He'd be taking medication for months, years even, to ensure there was no rejection. He would have to visit a doctor every day for the next two weeks, but at least he was back into actual clothes instead of a hospital gown. Black pants, with a white button shirt and a black undershirt. A slight variation on his normal look. Very slight.
He looked at his hand, flexing it a few times to confirm once again that yes it was still working. Shinji wasn't sure what to do with it. If he left it exposed it would always stick out. He would always get stares, looks, people judging him, people looking down at him for being incomplete.
Then again considering who he was, people were staring at him already.
Gloves would cover it up but then he'd be one goatee, glasses, and a creepy smile away from looking exactly like his father.
Maybe a set of black gloves, that might work.
Just as Shinji finished buttoning his shirt, the door opened. In walked Ria and Asuka. Both looked upset, though less downtrodden then he had expected.
"How was it?" he asked.
"Everything we lost can be replaced," Asuka said firmly. She wasn't about to let this break her.
Though in the grand scheme of things, having most of her apartment burn down probably wasn't even in the top five biggest things that had happened this week for Asuka.
"How are you, Ria?" Shinji asked.
"Fine, though Kodama has been texting me. She's taken a rather hardline stance against her brother and Angels in general and she's leaning on me for support. So you know, big freaking pile of awkward there," she said, her tone joking but devoid of humor.
Most of WILLE would kill her if they knew the truth, and after Okito Shinji couldn't see anyone else really accepting her after what the reborn Sachiel had done.
That was probably Okito's goal on some level; expose her so that everyone she knew, save for him, would reject her and drive her out. Leaving her nowhere else to turn.
If Shinji and Asuka had rejected Ria, or had not shown her enough trust…
She was a good kid, even considering the situation, but everyone has their limits. And the thought of Ria being pushed to hers like that was, well, terrifying.
"You aren't responsible for Okito," Shinji tried to assure her. "And she'll calm down. She's dealing with a lot right now."
"On a related note," Asuka added, "Misato's briefing Kensuke as we speak. Do you want to talk with him when she's done?"
"Why is Misato interviewing him?" Shinji asked,more than a little confused.
"Misato doesn't want the Suzuharas to be unable to talk about what's happened in their own home. Plus she wants another set of eyes she can trust at school. See if any of the kids there are planning something."
"None of them are Angels," Ria complained.
"We know," Asuka replied. "But Misato doesn't."
"If they were I would have killed them by now," Ria added quietly, her voice seething with rage.
Asuka stared at her with an expression that was at once exhausted, disturbed, and concerned.
"Right, sorry," Ria said, her head twitching nervously.
"I should see him, shouldn't I?" Shinji asked.
He wanted to. He had reservations, but he wanted to say hi to Kensuke.
He couldn't really be friends with him again, not like before. He was too old for that, but the other Shinji was around so at least there was someone his age.
Still, he owed him a hello and a chance to catch up at least. He was somewhat responsible for Kensuke losing twenty years of his life.
"Yes, you should," Asuka insisted. "He's going to have a hard enough time adjusting as it is."
/
"Tsukiko Yamagishi?" Misato said, repeating every syllable of the name like it was some ancient curse. "You're positive that's the name she gave you?"
"Yes," Kensuke replied, desperately wishing he could be anywhere else right now.
The past few hours had been some of the most shocking of his life.
The Angels being both human and Angel at the same time. The attacks against Shinji and Asuka, both sets of them. How one of the attackers, one the Angels, had been Touji and Hikari's own son. It was like the world had turned into some sort of horror movie.
Misato had explained in detail over the course of a few hours. She wasn't the same carefree, hard drinking woman he had seen and had more than a few thoughts over. She was older, though age had done little to her physically, and so much more serious. She had been stone faced throughout the entire briefing, her eyes hard and full of hatred anytime she mentioned Sachiel, the Angel that was in Touji's kid.
Kensuke found himself rather frightened of her.
Then she mentioned a name, a name he had almost forgotten after everything she had told him. The name of the girl on the train.
When he mentioned the girl on train it was like something switched on inside of Misato.
"You're one hundred percent certain?" she asked again.
"Y-yes," Kensuke replied, trying to make himself as small as possible in the plastic chair he was sitting on.
"S-she had brown eyes, her glasses looked pretty much like mine, and her hair was black," he went on.
