Creation began on 05-14-19

Creation ended on 10-03-19

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Infinity Redemption: Temporal Maiden

Gasp! Shinji awoke to the new day after living in hiding from the authorities with his daughter, his friend, Rumiko and her son, Toya, along with the other orphans in the church governed by the mother superior; they'd been in hiding for almost two weeks, and each time he thought he could breathe a sigh of relief that they hadn't been found yet, that lingering doubt in the back of his mind always told him not to, that sooner or later, someone was going to find them and apprehend them to the full extent of the law.

"Daddy…" He heard his daughter's voice as he turned to face her sleeping form on his left side of the small bed, holding her teddy as she continued to sleep.

"I gotta stop worrying about the unknown," he told himself.

-x-

The only benefit of hiding in a church was that they were in the States, as Rumiko discovered when she asked the mother superior what country they were in. Sweeping up the dust on the floor, the young woman and teenage mother suspected that, due to the States not suffering as much as Japan had because of a nightmarish catastrophe that a handful of people deliberately caused, they were unlikely to be found for some time because it was such a big place and the law enforcement agencies were few and divided. What was more was that people probably didn't know much about Shinji's identity, let alone her own, or the identities of their children and the orphans, so it would take them a while to get their details straightened out.

"You worry about being found and forced to go back to your country, don't you?" The mother superior asked her as she appeared down the hallway. "I can see the concern on your face."

Rumiko sighed and set the broom against the wall.

"I just got my son back, and the last thing I want to see him get ripped from my arms again by someone that thinks they know what's best for him," she explained to her. "And Shinji, of all the men I've known in my life…is the first person that hasn't pursued me for… The fact that he's a gentle soul, despite his traumatic experiences and poor excuses for parents and guardians, I do love him. I mean, I love him, just not…the way my father and brother claimed to love me."

"That's not love, what your father and brother did to you," she told her. "That was lust, the dark side of love that deals only in the pleasure of oneself, not the comforting of others. And your friend, his affection for you…sparked right after he met you, the only person he knew that actually wanted to spend time with him, that didn't know or care for who his father was and could care less about who his mother was. Even after you were both unexpectedly blessed with your children, regardless of how they came to be because they're as innocent as you two are, Shinji still cares about you. He is someone that can't see himself…and fears…seeing himself without the people he wants to trust, to embrace and live with. You three, above all others, are his shoulder to lean on, the smiles he loves to see the most, his motivation for wanting to find the stones necessary to fulfill this one ambition that he has."

"A world that's identical to Earth…only for those that have little to nothing…and just want a home to call their own."

"If you could have that, would it be worth your time?"

"It would. Where I was when Shinji came to find me, it was just where I ran away to. A crappy apartment in a rundown neighborhood…but it was never my home. Growing up, I've always heard that home was a place that had the people you love, that love you, there waiting for you to appear. I want something like that for myself…and I'm willing to wait for that one ambition I have to come to life."

The mother superior smiled at how the girl had a simple dream, a simple ambition, unfettered by a sense of greed or hatred.

"We should get started on breakfast soon before everyone wakes up," she told Rumiko.

-x-

"…Some of us are beginning to suspect that he isn't here in Japan, Ikari," Fuyutsuki told Gendo in the latter's office. "If he's not in this country, he could be anywhere."

"A fourteen-year-old boy with no money or a travel pass can't possibly get far," Gendo declared. "And from the information obtained from the former head of the orphanage his illegitimate child was cast off to a year ago, he, a teen girl around his age and over two dozen orphans can't get very far at all…unless they had help from someone."

"You clearly don't know your own son, Ikari. Even his file says much of what is never spoken. He was kidnapped by three financially-desperate crooks, your in-laws didn't bother reporting him missing while a friend of his, presumably the only one he has and the same girl with him, called the police eight times until someone listened to her, but by the time they found him a few days later, one of the women that took him assaulted him and had his daughter in prison before dying. Nobody except Shinji wanted her, and for nearly three years, he took care of her to the point of disregarding any ideas of making friends with others his own age…until your in-laws decided to separate them because they didn't want to see him being so attached to her. That act caused irrevocable damage to their already-strained relationship with Shinji, who hasn't returned to their place, not even after he was told never to come back. So, tell me, who could help Shinji…when even the majority of his own family…wouldn't raise a finger to help him cope with his trauma, with his loss or his suffering? Who would offer assistance in getting him anywhere in this pain-filled world when he couldn't even go back to his guardians?"

