"Near as we can tell, Arael, Armisael, Sandalphon, and Israfel have all escaped," Hyuga explained. "Government agents reported contact with Ramiel but he... cut them down quickly. We're currently scouring for any video footage we can find in the area, see if we caught one of them on camera."
Unfortunate, very unfortunate. Still at least they finally killed one of the Angels.
"...And Ria?" Misato said hesitantly. Ria had been a terrible state when they found her, nonresponsive and looking on the edge of starvation.
"She's awake," he assured her. "Doctors are currently in the middle of running tests, making sure she's not going to go into any sort of shock."
"Thank you, Hyuga. You are dismissed," Misato replied evenly.
Hyuga left, leaving Misato and Ritsuko alone in the former's office. Misato sat at her desk, her head resting on one hand as Ritsuko stood in front of her.
"There wasn't much left of the Fourth Angel," Ritsuko explained. "We were able to recover her head, though. Most of it, anyways. Hopefully the autopsy will provide insights we couldn't recover from our prisoner."
"Yes, hopefully," Misato replied, distracted and distant.
"I understand your anxiety. This operation left us with a lot to process," Ritsuko stated. "The defense system is still compromised. The Angels appear to be in some sort of civil war-"
"And my failings as a General," Misato added.
Ritsuko looked at her with confusion. "Pardon?"
Misato sighed, pushing down a sudden craving for a drink. "I don't fault you for bringing in Ria, I don't. We didn't have anything else in range that would have been able to break through Ramiel's AT-Field."
"That's rather surprising," Ritsuko replied.
"I know," Misato agreed, her head swirling with numerous conflicting thoughts. "But when it comes down to it, I should have seen that ambush coming. Sure I suspected something was up, but the fact that they set up an ambush for Ria completely blindsided me. And it shouldn't have. I mean, I'm fighting a bunch of goddamn teenagers here, they shouldn't be out foxing me! We could have lost people out there, because of my failures."
'I am fighting goddamn teenagers.' The thought left Misato cold.
"Do you think I'm fit to remain as Commander of WILLE?" Misato asked bluntly.
Ritsuko stood there silently for a moment, put off by the question.
"We don't have a viable replacement," Ritsuko said finally. "Soryu is too unpopular because of her daughter. I have zero qualifications for the job, Maya has too much on her plate, and anyone else wouldn't carry the sort of respect needed to function at the job."
"That doesn't really answer my question," Misato pointed out.
"It's the best I can offer right now," Ritsuko said.
Misato nodded. "Fair enough, I'll let you get back to your work."
Ritsuko walked towards the door.
"Word of advice, though?" Misato stopped her as she was nearly out. "Stay away from the Sub-commander and Shinji for a while. I imagine they're particularly pissed at you right now for giving Ria that fragment of Zeruel."
Ritsuko nodded and left.
Misato's thoughts lingered on Ria.
On paper at least, Misato's previous arguments against the girl still held water. Most of what she did could ultimately boil down to self interest. And the events of today certainly showed that the Angels did love to scheme.
And yet… Ria had given them their first Angel kill, probably saved the Pilots from the worst of the Angel's wrath, endured a gross violation of her mind, nearly killed Okito and allowed WILLE to capture him, saved her parents from his rampage, and... saved Misato from his second attack on WILLE.
'She saved my life and how do I respond? By shooting her in the face.'
Part of Misato wanted to just push away these thoughts. She was an Angel, she had lied to everyone.
But Misato's actions had given her every reason to lie, and just thinking of them as Angels is why the ambush took her off guard. She needed to be better than this. She needed to start owning up to the fact that she was wrong.
"I was wrong," Misato said to the empty office.
Even still admitting it felt like throwing freezing water in her face. So many things she had done and said, and it was all for nothing. She ruined her relationship with the closest thing she would ever have to a granddaughter, for nothing.
'I never thought of myself as perfect person. Can't really do that when you're a grown woman who tried to seduce a fourteen year old boy on more than one occasion. But at least thought I was better than Commander Ikari.'
She should have given her benefit of the doubt, she had helped raise the girl after all. For crying out loud, during the worst of it Asuka had even tried to give her sole legal custody of Ria. Though admittedly that spoke of how desperate Asuka was at the time more than anything.
'And now I'm wondering how badly I would have screwed up Ria if she was a Katsuragi. Great,' Misato mused.
Almost every Angel that shown interest in peace now seemed to be fighting for Ramiel. Yet Ria had stayed loyal, even after WILLE security tried to kill her.
Ria... she wasn't the Angel that had nearly killed Misato twenty years ago, even if she might have still thought of herself that way. She was Ria, and Misato had felt like an idiot for not seeing that sooner.
'How much have I screwed up?' Misato wondered in horror. "Is too late to fix any of it?"
/
On any other day, the scene in front of Ria's hospital room might have been funny. Both sets of Asuka and Shinji were pacing in front of the door as Rei Ayanami quietly watched from a nearby chair.
"We're going to need to get a therapist. Someone who could hopefully talk to her a couple times a week at least. Then we're going to need a lawyer," Sub-Commander Soryu said.
"Why a lawyer?" the older Ikari questioned.
"Because I'm going to kill Akagi for this," she replied.
"I could barely stop Ria from going out when she didn't even know how to transform. All Dr.Akagi did was speed things along," he replied, trying to remain rational.
He was right, as much as Asuka hated to admit it.
"You know you might be blowing this out of proportion," her younger self spoke up. "I mean, the Doctor said she's alert already-"
"I know what that Angel can do!" Asuka snapped at her. "Believe me, that Angel has done unspeakable things to her mind!"
