Neon Genesis Evangelion: Legacy
Episode III: Revenge of Ikari

Chapter 1 – Dark Threads of Fate
August 20, 2004 – Geofront, Tokyo–3

Yui was leaving her office and heading up to see her husband. She had been mulling over a few things that she had been told by Fuyutsuki a few weeks prior. So, she was finally going to confront him about it. As she reached his office, she took a deep breath, and knocked.

"Enter." Came the calm voice from within.

Yui opened the door and went inside. "Good afternoon, Gendo."

"Yui?!" Gendo was surprised. "What are you doing here? Is Shinji alright, did something happen at the daycare again? I swear, if that other child is making fun of him again, I'll fire that damn daycare teacher and make sure she never works anywhere again!"

"Gendo, relax, I'm not here because of Shinji, I'm here to see you about… something else." Yui said, she was nervous about what she wanted to talk about.

Gendo was concerned. "Yui, is something wrong? You seem upset."

"I am Gendo, I'm upset at you." Yui said simply.

"Why are you upset with me, Yui? I know I've been working a lot and haven't been home lately, I've been extremely busy, but I promise I'll come home tonight, and I'll even cook dinner." Gendo spluttered.

"It's not about you not being home. I understand that." Yui said sternly. "What I don't understand is you working with a secret organization that not only hired me and Kyoko because of our research, but are also the ones who fund this facility and caused Mari to die, Gendo! They caused her to die!" Yui shouted.

Gendo had thankfully flipped a switch in his desk that caused the lights to flicker while Yui was talking. Gendo had put up an electromagnetic net around his office to block all electronic monitoring. "Yui, you have to be more careful about discussing things like this in the open without electronic protection. These are not people to mess with." Gendo said sternly. "How did you find out about all this?"

"Fuyutsuki told us after we went through the files dealing with Mari and Alcion. He told us about SEELE and about Second Impact, you knew what was going to happen? Why Gendo? Why did you do it?" Yui shouted.

"Yui it's not as simple as Fuyutsuki said it was. There is more behind it that he does not know about." Gendo said, as he moved his hands to cover his mouth.

"Gendo, how do you know what he knows?" Yui asked.

"I know, because I make it my business to know. I've been protecting him from their prying eyes." Gendo said "He hasn't been very careful with his research into their activities, he's been quite close to being found out several times."

"Gendo, you've been protecting him… from SEELE?" Yui asked.

"Yes, Yui, I know how much you care for him, and I couldn't let someone else you care about die. They already threatened his life once when he threated to expose Second Impact, they left a message at his house boat that made him… reconsider. Leaving a simper bullet on someone's table generally makes them reconsider their actions. I knew that if he died you'd be inconsolable. First Mari, then your parents, then Shinji, I couldn't let tragedy strike you again!" Gendo said. "I won't allow it!"

"But, Gendo, why wouldn't you tell me about SEELE? I thought we told each other everything!" Yui shouted, as she was very clearly hurt. "Couldn't you trust me, Gendo?"

"It has nothing to do with trust Yui, it has everything to do with your safety. I couldn't tell you because they might see you as a liability. I just wanted to protect you." Gendo said.

"Gendo, I'm not a little girl, I can handle the truth. But if you knew of their plans why didn't you stop Second Impact, you were there!" Yui screamed. "What possible explanation could you have for not preventing the world's largest disaster?!"

"The only explanation I have is that it furthered their plans of greatness, and made them trust me. I let it happen, I made sure you were far enough away, I made sure your family was not in the area when it happened, I made sure no one you loved would get hurt, and I made sure I came home to you. What happened needed to happen, the tampering I did was only a fraction of what they wanted." Gendo explained. "If I had completely disabled every safety device Katsuragi put in place, more than 5.5 billion people would have been killed by a tidal wave five times larger than the one we actually experienced. I did what I could to reduce the loss of life as much as possible. I'm not ashamed of what I did because I saved more lives than were lost that day. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, Yui, you of all people know that."

"Well, they died because they realized their home had been destroyed! They both died of heart attacks Gendo, from the sock of seeing their world crumble for the second time in their lives! And what about the wars, Gendo? Was any of that planned, or was it just a natural occurrence? Tell me! There's no use hiding it from me anymore!" Yui shrieked.

Gendo took his hands away from his face and took of his glasses, with a look of extreme sorrow on his face. "SEELE needed a plan to get rid of China, because they could not trust them, they are not a part of the committee. My suggestion was to goad the Chinese into military action against Japan, while making the U.S. and Russia allies during the conflict, giving them a strategic advantage against any other enemies. So, China was pushed in a direction that led to the attack on Tokyo. The attack that your brother died in, I was directly responsible for. I knew he was the best pilot, and that his squadron, the Warwolf Squadron, could handle the attack, but the Chinese response was much greater than I ever anticipated, greater than I ever could have imagined. If only your brother had been farther away when that bomb dropped, he would have been safe. But the attack was a viable reason for the U.S. and Russian invasion of China that followed. But, Yui, I've felt horrible about making that choice, but I know, that even though he died, he died doing what he always wished to do, flying to protect his country. I am so very sorry he died, and that's why I won't ever let anything happen to you again."

