria said tersely. "You screwed with Kyoko's life, Koda's life, and all of the Pilots' lives. You never asked if any of them if they wanted to help, you never took an active role, you never came to anyone for help."

"Do you know how many Rias I've encountered?" Sayaka asked. "I've seen versions of 'you' where your mother died in childbirth and Misato formally adopted you. Worlds where you were Crown Princess of Japan, where you were born Arael, Ramiel, Shamshel. Worlds where magic existed. I've seen versions of you eviler than Ramiel. I've also seen versions of you that were kind and gentle people. All of them in universes that would have suffered greatly without our intervention. Our universe would have suffered horribly had I not brought in the Pilots! Ramiel would have had decades to enact his plans-"

"You could have talked to us!" Ria shouted.

"I did!" Sayaka shot back. "None of them listened to me when I warned them of the dangers. And you were too close to Sachiel to risk contacting. No one knew where you stood on anything. You had cut yourself off from everyone save Okito. Every assumed you two were on the same page."

"I wasn't…" Ria paused, calming herself. "We're getting off-topic. We came for two reasons: One, the kidnapped Leliel. Two, making sure you actually get all the people you took back to where they belong when this is all over."

"We're aware of our kidnapped compatriot," the Mari-Leliel spoke up. "We don't know where she is, though."

"According to Dimitri, Iruel has him," Ria explained.

"We figured as much," Sayaka replied. "Ramiel had used her once to grab something, but since then... nothing. That's part of why we grabbed Kyoko Ikari and the other Sachiel so quickly. That threw us into a bit of a panic."

"What did Ramiel grab?" Ria asked.

Sayaka Makinami shook her head. "We're not sure. We couldn't even trace what universe he had been in, just that he had been here," Sayaka replied

Well, that was quite troubling. Ramiel could have grabbed any number of things. And he hadn't used it yet.

"If Iruel has her." one of the other Leliels said. "Then he has to be keeping her in a medically-induced coma. That's the only way to keep one of us locked up. Or he's killed her, but I rather doubt that."

"So look for either medical supplies going somewhere they shouldn't, or someone in a hospital who shouldn't be there. She's genetically the exact same as Himari Yamagishi, Sandalphon's sister. So if you know what she looks like, you know what you're looking for," Sayaka explained.

Finally, some progress was being made.

"So wait, you grabbed an entire city block just because you got spooked?" Kyoko was quite upset at that.

"We had to rush things," Sayaka was apologetic. "We had intended to grab the 'Pilots' of your world as well, the ones we dropped in. Don't worry, everything is safe. Gaghiel and a few other assets are dealing with Zeruel. Your family is safe."

"Oh," Kyoko said with a sigh of relief. "Well, that's good."

"Still, we need you to stay in Ria's universe for the time being," Sayaka replied.

"Could I just go for a visit or something?"

Sayaka shook her head. "We've tried that before. It never ends well."

Kyoko was disappointed, but no longer enraged. Ria still felt like these Leliels were making decisions that they had no business being involved with.

"So, I take it that goes for all of them?" Ria asked.

"We'll return Ayanami when the situation stabilizes, yes," Sayaka replied, looking somewhat nervous all of a sudden.

"What about Shinji and Asuka?" Ria questioned.

Sayaka turned away.

"They have to stay there," she said, eyes turned away from Ria.

"Why?" Ria demanded.

Ria loved those two, despite the ups and downs. They were family, but they had a home, a real home. A home that needed them. People that needed them.

Sayaka still refused to look her in the eyes. "We needed people who would bond with WILLE. People we knew were up to this fight. We didn't use an alternate universe, we traveled back along this branch and found a weak spot during the battle with Sahaquiel. Had we not done anything, those Pilots would have become your parents."

"Oookay?" Ria replied. "That doesn't really answer my question."

Sayaka walked forward, her gaze focused on one of the many hallways.

"You can't alter time, not really," she explained. "Going back, no matter how small the change, just creates another universe."

"So just send them back to the point you altered," Ria said firmly.

Sayaka shook her head again. "That would just create another universe. One where there are two sets of Pilots, and two sets of Evangelions."

They turned down a new hallway, the walls and floor growing noticeably thicker and more gnarled.

"Okay...so just drop them off like five seconds after you took them or something!" Ria felt herself growing increasingly irritated.

