And the Dead Shall come back....

Dr. Ritsuko Akagi

"Did you want something, Rei?" a very familiar voice asks in a pleasant, concerned voice.

A very good thing that I happen to be sitting down again after that little . . . spat with these scifi rejects! I fear that otherwise I'd find myself on the ground, otherwise. I recognise that voice! But it can't be her. It CAN'T!

"Mother?" I whisper, suddenly feeling like my knees have turned to water.

This CANNOT be happening!! She's dead. She died back in 2010, throwing herself to her . . .

. . .

No, having been thrown to her death by that bastard, Gendo Akari! She no longer was of any use to him and in fact was a hindrance by that time, so he killed her by faking her suicide.

"I got lost," a young girl says soflty.

Rei. Rei back when she was . . . in her first body!

Good god, what is GOING on here!? Are these strangers trying to play some kind of sick mindgame with me? These are the exact words from that security video only god knows where these strange interlopers dug up!

They'd used that tape to convince me to turn state's evidence against Gendo when at first I'd refused the government's offer at reducing the charges against me. I . . . know that they don't really care for me, but they did that anyway?

They know about me knowing of the true purpose of the EVAs and Gendo's plans, but they'd done it anyway. "Went up to bat for me" is what the Americans would put it, for why I don't know.

Are they trying to drive me to collapse now, making it somehow look like ghosts from the past were coming back to haunt here!?

Maybe humiliate me and dishonor my own MOTHER in front of the others?

"Oh really?" the voice of my mother continues as I feel my blood pressure rise at that thought, only to run cold as I remember . . . the dead in some cases . "Then you want to leave here with me?"

Pilot Ikari's and Asuka's mothers, to name names, actually!

. . .

It was a very good break indeed that Yui didn't press charges! Damn lucky, honestly. She'd been more concerned about "taking care of" her husband! In a most painful manner, I hear...

"That's okay," the young Rei demurs.

"Damnit, don't go and do it again," my Rei (too MANY of that type running about for MY taste, thank YOU) who dared give ME a science lecture (of all the cheek). "Don't play into Gendo's hands again, please!"

"Weapons on STUN," the . . . elf known as Elrondir barks out, drawing a high tech looking PISTOL (not something you would think a creature of fantasy possessing).

"Vhat are you doing?" that hot headed Russian Ensign, Chekov sputters. Nobody is making a move to call security, not wishing to get zapped here. Clearly he'd not expected this turn of events: dealing with armed people at a science briefing. Frankly, I hadn't either but . . .

Oh shit, I'd forgot that they'd confiscated that pistol of mine after taking me into custody and not returned it yet! If this group should turn against us all, we're dead. Nobody thought to post guards in here, armed or otherwise.

"But you won't be able to get home by yourself, right?" my mother's voice continues on, meanwhile.

"Not picking anything up," the other elf mutters, meanwhile. The female known as B'Elanna mutters something . . . . Klingonese?! . . . as she swears and fiddles with her tricorder

. . .

This has just got to be some kind of nightmare and I'll wake up and this will be . . . some kind of stress induced nightmare? Maybe a guilty reminder that I should actually visit my mother's grave?

Yes . . . it has been too long since I'd honored my mother's memory that way, really. I feel . . .shame.

"Please stop this," I find myself begging, looking at the stranger's (dream or not) who'd turned the world upside down and backwards.

"We'll try," Elrondir says gently, after glancing at me in . . .pity?

Compassion. No, it was in compassion.

Did they dig up that tape (from those superhackers named Inquirer and the Doctor who found it's location) and do what they did . . . out of compassion for me?

"No more deaths today," that other winged . . . lady named Reika says softly.

. . .

Did I get it wrong here and she's actually the clone girl I'd been keeping alive all this time for that bastard? I mean she's the same age as the Commander's little doll, but still! Rei has blue hair and red eyes. She is named Rei and this red haired and green eyed girl calls herself Reika.

I put her off as being a "distaff" version of MY Rei Ayanami, really. But am I wrong? Just HOW did they go about and "de-angel" Rei? I guess it somehow involved some kind of the high tech toys the Enterprise may have up there and had figured that it had just aged her a bit . . .

And given her wings.

. . .

Yeah. Right.

Well, whatever the case . . .

"That's none of your business you old hag," the young Rei's voice says, drawing blinks of surprise from my co-workers and more than a few of the Star Trek folks. That had been incredibly . . . rude what the young Rei just said, damnit.

. . .

Then again, it just dawns upon me . . . the young Rei didn't know what an "old hag" was, then. Didn't know that she'd was treading on dangerous grounds in what she reveals in her innocence.

She'd not been brought up in a normal fashion by that bastard: a victim in her own right. . . . like me.

. . . .

Should I really hate her like I do, anymore?

Whatever the case, I put that aside as the past reveals itself, much to my dismay. The elves and the others are going and doing things (even spells for god's sake), apparently trying to figure out how to prevent this disaster I hear coming!

A few more words between young girl and my mother and by now the anger is really present in the air on my mother's side.

"I'm going to get mad," Mother growls. "You need a good scolding from Director Ikari."

"That's what the Director calls you," Rei's young voice reveals, drawing a startled gasp from my mother. "He says, 'That old hag is pushy.' or that he, 'doesn't need that old hag anymore.'

"Mother STOP!" I shout, trying to somehow . . . against hope and perhaps foolishly hoping that I'd be heard. I know what happens next!

And against all odds, she does! I see suddenly through a . . . .tear in thin air. A taboo of sorts is going on the other side of . . . whatever this tear is!

"Yes, by ALL means stop!" a young teen with red eyes and silver hair (and pale skin) snarls, pointing a handgun at my mother, who looks like she's still ready to commit murder on the startled (and confused) young Rei Ayanami.

1. "Ritsuko?" she then gasps and blinks, forgetting for a second being held at gunpoint as she notices ME and the others staring at her.

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