Gendo couldn't answer him because there was nothing in the boy's file to indicate that Shinji had anyone willing to help him with anything, including raising his illegitimate daughter. There were no indications of any friends beyond the Gaidoku girl, whom he hadn't seen for over a year after they both lost their children because of their parents or guardians; the girl had run away from her mother's and simply disappeared until she was said to be have seen with Shinji when they went to the orphanage and took their children back. Even so, there was no one else, no friends, no admirers, no emergency contacts, etc. The boy was cut off from the world.

-x-

"…I didn't think a church was permitted to have a library," Rumiko expressed to Shinji as they were in a small chamber in the church where the books were housed.

"That's okay. I didn't know churches lacked smoked detectors." He told her as he looked through an old cook book. "Have you found anything of interest on your end?"

"Just an old book I would read to Toya when he was two. Hey, Shinji, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"Did you ever…regret coming to see me that night?"

"No. You were the only person on my mind when I discovered the power of the Space Stone and its ability to take me anywhere I wanted to go. Even if you were content with your life and didn't want to see me after that night, nothing was going to stop me from going to get Shado afterward. I was happy just to see you after that day long ago."

"That life wasn't right for me. Any future you can create using the power of the Infinity Stones, I'll support you because anything's better than what was…and what could've been if things had gone differently from before."

"Tell me something, Rumiko."

"What?"

"Do you think it would be a sin…if we had severed our ties to our families, all save our children, and they never heard from us ever again?"

"Honestly, Shinji, it wouldn't be a sin. It wouldn't be a sin…because they severed their ties with us first when they decided to rip our kids away from us…or, in your case, cast us aside in favor of pursuing their own interests. Their actions inflicted grievous wounds to our hearts that time can't mend, and they knew they would be hurtful. My family is an omen to me that I can't change. The only one that has light from that family…is my son, and whose father might as well be silent in every matter of import because he's a nonexistent being. Your family is just a mountain of contempt and ugliness that condemned you before you were even old enough to understand anything. The only person that doesn't hate you for being alive, for being who you are…is your daughter, and her mother's nothing but a silent, nameless stranger who couldn't do right by her, even if she was still alive. Why?"

"Because I can't risk getting Shado taken from me a second time by them if we ever saw them again, which also means I can't risk your mother sending Toya away if you saw her again. Once was a traumatic attack to our lives, but twice is a severe blow, and I don't know how I'd react if it were to happen a second time. I'd probably go insane. I'd probably die from grief."

Rumiko then said to Shinji, "I wouldn't hold it against you if you did. Some people are just…plain cruel to those who have done nothing wrong to them."

Shinji then set the book down and excused himself from the library to be with his daughter, leaving Rumiko alone amongst the legion of old books.

Rumiko looked up at a small statue of Jesus on the wall and sighed at how pathetic her own attempts were to get past her estrangement with her parents and brother. Then, without any sense of direction, she turned away from the statue and towards a small jar full of small, gold pendants. She walked over to it and examined them, taking out one of the pendants.

"These all seem to be the same guy," she uttered.

"He's called St. Jude," she heard the mother superior say to her, and she turned around to face the entrance to the library. "He's the patron saint of lost causes, among other things."

"Why does he represent lost causes?"

"Sometimes, people tend to give up on other people they believe have no value. But those that choose not to give up on them, even if they do seem hopeless, have more faith in them than the ones that did."

"And this church cares for the children that are slowly dying…even when it seems hopeless to pray for a miracle to save them?"

"That's right, but when it's their time, I use the Soul Stone to see them off to the world beyond our own. No matter how short their time was here, I let them know that their lives mattered, that they were loved…even if it wasn't by the people that should've been around to show them how much they cared. That…has always been the choice of every mother superior that was chosen to wield the Soul Stone."

