The Tragic Harmony Of Life
Author's pathetic notes: Hello, it's me again with another Eva fanfiction. You're all probably wondering what happened to death is salvation if you have not read the announcement. Fact is, I stopped it, I was not enjoying it any more, the realism was poor, character development was overlooked and Eva is famous for its characters. Overall it felt like I was throwing in a mixture of Star Wars, Dragon Ball and Gundam.
None of it really felt like Eva except for the Eva's them selves and really, I did not give them justice, making personalities are great but the great thing about Eva was the mystery and I think I crossed that line when I introduced Tezum. I also added people who were cleanly dead just because I thought it would be nice if everyone is alive. But a great thing about a story is making it believable and in fanfiction that can be hard due to not just sticking with believable but also canon material as well.
So here is my new story which has really got me giddy to write and trust me when I say death is fickle was the only fanficiton that made me feel like this. So here I go, I hope you enjoy this as much as I am going to absolutely adore writing it.
Brazil, Rio Grande Do Sul, population 732, 219. Rio Grande Do Sul, most of the time the only thing you hear of Brazil is Rio de Janeiro like America comes with names like New York or Las Vegas.
Rio Grande Do Sul, translated, means large river of the south which is fitting for its large amount of ecoregions which had increased due to second impact. Most would say that second impact just made Rio Grande Do Sul that much grander. Not in terms of people or culture but in the land's beauty, like a plant that grows after forest fires.
This place was spectacular to traverse and the way the buildings were built was superb. Homes built into jungles with nothing but the dirt at your feet and plants and trees everywhere to provide shade. Men and women practically walked in sandals or no footgear whatsoever. Bicycles and cars had made many routes by driving through certain paths so much that nothing could grow in their path, a small sacrifice considering it was rare you saw many cars traversing Rio Grande do Sul anyway.
The climate was usually a burning 37° degree with the sun rising at 5 AM and going completely down at 11 PM. Every night it rained but by the time you woke up everything was drying or dry, it made the air moist and fresh as the market would open up at this hour.
It was about 6:35 AM when as young man was walking down the opening market, his lungs inhaling the fresh smell of fruits, meats and linen and silk which, when mixed with the smell of the vegetation like air, became intoxicating. The young man wore a white shirt with nothing but a necklace of a silver cross hanging from his neck and a pair of green shorts. He walked bare foot in the still damp mud, allowing the cooling earth to help compensate for the rising heat. His sandals were tied around his neck as well while he held a beautiful pot in his arms, painted and made to perfection.
"Bom dia!" men called to him as he walked along the market, he replied in turn, brown eyes scanning over a water melon. "Quanto?" He asked the man still preparing his shop with his three sons of varying age helping out.
"For you, a morning's gift my friend." The man in his late 40's said pulling out a knife and slicing the melon in to fine pieces to be then put into a box. The young man took the box and placed it underneath his arm pit.
"Muito obrigado," he said before moving along to the end of the market. The man sighed in relaxation, enjoying the feeling of the breeze against his bare muscular chest and abdomen. A few years ago he had dreamt about being beefy and strong but he was always too lazy to work on it to the point of out right giving up. He was not the type to spend a lot of time in the gym but making money or just helping friends and neighbours with laborious tasks had seen that his muscles adapt, and for that he was proud. Not too mention he reaped the benefits of helping others instead of centring on making himself stronger. Of course, being treated to meals with families and being renowned had its perks, this morning being a prime example as he inhaled the smell of melon in its container.
"Shinji!" the familiar cry called from behind him, the chuckles from the shop owners waned him of his female friend running up to him again, all giddy and out of breath. The man known as Shinji turned to face her in questioning and she gasped a few more times, looking up into his face, at the age of 20 Shinji Ikari stood an impressive 5'11 and with the sun to his back and the light playing off his sun kissed skin, she could not help but to stare.
Shinji sighed at her with a shake of the head. "You're drooling, Maria," Shinji said looking away at the men watching before they went back to work with big grins.
Shinji sighed again.
Maria was a great woman and was at the pinnacle of her growth with long chestnut curly hair, tanned skin and emerald green eyes. She was in a blue dress today with the hem now dirty from the mud; it was not her fault though. Her mother wanted to hide many of Maria's features to stave off leering men as the incident on the beach forced her mother to go to higher extremes.
Maria thought Shinji Ikari a god, she was told about what he had done 5 years ago and took it upon her to follow and see him as one. She was obviously in love with him, and the prompting from her parents to marry the world saviour and get him to flaunt his status to the world, which he tried to hide from, was not helping. The thing was, Shinji could only ever think as Maria as a younger sister, anything past friends could not sit well with him.
Of course, the other women all over Rio Grande Do Sul came to see him as soon as his name had spread. If it was not thanks to Mister Rodriguez taking him under his wing and coming out with a loaded shotgun, Shinji may have been to his shoulders with children and marriage proposals.
"My mama sent me to give you some fresh lemon juice," she said holding up a bottle of fresh lemon juice with added water. "She even added the correct amount of sugar, she sent me out to get a huge amount of lemons in preparations for the Chacarera. Are you going to help…?" She began before looking at the marvellous pot in his hands. "Wow, did you paint that as well as make it?" She asked leaning in to have a closer look, the smell of fresh paint playing off the many colours spread across it.