Arael had hit Asuka at her worst. Ria was tougher than she was back then. But she was still probably in a bad state right now.
"How bad?" her younger self questioned.
"You don't want to know," Sub-Commander Soryu warned her.
"Why?" Pilot Soryu questioned.
"Because it broke me!" Asuka snapped. "It hurt me so bad I couldn't Pilot anymore! I nearly killed myself because of what it made me see! Everything about myself I couldn't face!"
Her younger self want pale as ghost, a wide eyed and horrified expression on her face. Now she was starting to get it.
"Why are you two even here?" Asuka's voice grew a hard edge. "Two days ago you hated the girl and wanted nothing to do with her. Now suddenly you want to act like you're family? No."
The younger Ikari spoke up, "We didn't hate her. We were just angry at her for lying."
Asuka sneered. She knew she was being hard on them but she was not in the mood at all to be charitable.
"Have you ever stopped and considered that maybe we're lying to you for a reason?" she said pointedly. "That there are things we know for a fact you can't handle?"
"Asuka, this is not the time," the older Shinji said quietly, trying to keep the peace.
"They dealt with easy ones!" she shouted. "They're judging us and they didn't even have to deal with the horrors we suffered! Declining sync rates, your father being more and more of a bastard, people we cared about being hurt or worse, and having my own worst memories thrown in my face! Third Impact happened because we were broken!"
She was breathing heavily. Everyone nearby was staring at her in shock.
This was not the time for this.
"Look," she sighed, "my daughter just went through something I have nightmares about to this day. You two clearly mean well but I have zero patience for now."
The door opened. A doctor with thick glasses and greasy hair stepped out.
"You two can see her now," he said.
"How is she doing?" Shinji asked, scared.
"I-I don't claim to be an expert on her biology," the Doctor seemed like he was at a loss for words, "but she's recovered remarkably quickly. Her heart rate and blood pressure have stabilized. Psychologically she seems fully there, though I'm no expert obviously. I can't make a full judgement."
Asuka was surprised, and grateful that Misato had actually provided a doctor for Ria. Though Misato had been acting odd since Ria first appeared in the fight.
She and Shinji quickly went in, barely sparing their other selves another thought. They were an issue for later.
/
Ria was sitting on her bed when they entered, feet touching the floor. She looked towards them.
She wasn't crying, which was a relief. She just looked utterly exhausted, dark bags under her eyes.
Shinji felt the slightest bit of relief. Asuka had been far worse after her fight with Arael.
Every part of Shinji's mind wanted to run up to her and hug her as tight as he could. But he and Asuka restrained themselves. They didn't know what Ria had been put through, they needed to take some of this at Ria's pace.
They sat down next her. Thankfully she didn't flinch or force them away. A good sign. Though noticeably she didn't seem to want to look at either of them in the eye, turning away and looking at the floor instead.
"We're here for you," Asuka assured her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "No matter what, we're here for you. Whatever you need. We're here."
For a moment Shinji's mind wandered back to the last parts of her fight, such as it was, with Shamshel.
Whatever Arael had done to her, it had made her angry on a level that was intense even for Shinji. A level, that if he was being honest with himself, that he had only really seen from his mother when she took control of Unit-01.
The Ikari family was cursed with rage issues it seemed.
"How are you feeling?" Shinji asked. The question felt stupid. But it at least continued the conversation.
"Like I've been falling down a flight of stairs for 12 hours," Ria said wearily.
She sighed, hesitantly looking towards Shinji though not making eye contact. "There's something I need to talk to you guys about."
"We don't have to talk about what happened," Asuka said. "Don't feel like you need to rush it."
Ria stood up, walking towards the wall, then leaning against.
"I think I need to discuss this. It concerns something I did a while ago, a long time ago. Right before Dad left for Europe. Something I nearly did, at least. Something I kept buried even after you two knew the truth," she said nervously.
'When he left for Europe? What could she have done at fours years old that would have caused her this much guilt?' Asuka wondered.
"We're not going to be upset with you for something that 'nearly happened'," Shinji assured her.
"...You say that now," Ria said hesitantly.
"I know that," Shinji replied. "Ria, you were four. You can't blame yourself for something you nearly did at the age of four."
"But I didn't even stop myself. It was just pure luck that I... I didn't do something terrible!" She was trembling, tears running down her face.
Shinji stood up. Placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She flinched. But the touch broke the dam.
The explanation poured out of her in one terrible gush. The realization of what she was. The nightmares. The knife...
She tried to kill him. She had tried to kill him when she was four years old. Her father.
That was impressive in a way. And horrifying. But it didn't change anything.
"But you didn't do it. That's the important thing. You can't spend your entire life regretting what you 'nearly' did," Shinji assured her.
"I just… I thought I was better than that," Ria whimpered.
"You are, now," Shinji replied. "You told me once I needed to forgive myself for what I did during third impact. I'm asking you now, to forgive yourself for you nearly did. Can you do that for me?"
"But I nearly killed you! I'm a monster who doesn't even know what I am anymore!" Ria shouted.
"But you didn't," Shinji replied. "What might have happened doesn't matter in the slightest. If you could go back you would make sure your younger self never even came close to hurting me."
"You're our daughter," Asuka spoke up. "What you are besides that doesn't matter."
Ria broke down, wailing as she held herself against the wall.
He wasn't entirely sure why he was so quick to believe. Maybe because she was just a child when it happened, maybe it was because she was his daughter. Maybe both. It didn't matter.
They both hugged her tightly. Her sobs growing quiet.
"What happened, it's going to hurt for a while. Years, even," Asuka said. "And you should probably talk to someone professionally about it. But we're here for you, every step of the way."
"...Thank you." Ria said softly.