"You don't think we tried?" the Mari Leliel replied. "Yggdrasil is thick here. We tried to breach it multiple times. Nothing we did got us close enough to the divergent point."

A wave of hushed talk rolled through the Leliels. And girl looked distinctly like she deeply regretted her last words.

"What do you mean, 'close enough'?" Ria questioned.

"Well, you know... don't want to send them twenty years into a future they know nothing about," Mari said evasively.

Ria glared at her, there was more to this. Dread was starting to boil within her.

"Lady, do not think for a moment that that pretty face of yours is going to stop me from breaking it if you don't start suddenly becoming a lot more communicative. What do you mean by 'close enough'?"

"Exactly what you think," Sayaka said nervously. "We can't send them home because there's no home to send them to."

Ria's stomach knotted within her.

"Gott in Himmel," Kyoko was horrified.

"Without the other two Evas, NERV survived for a while. But when Bardiel came it was a disaster. Unit-00 was defeated and infected. The infected Eva was able to breach Central Dogma and start Third Impact. If you traveled to that universe in the present day, you would see a completely alien landscape, filled with blue skies, blood red sands, and great towers of flesh and glass. We can endure it relatively easily but anyone strictly born of Lilith? Dead in minutes."

Ria felt like she was struck. That mean that everyone, everything they knew before this was gone, dead. And they didn't even have a chance to protect them.

"What... what about the human population?" she asked.

Leliel kept looking away, and said nothing, just shaking her head.

"You... you murdered an entire world..." Ria's voice was shaking with sorrow and anger.

"A world that only existed because of us," the Kodama Leliel said.

"It was regrettable," Sayaka admitted, "but we had no other choice. None of us like it, but it's a call we've had to make before. A world that should have never been or a world that formed naturally? One million vs 2 billion? It's simple math, really."

"What makes you think you have the right to make those sorts of calls?!" Ria screamed. "You're playing god, all of you!"

"We're protecting entire universes, billions of people are alive because of us, because of our powers!" Sayaka argued back.

"And billions are dead because of you! Countless more have had their lives ruined or thrown into chaos!" Ria retorted. "You are messing with the fundamental aspects of reality itself! You're completely out of control!"

"We control ourselves," Leliel-Kodama replied. "Everything we do is decided by group vote. Nothing we do is done without serious debate and consideration."

"We're FUCKING teenagers!" Ria shouted. "A council made Leliels is still a council of kids! What we are doesn't make us better suited to anything! It just makes us more dangerous! You don't get to play god!"

Her rage grew with every second. They were just as bad as Ramiel, merely in a different way.

"So what? We should just let our worlds die?" Sayaka said, growing angry. "Leave this in the hands of Lilith, a neglectful god who uses and abuses us?"

"You've killed billions!" Ria exclaimed. "An entire world is dead, more than one from what you say. No one should have the kind of power you're throwing around. This needs to stop, now!"

The Leliels looked among each other for a moment.

"No," they answered as one.

Ria's eyes began to glow red. Shinji and Asuka had been used, like Lilith had used her. They deserved justice, they deserved... so much more than she could give them now.

"Ria, I know how you feel, believe me, I do," Kyoko whispered, "but if we start a fight here, against dozens of them, we're not getting back."

Ria wanted nothing more than to start ripping heads and beating Leliels with Leliels, but Kyoko had a point. This was not the time for a fight.

She breathed in and out, doing her best to keep her anger under control.

"Thank you for the advice about looking for your missing comrade," Ria said through gritted teeth, "but we're done here."

"Fair enough," Sayaka nodded.

Ria shook her head. What was she going to tell them? How... how could she even begin to explain this to Shinji and Asuka?

 

[Teen Spirit]

"So, they were us. Until they stopped being us, diverged with this, whatever. And the world that was our past, until it was altered, is now dead? Gone?" Asuka asked, her brain trying to process what her daughters had just told her.

"Yeah," Ria said morosely.

"Wasn't that what we had assumed before anyway?" Ibuki questioned.

"Some of it, sure, but hearing it laid out is just... strange." Asuka replied.

Asuka had feared something like this for a while. They had been the only things standing between Humanity and the Angels. But hearing confirmation of it was still a punch to the gut.
She could already see where it was going to go; the other Shinji would blame himself, telling himself that he failed them. Whereas her counterpart... Oh boy. After the initial grief and shock, she would feel trapped by Asuka's shadow, terrified she would never be able to escape it, forever remembered as just the "other" Asuka.