"Yes, I've been working on my painting skills recently as my pots are very good quality, but I also wanted to give them more life and if you check my pottery house you can take the new cards and fill out requests on the shape and purpose along with any painting themes you want. It will cost more but not by much. It really depends on the size of the pot I'm painting on." Shinji explained as he began to walk his way down a slope that lead to an overview of a large waterfall pouring out huge amounts into the river below. The length of the waterfall was easily 180 foot with trees and plants on either side. Shinji smirked as a helicopter hovered over the dive as a bungee jumper jumped out, fell all the way down into the water, and then came back up with a "waaaayy!!"
Maria giggled as they continued down to a house overlooking the basin of the waterfall, the rushing water growing louder, like a thousand lions roaring continuously after a kill. The house was quite large and the couple living in it were very rich. Shinji nodded to a little natural pool and they sat down to clean their feet, not wanting to walk into another person's home with dirty feet. "I'll do your feet," Maria said and Shinji thanked her.
The first time someone had washed his feet was by a man showing gratitude and Shinji had felt weird but knew it would be disrespectful to decline. Nowadays Shinji washed or got his feet washed or massaged at least once or twice a week. Most people came to him to pay for massages as he was being taught it by Maria's mother to initially help with his pottery as he could not quite grasp the centering of the clay until she taught him some techniques.
Maria had also learned a lot from her mother as Shinji was clearly feeling, his neck held back to allow the breeze to play across his neck and the sun to beat down on his face. The breeze ruffled his brown hair as Maria worked each digit until she was satisfied with one foot and moved to the other. "A man was asking for you today…,"She started brightly and Shinji opened his eyes a little. "He was foreign, I think Chinese or Japanese, to be honest, I can't tell the difference between the two." Shinji smiled as he rolled his neck as she finished his foot.
Shinji moved to do her feet and she smiled trying to hide her blush. "What did he want?" Shinji asked being a little careful as her feet were quite sensitive and would jerk quite a bit and send her into small bouts of laughter, her giggles were indications that it might just happen.
She giggled some more, "He said he always wanted to say 'thank you,' a thank you the world should have said in unison…the rest was kinda hard to understand, his Portuguese was not that great but he sounded sincere, at least to me." She said as he finished and they both put on sandals and walked to the door of the big house, a maid in a skimpy dress walked by and Shinji's eyes lingered before Maria nudged him in disapproval. Shinji just smiled sheepishly before it disappeared, a thought of a red head and blue eyes popped into his mind and he quickly shook his head.
He had moved on, he had left almost everything behind for a new life, a life of peace and one where he was recognised and loved by the people around him. Unlike life before he could laugh with others without feeling that tinge as if he did not belong, as if they were only appealing to him for their own selfish reasons. It was not true but the odd smiles and the constant task of trying to fit in and be something he was not, it did not sit well with him. Even if they were selfish, Shinji still loved them, the few months they spent as a family, made of bonds and not blood, was the greatest thing to come into his life.
Maria knocked the door as he looked to the east, he had heard NERV had pilots and Evas and an article even discussed the de-fossilization of Eva-01. It focused on the argument that unit-01 be left as a fossil to stand in Tokyo-3 as a monument to the war and Humanity, and many people of very high status wrote to the government and NERV about the issue, however, NERV was not built to sway to the people or what they wanted, it was built to protect humanity as a whole. Evangelion-01 was being de-fossilized despite the argument no pilot was working it.
Then the case of finding Shinji Ikari to pilot it, it was the worst week he had ever had in 5 years. The people of Rio Grande Do Sul had unknowingly begun to put pressure on Shinji with small questions like "Are you going back?" or "Will you fight and kill humans now?" The most impacting was when Asuka had come on to do her second conference for NERV. She had stated that he was useless which he took in stride, it was Asuka, and he would expect no less, the part about him always running away stung like the third Angel breaking 01's arm all over again.
He only got news from the locals but even the mention of the 2nd Child's first syllable had his ears tuned and head turning.
His thoughts were cut short as the door opened to reveal two young women, American if he was correct, twins with blonde hair and green eyes dressed in white summer dresses.
"Sim?" The one on the right asked.
"Holla, I'm Shinji Ikari-" He began, completely ignoring the gasp from both as if it was an everyday occurrence, and in a sense it was, "-yeah, your husband ordered this with the painted finish of a rainbow plant," He said holding the pot up. The women backed up while one ran off with a gasp like a fish out of water.
"Sim, entrar em, entrar em," she said gesturing him to take his sandals off along with Maria and they followed the blonde into the main room, the marble floor cooling their feet as they entered to look at the expensive main room. Curtains of silk and linen flowed down over open glass doors leading into the garden which sported many trees and vegetation and a lovely pool. A man with black hair sat on the couch in a white shirt and black knee high shorts. His blue eyes were scanning a paper before he looked up at Shinji and smiled.