"Thank you," Misato nodded slightly as she went towards her computer, the sound of furious key clicks filling the air. "I'll have a sketch artist here in a bit. But before that, I need you to listen to this very carefully, and tell me if it's the same person."
"Okay," Kensuke said hesitantly.
"Hello. This uh…Tsukiko Yamagishi, I'm working on.." A female voice came out of a wall mounted speaker, loud and clear.
Kensuke strained his mind, trying to put the voice to the person.
"Could you run it again?" he asked.
"This uh…Tsukiko Yamagishi, I'm working on..." the clip repeated.
Then another clip was played. "I know. I'm not trying to redeem his image or anything. I just want to understand who he was as a human being. Too often we call the worst of criminals monsters. What they did was monstrous, but people aren't monsters."
Kensuke considered for a moment, doubt filling his thoughts.
"...No," Kensuke said, his legs shaking.
"Are you sure?" Misato questioned.
"Yeah, I mean yes, ma'am," Kensuke replied. "The lady on the phone sounds like she has an Osaka accent. I've been around Touji long enough to know that accent when I hear it. The girl on the train didn't sound anything like her,. I couldn't even place her accent, now that I think of it. I'm sorry, but they sound rather different."
"It's fine," Misato said with a sigh. "Just call me immediately if you see this girl again."
~~~
The briefing lasted about another hour. By the end of it, Kensuke was about ready to collapse in horror.
He had picked an incredibly bad time to come out of the sea.
He opened the door out of the meeting room, turned towards his left and saw... Asuka Langley Soryu standing there, a sour expression on her face and those clips still in her red hair. Wearing what looked like a dark colored school uniform.
Oh...wonderful.
"Welcome back to the real world," she said condescendingly.
"Why are you here?" Why would Asuka of all people be waiting for him?
"Shinji asked me to come with him, don't ask me why. And of course he got pulled away for a moment. I'm not here for you. Don't think I've forgotten those pictures," she said pointedly.
But you are here for Shinji? Kensuke wondered, though he didn't give voice to the thought. That would have been suicidal.
"Asuka, be nice." Kensuke turned to see another girl standing behind him.
She was tall, not huge but definitely tall for a girl. She looked a bit older, though she was wearing the same uniform as Asuka, and she had an exhausted look about her.
"Hello," she said as she stuck out her hand, which Kensuke took gingerly. "Ria Soryu. A pleasure to meet you, Mr.Aida."
"Soryu?" Kensuke questioned before realization hit. "Oh, you're Shinji and Asuka's kid? The other Asuka, I mean."
That had been a shocking friendly greeting for a Soryu. She must take more after her father.
She nodded. "Yes. My parents will be here in a bit."
Two Asukas, now that would be a sight for sure. Two Shinjis as well, that had to be weird.
"Touji is going to meet you at his apartment," Ria explained rather sadly. "He's going through a lot right now."
"I heard about Okito," Kensuke said "That's...I can't even begin to imagine what he's going through right now. D-do you think I should stay with him, considering the situation."
"He insisted upon it, apparently," Ria said.
Well that was surprising, and confusing. Kensuke didn't think he could be much comfort but if Toji and Hikari wanted him there he wasn't going to argue.
"Oh, there you are," Asuka said with exasperation as she stared down a hallway.
Shinji Ikari walked out behind her. Looking pretty much the same as he had when he last saw him, same general expression, same outfit.
"Hey," Shinji awkwardly.
"Hey," Kensuke repeated. "So uh, how's the future treating you, besides the whole, you know, Angel thing."
"Pretty good," Shinji shrugged. "Ria's been a great help, though having to live with my other self has been-"
"Incredibly awkward," Asuka interrupted. "Much like this conversation. Can we go now? We do need to get what's left of our things over to Misato's place."
"Already moved," an older, but still unmistakably similar voice said.
Shinji and Asuka appeared, the older ones, the ones that had actually been through most of what he remembered. Misato had told the younger pair they had been taken from when that giant Angel nearly dropped itself on the city, right after Misato got promoted. So they didn't remember, or rather hadn't actually been through Touji being a Pilot, then losing his leg, or any of the stuff that had followed that.
Man this time travel stuff was giving him a headache.
Heck being here, surrounded by two sets of Asuka and Shinji, was starting to freak him out. The older Asuka looked like he had expected, but her expression was downright friendly. On her it looked... unnatural.
