Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Yui was tired as usual, her eyes not quite working. That was normal. But her mind and her soul were working overtime. She could feel the efforts of the people around her, of the countless souls flitting about. Something was happening, something urgent. Then, one she knew: one she made. Her son? No, that wasn’t who this was. Did she have a daughter? Her eyes fluttered slightly, not enough to activate the tracking. A preteen stared at her in terrified awe, and Yui swore she recognized the kid. When she finally made the connection, the earth shook and rubble started to fall. No time to worry, she protected the kid, her eyes wide as she blocked the rubble.

“Unit 01 moved without a pilot?!”

This was her Shinji? This terrified and anxiety ridden girl was her son? Yui had years to figure out seeing souls, and yet she hadn’t seen such a mismatch in all her time as merged with the prototype. Her eyes were locked on her daughter, now seeing the mistake she and Gendo made. This child should never have been named Shinji, she was much more a Rei.

A girl, trapped in silenced screaming.

Shinji raced over to the girl on the floor, and relaxed when she appeared to be fine. Aside from the numerous other injuries, she had no new ones. Seeing her grimace, Shinji decided then and there.

“I’ll do, I’ll pilot unit 01.”

A strange headband was shoved onto him, and soon he was in a cramped tube filled with goop. He could feel something else was in here, besides himself. That seemed to be how the Eva was controlled, with thoughts and feelings. Yet nothing he thought or felt did anything. The Eva stood still. And then, he felt pain unlike anything he had before.

Yui sighed internally. This kid was far too unprepared for this. Her terror and fear outweighed the movement she was desperately trying to do. As a result, Yui took some hits she would have preferred not to, but she sighed and tried to boost their connection. Whoops. Shinji probably had some of Yui in her now but keeping her alive was a mother’s duty. She fought for Shinji well, hoping the connection got better. Other people wouldn’t be able to see what she had done for Shinji.

And in the next fight, Shinji was a better fighter for sure. Emotionally though, she was traumatized beyond belief. Yui wondered as Shinji sunk the knife into the Angel, if Shinji was processing her feelings? Yui winced, as the connection was strained by two other people. She wasn’t sure how well she was going to keep them apart as separate people. Shinji might have some purple hair now, one of them now shared Shinji’s anxiety, and the third was connecting a little too easily to Yui. Yui hoped that third soul didn’t learn her secret but thankfully the soul was a bit of a blockhead as she found out through the connection. Yui was relieved when they left.

The next fight was relatively simple for Yui, as was the one after that. That fight didn’t even involve an angel. She noticed Shinji still hadn’t worked through her issues when she left but that changed the next time Shinji entered the cockpit.

Shinji was riding a high of joy fighting with Asuka in her Eva unit. They felt like one woman, destroying the angel with a satisfying bloodlust. Utterly decimating the angel. One in mind and body. When the connection ended, something hit Shinji like a brick wall. She...no he was stuck in his body again. Why did that hurt?

“Hey idiot you can let go of the controls now,” said an irritated Asuka.

Shinji didn’t hear Asuka as the thoughts stumbled out loudly,”Why does being a boy hurt….why did being a girl feel good….was that the connection….is that me….if I’m a girl….I can’t man up ….I should man up….forget this….but….boy hurts….girl doesn’t. Why doesn’t girl hurt?”

“I uh, oh verdamit. Shinji? Shinji?” Asuka tried the second child’s name to no avail. It wasn’t working. She had a suspicion something wasn’t right with Shinji, and it had something to do with gender.

On a whim Asuka tried something, “Girl?”

That worked.

“Yes? Wait. I’m supposed to be the boy Shinji right?”

“As far as I know, yes, but….”

“Alright, I’ll just keep being….that. Sorry Asuka”

Shinji slowly let go of the controls, looking more dejected than usual. Was it just Asuka’s confidence that Shinji wanted, or was it more than just her personality Shinji was missing. As Shinji was debriefed and returned home, Shinji was lost in thought. Who was Shinji?

The fight was going rather badly for Shinji, and Yui wished she could do more. Yui wished she could speak, to calm her child. It seems the gender issue had finally caught up with Shinji. She tried to help Shinji, but boosting the sync from her side would have consequences. A little more couldn’t hurt, right?

Ah shit.

Shinji’s hair got longer and turned fully purple, and something changed hormonally, too. Shinji could live with that, right? Yui got distracted before she tumbled through the air as the fight went south. She couldn’t blame her child, Shinji was going through some tough stuff. Yui had the distinct feeling her husband wasn’t much of a help there.

Shinji couldn’t help himself. He couldn’t focus on the debriefing. His hair was now long, soft and a shade of purple a bit more pastel than Eva 01. He kept playing with it, twirling it between his fingers, spinning a lock around one and then letting it go. It took Asuka shaking him violently to bring him back to focus

“Hey! Hey! Earth to Shinji! You sucked at that fight, what happened to the prodigy they told me about?!”

“I, wh? Sorry, what did you say? I was….distracted.”

“Yes yes, you’ve got nice colorful hair. But why was your fighting so poor?!”

“I uh. I’m…not sure? I still feel weird inside after….you know.”

“They looked you over, you should be fine? Or is it-”

“Asuka drop it. Shinji, you go check in with Ritsuko.”

The pair obliged Misato, and went their separate ways.

Only to reunite at the apartment doorway.

Chapter Text

“A-asuka?”
“Hi Shinji. Misato has a plan to deal with this angel, but first we have to have some girl talk.”
“G-girl talk? But I’m a guy….”
Shinji was shoved into his room, noting it was full of moving boxes. Two mattresses sat on the floor, and Asuka sat down on one of them. Shinji sat on the other.

“Alright, this is a judgment free zone. Now, its time for some girl talk.”
“O-okay? But what do you mean girl talk? I’m a guy”
“Shinji, do you actually like being a guy?”
“N-not really….but I have no choice. It’s not like I could just become a….you know.”
“Say it.”
Shinji muttered
“What was that?”
“I-its n-not like I-i could be a g-g-g-g-irl.”
“You can just be a girl, idiot.”
“I-i can?!”
Asuka sighed in relief, “Yes, you can. I don’t know if this is a side effect of two people piloting but if you want to be a girl you can. Do you want to be a girl?”
Shinji had a look of terror on his face.
“Answer me, do you want to be a girl?”
Shinji stared at the ceiling and shivered in place, “I….I want to be….a….a…..girl.”
Asuka smiled and sighed in relief. She offered a hug, which Shinji just leaned into. Poor girl. Asuka reached for a box, and rummaged for her spare hairbrush. She found it, and gently separated the now sobbing girl from herself. 
“Alright, I’m going to brush out your hair for you. Any style requests?”
“J-just plain down?”

Asuka nodded and got to work, carefully brushing out the purple hair. If her fellow pilot was in rough shape, then she couldn’t count on Shinji for any help. It sucked having to be someone’s emotional support, but this was better than dieing in battle because the girl was stuck in genderland. Shinji started humming a tune Asuka didn’t recognize, and was finishing up when Misato walked in.

“Oh good you two are together I can- wait, why are you brushing Shinji’s hair like that? Has he been crying?!”
“M-misato?”
“Shinji?”
“It turns out I’m a g-girl.”
Misato did a doubletake, before composing herself. She was this kid’s guardian, and her job was to straighten the kid out. She was about to do that when Asuka piped up.
“Misato, I know what your about to say. Can it. Shinji is much more of a girl than boy. There’s an english word for it I’m pretty sure, but look just at her face. This is the happiest I’ve seen her.”
Misato was taken aback by the maturity of the fiery redhead in front of her. Misato looked at Shinji’s face, and sure enough the sadness was greatly diminished. It stayed in the corners, but she hadn’t seen Shinji this happy before. 
“Huh. So your a girl?”
“Y-yeah….I’m more of a housewife than anything honestly.”
Misato snorted at the bad joke, “Fair point, but in good news this makes the next operation much easier. If your both girls that is. Essentially, we’ve got six days before the angel revives, and you two need to be in perfect sync to fight it. No school for now and no distractions. I suppose two girls will have a better time of syncing like that, anyway I have the training outfits here. Now that I think about it, you don’t have many clothes do you Shinji? After the mission, how about a trip to the mall with me, Asuka and Rei?”
“Oh let’s invite Hikari, she loves outfit planning,” added Asuka
“Who?”
“A friend from school.”
“Alright, girl’s day out for the new girl. How does that sound, Shinji?”
“I uh. That’s good. I’m not sure I like Shinji though. I would like to go with Rei, since that’s what my mom would have named me had I been a girl.”
“Hmm, put on the outfit and give it some thought. It would get a little confusing having two Reis. Asuka, can you lend her a sports bra?”
Asuka sighed and opened another box digging around for a bra and stuffed it into Shinji’s hands, “Sure, sure. Now go change in the bathroom, idiot girl.”

Shinji gave an awkward smile and left the room holding the outfit. Misato turned her gaze onto Asuka, eyes briming with barely contained rage.
“Now, explain this prank or so help me I’ll-”
“Its no prank. I could feel what Shinji felt when we piloted together.”
“What?!”
“For the fight, we acted as one person, Shinji and I effectively merged minds. Both of us ended up controlling and looking through my body. Shinji avoided hers during that fight. I avoided spilling this to NERV because Shinji was in a delicate space.”
“I don’t get what that has to do with Shinji!”
Asuka sighed, “Misato, what boy would have been that comfortable in a girl’s body? He wasn’t perverted about it either, I got the sense of pure joy from her during that fight.”
“J-joy? Shinji liked being part of you?! Isn’t that kinda creepy for you??”
“Misato, you are missing the point. If this were a prank, would I be defending that idiot this hard? I could beat her into the dirt. But I’m not. She got a lot of happiness from being a girl, even for just 15 minutes.”
That gave Misato pause, “Are you sure this isn’t a side effect of the piloting?”
“No, but does that matter?”
“I….”
“Now get out, I have to change,” Asuka said as she yanked the uniform out of Misato’s grip and slammed the door in Misato’s face. Misato turned and saw Shinji in the leotard, eyes wide. 

“I uh, how much did you hear?”
“I heard enough to know you don’t actually support me, Misato-chan,” said Shinji with a feminine huff. Misato was stunned, not only by the rebellious disrespect that Shinji just displayed, but by the fact that Shinji used atashi now. Apparently without even noticing. Shinji walked past Misato, entering the living room and sitting. It was then that Misato realized she fucked up. The look on her face must have been clear as Asuka exited the bedroom with an arrogant look at Misato.
“So, you feeling remorse yet?” growled Asuka. Great, not even an hour into the three of them living together and they both hated Misato now. Misato sighed and reached for the fridge, and the beer drawer. She was stopped by a flipper. Great, even PenPen hated her now. Misato sighed and entered the living room. If this was Shinji’s truth, she had better listen well. 

“Alright, I apologize for not trusting you. I’ll hear what you have to say. Any and all of it. But we have little time so-”
“We have six days to sync up, we can spare an hour or two for the poor girl, “ said Asuka, giving away her motivation on defending Shinji. Pity. Misato shut up.
“Alright. So uh, I’m a girl. My father always told me to ‘man up’ but that never felt right. Being a guy never did sit right with me, but like most of my feelings I suppressed it. My father never talked much about mom, and I never got to save any pictures of her. He burned all of them. I can hardly even remember her face. I might have figured out I was a girl sooner, had she been around. Father really wasn’t much help emotionally. Ever. As for my name, her name was Yui, so I’m going with Yuika for myself, as a partial spite to my father. There, now please treat me gently.”
Misato considered a followup question for Yuika but Asuka asked first, “What do you mean, partial spite to your father?”
“Well, ka means flower -”
“I know Japanese, idiot girl.”
Yuika sighed and teared up, “Father never leaves flowers at Mom’s grave. Not once in my life has he done that. So, every time someone says my name or writes it down, they leave a flower for my Mom too. That’ll make him mad, or at least some response.”
That tore at Misato’s heartstrings, until she remembered quickly who Shinji’s Father was.
“He never responds to you?”
“Never. Doesn’t even – didn’t ever call me Shinji. Never answered letters or emails, and the few times he contacted me it was either for the yearly visit to mom’s grave or the Commander summons to NERV.”

“Mein Gott! Your Father is Commander Gendo?!”
Misato and Shinji looked at Asuka and let out a mutual sigh.

“Did nobody tell you that? He really doesn’t like me.”
“I can see that now, yeah.”
Misato sighed and tallied on her fingers, “Alright, gotta see if Ritsuko has something to help her body, gotta tell the materials department to make a new suit for s-Yuika,  get a school uniform for Yuika, and get NERV legal to change her name in our records. But if you actually smile now, it’s worth it.”

Yuika smiled warmly. 

Chapter Text

Toji and Kensuke exited the elevator only to see their class rep exiting the other one. Confused, the two sides confronted each other.
“Oh! Class rep, what are you doing here?”
“I’m going to visit Asuka, she hasn’t been in class for a couple days. What about you two?”
Toji answered, “Seeing Shinji. He’s been out too and needs his homework. Wait, why are we stopped at the same apartment?”
The class rep shrugged and rang the doorbell. A clattering of feet was heard and the door opened revealing a redheaded girl and lavender haired girl in matching gymnastics uniforms, and sharing a single set of earbuds
“Huh, guess we got the address wrong Kensuke. Looks like only Asuka and this lavender haired girl live here. No sign of Shinji,” said Suzuhara
“Hello Asuka! I brought your homework, mind if I come in? Wait a minute….lavender-haired girl, you look kind of familiar….mmm nah can’t be,” concluded Hikari.
Kensuke went white as a sheet as he recognized who lavender hair was.
“Kensuke, you good there buddy?”
“T-t-t-toji, Cl-cl-class rep?”
“Huh?”
“Whats the matter Aida-kun?”
“Lavender hair is….is….,” he gulped for air losing his marbles, “Shinji!”
And then he fainted.
“WHAT?! IKARI?! OH SHIT KENSUKE.”
Quickly, the matching duo picked up Kensuke and dragged him into the apartment. They were in perfect lockstep with each other as they skipped back in. Suzuhara and Hikari looked at each other stunned and bewildered before entering. Kensuke was laid onto a pillow, awake but still a bit out of it, and the duo sat at the table looking at their classmates.

“Okay, so I got a lot of questions for Ikari-k-”
“Ikari-chan. I’m a girl.”
“No you aren’t? Last I checked you wore a boys uniform and are a boy?”
Asuka stepped in, “Last you checked, Shinji didn’t have pastel purple hair past her shoulders. She had some trouble figuring herself out, but she’s a girl. Class representative and Suzuhara-kun, meet Ikari Yuika.”
It was then Kensuke shot up like a bolt, breathing hard, “Ikari-chan gets to be a girl?!”
Yuika had a small knowing smirk, “Why do you ask, my friend? You can be one too, you know.”
Kensuke went beet red and stammered before letting out a loud “AUGH,” followed by a whimpered “I...I think I want that?”
“Verdamit, here’s your 500 yen Yuika. How the heck did you guess that Aida-chan was like you?” Asuka grumbled handing a coin to Yuika.
“Woman’s intuition, I guess.”
“Okay but you still haven’t explained why Ikari-chan is a girl all of sudden. I mean, did she have overnight surgery or somethin?”
“Suzuhara-kun, that’s a rude thing to ask a lady. Now, this might be more sensible to ask – what’s with the matching outfits?”
Yuika snorted and Asuka explained, “Oh, girly girl over here didn’t change beyond the hair. As for the outfits, its related to our efforts as Eva pilots. I could explain more, but NERV wouldn’t like that.”

Suzuhara went slack jawed. His two bros were now chicks and the one he didn’t recognize didn’t even change that much! He went back to basics, “I uh, are we still friends, Yuika?”
“Oh, of course. Geez, Toji-kun its not like I’m a totally new person. Just a different gender than before.”
“I uh, hm. Okay?”
Yuika whispered something  into Asuka’s ear, and a maniacal grin crossed her face. She whispered something back to Yuika, whose expression could be described as a mix between delight and menacing. 

“Huh?”
“Suzuhara, “ Yuika started with a Cheshire grin,” have you ever wanted to be a girl?”
“HEY! YOU SAID WE’D KEEP THAT BETWEEN THE THREE OF US!” blurted Suzuhara and Aida almost in sync. The three confirmed girls looked at each other and giggled loudly. Asuka handed another 300 yen to Yuika, this time delighted. 
“So that’s a yes, Yuzuki-chan?”
Yuzuki only replied with a stammering, Aida spoke up instead, “Alright, fine if your just gonna say it outright my girl name is Yukina. Geez, never thought we’d talk about that conversation. We promised we wouldn’t.”
“Yeah, that was a bad idea,” replied Yuika.
 “Wait, did we seriously all pick names starting with Yu?” said Yuzuki
The trio snorted and giggled, realizing their stupidity. Asuka joined in giggling at the awkwardness.
Hikari looked at the scene around her, and sighed, “Well, I guess we have a much bigger circle of friends now, eh Langley-chan?”
“Oh that reminds me! After this mission, Misato-san was going to take Yuika for a shopping trip. She barely has any clothes.”
“Hey! Boy clothes suck….”
“Anyway, I made the suggestion that we invite some of our friends along. I wasn’t sure if we were going to invite Yuika’s ‘friends’ because they seemed kinda perverted to me-”
“I resent that statement,” said Aida
“Eh, fair judgment I guess,” agreed Suzuhara, which was met with concerned glares from the rest of the room. 
“What? Girls are really cute, y’know,” was Yuzuki’s defense, before realizing what that statement said about her, “I uh. Hm.”

It was then Misato came back holding a brown bag in one hand, a white bag on her other arm and a coffee in her hand. She stared at the scene in front of her.
“So uh, you know about….”
“Yuika? Yes, and now Yuzuki and Yukina too. Seems girls like Yu move in herds,” replied Hikari, staring at Yuika.
Misato tossed the brown bag at Yuika, softly hitting her in the face. She set the white bag on the table. As she sat down, Misato then realized the pun. 
“Oh Gd you three didn’t….seriously?!” Misato groaned, chugging some more of her coffee.
“Unfortunately, girlhood didn’t cure their stupidity,” replied Asuka with an annoyed expression on her face.
“Maybe that will, Yuika that’s apparently some kind of hormone replacement drugs. Ritsuko gave em to me, should help with your body.”
“Huh?!”
“Wait, we can change our bodies like that? Could you get us some too, Misato,” said Aida with a pleading expression on her face.
“I uh, maybe? Yuika, Ritsuko wants you in for bloodwork….hm I gotta make a phone call for those two,” Misato said, pointing at Yuzuki and Yukina,” Keep up the training! I assume Yuika’s cooking tonight?”
“Yup!”
“Good, good. Oh, Hikari?”
“Yes Ms. Misato?”
“Yuika and Asuka aren’t going to be at school for the next six days. If anyone asks, its NERV business.”
“Why are you telling me? Haven’t you told the school?”
“I have, yes. But their classmates will worry.”
“Smart thinking m’mam.”
The school girls chatted away, before leaving the apartment.

Misato, meanwhile, drank some more coffee and moved into the office. She dialed Ritsuko and got a lazy reply, “Hello?”
“Hey, its Misato again.”
“What is it now?”
“Turns out there’s two more like Yuika?”
“You mean transgender?”
“Yes. That word. I am sooooo tired.”
“Keep at it. I’ll get some more drugs.”
“Isn’t nerv keeping track of that?”
“Eh, with how many poor Rei is on, they stopped keeping track.”
“Thats….concerning.”
“Don’t worry about it. What are the paitents names?”
“Uhhhh let’s see….Suzuhara Yuzuki and Aida Yukina.”
“Wow, real original,” Ristuko said, sarcasm weighing heavy on the pun. 
“Oh they know, they think its hysterical.”
“Well, if their having fun at least...both are transgender woman right?”
“Huh?”
“Do they need estrogen?”
“mmmYes? Yes.”
“Alright, go get some sleep Misato.”
“I’d say the same for you.”
The pair snorted, remembering their college days.
“Take care Misato,”
“You too, dear,” said Misato before slamming the reciever down at her mistake, beet red.
“I have GOT to get some sleep.”

Chapter Text

Yui felt something different from her daughter. Was the depression getting better? Did she chose a new name? As Yui felt the guided and precise combat flow through her nerves, she swore something was new with her daughter. The hormone change had subsided, thankfully. She was sure if her husband found that out he would have realized she was in fact the EVA. That all his attempts at resurrecting her would fail because her soul wasn’t gone. It was there, right in front of him.

During the next mission, she had a troubled thought. Could she even die, as an angel? Well and truly, die? She had a core like the others, and she regenerated. Even if she was burned alive, enough time and electricity would fix that. Falling into a volcano would merely hurt not kill her. The suit was more for the pilots protection anyway.

And again, the following mission in the dark increased her worry, loosing power meant she lost time and movement. Under the heavy restraints, welded to her nerves, she couldn’t move. She had to rely on the electricity to kickstart her muscles. That realization scared the hell out of her, which was not helping her poor daughter line up a kill shot.

Her daughter was surpassing Yui’s expectations, and the sync rate was terrifying to the techs monitoring her condition. The rate shot upwards as EVA 01 raced towards the angel. That dropped severely when Yui was made to catch the angel, and her daughter screamed something.

“Shut Up! No matter what my father said, my name is Yuika!”

Yui finally heard the name her daughter picked, and if she hadn’t had fear of death before then, she had it now.

Maya noticed something strange, which given the EVA units vibe was rather impressively weird. S-Yuika’s sync rate was still staggering, taking into consideration the dysphoria of being a naked transgender. That wouldn’t explain the sudden drop during the last fight, unless….

“Ritsuko? I got something strange.”

“Maya, everything here is strange.”

“No, I mean it. Now that we can measure a forced gender dyphoria effect on Yuika’s sync rate, the readings from the end of the last fight don’t make sense.”

Ritsuko sighed, “She’s a teenager, its probably something hormonally wrong.”

“Yeah, she doesn’t produce estrogen. That still doesn’t explain that drop,” retorted Makoto, tired of the argument Yuika caused in upper management. ‘Who gives a shit what shes calling herself, she’s piloting the last hope of humanity. Give her a fuckin break.’ was the off work chatter between the techs.

Maya continued in stride,” Exactly! This is a much more consistent pulse, like a dip of about minus 2 sync points every couple of minutes. That was a sudden drop of 20 points, and was dropping even when the battery was depleted. It couldn’t have been Yuika at that point, the sync rate sensors should have stopped when the battery did.”

“So it’s a sensor glitch, who cares.”

“Speaking of glitches, there’s some new stains on the protein wall,” muttered Shigeru, as Makoto leaned over to take a look.

“Looks like corrosion from trapped air bubbles to me. Weren’t they doing construction in there a couple of days ago?”

Yui felt weird. Something other than Her Daughter was in there. It felt like a faint echo, but distorted. She couldn’t think on that long, though. She was trapped, somewhere. It was easier to think, as she realized the restraints were loosed. Presumably to save power.

So, she and Yuika were trapped and it was life or death. She watched as thoughts flooded through Yuika over the course of hours. Yui finally realized that if men could have juniors, why couldn’t woman? She then realized what should have been obvious, the name was a memorial to her. The battery ran down, and something like death flashed in Yuika’s eyes. Despite her better judgement, Yui couldn’t suppress her maternal desire. A child was in pain, and needed a hug.

So she gave one.

The pair ripped their way out of the strange dimension, covered in blood and very angry.

It should have been a standard mission, defeat the angel. But this wasn’t an angel. And unlike that metal monster, it still was flesh. An EVA, like Yui. The worst qualities of Yui’s form, reflected back at her. Was this something like what her daughter experienced? And why was her daughter refusing to fight?

Something changed, abruptly. It was all wrong. This wasn’t her daughter at all. It was the mind of a feral machine, painted over with her daughter’s face. She couldn’t refuse the controls, and to her horror she obeyed the mockery. Her daughter begged and screamed, but Yui couldn’t listen to her. She couldn’t listen to reason, as anger shouted louder. It hurt, and Yui wished she could have stopped herself. It took a lot out of her to resist, and a larger drain on her battery. She stopped just short of crushing the entry plug. She hoped that helped her daughter, even in a small way. The angry machine blared at her, and the plug was squeezed. It slipped out a bit, but one end was crunched. The battery died in an act of mercy by physics.

If Yui could have still divorced Gendo at that point, she would have.

Things went from bad to worse when Yuika returned to the cockpit to pilot again.

This angel was tough, too tough for Yuika. As the batteries drained, she prayed for victory. As the batteries died, she prayed on and rocked the joysticks with all her remaining will.

A cruel miracle finally answers her, as something she didn’t think possible happened.

The armor was ripped away to reveal….an angel’s core.

Yuika stared, agape in horror.

To the control room, the monitors went a solid red color with a warning. It was a warning almost written as a joke, as no human could do that. But one just did. And it scared the hell out of them.

Even Gendo felt fear upon seeing the record breaking sync rate his child achieved.

“How….How did he achieve 400% synchronization?”

Chapter Text

Yui, for the first time in a decade, wasn’t alone. Her daughter stared, horrified in recognition.

“Hello, Daughter.”

“M-mom? This can’t be real….this can’t be real….your dead. Am I dead?”

“That’s a hard question, and I can’t give you a sensible answer to it. But yes, I am the soul of your Mom. I’ve been here for you, since you first piloted me.”

“Piloted? How can I pilot my own mother?”

Yui laughed, “Sweetie, I’m Evangelion 01. You saw it happen, when me and the body merged.”

“What?! I did?”

“You were three, I’m not surprised you don’t remember. But, more important to me is that you are treated well. A mother cares for her child, after all. And Gendo certainly hasn’t been nice to you, has he?”

Yuika was taken aback, “H-how did you know?”

“I pay attention. Like how you call yourself Yuika, out of respect. It’s all I can do, aside from following the commands you give me and the synchronization.”

“I chose Yuika because father never leaves flowers on your grave. Always irritated me, so now everyone has to respect you. He never respected his own ‘son’, so why do I owe him my respect?”

“I can make sure Gendo has no more excuse to call you a ‘boy’. I can’t force him to give you respect, but thanks to the weird situation we’re in I can do something. Do you remember your hair changing?”

An adorable blush confirmed that memory was a happy one for Yuika.

“Good, that was a side effect from me trying to boost your sync rate from my side. In theory, I can use this to affect you more. You’ll take more after me than Gendo, but you will be physically a girl.”

Yuika’s jaw dropped.

“There’s a catch. You’ll have to be in here much, much longer than intended for that to happen. I’m bad with time, but I think a week should do it. We can use that time to catch up, maybe do some mother daughter bonding?”

“I….wow. I….yes. Absolutely.”

“Let’s begin then. First, we need to maul that angel for a better power source, then I can help you”

Yuika nodded in agreement, and went to town on the angel. It was a bloodbath, and not much of the angel remained.

The s2 core tasted like hard cherry candy on the way down.

Misato was panicking. Sure, the first angel was gone. But, and it was a big but, there still was one. Misato blurted out what every grunt in the control room was thinking.

“Was anyone going to tell me the evangelions have angel cores?”

“I….I think its worse than that! I think their angels!” replied Shigeru, horrified.

“That would explain why….and….oh god your right!” screamed Makoto

Maya was simply stunned, but she suspected there was something shady ritsuko was hiding. She just wasn’t expecting….that.

“Well, shit. Cat’s out of the bag, isn’t it Commander Ikari? How are you going to fix this?” bemoaned Ritsuko.

The lack of response was deafening

In their collective imagination, Yui sat behind Yuika on the floor of Misato’s apartment. She brushed out her daughter’s wonderful lavender hair.

“How did you know I was a girl, by the way?”

“I can see other souls. Yours read as a girl related to me, but your appearance was of my child. I was rather surprised, but I had to accept that. A parent must do what’s best for her child, even if she doesn’t under the reasons.”

“Father practically did the opposite.”

“I wish I could have been there for you.”

“What happened?”

“Well….the story goes like this….”

“So, without you Eva 1 wouldn’t have moved at all….that’s horrible.”

Yui puts a green bow in Yuika’s hair and moves to face her.

“I was dedicated to my science, a bit too much I’ll admit.”

“So father doesn’t know?”

“I staged it as an accident. For all I know, he thinks it was one.”

“Do you think he blames himself? I mean-”

“All of that doesn’t excuse the kind of man he’s become.”

“Yeah….and looking at you it’s strange. I can see why he grieved so hard. There’s a girl named Rei who kind of looks like you would have as a kid.”

The camera shifts and reveals Rei standing in a corner, absolutely lifeless. Yui’s eyes go wide.

“Oh god he didn’t….”

“Huh?”

“Please tell me something, what are your feelings on Rei?”

Yuika blushed and stammered, “Well I uh, she’s a good friend but nothing more I swear!”

Yui frowned, “Like a sister, almost?”

“That’s a weird way to put it, but something like that.”

She thinks for a while, before confronting Yuika again.

“So, I have a theory but I’m not positive its true. But the facts are solid. The parts linking them aren’t.”

“Rei is your clone?”

“Like I said, a theory. But given Gendo’s grief, I imagine even if that wasn’t the case he’d still be doing something shady.”

“Ill….think on that.”

“Gendo’s the one blocking your name change?”

“And gender change. Thankfully the materials department accepted the change from male plugsuit to female plugsuit, but according to nerv documentation I’m still-”

“Hm, that Asuka seems like a lot to manage. Seems like she’s got some trauma. Do keep her away from that Kaji guy if you can, that certainly isn’t healthy.”

“So this Misato takes care of you?”

“Yep, she does. Loosely, because she’s a bit of a mess.”

Yui laughs at her daughter’s inconvenience.

“Oh that’s too funny. You three seriously named yourselves without realizing the names shared yu?”

“…..” Yuika blushed sheepishly

Yui laughed more, and eventually Yuika laughed with her.

Yuika could feel the time was coming to a close, but she was happier than she had been in a long time. Yui couldn’t tell time, so Yuika informed her.

“Oh dear, it went so fast! Well, I have one request. It’ll take some courage though.”

“Anything for you, mom. You’ve helped me so much.”

“Slap Gendo in the face, and tell him its from Yui his wife.”

Yuika was taken aback, but she had little time to think on that.

“Oh dear, it seems our time is up here Yuika. I love you, sweetie! Take ca-”

“Yuika!” cried Misato

“I….I’m back.”

“Welcome home,” Misato clutched the child tightly, before noticing a lot was different.

“Yuika? What happened to you?”

“My mom fixed my body. I’ve got a girl’s body now.”

“What?! Thats an eva, not your mother.”

“Eva 01 has Yui Ikari’s soul. Without Mother’s soul, Eva 01 wouldn’t have worked.”

“What?!”

Yuika pulled out of the embrace, “Which way is my father, mom wanted to ‘give’ him something. A kind of goodbye.”

“Oh, he should be just over….huh? Where’d he go?”

Ritsuko ran up to the pair, shocked Misato’s idea worked, “Your alive! I don’t know how that worked, but it did!”

“Do you know which way my father went?”

“Observation room of this hanger?”

Yuika ran towards the lift, and slammed the button. Gendo was pressed against the wall, apparently in shock. It was hard to tell with his stony expression. Yuika walked up to him calmly.

“Hello father, This is from Yui Ikari, your Wife,” Yuika said as she attempted a firm slap on Gendo’s face. It was weak, but did the trick as the red outline form on his cheek. Satisfied, Yuika turned to leave when Gendo spoke.

“I….she’s in there, isn’t she. She’s been there the entire time, my Yui. My-”

A second, much harder slap graced the other cheek, “Mom isn’t yours to own. I think she hates the way you raised me. I should know, I spoke to her.”

Gendo now looked terrified as his daughter rode the lift back down.