The man stood up and pulled Shinji into a hug while patting one another's back, out of the corner of his eye he saw the two women focus on him with observant eyes, one was speaking English to the other and he recognised the words of "boyfriend," "Eva," "muscles," and a name that almost snapped his neck up towards them, "Asuka". The man then turned to hug Maria as well and she greeted him with the same affection. "Bom dia, Roger," she spoke stepping back as he gestured for them to take a seat.
Shinji and Maria took a sat down while Roger took a seat opposite them, Shinji smirked as the twins sat down either side of him and Roger nodded as well. Maria frowned at Roger before shaking her head. "This is Kathy and the one to my left is Monica, as you can tell they are twins and my…concubines?" He said with a little mirth in his voice. The woman on the right licked her lips with eyes pointed to Shinji's crotch, Shinji played it smooth and stayed locked onto Roger's profile, experience with a certain red head had its rewards. "I see you managed to complete it," He began lifting the painted pot to admire its shape and painting, rough hands playing over the smoothed clay.
Shinji sat back as a he sipped some lemon juice from his bottle. "I hope it is up to your expectations, if not, then I will take it back and give you your money back and try and reach a design and quality you app-" He stopped as a wave of a hand from Roger and the genuine smile showed he was happy with it.
"Shinji, you are one of a kind, people say you are a battle hardened warrior but all I see, we all see, is a kind hearted man trying to do everyone around him justice and compassion." He said with sincerity and Shinji seemed to draw in on himself as he blushed. He nodded to show he was not being ungrateful, despite all the praise he had received over the years, Shinji rarely got praise about his character and that was the praise he was looking for, even if he did not know how to show it.
In NERV, people did not have time for him, he knew now that that was fairly true. The vast amount of skill, mechanics and maintenance to run NERV and keep it to its best, to have the greatest chance of fighting for humanity's survival, was the hardest task of them all. Even the cleaners had it rough; the amount of floors and rooms they had to clean was astounding. Technicians had to figure out how to make sure every signal he threw at his Eva would work. That meant checking, re-checking and triple checking all the systems, wires, electrical pulses, feedback connections and the multiple artificial intelligences were also in check, and they had to do that sometimes within a week while he only had to sit and fight in the damn thing.
In a way he was always getting the better end of the deal. The emotional support he had was and is the only reason the world is as it is now. If Shinji won an award for saving Humanity he would immediately hand it to his friends, his only regret was not staying for the awards and doing so. Many people had asked, "Was it so horrible there?" and he would always say no. It was not NERV or the people or the fights or the world on his shoulders, it was simply the truth. Asuka was right, he was running away, Tokyo-3 was his home, he missed it and hated the city even more just for that fact. He wanted to talk about it but in the same breath he knew that if he kept thinking and talking about it he would return to Tokyo-3 within a few weeks.
He looked up at Roger and smiled, perhaps, one day, he would consider this wonderful place his home.
One day…
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Shinji carried two large buckets of water up to Joshua, the local butcher, before Shinji and Roger took a bucket in both hands and threw it onto the deck to wash away the blood coating the table surface. Two of Joshua's daughters moved up to work on brushing away the blood, having become used to the stomach turning and nose wrenching smell, before their father brought more raw meat to be cut and chopped for the large barbecue in preparation for the Chacarera.
The two giggled as they whispered something to each other and Shinji just smiled in happy ignorance. He looked across the staging of the festival as men and women brought fresh grass and laid it across a very wide area for the dancers. Said dancers were going through some routines in their bright blue clothing off to the side with Maria watching as she was still too young to participate in the dancing category.
"Shinji, Roger, can you go into the back and get me out a cow, we've got a lot more mouths to feed this year." The two chuckled at that. Ever since the incident known as Rebirth, the world leaders had decided on promoting bigger families which meant more children. Now the threat of the Angels was done and dusted it was time the world rebuilt back to its former glory.
Shinji and Roger walked into the back and shivered at the cold as they entered the meat line room. They quickly went about finding the biggest skinned and bled out cow before placing on some gloves and unhooking it from its chain. "This is very heavy…" Roger breathed out with a face of concentration as he and Shinji lifted the meat. "You would think he would have some kind of machine to lift this monster, good grief." He growled as they started to sidestep out of the room and back into daylight huffing and puffing as they went along.
"Yeah, he did say he wanted the men around here to get stronger. When I came here I was really skinny until I began working for Joshua. It has its upsides." He heaved as they shoved it onto the large table, and Joshua lent back from sharpening his blade and cut it through leather before making his way over to his prey. Shinji knew that look in Joshua's eyes, as Maria's mother said; Joshua had a beast he set free whenever it came to carving things up. It made you look at the man with a new fear which he rightly deserved. Joshua was a big man with a bit of a gut but the rest was all muscle that looked like it could dent even an Eva's armour.
"You boys leave the rest to me, Alicia wishes to see you, Shinji, concerning some drink her and her daughter, Maria, were working on. Roger, you lucky bastard, you get to help me a bit longer." The hulking deep voice of Joshua was music to Shinji's ears and a sign of another upcoming apocalypse for Roger.
Shinji jogged off with a type of evil smile he was only recently getting used to displaying. He spotted Alicia around a big basin made for storing drink or water, the basin was 6 meters in diameter and had five women squeezing lemons over it to drip the juice into the pool of lemonade. Alicia was ordering the amount of sugar to be placed into it while some men and women sat around on mats cutting the lemon in the barrels in half for squeezing.
Alicia turned to the jogging steps of Shinji and smiled at him, long flowing blonde hair and green eyes, no one would believe her a mother if they met her on the street. She was in a light brown dress that fell to her shins and wore a green necklace given to her by her husband, Paul, who was mayor of Rio Grande Do Sul. "Ah, Shinji, so glad you could get away from that bear; Joshua, I just wanted to ask your opinion on the bottle of lemon juice I told Maria to give you." She said looking him over with a wink and that must have meant Maria must have been watching.
Shinji smiled and shook his head at her antics. "The drink was lovely, you really did great with the amount of sugar but a bit more water could do as the flavour is kinda too…bold?" He said turning his head slightly to catch the angered look of Maria directed at her mother.
Alicia nodded and placed a hand to her mouth as she giggled. "Okay, take Hailum and fetch me some more water from Rodriguez, will you. That old man gets picky on the use of his fresh water and he seems to like you best." She reasoned as a crash of a pot on a window ledge turned a few heads. Shinji looked up as a brown haired teen came running out of a shop with a gasp and Alicia sighed while Shinji shook his head at Hailum. "Speak of the devil…" She breathed while the angry words of the shopkeeper were thrown at Hailum while he just scratched his head.
Shinji walked over to the shopkeeper and calmed him down, promising to fix it with some money from Hailum to compensate for the pot. Hailum picked up the pieces before he skittered after Shinji as he moved off to his house, which was a few minutes walk away.
"Sorry, Shinji-sir, I uh, you know me and spiders, I saw one and kinda jumped back and knocked it over and-it was an accident." The teenager said not too sure what else to say as he tried to find a proper balance on the broken pot pieces as they were digging into him.
"At least you apologised to Mr Diego, I would be upset too, you're lucky I'm around or else you would be coughing up 500 easy." Shinji toned as he walked down the sloping path with the sight of his house and a duffle bag beside it. He stared at the object before varying right to the house on a cliff to the side. Rodriguez was outside on a deck chair reading through a newspaper. The old man lowered his paper and then tilted his head low to peer over his glasses with almost accusing eyes.
"I swear, Mr Rodriguez hates me, I swear it." Hailum said looking away from the old man with agitation, knowing the exact reason for such thoughts.
"You called him a paedophile 3 years ago in open streets because he would not give you back your ball. I don't think I'll be too fond of someone who gave me a bad name for a year through and got the police involved." Shinji said honestly as they moved closer and closer to the old man, apparently in hearing range, Shinji needed to keep telling him self that Rodriguez had white hair but he had very sharp hearing.
"And you'll still never get that blasted ball back," The man said with a fierce disapproving glare, Hailum lowered his head and grit his teeth.
"I said I was sorry, it's not like I knew what I was saying back then." Hailum tried to defend himself and Shinji smiled as he saw himself in the boy, murmuring defensive words that he dare not say face to face.
"Do you tell that shit to your parents?" Rodriguez asked in a mocking tone. Shinji sighed; he was doing that a lot lately. Rodriguez was a sardonic man who took a lot to convince and a hundred times more than that for him to even tolerate you.
"Maybe you two can settle this at another time; Alicia wants some water for her lemon juice for tonight." Shinji told him, completely expecting a retort to follow.
"So?" He pointed behind him at the sea. "She wants water, then she can go get it, I'm not stopping her." Rodriguez said as if it was the simplest thing to do, and to ask him was like asking for permission to breath.
"You know I mean your fresh ice cooled water, come on, old man, just four buckets. I promise to fix your fence and get rid of those cats that keep leaving their mess on your 'lawn'" Shinji bargained while Hailum bit his lip, trying hard not to smile as he placed the pot pieces on a table.
"Deal and I want it done by the end of the week!" Rodriguez agreed as Shinji and Hailum moved to the side of the house with a mill, having multiple filters, spinning out the clear blue water. Shinji smiled at the sparkling Ice bed the Old man topped up every morning. They scooped fair amounts out with the four buckets provided. Their hands joyfully skimming the freezing cold surface. Shinji glanced at Rodriguez before indicating to Hailum to take a drink and he did so with reverence and joy.
They both enjoyed the freezing cold water travelling down their sand dry throats, their bodies seeming to get cooler just by the one gulp alone. Their bodies relaxed and they looked at each other with smiles of contentment as they looked at the sparkling diamond sea ahead. That was until a voice behind them tensed the two males up. "That extra scoop will cost you a free pot to me," Rodriguez said with folded arms. Shinji and Hailum looked back at one another and laughed before Shinji promised to do so and before he left with Hailum struggling with his two buckets.
Rodriguez smiled to himself and nodded before it evaporated into a straight line. "I took care of him for five years and this life I lead now is everything I wanted. You take him and not only are my status in the marduk revoked, but I also get my meaty payment." Rodriguez said folding his arms as a figure came around the house.
"That was the deal; Misato is epithetic with your feelings and wishes to thank you in this way." The man behind him said, cloaked in shadow.
"I owed Kaji a lot, and since I could not help him when he really needed me, I suppose this is my way of paying the little debt I owed the bastard," Rodriguez sighed with regretful eyes, emotions in his voice he let out every once in a while. The man behind him began to leave but Rodriguez stopped him with a hand on the man's arm. "Promise me; promise me, Jack, that you will protect him, all of them. I never met Shinji when I was doing the search and reports for the institute but the others; I know them like they are my own children. Keep all the children I found safe, that's my final request." Rodriguez finished, letting go of the arm of Jack.
"I will, Axel, even if I lose my life doing it, I will protect them." Jack said before leaving to follow Shinji and Hailum, Rodriguez watched him go before collapsing onto his seat. "Sayonara, Ikari-san."
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Shinji walked home, late in the night as many of the locals also retreated back home, the Chacarera had been amazing as always with a light drizzle that cooled everyone down. The dancing was fantastic with a new cast of moves the girls had been working on for some time. The meat at the barbecue made his mouth water like a dog seeing raw red meat after a decade of eating dry food. The sliced fruit mixed with the meat made it taste sweet while keeping to its natural form, the traditional man's food was shared with the women as well and the singing was intense.
The music was live, drums and violins and an assortment of other instruments as well, that gave the Chacarera its ignition. Once it reached after 9 PM the children went home and it changed to club music, Maria even got Shinji on his feet. The music made his heart beat and created beads of sweat across his body, the rushing wind helping to cool him as the bass of the music vibrated through his body.
He was still coming down from his rush, his shirt and shorts were covered in water from the soaking some of the women threw on the ones dancing to keep them cool. Maria and Shinji had gone their separate ways with kisses on the cheek and a boa as parting.
He looked ahead with light from the huge fire pit behind him providing illumination for him as well as the aid of torches that were stacked high up so children could not light or touch their burning flames. He chewed the last of his water melon, a new favourite, while he held sandals in tired hands. He had been lifting and twirling girls in the air all night, young and old, it was fun for all and it was about being with friends and not so much flirting as Maria had kept a careful eye on every woman including her mother who liked to tease her daughter like no other, even if that meant using him to do so.
He chuckled, he was used to being used, but this was something he was completely fine with, and it warmed his heart even more knowing this. Shinji checked his watch as he approached his medium sized home, it was 11:39 PM and he was starting to feel tired from the eventful day. All he wanted to do was go in the house, read the foreign news, finish a painting, have a bath, enjoy the view of the moon in the river and then fall asleep while doing so.
He raised his head as a figure sat by his door with a duffle bag beside him. The figure stood and brushed himself off, looking over the man Shinji recognised he was of Japanese birth and was dressed in a green shirt and shorts. The man had brown eyes and messy hair but only a slight scar under his left eye defined him.
"Hello, there, Shinji-san," the man spoke in Japanese and Shinji nodded, carrying an expression that was not foreboding or inviting. "I am Jack Steinbeck, and before you say it, my mother was American." He filled at Shinji's open mouth ready to ask the question.
"Well, hello Steinbeck-san, come in, I'll make you a glass of water, you look very thirsty," Shinji said opening the door and walking in. Steinbeck raised an eyebrow at the unlocked door. "Yeah, it was not much to rob that everyone else does not have, and being world saviour apparently makes it a very wrong thing to do," she filled him in.
Jack sat down on a rather comfortable couch and waited as Shinji fetched some water. The house was dark with only a few candles being the only light source in the house. It was very relaxing, the moon light also helped make the house the type of place you could actually sit down and admire the beauty of nature and the world humanity had so little time to just sit down and look at. The man reclined and looked out over the river as the moon reflected in it.
The sound of feet approaching made him sit forward and receive the drink with great thanks. "This is an amazing place you live at Shinji-san, it really is." Jack said reclining again to watch the moon reflect off the waters surface making it look like there were two moons. "Glorious."
Shinji chuckled and sat back before leaning over and lighting some incense sticks. Jack reached into his duffle bag and held up a cigar and gestured to Shinji if he was okay with it. Shinji merely shook his head "As long as it relaxes you, then that's all that counts." Steinbeck nodded with a smile, lit the cigar, took a long drag and blew out, relaxing back as he did so. "How can I help you, Steinbeck?" Shinji said admiring the view. Shinji had heard from Maria that this man had wanted to thank him. "If you're here to say thank you, then don't worry, it was tough but a thank you really makes it seem worth it. The fact you travelled all this way for that really lifts my spirits." Shinji sighed massaging his arm muscles.
Jack sighed as well and took another drag. "That's the thing Shinji-san, I'm here for more than that." Steinbeck said, reaching into his shirt breast pocket before throwing a card onto the table.
Picking up the card and reading the identification of NERV section 2 Jack Steinbeck, Shinji Ikari looked up, eyes hard and mouth set. A stream of emotions were pouring around his mind as a colossus conglomeration of thoughts followed with it, however, Shinji did manage to speak. "What do you want from me?" He asked, voice straight and to the point while Jack tapped some ash off his cigar into an ash tray.
"The thing is Shinji-san, it's not what I want that counts, and it's what Misato-san wants." Shinji's head rose a little at his previous guardian's name. He stared at Jack as thoughts of Misato rebounded inside his skull, how she treated him, supported him, made him see the silver lining in every situation. She was one of the many driving forces that kept him fighting, a mother figure he nurtured for, and she took the role like a champion standing tall after beating Mike Tyson after losing an ear.
"What does she want, and why do you speak of her so familiarly?" Ikari spoke uncomfortably, he realised he was being very defensive over nothing. He had to gleam some information out of this Jack, it seemed pretty obvious what he came here for.
"Shinji-san I could bullshit and tell you she wants to talk about the good old times, but Misato-san told me to be direct and the fact is, NERV, Misato and humanity need you again." Jack said before starting quickly as Shinji was about to give his obvious response. "Now before you tell me anything, you need to know Misato will keep sending messengers until you come to her, in the Geofront." Jack finished, smiling at Shinji's hard set face.
Shinji Ikari was struggling for answer, not because he was against Misato or NERV or anyone. Shinji just knew if he went there… he was not sure he would come back. Shinji had spent these past 5 years in wondering, "what if's" and "if only's" plaguing his mind while he stared at the moon. He would always think of how it would have been if he had more backbone towards Asuka, if he would have stood up and admitted his feelings towards her and most impacting, if he would have carried her feelings and supported her. It was not just Asuka he was thinking about. Misato was like his mother and sometimes he longed for her advice and company, not because of what she said or did, as either were not always inspirational, it was the enthusiasm and the fact that, despite his nature and his words, she never gave up on him and always thought of his safety first in any situation. The motherly, caring love he had desired was a world away. He could meet that, no doubt muscle bound jock, Toji and his other friend, Kensuke.
However, Shinji had built a relationship he had never built over in Tokyo-3, maybe because there was no threat to the world or anything like that but nevertheless, Rio Grande Do Sul was a family unit and he was part of that. He woke to everyone saying "hi" to him with genuine smiles. He had made a career out of pottery and art, a non-violent use of his life and one that resulted in constant praise.
"Shinji-san," Jack said snapping Shinji out of his thinking like state. "I'm not telling you to leave here with me right now, my plane leaves tomorrow." Jack tried to help, but Shinji shook his head.
"I can't just walk around town saying my goodbyes, I love these people-" he began before being interrupted.
"Shinji-san… Why did you pilot Eva?" Jack asked finishing off his cigar.
Shinji looked up at Jack and then back down to the floor in thought. "I did it because I was order-because if I didn't…we wouldn't be here today, everyone would be dead." Shinji said, though, he was not sure if he was saying it for himself or Jack.
"Again, why did you pilot Eva, why does a hero fight the bad guys, why does a soldier go off to fight?"
Shinji shook his head and gave a long pause as he thought before raising his head and locking eyes with Jack. "To protect…" Jack gestured for him to carry on. "…we fight to protect our loved ones, I thought to protect Rei…and then as I met more people…I wanted to protect them to," He finished now looking at the ground, eyes darting back and forth. "You're saying I have to fight to protect these people, the people I love?" Shinji asked, wondering again if he meant it as a question or a statement.
Jack raised his hands to the side "do I have to answer?" and for the first time, for what seemed like a millennia, Shinji heaved and let the tension fade from his muscles. Jack Steinbeck leaned in and placed a hand on Shinji's knee. "If you love these people so much that you want to spend your life here with them, then that's fine, but at least hear Misato-san out, that's all I ask," He said leaning back and taking his hand off Shinji's knee. "you have some thinking to do and people to say goodbye to. I'll pick you up at 8 PM tomorrow at this place, okay?" He asked as he stood, mindful to pick up his bag as well. Shinji just nodded and waved a hand for him to go. Jack patted his shoulder and left the house. Shinji fell back onto the chair and sighed a sigh of something he did not know. He wanted life to be straight and easy; did he not deserve at least that much for saving the planet? And who was he going to fight.
His stomach turned at the thought of fighting angels or even worse… humans. He hoped Misato had less influence as she did before or else he would be involved in another devastating year of war.
His thoughts drifted to Maria and then Asuka before he fell asleep.
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He finished zipping up his large duffle bag and looked around the room. Shinji had only saw fit to pack only the vital objects and nothing that would take up space when he did not need it, besides, he was only going to Japan to hear Misato out and then come back…
He sighed "Yeah… right… before I know it, I'll be thrust back into another battle," He said placing a hand on the wall before cursing loudly.
"Shinji?" The voice Maria at his door snapped him out of his little exercise of aggression. He sucked in his breath, held it for two seconds, and then let it out before walking to the door. He opened it to find Maria looking at him with a bottle of lemon juice in one hand and some barbecued chicken on a stick in the other. "We didn't see you this morning and the post and milk men said you were packing away," She started, looking past him to the two duffle bags on the table. He watched as she pulled the items to her chest and looked at him. "What's going on?"
"Maria, I-I…do you want to come in?" He asked needing time to form the proper words he wished to tell her, he rather her breaking down in his home than outside where it could cause a scene.
Maria walked into the house and sat down on the white couch, her eyes roved around the barren and cleaned room and her forehead tightened in concentration as things became more and more confusing. "Shinji?" She asked finally looking at him as he rested against the wall, head pressed against the marble.
"That Japanese guy I met, he's with NERV," He began as Maria gasped and started to get up and move towards him. Shinji closed his eyes and bit off the thought of walking out the door, I mustn't run away!
"What, why now, can't they leave you in peace? They said no more angels would come, that our lives would be safe from those monsters, those aliens-"
"And it is, at least I'm guessing. I believe this has more to do with a human enemy, one that may try to cause something that would destroy our choice." He spoke softly, his legs pushing out and sinking him to the floor.
"Choice?" She asked, the words ringing something inside her brain. She was getting more and more confused by the second but the fact that he was leaving was ripping her apart, slowly but surely, already she could feel a tear start to build in her eyes.
"The choice you made to come back here, to come back to reality. Everyone made the choice, you just don't fully remember, it was literally an out of body experience." He breathed out, moving a hand over his face and scratching at some stubble that was going to get shaved if it was the last thing he did.
The silence from Maria was penetrating and Shinji believed, if only for a moment, that she had fainted on the spot. He opened his eyes just in time to catch a tear go down her right cheek. He stood up and hugged her, ignoring the sharp end of the stick digging into his ribs. "But why you?"
"They said I had to go to Japan to find out, and if I wish to follow them then that's great, if I want to stay here then they'll respect my choice." Shinji felt her wrap her arms around him and sniffle a little, she was trying to fight back her tears.
"So…, that means you are coming back, right, you're not going to stay here are you?" She asked looking up into his eyes with her watery ones. For some reason, Shinji had serious trouble telling her he would probably stay there, maybe even after this whole thing was over. Maybe it was the fact he wanted to protect her, or maybe he was afraid of her getting hurt or possibly the fact he was running away from the grief, either way, he lied.
"Yes, I'll come back straight away, they can handle this without me, it's only because the commander is-was my guardian, otherwise I would have told him to go on without me." He said with a smile, averting his eyes from her as she buried her head into his chest. His smile evaporated and he stared out to the waterfall not too faraway.
The roaring stream…
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The roaring jet made its final landing preparations as Shinji Ikari looked over to his left as Jack flipped through a porn magazine. Thankfully, Shinji's blood tolerance was not so high he would be shooting blood from his nose as he saw a pair of breasts, it would help if he got on Asuka's good side enough to be subject to her teasing.
"All passengers please wait until we have come to a complete halt and the red sign, to your right, turn to green which will indicate when to take off your safety belts. Again, we hope you enjoyed Fuzikawa's flight service and hope to see you soon. Arigato!" The flight attendant said over the broad communication. Shinji wondered why they simply did not say it to his face as he and Jack were the only people on the private plane in the first place with a about 3 squadrons of military flight craft as his escort.
Shinji glanced over at Jack as he closed his magazine and leaned over. "Alright, when we get off this plane you say nothing, you can give a little wave but keep your mouth shut, the media likes to try and get dirt on stars and will use any information against you, trust me on this one." Shinji gave Jack and quizzical look as the shuddering halt of the plane indicated their stop.
"They know I'm here? How was the information leaked?" Shinji asked as he undid the discomfort of his belt, first class, my ass, he hoped to God he would not appear on the news or on the paper with some false bullshit as a header.
Jack started to laugh and patted Shinji's shoulder, "There is only one woman I know who would do this and think it would help you." He chuckled as he pulled out a small shoulder bag and placed it over his shoulder, the bag was black to match his section 2 suit and glasses while Shinji was dressed in khakis and a white vest.
Shinji's shoulders slumped at those words. "Misato, huh?" he filled in as they both moved to the door and the sealing hissed open before the door started to open horizontally. Shinji was assaulted by a hot wind and the blinding sun which got its kicks off blinding people, why else would it do it?
He expected to hear the noise of the sea as the airport was built close to it but instead the clashing of voices could be heard before their pitch and murmurs rose and turned into screams as he stepped out with his hand trying to block out the sun. His eyes adjusted to the light to witness a sea of bodies screaming his name with a dizzying load of reporters, too many to all come from Japan. "Kami…" He whispered in awe as the amount of people waiting to see him stretched to the horizon. Drums and instruments started up with a classy up beat "Fly me to the moon" instrumental with hundreds of cheerleaders making formations in synch with one another. Up in the sky were large balloons of him and of Eva-01 in a chibi form.
"Ikari, stop staring like a retard and start waving," Jack said as they descended the stairs. Shinji did not hear him but he did pump his fist into the air, he immediately regretted it as the assembled mass of people did the impossible and grew ten times louder with whistles and cheers that he could bet was vibrating across the planet. A huge 30 foot plasma TV was displaying him on one of the buildings with many more dotting the country making him blush slightly.
Shinji shook his head as it was becoming too much and he patted Jack to tell him it was time to go. Jack glanced over his shoulder and nodded, he flipped an ear piece that must have communicated with other section 2 operatives. "Get the copter; we're breaking out to NERV."
A few seconds after the words left his mouth, a black albatross started its approach and five U.N YF-22's streaked across the sky leaving a trail of colours before they shot into the air with white vapour trails and moved in a pattern to write his name in the sky. The Albatross landed on a helipad near by and the police and section 2 agents did all they could to hold back the titan which was a good portion of Tokyo and then some as Shinji walked to the albatross with Jack barking orders a step behind him.
Two heavily armoured soldiers waved him onto the Albatross as he lowered his head under the force and dirt being kicked up by the three rotating blades. They strapped him in along with Jack with the audible click just making it to Shinji's ears as the roar of the crowd and the rotating blades was almost deafening him. At this point Shinji had the random thought of wondering if he was still under NERV's health plan.
He continued to wave as the craft began to take off but a woman from the crowd broke through with a baby in her arms and ran up to the helicopter. "Religious nut inbound," Jack said over his radio as the woman screamed for Shinji to bless her baby. Shinji himself was stunned by the desperation in her actions and voice as five section 2 members hauled her away with the screaming baby held securely in their arms, making sure not to harm either. "Stupid woman, bringing a baby to this event, the poor thing is probably deaf and if not by the crowd then the rotor blades would have done it." Jack stated as the Albatross ascended into the air and started to move off.
"What the hell was that all about?" Shinji asked, shocked with his heart beating a hundred miles a second. Jack looked over at him and shrugged.
"If you put the world saviour over someone's name some religions or religious people will believe them to be a reincarnation of Christ or some holy deity or person. Don't worry about it, Asuka gets it all the time, it's nothing new, it's just a side effect of saving the world." Jack assured the 3rd child but Shinji still did not look happy about it.
He believed himself a human that made a choice, one he thought was for the benefit of mankind so as to not allow him to pull them back unless they wanted to. At the time many people just started appearing, it was later published in a book that humanity had a set amount of time to return to reality before the souls in the sky disappeared. Technically Shinji and Asuka were the first after the incident known as the Rebirth and have been coined the modern Adam and Eve. What surprised him most about the title was Asuka, she only batted her eye lids at a conference she was doing for NERV and answered that she was Asuka, not Eve, a simple yet straight forward answer.
He now understood why she said it, he should have been thinking the same after all the time spent with Misato and the innumerable times she had reminded him of his humanity and the power of his free will…perhaps that was how he managed to make the choice for the instrumentality project. Did Misato know he would have to make the choice all along or was it just her way of bringing him up? He put that on his mental list of questions to ask the maj– … the commander. He nearly forgotten she was a commander now and not a major anymore.
Shinji's eyes scanned over the glistening structures of Tokyo-3 and gasped at the site of an Evangelion holding a small flag saying "Welcome home" with some NERV technicians stationed around. The Evangelion was black and with a quick scan it was obvious the Eva was unit-03.
"Welcome home, Shin-man!" came the familiar voice of Toji over the Eva's communication speakers. The cheers of the technicians made him bite his lip and lowered his head. His mouth wobbled as it went through a series of emotions before he looked up and blinked away a tear. If Misato wanted to make him feel welcome, if Japan was truly happy to see him, and if his best friend was willing to pilot the cyborg Evangelion that had wrecked his legs before Rebirth, then Shinji was willing to say at least one phrase in thanks for their efforts.
"I'm home."
Author's notes: Finally, I'm glad I did this chapter, I was actually under much debate and originally I did a page on Rio Grande Do Sul and then moved straight to Tokyo-3. I then reviewed it critically and said, this would not appeal to anyone unless they had a short attention span. I decided to focus more on life for Shinji without making it seem like he forgot about Tokyo-3.
The hardest part about this chapter and probably about this whole story will be Shinji and how he reacts. The current Shinji would be a Shinji with backbone and a mixture of the manga Shinji and the anime. When I was planning this out I realised that, this fic would have to be a few years after Rebirth as I had told my self I would do no time skips apart from a few months at a time. In my previous fiction, I was going to throw in three time skips but now I'm not going to lazy about with this work.
Spelling should be fine and my grammar is always in need of improving, I guess my beta readers might be able to cover that. Another challenge will be the OC Jack Steinbeck who will have an important role of supporting Shinji and the pilots as a hole.
My writing has stepped up its game and I love it, if you compare this to my first ffan fic then fuck…this is a real big jump and expect to see this much or better quality as me and this fanfiction, as well as my beta readers and you guys, evolve the story.
Just before you think he will appear, I must tell you Tezum and the other EVA OC's will not be in this fanfiction. There is the problem of who the fuck will be the Evangelion's soul and after much debate with my friend Steven, Rahhel, and Gurren Gainax, I've figured it out and I hope it will be suitable for this fanfiction.
I'm not a pro fanfiction author so I do need you guys to review.
Constructive (Constructive being the keyword here) criticism is encouraged along with any support you guys are willing to give. I'm not a review whore anymore but reviews will encourage me to write that much quicker and if you have any questions then be sure to ask as I'll answer them at the end of every chapter without revealing too much of the story.
I'd like to thank my beta readers who tolerate my shitty grammar and tell me to kiss their ass when they are not in the mood to work. That's Micheal Yu and Rahhel:
Rahhel: "Damn straight, you should be fucking thankful you review whore! BUAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAA"
Finally, I wish to say thank you for all you readers who took an interest in this fanfiction. I'm hoping you will give me your support and in return I'll try and finish this with that much quality.