Then there was Shinji. Shinji looked as old as Misato did back in the day. It looked as though someone had taken his face and put molded it into some new, gaunt shape. His outfit was the same. He was awkwardly waving with one hand while the other was buried in his pocket. There were bandages on both of his arms and his face.
"So if you touch your other self does the world implode?" Kensuke blurted out in a failed attempt to make this situation less surreal.
The older Asuka laughed, not mocking either, the laugh sounded light hearted and genuine. Not a noise he would expect out of her.
"No," Ria said, "though apparently Dr. Akagi ran some tests on that to make sure."
Asuka, the older one, extended her hand towards Kensuke. Which he stared at in confusion.
"I'm not going to bite," she insisted.
"If you say so," Kensuke replied, taking her hand gingerly.
Who was this woman? She looked like Asuka, had her accent. But the sheer contrast between her and the grouchy German behind him was rather astounding.
"You've changed," Kensuke commented.
"Twenty years will do that to a person," Asuka agreed.
The younger one let out a dismissive huff.
"So how are you doing Kensuke?" the older Shinji asked.
"Okay. I mean this whole situation is really terrifying but I'm okay. How are you?"
"Surviving," Shinji said. "Well, mostly."
He pulled out his hand revealing...Oh.
Kensuke tried not to react, though the younger Shinji nearly jumped back at the sight of it. It almost looked like the older Shinji was wearing part of a glove. Most of his hand was replaced with plastic that nearly looked like skin but not quite. It moved like a normal hand though.
"Does it hurt?" The younger Shinji asked
"Not really," his counterpart assured him. "It's strange but I'm getting used to it."
"Sorry," he said, seeing the surprised look on Kensuke's face. "I wasn't trying to make this about me."
"No, no, it's fine," Kensuke insisted. "It was nice seeing you guys, both of you. But I have a ride waiting."
"So do we," Teenage Asuka said, glaring at Shinji with annoyance.
"Let's catch up more later," Adult Shinji suggested.
"Yeah, let's," Kensuke agreed.
/
Seoul, Korea. The capital of a unified nation. Home to some six million people. The city really was the heart of the nation; most of the country's population lived within fifty kilometers of it. It had been badly damaged by Second Impact but had rebuilt and survived Third Impact with next to no damage. It was a prosperous and vibrant city, a city unburdened by the fears of the past.
Today was a normal day for the city, brightly sunny, barely a cloud in the sky. It's population went about its day much the same as they had for years. Sure, the news was dominated by stories of the Angel and cult attacks in Kyoto. But that was Japan. Angels had never bothered Korea. And the Church of Lilith was a small group in Korea.
Then it appeared, hovering in the sky above downtown Seoul. A ball of orange energy. For a second it sat there, spinning in the sky like a second sun, then the energy faded, revealing a massive diamond, it's eight sides were impossibly smooth, blue and glass like. Hanging in the sky it looked peaceful, almost serene.
But the Angel Ramiel, the Thunder of God, was anything but. A brilliant flash of bright pink erupted from it's center, striking the 63 Square building, one of the largest in Asia. It was seared in half, the top of it crumbling into the Han river, the rest of it became a towering inferno, filling the air with black smoke.
Ramiel lashed out again and again as it traveled along the Han, striking seemingly at random. Finacial districts, parks, garages, it made no difference. The unnatural scream of it's laser building up for another shot was the only warning people had. The evacuation was confused and disorganized. What seemed like a safe path would become blocked by the wreckage of a collapsed building. Roads and walkways were turned into molten rock.
A mass of artillery opened fire upon the Angel as missiles screeched through the air. The Angel gave these acts of defiance no notice. White hot shells bounced harmlessly off it's crystal-like skin. Missiles burst uselessly against it's AT-field.
It refocused it's attention, striking at historical landmarks. Changdeokgung Palace, Hwaseong Fortress, Jongmyo, and the ancient fortress city of Namhansanseong, the Legacy of the Kingdom of Joseon, were all reduced to ruin in a matter of minutes.
It paused for a moment, hanging in the air as the city dissolved in chaos below it.
It let out another lance of energy, this one lasting far longer than the others, craving a bloody path through the heart of the city, cutting through business, hospitals, roads, and train stations.
Ten minutes after it began, Ramiel ceased its assault, slipping gently into the Han River as Seoul burned around it.
