NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: REDEMPTION
Stage XIV: This is My Home Now
"Don't say anything." Asuka said. She was turned away from Shinji with her head bowed.
"I won't; but I can't afford to be silent either."
Asuka turned back.
"What happened to you, Shinji? You've changed."
Shinji raised his head.
"No. I've never changed. I've just come back; from that place where I locked myself within myself."
"Really…?" Asuka asked coldly.
Shinji walked up to her and held out her Nerve Clip.
"This is yours, Asuka. You left it."
Asuka's fingers closed Shinji's over the hair clip.
"I don't want it back yet, and I won't need it; the Core and Unit 01 are both out of commission. I told you; don't give it to me until you've picked yourself up again."
She sighed wearily.
"Your idiot; someone always has to fuss over you. Man up already and make your own damn decisions."
Shinji blinked as she flicked him on the head.
"What? Uh, Asuka, what do you mean?"
She rolled her eyes.
"This is exactly what I'm talking about: YOU ARE A MORON, SHINJI! Use your brain!"
Asuka brushed past him and stomped outside.
"I don't give a damn what you want, Ikari."
She whirled around and pointed a finger at him.
"I'm going to make you MINE! You're mine and nobody else's!"
"Move yer ass, Kensuke!" Touji hissed.
"Hold on, man!" Kensuke hissed back. "Mana's in front of me!"
"Hurry up! I want to see!" Hikari demanded.
"Calm down, everyone," Mana said. "They're just talking."
All four of them peeked around the edge of a nearby tent. Shinji stood at the entrance of the tent with Asuka close by him.
"Don't you dare leave me alone anymore," Asuka said. "I don't want you going anywhere but here!"
Shinji moved towards her.
"I promise…like I did before. I'll stay with you, if you'll let me."
Touji snickered.
"Smooth, Shinji; din't know ye haddit in ya."
"Idiot," Hikari scolded. "Keep watching!"
"I think it's nice they've made up again." Mana said evenly.
Shinji slid away from Asuka.
"I've decided; I won't drag my life along anymore; I won't wait for happiness…because it'll never come," he said. "I want to make my own happiness…with you. Is that all right?"
"Whatever." Asuka said. She leaned on her tiptoes and kissed him lightly. His hand came to rest on her shoulder. Their kiss lasted another few seconds, and then Asuka broke away.
"Just do like you promised."
Siberia, 2020; two years later
"Mass Produced Evangelion Unit 14 came very close to completion. Close enough, in fact, for our people in Seele to secretly finish it. It's yours now."
Miyoko looked in awe at the humongous white Evangelion locked down in the tiny Siberian base.
"Lloyd…what will I do with this?"
The man looked off into the distance.
"Reclaim Evangelion Unit 01. It is absolutely essential for creating a perfect world in which people will never be hurt again."
He glanced down hard at the young woman.
"A world where pain is nonexistent. You want that, right?"
"I guess so…"
Cheers broke out from the dirty, thin and disheveled refugees as the soldiers stepped aside to let them inside the first section of Neo-Tokyo 4's apartment sector. The brand new buildings had been constructed from Nerv's funds, freed from their need to support multiple Evangelions, bases, and military forces. A tall, dark-haired and quiet man stepped quickly into one of the buildings, chasing a striking strawberry-blond woman who had skipped happily inside with a gaggle of laughing girls, completely ignoring their male compatriots, who huffed as they ran in after the women.
"Damn…they're so excitable…" Touji complained. Shinji shook his head and tucked his hands into his pockets.
"At least we have a proper place to live now." He said.
"Yea! And I'll have the bath first!" Asuka yelled down from the end of the hallway.
"Go ahead." Shinji replied. He turned back to his fellow Stooges.
"The industries are getting back on their feet. Nerv's scrounged up enough to make Unit 01 operational again. What do you think they'll do with it?"
Kensuke pushed his glassed up. They caught the light from the sun and shone over his eyes.
"I hope they put it in the army." He said. "It'll be an awesome weapon."
"I hope not…" Shinji said sadly. "I really don't like fighting."
Touji clapped him on the back.
"C'mon, man; cheer up! Who's gonna wanna fight after all this? Even if it does join da army, you'll be sittin' in yer Eva doing nothing every day."
Shinji smiled wanly.
"Yea. That'd be great, wouldn't it?"
Nerv-Japan HQ, 1900 hours
Asuka brushed her short hair back. The shoulder length strands were lighter and much more convenient for a refugee camp, but she'd been growing it back ever since the apartments opened.
"Miss Soryu, you look quite beautiful." The Nerv PR makeup artist said mechanically as he put the final touches on a complicated series of rubbing, dabbing, and painting. Asuka admired her look in the mirror.
"It's great." She said unenthusiastically.
"You may now leave."
Asuka rolled her eyes.
'Typical boring government workers…'
She closed her eyes and endured being dressed up like a doll by a team of specialists in a dazzling, scarlet gown, complete with every kind of jewelry imaginable. Her A-10 Nerve Clip was replaced by a fragile, diamond-crusted butterfly clip that made her hair hang down in a loose ponytail. A pearl choker wrapped around her neck, and expensive-looking earrings went into her earlobes.
"Jeez, where did Nerv get all of this crap?" she complained.
"The PR department keeps makeup and accessories for all public occasions. And may I remind you to watch how you speak to the UN representatives and heads of state at this reception?"
"No, you may not. I know how to speak to them." Asuka seethed.
"Misato, why do I have to be here?" Shinji asked.
"Because you're the kid who saved the world, I guess." Misato said. "And the bigwigs are signing the Neo-Tokyo Treaty today. It's supposed to deal with Nerv, the Evas, and everything involved. You're a relevant part of this."
"What's going to happen…?"
Misato looked uncomfortable.
"I'm not supposed to tell you what's on the treaty…it's a need-to-know-basis…sorry."
Shinji felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"Look, Shinji, don't worry. Commander Fuyutsuki promised he'd take care of you and Asuka as much as possible in the negotiations, so just…enjoy yourself, okay?"
"Sure, Misato…"
The conversations behind them ceased suddenly. Shinji turned around, and nearly tripped on a nearby table as Asuka glided into the reception hall in a blaze of glory.
"Wow, you've grown, Asuka!" Misato exclaimed with a smile.
"I…don't give a damn." Asuka seethed as she joined them. "These clothes are smothering me!"
"Uh…you…look nice!" Shinji blurted. He could feel sweat drops falling into the neck of his uncomfortable suit. Although he was accustomed to the beauty that Asuka had grown into, this was a little too much.
Ignoring Shinji, Asuka sighed heavily and plopped into a nearby chair.
"I just want to home and relax, not stand here and get paraded around in front of all these old men." She said, casting a glare around the room of diplomats and politicians. Shinji drew up a chair and sat down with her.
"Guten abend, Shinji…" she said discontentedly.
"Um…guten abend…" he repeated in broken German. She sighed and leaned against his shoulder.
"Stick with me, all right? I'm in a really bad mood. They told me that Papa decided to come…I don't know what I should say to him…"
Shinji laid a hand on her shoulder.
"Just say what your heart tells you to say," he told her softly.
"My heart tells me to deck the old man out."
"Well, at least you're more decided than Shinji was about your dad. Hmm?" Misato said lightly. She also pulled a chair and sat down, pushing her similarly dazzling attire against Shinji, who blushed and squirmed between the two women who sandwiched him. Asuka glared.
"Misato, I'm not in the mood!"
Before she could reply, a man's voice came.
"Asuka! My goodness, dear, you're so lovely!"
Everyone turned around. A European-looking woman and a red-haired, tall, somewhat Japanese-looking man stood there, looking tense.
"Ma-" Asuka began, but then stopped and turned to the man.
"Papa…"
The man looked nervous.
"Yes?"
"You didn't have to come. I could've handled it perfectly well on my own." She said bluntly.
Shinji touched her hand.
"Asuka…" he whispered. "It's all right. I'm right here."
She silently squeezed his hand.
"Oh…, really…?" Asuka's father asked, and then continued in German.
"Well, you see…me and your mama…"
"She's not my mama!" Asuka hissed almost inaudibly. Her father did not notice.
"We've rebuilt a life for you back in Germany. So why don't you come home now, Asuka? Life must so hard for you here…c'mon, you have a home now."
"Yes, I have a home." Asuka replied in Japanese. "Right here, in Japan. I'm not going back to Germany. It's time I moved on, Papa. This is my home now."
Shinji shivered as he felt the force of her words. Her hand squeezed his again, and she leaned slightly towards him.
Misato looked down sadly.
"That won't be possible…Asuka. Part of the Treaty's settlement was that all the Evangelions, their components, and Pilots be split up between nations…Unit 02's Core and you are both returning to Nerv-Germany…I'm sorry; Commander Fuyutsuki raised the case, but the top brass wants you separated. They're afraid of more than one Evangelion in one country ever again."
Shinji turned sharply.
"Is…that…what we weren't supposed to know?"
Misato nodded. A tear welled up in her eye.
"I'm so sorry, Asuka…there's nothing we can do. The UN voted unanimously for this. But-"
"So, the UN finally makes a decisive decision without squabbling and separates a girl from the only real family she's ever known." Asuka said coldly. "And nobody even gave enough of a damn to tell her?"
"Asuka! What do you mean, the only family you've ever known?" her father asked.
"You were never a real father!" She yelled. "I heard everything you said that night! You never wanted me, you had to do it! And you, mama, you hated me, didn't you? Well, I was never your daughter, so what does it matter? It looks like I'll just have to be your burden again!"
Asuka kicked the chair into a passing UN representative, who crashed to the floor with a high-pitched squeal. She then leapt away, ran through her parents and dashed away.
"Asuka!" Shinji yelled. "Wait!"
He, too, sprinted away after Asuka's rapidly disappearing figure, and kicked the chair in the process, snapping the back into the representative's forehead and knocking him out cold. Asuka's parents made to run after them, but Misato stayed them with her hands.
"It wouldn't help." She said flatly. "You can't try to hold on to someone who hates you. Let her go! She's not yours anymore."
End Stage XIV