"I don't understand how each of these stones serves to represent different parts of the universe."

"Those that understand the stones, even to their most simple degree, tell what they know to those willing to listen. Before God created the universe, there were six beings beneath him that predated all of existence, and when he created the universe, these beings were reduced to what remained of their own existence, serving to guide all the people towards the future. They would serve as the eternal force for keeping the universe stable: Reality, Space, Time, Mind, Power and Soul. At one point, only those with extraordinary resilience could wield these stones, but now only those chosen by the stones can wield them without fail or consequence, and each stone can either help or hurt, depending upon the chosen wielder. Preferably, the will of the stones would rather help over harm."

Rumiko sighed and put the pendant back in the jar.

"Those that believe themselves to be lost causes are often the ones that find a cause to commit themselves to," the mother superior expressed her belief, "and sometimes, just sometimes, a cause finds those that believe themselves to be lost causes."

"How does a cause find a lost cause?"

"Unexpectedly, young lady; you never know where, when, why or even how it comes to you. But when it does, it's up to you to decide whether or not to accept it. People always have a choice…even when there are those that try to make it seem like they have none."

"Like what Shinji's father tried to do to him, making him pilot a giant robot…or cyborg…or whatever those people Shinji met called it, and he initially refused, but was forced to reconsider when he was baited using a girl that was injured. But now Shinji knows better than to listen to people like that…and I know better than to believe my parents love me when my father and brother… I'm sorry. Shinji's been the only person I've been able to…express my personal feelings to about other people, but sometimes, I forget that if I say the wrong thing, I can hurt those around me without meaning to."

"You've both been hurt by ties that no longer connect to the heart," the mother superior stated, "and it was only recently you were learning to be free, to truly be free, from those ties that try to control you. Don't fret, though. So long as they can't find you here, you have time to come to terms with your lives. Just…live."

The mother superior then left the room…and Rumiko sighed as she decided to take one of the pendants of St. Jude and wore it around her neck; she wasn't much of a practitioner of any religion, but if there was such a thing as a saint that represented people that the rest of the world disregarded, she could believe in them over the deities of her own country and religion.

As she vacated the room, she failed to notice a small, green glow emanating from the jar. It lasted for only three seconds before fading away.

-x-

"…So…how long have you been here with the mother superior?" Shado asked a boy a little older than herself, wearing a white shirt and blue pants as they and the other children were outside in the yard.

"Oh, two years," he answered her. "My parents and I were on our way to the hospital when we were in a car accident. I woke up two days later, and my parents were… It's water under the bridge now. What about you? Is that young man really your father?"

"He is."

"But he's so…and your friend's mother, she must be around his age… How'd you get to be the daughter of such a young person?"

"A bad lady hurt my daddy when she decided to have me. I don't know anything beyond that, but Daddy has always cared about me when no one else in his family would. His aunt, uncle and cousin didn't like him…and as a result, didn't like me, either."

"That's terrible."

"But I'm with Daddy again, so I don't think about them. I know they're not thinking about me."

"What do you mean by, you're with your father again?"

"A year ago, we were separated. We didn't want to be, but his aunt and uncle gave us no say. Miss Rumiko's son, Toya, and I were forced to live at this orphanage when we were handed over, and for days, it felt like a nightmare we were barely waking up from…until our parents came and got us. I don't care if they didn't have permission to do so; I was happy Daddy came for me, that he still wanted me in his life, even if others hated him because of me."

"Sometimes, it's better to forgive than to permit. If your parents had every intention of coming to get you, regardless of what others said or believed, then they were better off asking for their forgiveness than to ask for their permission to continue being your parents. In some respects, it's better to forgive one's actions than to permit their actions."

"Thank you."

The boy than put his left hand on his head…and slowly brought it back down, holding a small chunk of his blond hair in it.

"Why'd you do that?" Shado asked him.

"It's a part of my sickness," he explained. "I'm dying."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I was sick ever since I was three. The mother superior is kind and everyone's going to the same place when they die. My parents will be there waiting for me."

However, Shado wasn't as optimistic as this boy was. It mainly stemmed from her time at the orphanage where less than five children died and were disposed of; to be with people that simply let you die and could care less was not the best place for any child.

"But you should take joy in the fact that you have your father with you," the boy told her. "Cherish every moment spent with him."

-x-

It was a painful sight to see for Shinji, but it helped to explain more of why the mother superior wielding the Soul Stone was seen as benevolent instead of cruel like the majority of the other organizations in the world. A little girl of seven years of age, unable to get out of bed now because of an operable cancer of her liver, but untreatable due to her parents being dead and her other relatives being uninterested in looking after her and medical agencies deeming an operation too expensive because they needed more money from those that had plenty of it. While it was saddening to watch her die, the mother superior, aided by the power of the Soul Stone, held the girl's left hand as she closed her eyes for the last time.

"Thank you, Sister Rosetta," the girl said to her…and was later silent.

The Soul Stone ceased its glow with the passing of the girl, and the mother superior looked up at the ceiling, wiping away a tear that escaped her right eye.

"She's in Heaven now," she told Shinji.

"I don't understand how you're able to do what you do for these kids…and not let it break you," he confessed to her. "I don't think I could ever do what you do?"

"I'm able to do what I can…because of my will to be there for the children no one else will be there for…and my conviction to see their souls off to the heavens where they're free from their pain…no matter what anyone else says."

"Can you see Heaven because of the stone?"

"I can."

"Please, out of curiosity…is it truly beautiful like people say it is when you go there?"

"It is. While I can't say what it looks like in detail, I can say that it is a big place where everyone that goes there…can find peace."

"Thank you."

Shinji looked to the newly-dead girl in the bed and bowed his head to her.

"It doesn't get easier, does it?" He asked her.

"No, but there is a reason for our mortality," she answered. "If we all lived forever, we'd be condemning ourselves to consuming the world because there would be too many of us. The last owner of the stones to have unforgivable intentions against every man, woman and child in existence believed himself to be responsible for deciding their fate, and he decided he needed to save the universe…"

"By wiping out half of its occupants, which maimed everyone left behind," Shinji stated; he was familiar with the history because the Space Stone told him about it. "Anyone that goes after the stones to do something like that, or something similar to that, is no better than the man that did it first and thought he was being merciful. It's why the stones are not easy to claim or control. They impose these requirements and test one's worthiness to wield them. The ones they choose, they can talk to, give advice or guidance. The ones that simply take them, they warn that they will not be able to achieve what they want without paying a form of penance."

"Our greatest penance…as well as our greatest blessing…is the fact that we are mortal, that we're frail, that our days are numbered…and the impact that we have on those we leave behind. When we die, we trade away our blessing for another one…until we decide we want the previous one back and live again. To understand this…and to accept this as the infallible truth in a short line of infallible truths…is why those wielding the Soul Stone reside in a place by themselves among the stonekeepers."

Shinji's Space Stone started glowing, pulsating every three seconds.

The mother superior, Sister Rosetta's Soul Stone also started glowing and pulsating; something was affecting them that their wielders were oblivious to because they didn't understand yet.

"My stone did something like this with the Power Stone after that madman was nearly killed," Shinji explained to her.

"Someone must either be in trouble because of a stone," Sister Rosetta suggested, "or…it's possible that another stone has made itself known."

"Another Infinity Stone is near? There's only Reality, Mind and Time out there, and I haven't found any of them yet."

"Each stone gives off a colored aura, representing each aspect of the universe: Space glows blue, Power is purple, Soul is orange, red for Reality, green for Time and yellow for Mind. If any glow catches your perception, you must assume that it's one of these stones. But since you hid the Power Stone away to prevent its misuse and abuse by anyone unworthy of it, we're left with only green, yellow and red."

Their stones continued to glow and intensify. Something was clearly riling them up.

"Soul has never been this bothered before," Sister Rosetta expressed.

"The only time my pendant ever glowed like this was after I left NERV."

"Most likely when you were under duress."

Their stones glowed brighter and released a pair of glowing spheres that flew out of the room.

Shinji and Sister Rosetta looked at one another and decided to follow the glowing spheres.

"Until we meet again, Heather," Sister Rosetta told the dead girl she helped to see to the other side. "Know only the peace you've been given."

Then, they left the little girl's room and looked for the glowing spheres.

-x-

SEELE didn't give Gendo much of an option but to give up on looking for the Third Child. So long as the Eva could work, they ordered him and NERV to look for another pilot if the boy went missing after attacking an orphanage and taking back his bastard daughter. But Gendo, being disrespectful of any authority higher than his own, was unwilling to obey their orders; so long as the Third Child was still alive, his scenario required him to pilot Unit-01 until he no longer needed him, and as long as he survived each attack by the Angels, even as a cripple with only an arm and leg, piloting was what he'd have his son do.

"…There is a candidate who can be brought up to speed," Ritsuko informed him of one of the pilot candidates that could replace the Third Child. "He's a local and…"

"Not yet," he told her, not wanting to use any of the pilot candidates just yet. "Continue to search for the Third Child."

"But sir, we were ordered by the Committee to cease all attempts to find the boy."

"He can't stay hidden forever…and he can't stay away forever. When he comes to realize how important it is for him to pilot the Eva, he will return."

"And what will happen should he still refuse?"

Once more, Gendo couldn't answer such a question. But he didn't have any belief in faith or some other nonsense, just that through careful manipulation of how the boy turned out, he would feel obligated to do what he had no other choice but to do.

-x-

None of the children saw the glowing spheres, but Shinji had to wonder if Rumiko saw them when he heard from Toya that he hadn't seen his mother in a while.

"Shado," Shinji spoke with his daughter when he found her in the hallway with her bear, "have you seen Rumiko recently?"

"No, Daddy," she answered him, and then pointed towards some stairs nearby. "She might be in the bathroom on the second floor."

"Thank you, sweetie."

Shinji and Sister Rosetta went to the second floor of the church where the restrooms were, but found no sign of Rumiko in any stall or by any sink. Their stones continued to pulsate until they started flickering as they walked towards the library, which, only because the door was closed, gave off an eerie, green glow.

"Green?" Shinji spoke up. "The Time Stone? It was here the whole time?"

"I never knew," Rosetta responded; nobody in the convent or the Covenant of the Soul Stone that knew of the stones had ever mentioned the church having another Infinity Stone. "We only knew of Soul. There was no mention of Time."

Time has been the most adaptive of the stones, the Space Stone told Shinji. As of late, after the most vile of holders was dealt with, it evolved to represent the basic truth of time: Time is omnipresent, existing everywhere alongside the omnipresence of space itself.

"So, the Time Stone, remaking itself, can be anywhere and nowhere, all at the same time?" Rosetta questioned, revealing that she heard what the stone was saying.

That is right, the stone answered her. But for now, Time is here…and Time has a reason for being here that is beyond Space and Soul.

Shinji went over to the door and turned the knob, getting bathed in the green light.

Gasp! Shinji saw something he wasn't prepared to see, and it frightened him beyond that of the situations with the Angel or the guy with the Power Stone.

Rumiko, floating in the middle of the chamber, was bathed in the green light of a small, gem-like object that floated above her.

-x-

Time sees you

It was only because she decided to go back to the library to look for another old book that she used to read to her son. There wasn't much to the agenda of Rumiko beyond just looking for a nonsense poem story from over two-hundred years ago by a British man. When she was looking down at one of the lower shelves in the chamber, that was when she noticed the green light that filled up the room, catching her attention.

Rumiko Gaidoku, she heard a voice speak to her. Rumiko Gaidoku… I see you. Time sees you.

She turned to face where she thought the light was coming from…and saw the jar with the pendants of the lost causes patron…with something green rising from within it. She wanted to run, to get out of there and tell someone, but she was paralyzed with fear of what might've occurred if she did. Her heart raced with panic, her chest tightening up with fright and her eyes widening with intensity that they could've popped out of her head.

Whosoever wields Time, if they prove themselves worthy enough to possess it, shall have the power of Time, the voice uttered again to her, and Time…chooses you.

-x-

"Soul, can you tell us what is happening here?" Rosetta questioned her Infinity Stone as she and Shinji had to shield their eyes from the glow's intensity.

Time seeks a new wielder, her stone responded. It seeks one that realizes that time is precious to those that have it. It suspects that the most adequate being to wield its power for the right reasons…is a young maiden that cherishes her time spent with those that matter to her heart.

A young maiden? Shinji thought as he heard Soul's voice, confused by this explanation. Rumiko's young, but she's not… I mean, I still think of her as the same person, regardless of what happened all those years ago, but… I don't get it.

It is only a word, Shinji, he heard the Space Stone say to him. It has many meanings, regardless of where it comes from. In this case, it just means a young woman, regardless of her status. Your friend fits the prerequisite for the stone.

Then, it started to look like Rumiko was turning her head and upper body this way and that way at a speed that made it look like she was turning into some sort of smear.

"Rumiko?" Shinji called out to her, and her body floated back to the floor where she stood on her feet, walking towards him and Rosetta, still shifting around upwards.

"…Shinji…left her…Shado…day…faith…Toya…read…age…later on…happy holidays…new…every time…miss you…never regret…came to…for you…we're gonna be…" Rumiko uttered, sounding like she was having different conversations with different people, all at the same time…until…

Standing in front of her friend, Rumiko had ceased this unusual act, now sporting a necklace with a small, green gem hanging from it, her eyes slowly fading with the green light that had once filled the room.

"Rumiko?" He asked her. "Are you…you?"

"I'm fine," she answered him, and then fell into his arms. "I saw…a lot."

He held onto her and carried her over to a nearby chair.

"Is she going to be alright, Sister Rosetta?" He asked the mother superior.

"I'm not sure," she responded. "The Time Stone is outside my area of expertise. The only person that can tell us about how it affects a chosen possessor…is the chosen possessor themselves."

Catching her breath, Rumiko sighed at what she had witnessed. It was like she was sitting in front of widescreen television set or inside of a theater, watching a series of events transpire, backwards and forwards…for a long time. And the scariest part…was how she was able to comprehend all that she witnessed without showing her sense of dread in the process. It was beautiful and terrifying.

The dawn of creation when the Big Bang occurred, the coalesce of stars and planets beyond what she learned about their solar system, the formation of other worlds with their own states of being, how some creatures evolved over time to become forms of energy while others survived for eons without the slightest change, and every single event had the one thing in common that was an undeniable truth in the universe, that all things in existence were bound together by time, not just space. While space made for a vast universe, without time, there was no telling what was going to happen wherever or whenever, regardless of the how or why. But this understanding of time came with a price of knowing what was going to happen and deciding whether or not to let it happen or try to keep it from happening however you could, and now Rumiko knew deeper in detail of the when to everything around her; she knew when people started out, when buildings were built, when towns and cities were founded, when Second Impact happened…and even things that hadn't happened yet, either due to a sort of pause in the timeline or because it would happen in another timeline. You could ask her about a past event, and she would know it.

"Rumiko," she heard Shinji say to her, "how do you feel?"

Looking up, the teenage girl found herself in the room she and her son were using in the chair, the small window nearby showing a dark sky with few stars, indicating that it was night out.

"Wha… How long was I…unresponsive?" She asked him.

"Most of the day after you got the Time Stone," he answered. "You passed out after you sat down, and then Sister Rosetta and I carried you here to lay down. You made Toya worry when he saw the stone around your neck. He asked me if it was like mine…and I told him that it was similar to the Space Stone…but it wasn't like any of the other stones. Space allows for travel…"

"But Time allows for temporal manipulation," she cut him off. "The Time Stone chose me. I'm endowed with the power to affect the flow of time itself. I know more about when than anyone else on the planet."

"Time and Space. When and where, respectively. But…are you okay?"

Rumiko nodded in the positive that she was fine…but that was in the physical sense; her mental and psychological health were…complicated now that she had the power to affect time.

You were only chosen no more than eight hours ago, Ms. Gaidoku, she heard the voice of the Time Stone say to her. What you're feeling right now…is understandable. It is okay to not know what to do. It doesn't change the fact that you were the one chosen to wield such an existential aspect of the universe however you see fit. Nobody can order you to affect the world the way you can if you wanted just to benefit themselves. Only you can decide that. You decide…in your own time. You, Rumiko Gaidoku, are the Temporal Maiden. Your hands hold more kindness in them to hold the fabric of time as you show your kindness when you hold your son…or your best friend or even his daughter. Take rest for now. You will need your strength for the future that is yours to affect however you choose.

Grumble! Rumiko's stomach growled; she hadn't eaten anything since breakfast.

"Well," went Shinji, "everyone else has eaten dinner. Let's go get you setup for a warm meal."

"Thank you, Shinji."

They walked down the hall to the kitchen where Shinji had a plate of the vegetarian meal he had helped Sister Rosetta to prepare earlier for everyone else in the church.

"What do you think of the designation of Temporal Maiden, Shinji?" She asked as she bit a piece of celery stalk after dipping it in peanut butter.

"Temporal Maiden? It sounds like a secret identity for a woman with a special power, but wants to live a good life. But…it also sounds like the identity of a woman that lives beyond everyone…but wants to be around other people." Shinji expressed his opinion of the designation.

"That's what the Time Stone called me."

"Then…you must be a woman with a secret identity now…and you're just starting out."

"Now, why would you think me a type of superwoman when I'm just a…teenage single parent who ran away from her mother after she had her son taken away over a year ago and just got him back and will do whatever it takes not to lose him again?"

"Because in a way…you are a superwoman. People who don't wear tights, have armor, capes or can fly…don't have to be super to be heroes in someone's eyes. I mean…anyone can be a heroic figure, whether they're an honest police officer, a compassionate nurse, even a childhood friend…doing something as reassuring…as just seeing another friend after a year of absence and no real plan."

"If that's what I am, then that's what you are, too. If you hadn't shown up when you did…who knows for sure what I might've done."

But Shinji was beating around the bush because there was one thing that bothered him with Rumiko possessing an Infinity Stone: He feared for her safety. If it had just been himself and people he didn't know very much, he wouldn't have feared the possibility of anyone getting harmed, but if it's someone he did know, he'd be crushed to a degree if they got harmed. But he had no say in this matter, no matter what he felt; Rumiko was now a stonekeeper like he and Sister Rosetta were, chosen by an Infinity Stone, meaning she was meant to have it and use its power however she chose. All he could do…was hope that nothing bad would happen to her or Toya and that they'd be able to live for a long time.

"Shinji," he heard Rumiko say to him, "don't worry about me. I'm a Temporal Maiden now. I can use the Time Stone to help you and the others. Sure, I could take Toya and go elsewhere, but then I'd feel bad because I left you and Shado. So…the goal you have, the goal to use the stones to create a new world for us to live on… I'm still all for it. If you're in this, I'm in it, too."

Shinji gave a small smile.

"We'll be careful when we're out there looking for wherever or whoever has the Mind and Reality Stones, then," he told her. "I can make going wherever we want or need to get to possible…but you're the one who can literally put a stop to things if they go wrong. Yeah?"

"Totally."

Now, they only had to find two more stones in order to attempt a goal that was impossible for anyone to achieve…and then call a new world their home where they wouldn't have to worry about the people that hurt them in the past. But a new planet that was just like Earth…was going to be too big for just a pair of teens and a bunch of children. Even Shinji knew this and wanted the place to be a haven for the lost, the abandoned, the cast aside and the lonely, people that didn't want to hurt any more than they already have. The people with everything they've ever wanted could keep the original Earth they helped to maim…while the people they didn't give a damn about would get the new one when it became a reality.

To be continued…

A/N: Now Rumiko has an Infinity Stone. I bet you never saw that coming.