"Gendo that's not the fucking point! You got my brother killed, you caused the world to almost end! WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING?!" Yui roared.

Gendo was shocked, Yui had never sworn before, at least to his knowledge 'She must be furious with me, but I can understand why, I've caused so much to happen, it's ridiculous. I could be executed for what I've already done, let alone for what's to come.' Gendo thought to himself. 'I have to try and explain my motives better, so she understands, I need to make her understand.' Gendo tried to compose himself at the threatening site of his furious wife. "Yui, I'm sorry. I know you can probably never understand why I did what I did, but if you'll just let me finish explaining, I can try to clarify everything for you." He said, trying to stay calm and not sound scared.

"You better have a fucking explanation Gendo!" Yui said, her voice tense and angry, which was quite unlike the demure girl. 'He better have an earthshattering reason for all of this shit, otherwise, I'll turn him and SEELE into the authorities myself!' Yui thought angrily, and she calmed herself a bit before she continued. "They're the ones that got Mari killed by that Core! They caused it, so, start explaining why you're in bed with murders!"

Gendo was confused. "That's the second time you said they killed Mari, what happened that day was an accident, there was no cause for her to be gotten rid of." Gendo said.

"No, Gendo it was them, that committee from the U.N. you deal with, The Human Instrumentality Committee, were at the test that day. They tampered with some of the coding to keep Mari safe, and what they did is they got her killed so she couldn't figure out their plans. Mari continuing her research was a threat to them. That Keel you're always meeting with, he was there! I'm sure he was the one who tampered with it. You have to know somewhere inside your heart that they didn't tell you because they knew you'd turn against them!" Yui bellowed.

"Yui, I didn't seek them out until after we started working together, and after Mari had her accident, when I went to Antarctica the first time in December 1998. They never told me, and I didn't know because it happened before I was invited in. It took me four months to finally find out enough to contact them, which sent them into a tizzy. It really hurt me to be sneak around to find out information and actually get caught. I was directly contacted for the first time by Keel Lorenz in June of 1999, and was allowed access to a vast majority of their information network the following month!" Gendo said, as calmly as he could. "Along with the promotion to be the Director of Gehirn."

"Why did you seek them out in the first place?!" Yui shouted. "What purpose could trying to become one of these people actually do?!"

"To stop them, Yui, it's that simple." Gendo said. "When I heard about Antarctica when I was hired here, I became curious as to what was actually going on down there. So I went and asked a bunch of questions about the benefactors of the expedition, and from what I found out, I was able to match up with rumors of a secret committee who had been running the world for the past half century. I knew that people with that much power, it was only a matter of time until they decided they should be in direct charge of the world, without the curtain separating them from the light, they would exit the shadows and become a direct threat to humanity, and enslave us all. I joined them so I could stop them. So I could utterly destroy them."

"But, Gendo, all those people, all those lives, couldn't you stop them before that all happened?" Yui asked. "Couldn't you have done more?"

"Unfortunately, no, I was unable to learn about the vastness of their plans until after Second Impact, which, as I already said, didn't go off like they wanted." Gendo replied.

"Yes, because you tampered with their plans." Yui said angrily. "But Gendo, what are their plans?" She asked. "You can't really avoid telling me at this point."

"I guess you're right, Yui. But you can't tell this to anyone, especially not without some sort of counter surveillance system." Gendo said. "Yui, the reason all this happened is because of SEELE's plans. They needed Adam to be destroyed so his progeny could be spread across the Earth to create a credible threat to humanity. They needed this as a catalyst to create the Evangelions. It has to do with a secret project they are working on to compile humanity into one being, with them as the leaders for the human race. But the problem with their plan is that they are reading the plan from some old ancient texts they refer to as the apocrypha. Keel found them in 1947 near the Dead Sea in some caves. He finally found what he was looking for, a layout of man's past, present and future. He found the plans to become a god. He named them the Dead Sea Scrolls and has been using them in his plans to take over the world since then. He has taken vaguely worded passages at best and used his knowledge of world events to shape it the way the texts are written. Second Impact was supposed to wipe out almost all life on the planet, but I tampered with the code they used to destroy that experiment, and saved as many lives as I could, while still accomplishing their goals. While half the world may have died in the event and the wars following, I have saved the other half so they could live on another day. It will also give me more time to find a way to stop their plans. I am the only one capable of stopping them."

"Gendo, what exactly is their plan to become gods?" Yui asked. "That seems a bit far reaching, don't you?"

"Well, as its put forth in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the way to become the god of men, you must eradicate the light of their souls and then all life will become one in the same, many as on and one as many. The person who controls the instrumentality, as it's called, will be able to model the new world after their own wishes." Gendo explained. "They are going to use the Evangelions as part of this, by doing something to combine the seeds of life that came to this plane and fought, they will be able to awaken as a god and be able to bend reality to their will. Thankfully, Project E is behind schedule, and should stay that way so I can find time to delay their plans, and eliminate SEELE before they can do any more harm than they already have."

"So, all of this, was to stop them?" Yui said incredulously. "You are certainly doing a bang up job, Gendo, three billion people are dead, the world has gone to shit, and you say this is better than the alternative? You must be fucking insane!"

"Yui I am not insane, it's just difficult to justify so many deaths to save just as many lives. An even tradeoff was not what I'd hoped for. I was hoping that only a billion or so would die, but, alas, I was wrong. For that, I will forever be looking for a way to redeem myself, and if I have to die so I can stop SEELE and their plans, than I am willing to do just that." Gendo said.

"So, that's it then, you want to save the human race by nearly destroying it." Yui asked.

"That which does not kill us, makes us stronger, Yui." Gendo stated plainly. "Now look at the world since Second Impact and the Valentine Treaty. We have become more cooperative than we ever were before, and area actually working together to rebuild our world. Whatever I have done, as reprehensible as it may be, the world is better off for it, and when SEELE has been wiped from this Earth like the scourge they are, then this world can finally live in peace."

'Damn him, I can't keep being angry at him when he makes a logical argument like that. He might be responsible for my brother's death, and the death of billions, but he was trying to make a difference. Kyoko is right, I can always find the good in people. Damn it all! Why must I always do that?' Yui thought, she took a deep breath and spoke in a tone closer to her normal voice. "Gendo, you're right. What you have done is reprehensible, it's beyond description. But, I can understand that what you were trying to do was to help mankind. So I'm not mad at you anymore, just severely disappointed."

"Thank you, Yui. I know that I will never be the same person in your eyes again, and I could understand if you no longer love me." Gendo said sadly.

"Gendo, I still love you, but I'm still processing what you've done. It will take time. I just hope you can give me that." Yui said quietly.

"Yes, I can Yui. I have, if nothing else in my life respected you and your opinions, I will give you the space you desire." Gendo said. "Now, I have just one thing to ask of you. Because you know about all of this, SEELE and everything else, are you taking precautions against SEELE in case they try anything?"

"Yes Gendo, me and Kyoko have come up with a way to stop any unauthorized changes, and will implement it 12 hours before the tests. Don't worry, I don't want you to lose me, or for Shinji to lose his mother, I can't let that happen." Yui replied, as she started to leave Gendo's office. "And, Gendo, promise me one more thing. Never stop protecting Fuyutsuki, I don't want to lose him too."

"I would have kept protecting him whether you asked or not, Yui. He doesn't deserve the fate SEELE would plan for him if they found out." Gendo said.

"Thank you Gendo, I'll come back to your office to talk with you again, when I feel like I've processed everything you told me, and can understand it better." Yui said sighing deeply. "I still love you, don't forget that." She said as she walked out.

Gendo looked sadly at his door, left the security measure active and locked his door, and for the first time in his life broke down and cried. 'I can't believe she still loves me after all I've done. I don't deserve someone as kind as her, but I can't stop hoping that she'll accept what I've done and take me back, because honestly, I can't live without her.' Gendo thought sadly. 'I don't know what I'd do if I ever lost her, I just hope I never have to cross that horrific bridge and find out.'

August 22, 2004 – Undisclosed Location

The twelve monoliths lit up simultaneously, as this was the most important meting to date for the members of SEELE. It was time to prepare for the next phase of their plan.

"Good evening everyone." 'SEELE 01' said. "I'm glad you could all be in attendance for this session. We have much to discuss."

"Yes, what is the progress with the Project E?" 'SEELE 12' asked.

"Project E is back on schedule." 'SEELE 03' replied. "A solution was found to copy the soul into the Evangelions without sacrificing themselves to the beasts."

"I did not think this a part of our original plan." 'SEELE 06' said sternly.

"It was not. The apocrypha clearly states that those destined for these experiments need be sacrificed for the good of the project." 'SEELE 02' said.

"Well, there is also the issue of what we overheard from Ikari's office, and from our following of Fuyutsuki." 'SEELE 04' stated. "We believe that Fuyutsuki, Yui Ikari, and Kyoko Soryu now know our plans and intent to stop us from attaining our one, true goal."

"Then it is imperative that we eliminate them, before they become a bigger threat to us." 'SEELE 10' said.

"Precisely, we will tamper with the experiment those two are about to conduct and take of the issue that way." 'SEELE 01 said menacingly. "Not only will eliminating Yui Ikari and Kyoko Soryu take care of those individuals, but it will also break both Gendo Ikari and that meddlesome professor." 'SEELE 01' said proudly. "With that change, he will be nothing more than a figurehead who will take orders and do what is necessary to accomplish SEELE's goals."

"So that takes care of them, but what of the souls? Won't they interfere with the Evangelions when they are brought online?" 'SEELE 08' asked.

