Chapter 12
I don't remember my mom. I wish I did. Does this make me like Rei? I know I loved her and she loved me, but I can't remember her face. If she came back to life, would I be able to admit that I couldn't recall the woman who gave me life? Rei can't remember me or her. Father… he remembers us all but acts like Mom and I don't exist. He destroyed every picture of Mom.
Misato… What is she? I live under her roof, so she's my guardian. I follow her orders during combat, so she's my commanding officer. I listen to her tease me about girl all the time, so she's my friend. I guess she's just another person I'm in a weird relationship with. Toji went from angrily punching me to a friend. Rei went from sister to amnesiac stranger to sister. Asuka is… I don't know where to start with her. My father might as well be a stranger to me. I may not know how to classify Misato, but I do know one thing. She'll always be there for me, the first person in Tokyo-3 to offer closeness to me.
"Thanks for letting us in, Shinji. That rainstorm came out of nowhere." Toji grabs the towels to dry off.
"So, where's Misato?" Kensuke dabs the water off his glasses with the only remaining dry spot on his shirt.
"Oh, I think she's still sleeping. She's been working all night a lot lately."
"Well then," says the military nerd. "I guess we better be quiet so we don't wake her up, right Toji? Horaki wouldn't like it if you were-"
"Hey!" Asuka pokes her head around from the curtain to the shower room. "They better not be here to take pictures!"
"They're drying themselves." I wish they'd get along better. It'd be fun to have us pilots and the guys out for some fun doing… whatever normal kids do these days. Oh, we'd take Hikari too. That'd keep Toji occupied.
"Don't die from a cold, but I'll kill you if you peep while I'm changing!" Is it weirder that she flirts with me or that she only flirts with me if we're alone? Well, except for Rei.
Toji crushes his towel in rage. "Who'd want to see a snake change its skin anyway?" He shakes his head.
Misato's door slides open. She doesn't have her usual morning zombie-like state. She seems almost… awake. Plus, she's dressed for work. Is she going on another meeting thing like that time with Jet Alone?
"Misato, did we wake you?" says Kensuke.
"No, I was awake already. Thanks for asking though." She walks up to them and smiles. "Shinji, don't forget about the harmonics test at the lab this evening."
"Oh, right."
"Hey Asuka, did you hear that?"
"Yes, ma'am!"
Kensuke tilts his head, then his eyes open up in surprise. "Wow! Um, I mean congratulations on your promotion to Major, Misato." He and Toji bow.
"You're too kind."
"No, ma'am. You deserved it."
"Well, I'll see you guys later." She opens the door and leaves.
As the door closes, his two friends shout out, "Have fun!"
They turn to Shinji. "Man, that's so cool!" Kensuke shouts. " Misato's the third most powerful person at NERV. She's the third most powerful person in the world! A major. Damn. I'd do anything to be a major."
Asuka leans out the door, now wearing her yellow sundress. "If you two dummkopfs think that's cool, then bow to Lieutenant Ikari too." I should've asked her not to mention that.
"Oh my gods!" they both scream.
"Guys, calm down." A sly smile creeps across his face. "Plus, all my praise should be diverted to the lead pilot, first lieutenant Sohryu."
Fear flashes before their eyes. Asuka cracks her knuckles. Pen Pen waddles to the living room. "Wark." He waddles out, since even he could tell the tension in the air could be cut with a prog knife.
"Uh, we gotta go." They run out the door without further explanation.
"They still don't like you."
She plops herself down at the dining room table. "Yeah, but I don't like them either, especially Pinky."
Shinji sits down on the seat opposite of her. "I wish we all could get along."
"If Hikari's there or even Rei, I could just avoid them."
"Huh."
"You thinking about something?"
"Um." He scratches the back of his head. "I may have thought of a way for us to be all together."
She raises her eyebrows. "Really, what's that?"
"What do you think about giving Misato, um, a promotion party?"
It's just him and Misato in the car. Asuka went home early. She wouldn't trust Toji and Kensuke to be left alone in their house. What was it she said? Oh, she'd have at least two fewer pairs of panties… Ew. Hikari should be showing up right now. He sighs. Even though it was his idea, his friends are doing the work. He only has to ensure Misato goes home instead of a bar, and she did decide to go home this time. It's just quiet.
"Oh, by the way," he says. "It's nice that you're promoted."
"Thank Shinji, but to tell you the truth, I'm really not that thrilled with it."
"I understand. It sucks being a lieutenant, getting praised, all of that. At least Asuka's happy."
The conversation dies, a rare occurrence with Misato. Something troubles her, more than even the promotion. What is it though? I should find out.
She pulls up to the apartment, and they take the elevator up. She chuckles at the paper sign taped to the doorway. Congratulations on Your Promotion! Maybe they should've been more subtle. Oh well.
"Surprise!" yells out the others. Hikari seems to be keeping an eye on Toji and Kensuke.
Misato grabs a beer and sits at their table with Shinji. "Thanks guys."
"Actually," says Toji. "This was Shin-man's idea."
"Well, thank you, Shinji."
He slinks down into his chair. "Um, it was nothing. Sorry."
"Don't apologize, dummkopf." She crosses her arms.
"Sorry."
"Ug, when's Kaji coming over anyway? After hanging around Pinky and Nerd, it'll be nice to be around a real man."
"Hey, I'm super manly!" Toji's face turns red.
"Toji!" He sits down immediately under the glare of Hikari. "You have no room to speak after what you did to her."
They descend into an incoherent squabbling of words, screams, and other odd sounds. Shinji clenches his fist. They aren't getting along. It didn't work.
"You okay, Shinji?" Her quiet words pierce through the racket.
"I'm okay. I just wanted them to be friendly. Now, it's so noisy."
"Don't worry about it."
"Are you okay, with being promoted? You don't seem happy."
She takes a sip of her beer. "I am, a little. I can buy more beer, but I don't do this for beer."
"Why do you do this? Countless hours of paperwork, the weight of the world on your shoulders every attack."
"I'll tell you later. I promise."
"Thanks."
The doorbell rings. "Kaji!" Asuka squeals.
The door opens, and his excited roommate is correct; however, someone else accompanies the ponytailed man. For only the second time in his life, Shinji sees Dr. Akagi wearing something other than a lab coat, just street clothes.
"Hi." He smiles and waves at the group. "We just happened to meet on the way." Why would he say that?
"That's rather suspicious," Misato and Asuka deadpan together. Oh, that's why. Jealousy. Why does Asuka like him so much?
"Oh, are you jealous?" Thanks for stating the obvious, mister. His two roommates cross their arms. "Anyway, I'd like to offer my congratulations to Major Katsuragi." He bows. "I guess this means I'll have to take my complaints to someone else now."
"What are you talking about?" She takes another gulp of beer.
"Well, commanders Ikari and Fuyutsuki never left Japan at the same time before. They must feel our new Major must be really dependable." My father left Japan again? "In fact, they're at the south pole." Misato cringes at those words. Why? Then again, why isn't Rei here?
Children play at these grounds. As such, people saw fit to name it a playground. They run, scream, and tumble. They play games that have existed far beyond human memory, such as tag. Was an ancient ancestor on fire, and others ran away from him? Did someone have too much fun fleeing from a leper?
Maybe, tag ingrained itself as part of human psychology. No one wants to be the monster that all flee from in terror. Like myself. For the monster, she has to become close to another, to touch him. