Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from this fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

Disclaimer: I do not own DC comics or anything associated with it and am making no profit off this fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

Epilogue

The memorial service for Gendo Ikari was pathetically underattended, especially considering he had been easily the most powerful man in Tokyo-3 prior to his death, Shinji mused.

To be sure, a few people had come. Maya had spotted and pointed out a couple members of Tokyo-3's largely powerless local government to him, as well as a few relatively senior members of the NERV staff. Naturally, Fuyutsuki had put in an appearance.

So had Dr. Akagi.

Maya had told him, long after the insanity of what was already being called the Last Battle of Tokyo-3 had ended, about how Dr. Akagi and his father had been lovers, even though he had treated the scientist poorly.

Seeing her arrive to pay her respects to his father, Shinji couldn't help but wonder if he and Dr. Akagi were very much alike. After all, for the vast bulk of his life, Gendo Ikari had either ignored him or been cold and hostile toward him. Yet here Shinji was, at least going through the motions of mourning, even if his jumbled emotions refused to point in the direction of grieving with any consistency.

He had asked Maya what his father's last words had been, and she had told him, albeit with some reluctance. It rather made him wish he had never asked. It certainly hadn't done anything to make his feelings toward the man any easier to sort out.

Maybe I'm more like Misato than Ritsuko, he mused, thinking about how very similar their situations were now, both having been saved by the final sacrifice of a father who hadn't exactly been great in life.

As the thought crossed his mind, he saw the bottle blonde getting up, quickly making her way toward the exit as unobtrusively as possible.

He wasn't surprised. Aside from himself, only Maya and Rei had been there since the start of the service, and it looked like only the three of them would be there at the end.

Maya, he knew, had only come for his sake, and because he'd accompanied her to her father's funeral, which had been the previous week.

That had been a far more crowded affair. It had also been significantly more…colorful. While there, he'd seen a man arrive wearing a golden turban with a ruby the size of a chicken's egg in it, a man in a blue trench coat and fedora with pure white eyes, and a blue skinned demon man who'd burst into flames the moment he'd set foot into the church, but who had stoically endured the fire for the length of the funeral.

Where his own father's memorial was concerned, Shinji couldn't blame anyone for failing to attend, or only staying briefly. Not only had Gendo Ikari been a difficult man to like, but his death made it all too easy to lay all the blame for the Last Battle of Tokyo-3 at his feet. The late Commander of NERV would long be remembered as a dangerous man willing to engage in extremely reckless experiments and openly rebel against his own government.

But I guess me and Maya are the only ones who will ever remember that he died to save me, Shinji thought, still having trouble wrapping his mind around that fact.

He felt Maya put a hand on his shoulder, and he turned to her, giving her a grateful look and somehow mustering something that at least resembled a smile.

The memorial service seemed to last a very long time.

"Hello, Rei, how are you doing?" Maya asked the First Child after the service ended, the three remaining attendees meeting outside.

The blue haired girl was wearing one of her school uniforms, as usual. The bright colors of the outfit had seemed wildly inappropriate during the service, yet the light of day had somehow made it perfectly normal again.

"I am coping," Rei said in her usual, soft voice.

Maya's eyebrows rose slightly at that. The choice of words said a lot, coming from the First Child.

"I believe Commander Ikari was your legal guardian," Maya said. "What is going to happen to you now?"

"Commander Fuyutsuki is going to become my new guardian," Rei answered. "The arrangement should be formalized by the end of this week."

"That's good of him," Maya said, by which she meant it was the least he could do.

"It is a formality," Rei said. "I will still be living on my own."

Uncomfortable silence followed for a few moments after that, neither Shinji nor Maya quite sure how to respond to that statement.

"Well," the Third Child eventually spoke, nervously scratching the back of his head. "If you ever want to…see someone, or talk about this or…anything, I'm here." Shinji said awkwardly.

Rei paused for a second before responding. "Thank you," she said. Then, "Excuse me, I must go."

With a little nod, she turned and walked off. It would've seemed very brusque and standoffish to anyone who didn't know her well.

"Why don't we go back to my place?" Maya suggested to Shinji once Rei was gone. "I'll make you a cup of tea."

"Sure," he nodded.

The trip to her apartment was a short and mostly silent affair, and soon the two were sitting at Maya's little kitchen table, as they had many times before, each quietly nursing a steaming mug of tea.

"So, how's Asuka doing?" Maya asked eventually, if only to break the silence.

"A little better," Shinji replied. "She was having a…lot of trouble after the last battle. Misato eventually started forcing her to go to therapy. Asuka hasn't been fighting it very much, which I think means that she at least kind of admits that she needs to go."

Maya did her best not to grimace at that. Part of her wished she could wipe the redhead's mind of trauma all over again, while part of her regretted ever doing it in the first place.

"I'm glad she's getting help," she said.

Shinji nodded, and they were quiet again for another minute or two.

"Maya?" he spoke up eventually. "C-Can we still be friends after this?"

"What?" she asked, blinking in surprise.

"You told me how you started to be friendly with me at first as part of your efforts to save everybody," he explained. "But the war's over now, so you don't need to do that. I'd like to still be friends. Though I'd understand if you were too busy or something." He added quickly.

She smiled gently at him. "Of course I still want to be friends," she said. "I like you, Shinji. And I could use a friend now, too." She added sadly.

The knowledge that her father was gone as well, finally having succumbed to his illness, at once seemed crushingly sad and not quite real yet. If he'd walked into the room right then she thought she would've been both overjoyed and unsurprised.

"Good, I'm glad," he said. "Uh, I mean, I'm not glad that you need a friend right now. I meant…"

"It's okay, Shinji, I get it," she said, giving him a little smile.

"Oh, good," he said, clearly relieved.

They finished their tea in comfortable silence.

"I should go," he said eventually. "It's my night to cook, and I've imposed on you too long. I'll see you later, Maya, and thank you, for everything."

"You're welcome," she said.

He departed, and Maya gathered up their now empty mugs, washing them out.

She felt tired, she decided. Attending two funerals in such a short span of time had been emotionally draining.

Yet that didn't mean that collapsing on her couch was the answer. Drying her hands off with a dishrag, she picked up the phone and dialed a familiar number.

"Ibuki residence," the person on the other end picked up after two rings.

"Hi, Big Sister, it's me," Maya said.

"Oh Maya, hello," Natsume replied. "How are you doing?"

"About as well as can be expected," Maya said. "Listen, I was thinking that I'd like to get closer with you. After all the years I wasted being estranged from Dad…"

"You weren't the only one who refused to reach out for so long," Natsume reminded her gently. "But I would like it if we could be closer. Why don't we meet for lunch this Sunday?"

"I'd like that," Maya said. "But I had something else in mind. Something a bit more…active."

"Such as?"

"Throwing Ikari's soul to Neron was enough to placate him, at least enough to keep that demon from coming up here," Maya said. "But I've been seeing signs that Faust's little ritual might've stirred something else up. I'd like it a lot if you could come down here sometime and help me look into it. And deal with it, if my suspicions are correct. I think it would also be a good idea if we made sure that the members of SEELE don't get away in the end, too."

Maya rather suspected that Klarion would deal with SEELE, and then hopefully return to his home. However, while she might've been happy to allow the Witchboy to have first crack at them, she wasn't about to just assume he'd make sure they paid for their crimes and put them from her mind.

Natsume laughed a little. "After everything you've done, you need my help tracking down some two-bit demons and a few human jerks?"

"Maybe I don't need your help, but I want it," Maya said. "I'd like it if we did this as a family."

"Dad would've considered that a great tribute to his legacy," Natsume said thoughtfully. "All right, I'm in. I'll make some time in my schedule and back to you. And we're still on for lunch this Sunday."

"Of course," Maya said. "Thank you, Sister."

They said their goodbyes and ended the call. After putting her phone back in its cradle, Maya held out a hand.

"Tah raeppa," she said softly, and her top hat, the one she'd inherited from her father materialized on her hand.

She remembered how eager she'd been to abandon the Zatanna alias once she had accomplished her mission. Now, though, she didn't think she'd be retiring it any time soon.

Smiling a bittersweet smile, she put the hat on her head.

Author's Notes: And here we are, the official end of this one. We're finishing on a rather somber note, which I think was kind of unavoidable, considering that Gendo died. And hopefully I've managed to also convey the sense that everyone's ultimately going to be all right as they move forward, even if they have reason to be sad right now. Having Maya's ill father pass away at roughly the same time felt appropriate, a way to really conclude everything in this story.

Anyway, thanks as always to my readers and reviewers, and thanks to my beta reader as well.