"No, there I no evidence the soul inside the Evangelion will be able to effect anything. According to our source in Gehirn HQ, the sol only allows contact between the Evangelion and the pilot. The pilot's consciousness will override the Evangelion's own soul and suppress it." 'SEELE 02' responded. "We simply need to find out who we will get to pilot these monstrosities."

"That, is quite simple." 'SEELE 01' said. "We will use the children of the Ikari and Soryu as pilots. They will be able to synchronize with their mother's souls, and be the only ones that can pilot those units. The motherly instincts of the souls will allow for the children to bond with them, like they would their own mothers. I do not like that we may have to use Ikari's child, but we must do what we must do, and eliminating Yui Ikari before she can sabotage us is an important step. We must striker down first!"

"Indeed!" 'SEELE 08' shouted.

"Undeniably!" 'SEELE 11' exclaimed.

"Definitely!" 'SEELE 07' chirped.

"We must also deal with the problem of actually tampering with the test. They undoubtedly know of Makinami and Alcion, so we must be extra careful as to not raise suspicion." 'SEELE 08' stated. "How will we upload the virus like last time? Who will do it for us this time around?"

"Is our operative ready to initiate in Japan?" 'SEELE 04' asked.

"Yes, I'll take care of the experiment in Germany, however, our confidant, Dr. Akagi, should be able to handle the changes necessary to deal with Yui Ikari. We can wholly trust her. She is one of our true allies." 'SEELE 01' said menacingly. "She will do what needs to be done."

"Excellent." 'SEELE 02' said. "But what of the other Evangelion Units? Unit–00, and Unit–03 through Unit–12, who will pilot them?"

"We will acquire souls through our employees, mothers with children approximately the same age as the Ikari and Soryu children. It will make the plausibility of something to do with their ages a factor in denying any rumors of foul play." 'SEELE 04' replied.

"How will we collect the souls?" 'SEELE 11' asked.

"By any means necessary." 'SEELE 01' said. "We will kill them, cause an accident, or give them cancer, or anything that will allow us to harvest the soul. It is the only way. I doubt there will be any volunteers for this type of assignment, so we'll make our own recruits, and force them into service. We will use their children as the pilots, and no one will be the wiser. It is the perfect plan."

"How will we deal with the pilot selection process?" 'SEELE 07' asked. "We cannot be the ones electing pilots. It takes the mystery out of being a secret society hiding in the shadows."

"That has already been taken care of. We are in the process of creating a front company backed by over 100 shell companies to deal with the selection process, and keep this particular secret as compartmentalized as possible." 'SEELE 04' replied. "It will be named The Marduk Institute. The institute will select pilots for the Evangelions based upon if the soul of their mother has been implanted inside of a Core or not."

"But what about the consequences of us being directly involved with Gehirn, and Gehirn's past involvement in Second Impact. We will need to distance ourselves from that." 'SEELE 09' said. "Both SEELE and Gehirn need distance from the past."

"I'm glad someone brought this up." 'SEELE 01' said. "We will be changing how we contact Gehirn from this point forward. We will no longer appear as SEELE, but the five of us will appear as the members of United Nations Human Instrumentality Committee for the Betterment of Mankind. We will appear and receive reports on the progress of our various projects and report back to here. We will also be looking to change the name of Gehirn to something else, so instead of it being a secretive scientific institute, it can become a more public entity whose purpose is secret, and will be under the direction of the U.N. and the Human Instrumentality Committee. However, Gehirn still has its uses, so we will not be changing the organization yet. But when we do, it will become more military like in its organization and structure, in order for its true purpose to be beheld, the Evangelions."

"What will we call this public entity when the time comes?" 'SEELE 12' asked.

"Well, we used our brains to create the Evangelions, the MAGI, and Human Instrumentality Project, so it will take all of our nerve to maintain our current path to instrumentality." 'SEELE 01' replied. "We will rechristen Gehirn as NERV."

"This is all well and good, but are you sure Ikari will be subdued when his wife is gone?" 'SEELE 10' asked.

"Yes, he is so in love with that woman, and the Soryu woman as well, losing both of them will make him nothing more than a puppet we can control." 'SEELE 02' said proudly. "And he will no longer be a threat, just a tool, like Dr. Akagi."

"Speaking of Dr. Akagi, that brilliant daughter of hers will be entering college soon, should we recruit after she has completed her doctorates, her knowledge could be a useful asset in the coming years considering we are about to kill off the two most important scientists we have." 'SEELE 11' pointed out.

"We will recruit into the fold when the time is right. For now she is too young to become involved in this work." 'SEELE 05' responded.

"What about the surveillance of the Katsuragi girl?" 'SEELE 03' asked. "How is that progressing? Is she still hanging out with that other girl?"

"Yes, the other girl knows Katsuragi was present for Second Impact, however, she has kept up the ruse by not revealing the truth. So, as far as I am concerned, she is not a liability, and will keep her best friend's secret, to keep her safe from the mass media." 'SEELE 02' responded. "Amagi, I believe the friend is called, will protect the secret, just like Fuyutsuki did. We won't need to intimidate her at all. It appears the Katsuragi will be graduating from high school this coming spring, and has applied to Tokyo–2 University. We will push her application through the back channels and have her accepted forthwith. She follows her rules, and I don't even think she realizes she's under surveillance anymore. Other than that, there is nothing to else report on Ms. Katsuragi."

"Very well, is there anything else left of importance to discuss?" 'SEELE 01' asked.

"Yes, one last item. What is the status of the MAGI? When will they be completed? It has been over a decade since the project began, when will it be active!" 'SEELE 06' demanded. "We have sunk loads of money into the project with no viable results!"

"According to the most recent report from Dr. Akagi, the MAGI system's designs have been completed. However construction of the units themselves, Melchior, Balthasar, and Casper will take at least four to five years to complete. Then the final tests of the system before the personality of the chosen test subject is transferred will take at least another two to four years, and final testing before the MAGI is made to be fully operational is another year or two." 'SEELE 03' reported. "So on the inside we have seven years to completion, and the outside estimate is eleven years. With any luck, Akagi can come in ahead of schedule and begin duplicating these units for shipment to our various facilities around the world."

"Excellent. We have a lot of plans ahead of us for the near future, and we must be ready to become closer to our goal of instrumentality." 'SEELE 01' quipped. "Now, seeing that we have a more definitive answer about the MAGI system, I can ask this again. Is there anything else of importance to discuss before we adjourn this meeting?" 'SEELE 01' asked and waited, and heard no response. "Very well, the meeting is adjourned."

And once again the dark monoliths went dark and silent.

August 27, 2004 – Geofront, Tokyo–3

Yui was sitting in the living room. It was late and Shinji was asleep. Yui was also still alone. It had been a week since she had gone off on Gendo, and heard his explanation for everything. His role in Second Impact, his role in her brother's death, and his reason to protect the world by almost destroying rather than obliterating it all at once. "What an idiot! I can't believe he thought that would actually be a good reason to do all that. Because he was saving lives?" Yui said aloud. "I just can't believe him. Part of me does, that part that loves him no matter what his faults are. Damn it all! I can't stop loving him, no matter what he did… it's like I need him. I don't get it, I hate him for what he did, but part of me realizes he was right. In order to get to know their plans, he had to follow along, gain their trust, and then he could stop them. But so many people died, it seems like a pyrrhic victory, but he said he saved as many lives as were lost, and if his plan works, than maybe he can actually stop SEELE before they get the chance to finish their plans. But I just don't think I can forgive him…" Yui said as she sighed deeply.

She looked up as she heard a noise in the doorway, it was a very tired looking Shinji. "Shinji why are you awake? Its late sweetheart, and young boys should be in bed having sweet dreams at this time of night."

"I heard you talking mommy, I thought daddy was home." Shinji replied sleepily, still rubbing his eyes.

"No Shinji he's not home." Yui said.

"Then who were you talking to?" Shinji asked, giving her a confused look.

"No, Shinji, I was just talking to myself. I didn't mean to wake you up honey." Yui replied. "I'm very sorry."

"But where is daddy? He hasn't been home in a long time. Is he ok?" Shinji asked.

'He actually noticed Gendo hasn't been around? Gendo was barely here the last few months, sure he wasn't always away, he came home every few days, but he hasn't been home in over a week now, I guess it was only a matter of time before Shinji noticed. He's not stupid or anything. But what do I tell him? Would he even understand the truth? I guess I'll see what he does.' Yui thought. "Well, your father is very busy at work, and he hasn't been home lately because he is busy." Yui replied.

"But he was always busy at work, and he always came home sometimes." Shinji declared. "Did something happen?" He asked, still giving her a confused look.

'Shit, he does know something is up. I really didn't think he'd notice. I guess I miscalculated his perceptive skills.' Yui thought as she sighed. 'I guess I just need to tell him a bit of the truth.' Yui looked straight at Shinji and beckoned him over. "Come sit next to me sweetie, I want to tell you something." Yui said.

Shinji wandered over to the couch and crawled up, cuddling up against his mother. Yui put her arm around him and sighed. "Shinji, the reason your father is not home is because we had a fight. He did something really bad, and I'm mad at him for it. I don't know if I ever want to see him again."

"But mommy, why would you be mad at daddy? What did he do?" Shinji asked. "It must be pretty bad, you never get mad at anyone."

'Oh, God, he had to ask me that…' Yui thought. "Well, Shinji, what he did was very bad, and it ended up hurting a lot of people. But the problem with what he did is that he thinks he didn't do anything wrong because he was trying to help people." Yui said.

"But did he end up helping people?" Shinji asked. "Did he mean for those other people to get hurt?"

"Yes, Shinji, he did so he could save more people than he hurt, and his plan worked." Yui replied. "But what he did was so careless, Shinji."

"But, mommy, he was just trying to help people. He was trying to do a good thing, not a bad thing. Why do think he did something bad? Isn't doing something to help someone always good?" Shinji asked.

"Shinji, I know you're a little young to understand, but the world isn't just full of good and bad, there is a lot space in between good and bad in the adult world." Yui said.

"But if something you do is bad that helps people, wouldn't that be a good thing?" Shinji asked, his face contorted in confusion.

"Shinji, just because people end up being helped, doesn't make the deed a good one." Yui said. "Sometimes the reason you have to do something doesn't justify the consequences of your actions."

"Even if daddy still did something bad, do you still love him?" Shinji asked point blank, his face trying hard to understand what his mother said.

'Do I still love Gendo? I think I do, I'm not sure why, but he just feels like the only an out there for me…' Yui thought. 'God I need help. How can I still love a man even after all the things he admitted to.'

Shinji interrupted Yui's thoughts. "Mommy, you told me love means more than anything else. So can't you forgive him because you love him?"

"Well…" Yui said. 'Can I forgive him? Doe she deserve my forgiveness? I hadn't really thought about that, even though I said I would. I've just been so mad because he got my brother killed. He also caused all the events that drove the doomsday clock to midnight and caused everything to descend into chaos. But, I did tell Shinji that love means more than anything else. He has a point, I did mean that when I said that too him. But this isn't like he forgot our anniversary or something like that. He was responsible for the deaths of 2.2 billion people. I could even blame him and those SEELE bastards for the other billon people who died. I don't think he deserves my forgiveness…' Yui thought.

Shinji interrupted her train of thought again. "Mommy, don't you miss daddy? I know I do, I just want him to come home. Can you let him come home… please?"

'Do I miss him? I have to admit, even I fell a little empty without him here. It doesn't feel right not to have him around, him and his strange presence. He always makes me feel so happy, just being around him improves my day. I feel like something is missing from my life, like he completes me. How clichéd am I, he completes me… I guess that's the best way to describe it. Even after all he's done, I still care about him, and I know I miss him. But am I ready to forgive him? I know he can't live without me, he told me as much when he proposed, that I make him happy and at ease. How would he be without me? Would he just stop caring about humanity all together, or would he keep trying to stop SEELE to protect me. I can't be sure. But I think I've realized one thing, I guess, I need him as much as he needs me. So should I forgive him?' Yui thought. 'That seems like the only thing to do… because I still love him.'

"Mommy, are you ok?" Shinji said, shaking his mother slightly. "Mommy?"

"Yes Shinji? I was only thinking about what you said." Yui said, finally figuring out what she wanted to do. "I don't know if I'm ready to forgive your father, but, I do miss him. I do love him, and he should come home. Thank you for pointing that out, Shinji, you're a good boy." She hugged him tightly.

"If you love him, I know you'll forgive him, because you're a good person, mommy." Shinji said.

"Thank you Shinji, for saying that. You're such a sweet boy, one day you'll make a very lucky girl very happy." Yui said, thinking of Kyoko's daughter. "Now, it's time for you to go to bed young man, so you can still wake up in the morning and not be cranky."

Shinji simply nodded, and Yui carried him to his room. Shinji had fallen asleep on the way to his room. Yui tucked him back into bed, and kissed him on the forehead. "Sweet dreams Shinji, and thank you." Yui said softly as she left his room.

Yui sat back down on the couch and took a minute to think. 'I guess I'll go see Gendo tomorrow and let him know he can come home, but he'll have work to earn my forgiveness. I think he's suffered enough from his own guilt and me leaving him alone for a week. I can try to understand what he did, but I just need a little more time. But, Shinji's right, it's time for Gendo to come home.' Yui thought as she drifted to sleep.

August 28, 2004 – Berlin, Germany

Kyoko was walking upstairs to wake up her daughter. She had some good news for her that the girl would defiantly like to hear. Because she was going to Japan to discuss the upcoming contact experiments, Kyoko was going to bring Asuka with her, at Yui's insistence, to meet her son, Shinji. She got to the girl's bedroom door, and entered silently.

Kyoko walked up to the bed and spoke softly into Asuka's ear. "Asuka, are you awake?"

Asuka stirred and rubbed her eyes. "What, momma?" She said quietly.

"It's time to get up sleepy head." Kyoko responded.

"Why? I'm comfy!" Asuka protested.

"Asuka, you will never get anything done of you hide in bed all day." Kyoko said, admonishing the toddler for refusing to get up.

Asuka continued her protest. "No, I don't want to get up yet."

Kyoko ripped back the sheets. "Asuka its time to wake up, I have some good news for you, when you decide you'd like to get up, I'll tell you." Kyoko said, knowing how to get her daughter to do what she wanted her to. "But if you don't get up, I'll never tell you the good news, and you're so curious, you always ask me, and I just won't tell you."

Asuka's curiosity got the better of her want to stay in bed. "Alright, momma, I'll get up." Asuka said. "I wanna know your secret."

"Well, you'll have to wait until you've had breakfast young lady." Kyoko said.

"Awww, momma, I wanna know now!" Asuka protested.

"Patience is a virtue, Asuka." Kyoko said. "Now, go get ready for breakfast."

Asuka grumbled quietly as she walked to the bathroom to get ready. 'Even at two and a half, she's a terror. I can't imagine what she'll be like when she's older.' Kyoko mused as she went to the kitchen to make Asuka and herself breakfast.

Kyoko wandered into the kitchen and started to make a small breakfast. Oscar hadn't come home last night, and she was a little worried. 'I wonder where Oscar is? He always calls when he's not going to make it home if he has to work late, just to let me know if he's ok. He must be trapped in some administrative meeting or something because of the tests in the next few weeks. I don't know.' Kyoko sighed and her head dropped down. 'I guess if he's not home after breakfast is over, I'll call the office and try to find out where he is.' Kyoko looked in the fridge, and saw a few things she needed for breakfast. 'Well, it's only me and Asuka so, breakfast will be small, not the usual Sunday morning affair. I'll just make a bunch of German sausage for Asuka, and she won't complain, the little carnivore.' Kyoko chuckled. 'I guess I'll make sure there's some fruit too, and Asuka loves cheese. I'll make sure there's some bread for me too, and we'll eat and I'll tell her the good news.'

Kyoko took only a short while to cook up the sausage considering everything else simply had to be put on the table. But while she was cooking, something else crossed her mind. 'I'm a little nervous about those contact experiments we're going to be having. I don't want to have another accident occur with either me or Yui. We have families to worry about. I don't want to end up like Mari, trapped somewhere with no way home. She's probably alone, and can't get out again to tell us she's ok.' Kyoko shuttered. 'We have to be more careful with our tests, we just can't let anything happen. I've written some new code to make sure the computers don't get tampered with, not by anyone, but someone could corrupt a line of code and then, well that'll be the end of us both.' Kyoko thought as she stirred the sausages around to brown them. 'I just want to make sure that after the test I come back home to Asuka and to Oscar. I made a promise to Asuka, after all, and I intent to keep it. I just don't know who I can trust to not tamper with the code here. I mean, Yui will have the Doc with her at her test. But I'm going to have the Director of this facility and the head of SEELE's cousin, and my boyfriend's father there. I don't think I can trust him at all, he has to be in on SEELE's plans, it would be impossible to not know, Lorenz doesn't see, the type to not share this with family. I can't tell Oscar about any of this, I don't want to put him between him and his father. Does Oscar know about SEELE?' Kyoko thought, a sudden shot of fear came through her. 'He can't know, he's too honest, he could never keep a secret like that quiet. He'd be a liability to them, so they probably just keep him in the dark. Even so, it's still the best option not to tell him. I don't want it to get back to his father. Come to think of it, I don't have anyone else to turn to here. The only people I know are Oscar, Dr. Langley, and my tech team. I can't tell any of the techs this shit, they probably wouldn't care, or some of them could be on the payroll of SEELE, I can't take the chance. I'll just have to be extra careful and make sure the encryption on the coding is top notch so no one can fuck with it. I will not die because someone else wills it, I choose my own destiny, not some grizzled old man.' Kyoko saw the sausages were done and put them on a plate.

Kyoko took the food for the kitchen and set it up on the dining room table. As she was bringing in the sausages, Asuka appeared in the doorway and her face lit up. "Momma! You made my favorite!" Asuka ran over and hugged her mother's leg. "Thank you so much, momma!" Asuka jumped onto a chair and tried to reach for the sausages. She had to lean on the table to reach them, but when she did, the entire plate, save for two of them, ended up on Asuka's plate, with Asuka digging into them ravenously.

"Asuka, slow down, or you'll get the hiccups, and I'll have to scare you again." Kyoko said, remembering the last time Asuka ate too fast.

Asuka's' eyes went wide. She remembered it too, and the hiccups had lasted a while, and Kyoko had snuck up behind her while she was watching TV in a mask and screamed in her ear. As horrible as it was, it had worked. "Ok, momma, I'll slow down…" Asuka said as she put down her fork and reached for some bread.

"Good." Kyoko said. "Now that you're not eating like you've never been fed before, I can tell you what I promised to tell you when you got down here." Kyoko said.

Asuka was listening intently, and she simply nodded.

"So, do you remember the promise I made to you about going to Japan?" Kyoko asked.

Asuka dropped her fork and the piece of sausage still on it. "I remember momma…"

"So, Asuka, I have another trip coming up to Japan, and I'd like you to come with me." Kyoko said. "Do you want to come with me, Asuka?"

"Of course I do momma! I really want to meet your friends in Japan!" Asuka said enthusiastically. "When do we leave, momma?"

"We leave tomorrow, Asuka." Kyoko said, as she smiled. "So, as soon as you're done with breakfast, go up and pack a bag, ok?"

"Can I go up and pack now?" Asuka asked. "Please?"

"Finish your sausage first, then you can go and pack, ok?" Kyoko said sternly.

Asuka stiffed the rest of her food in her mouth, swallowed hard, and excused herself from the table to run upstairs. As soon as she heard Asuka's footsteps fade away on the stairs, the front door opened. "I'm home!" Kyoko heard Oscar's voice call out.

"I'm in the dining room, Oscar." Kyoko called to him.

When Oscar walked into the room, he looked disheveled. His suit was askew, his shirt was stained and his tie was loose, with the top two buttons on the shirt being unbuttoned. His eyes were bloodshot, and he had dark circles under his eyes. He looked as though he hadn't slept at all. "I'm sorry I didn't call, I was busy with work all night. I'm so sorry, Kyoko." Oscar said as he sat down next from Kyoko.

"It's ok, it happens. But what happened to your suit, Oscar? Are you ok? You look terrible." Kyoko said, with a worried look on her face.

"I was up late working, and then it was so late, I decided to stay at the office, and then I couldn't sleep, because I thinking about something important, and I was worried about the decision I had to make." Oscar said. "But I think I came to the right conclusion."

"Oscar, what was so important that it kept you up all night." Kyoko asked. "Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yes, I will be in a moment." Oscar said as he stood up. He kneeled down in front of Kyoko, reached in his pocket, and pulled out a ring from his pocket. "Kyoko, I've had a lot of trouble trying to figure out a way to ask this. We've been together almost six years, we have a wonderful daughter together, and she's going to be three this year. The moment I saw your file come across my desk, I knew that I had to meet you, and when I did meet you all those years ago, I knew what I felt for you was love. That first date we were on, I was so nervous, you had asked me out and I was afraid of blowing the whole thing. But you were so nice, and after a while, the nervousness just went away."

"Oscar, are you…" Kyoko was shocked, and couldn't believe the moment she had waited so long for was about to come to pass.

"I had planned this out so long ago, and I should have asked you this four years ago and every day since then, but I didn't, because I was scared to commit fully to you, but after last night, after being unable to sleep because of this, I decided that I just couldn't bear to be without you." Oscar held the large diamond ring up to Kyoko. "So, Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu, will you marry me?" Oscar asked.

"Of… of course I will, Oscar!" Kyoko wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him tightly. "Oh, I've waited for you to ask me this for so long, I thought somedays, it would never happen. Oscar you've made me so happy!"

"I'm sorry for making you wait, I was just scared." Oscar said consolingly. "Please forgive me, Kyoko for making you wait forever and a day."

"Of course I forgive you dummkopf, I love you." Kyoko kissed him deeply on the lips.

"You know, Kyoko, I was thinking, could we have the ceremony on our sixth anniversary?" Oscar asked. "I know its short notice, but I could make it work. I'll plan some stuff while you're in Japan, and we can go over it when you get home."

"Oscar, that only two weeks from now!" Kyoko exclaimed, but then she paused and thought about it for a moment. "Oscar, if you can find us a justice of the peace for two weeks from today at the courthouse, I'd be happy. I just want to be with you, having a big wedding seems silly, we already have a daughter together, and we've lived together for five years, we're practically married as it is."

"Are you sure you don't want an actual wedding?" Oscar asked.

"Of course I'm sure. I was never one to like that much attention anyway, it's just not me." Kyoko said to her wonderful fiancé. "But right now, I have a business trip to pack for, and a daughter to check on to make sure she didn't try to pack her entire room into a suitcase."

"Alright Kyoko." Oscar said, smiling widely. "I'll check on our precocious daughter, while you get your things together for the VTOL tomorrow. I arranged it special so you wouldn't have to fly commercial."

"Oh, thank you!" Kyoko exclaimed as the two walked to the stairs. 'Things are starting to look up aren't they?' Kyoko thought as they walked upstairs, arm in arm, as the happily engaged couple they deserved to be.

To Be Continued

A/N: I do not own Evangelion or any of the characters, GAINAX and the other distributors of NGE related material do. I am simply using them as a backdrop for my fanfic.

Gendo, Gendo, Gendo, all I can say about his reasons for finding SEELE, which are contrary to every bit of "Gendo is EVIL!" evidence in the anime, manga, and definitely the rebuild, he originally had good intentions. And as the saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Simply put, Gendo is misunderstood, not evil, but he is still an asshole, just not an evil one.

Now, as for the second portion of the Yui saga for this chapter, young Shinji makes Yui realize she not only loves Gendo, but needs him as well. I know this isn't your typical conversation to have with a 3 year old, but what the hell, Shinji wasn't as dense as a child. He was actually pretty aware of stuff around him. It's his mother's death, and is father's abandonment that changed him for the worse. And Yui isn't forgiving him outright, she's just letting him back in the house, because she can understand some of the reasons he has.

As for Kyoko and Oscar, no they haven't been married, and that's why Asuka has both her parent's last names separate, and not hyphenated, in her name. So, they're going to get married after six years and child together.

As I said before, and will always say at the end of chapter, please leave comments, as I would like to try to improve the story going forward any way I can. And, hell, constructive criticism is a good thing.

つづく