Ria sat in the corner of Asuka's office. Though she was composed now, it is clear she had been crying heavily earlier. It was also obvious she was trying to fight off her own rage and frustration at the issue, still scared by what had happened with Hikari. Problem was, she had every reason to be outraged this time. Leliel had callously used the pilots and counted an entire world dying, even if said only truly existed because of their actions, as 'Acceptable losses'. Playing that sort of cold math with people was a good way to get a lot of people killed.

"At least we now have a face and likely search avenue to use," Maya added.

Either they were keeping her as an unknown person in a hospital or had her hidden somewhere and were shipping in the drugs needed to keep her unconscious. Both of those were something to investigate.

"So what do you make of Leliel's talk of Ramiel having some sort of Asset?" Asuka asked.

Ria shrugged. "Don't know. If it's a person it's not one of us, or not a version of us he could have used to infiltrate the place. Otherwise why bother with Hikari? Whatever it is, I have to wonder why he hasn't used it yet."

That was the biggest question. He gambled a lot on trying to get Okito back, even his own life. So why didn't he use this 'Asset'? What was his game? What did he have?

"You know I need to tell them," Ria stated. "Now. The longer we sit the more it hurts."

"They need to know," Asuka agreed. "But you don't have to be the one-"

"I kind of do. Sorry," Ria interrupted. "It needs to be from a friendly face. From you or dad it will just feel like a slap in the face. Misato's still recovering and the way she looks right now, it would just hurt them more."

"Fair enough," Asuka agreed. "Are you gonna be okay?"

Ria threw her hands up in the air, lost for a real answer. "Done my grieving for now," she replied. "Now I'm just tired and frustrated, and that's making me nervous because I'm worried I'll get so frustrated I'll lose control of myself."

"I'm sorry," Asuka said. "I wish...I wish there was more I could say right now but that's the best I got. Things are getting better though."

"I know, and I'm seeing the therapist tomorrow, so that helps," Ria sighed. "For today I'm going to go down there and tell them the truth. Stay with them as long as they need me. After that I'm going downtown with Mari hitting the movies. Try to take my mind off it. That okay with you, Mom?"

"Yeah, that sounds fine," Asuka replied.

/

Something was up, that much Pilot Soryu was sure of. Ria wanted to see them, urgently so. Not that seeing Ria was a bad thing. Asuka liked her weird sort-of-Angel/sort-of-daughter, but her wanting to see both her and Shinji right after she came back from some sort of mission? That couldn't be good news. Something bad had happened.

Asuka's worries were further confirmed when Ria entered, sorrow etching her face. Asuka had come to realize over the past few months that Ria was a very emotional girl, but most of the time when she was upset she expressed it through loudly vocal rage and frustration. This... this was different.

Before saying anything she walked up and pulled both Asuka and Shinji into a hug, holding them closely. Which only served to remind Asuka of just how freaking tall the girl was, and worry her further. Something very very bad had happened.

"I'm sorry," Ria whispered. "I'm so, so sorry. There was nothing I could do."

/

Armisael watched as another volunteer stepped into the the tube, the "Exaltation Chamber" As some of the fools had come to call it. Langley had refined it to the point where it was almost automated, needing no involvement from the man himself. Those who went through the process consumed themselves blessed, chosen, one step closer to godhood.

Langley himself was working on the next step, something that, while it wouldn't place him on the level of Tabris, that was still a ways away, but was the next step from the way Langley talked about it. It would give him some actual physical power, put him on nearly the same level as some of the middle of the road Angels like Armisael herself.

Of course locking himself away to improve on the project was also the man's way of sulking, something everyone was quite aware of, much to Armisael's delight. Ramiel may have cracked harder than a mirror thrown down a flight of stairs, but seeing Mr. Langley so utterly defeated and stripped of all influence was deeply satisfying.

Arael walked up to her, his face unreadable.

"So, have you heard about Ramiel's new plan?" Armisael asked.

"I was helping him with it," Arael answered.

"Oh?" Armisael raised an eyebrow. "Helping him with this mysterious 'Asset' of his?"

"No, I released Matarael," Arael replied simply.

Armisael stared at him for a while, waiting for the boy to crack a smile or laugh or do something to give away that he was joking. He remained completely stone-faced.

"...I feel like I'm missing something here," Armisael replied.

Why would they release Matarael? Ramiel had wanted to kill him, not too long ago. And she had nearly gotten a whole mess of grief for letting Misato and the others go.

"Matarael knows that Iruel took that Leliel," Arael pointed out.

"Yeah…" Armisael grew even more confused. "So did Gendo Ikari. Those two did talk quite a bit. Pretty sure WILLE knows now."

"Yes," Arael said, tilting his head. "But Iruel is still moving ahead with the peace plans, which means he doesn't know that Ikari knows. But with Matarael out there…"

"They know their secret is in danger," Armisael finished.

She could admire the reasoning behind that. With Matarael out in the open, Iruel was going to know his plans were in danger. And WILLE wouldn't be able to catch Iruel by surprise with that data. Both sides would suffer and for little gain.

"Soooo, I take it you're wholly behind this 'out our secret to the world and then rise from the ashes of the ensuing chaos' plan, then?" Armisael asked.

"I support any plan that keeps me alive," Arael replied sharply. "I believe this plan will do exactly that."

"Hmm," Armisael wasn't sure if she agreed with that. Staying here was keeping her alive for now. For now.

Maybe he was right, maybe the only way to survive was Ramiel's mad scheme. Staying out entirely would have been the best choice, but that road had long since closed. Armisael had to make the most of what she had open to her, and this seemed to be it.

"So what do we do now?" she asked.

"We wait," Arael told her. "Ramiel wants us to strike at just the right moment, and the pieces aren't in proper position yet."

/

They were dead. Dead. Kaji was dead. So was Misato, Hikari, her father, her step-mother, her half-sister, Rei, Touji, Pen-Pen, everyone. Besides Shinji, everyone Asuka had known before she came here was dead.

It wasn't surprising, in truth. The moment they halfway understood the scope of what had happened to them, part of Asuka had always suspected something terrible had happened in their absence. Wondergirl alone wasn't enough to fight most, if any, of the Angels they had yet to fight, so with just her left to NERV...

Asuka felt weirdly numb, cold more than grief stricken. She hadn't borne witness to any of it, after all, just heard about third-hand from Ria. And pretty much everyone she had known was still alive here, sort-of. Despite everything, no one on their side of things had died here save for Kaji. Hikari and Misato, they were all still around... they just weren't the people she had known. They were people who had known an entirely different Asuka for over two decades now. Hell, Hikari was old enough to be Asuka's mother, and had kids older than her.

She had no home. She was an extra in this universe, a copy made by a group of morons who thought she would be a useful tool in this war. She was a doll to these Leliels.

Asuka drove her fist into the plastic covering of the snack machine. A few moments later she let out of flurry of punches into the machine while cursing repeatedly in German.

She was nobody's doll, or tool! And she was not just a copy either! She was Asuka Langley Soryu, and she was going to be a greater pilot than Commander Soryu ever was.

"We'll show them," Asuka declared. "We'll show them we're not just copies, we're our own people! And we'll be better than them, both of them! Isn't that right, Shinji?"

At that point she realized Shinji wasn't beside her. He wasn't anywhere in the room.

Asuka left the break room in a near panic. She retraced her steps until she found Shinji, still standing in the middle of a hallway, his head down and his eyes wide.

"Shinji, what the heck are you doing?!" she exclaimed.

"We... we failed them," he muttered, staring at nothing. "We were supposed to protect them and we abandoned them... we left them and now they're gone..."

Asuka grabbed him by the sleeves and yanked him closer to her.

"Shinji," she rasped, her voice cracking in grief, "there was nothing we could have done! We didn't abandon them, we were taken."

"They didn't know that!" Shinji shouted, tears starting to fall down his face. "They died thinking we abandoned them! Rei and Misato, they were fighting for their lives while we were sitting here, doing nothing!"

She wanted to smack him, slap him across the face and call him an idiot like she used to. But she was having the same thoughts, same doubts.

"There was nothing we could have done," Asuka repeated. "It's not your fault. We're a universe away, no one here even knew how to begin to try to get us back. It's Leliels' fault. They used us, they used all of us."

"They're all gone!" he cried. "They're all gone!"

"I know," she replied, her fragile composure crumbling. "I know."

Asuka grabbed him in a hug, holding him tightly as they both cried. The last two survivors of a dead world.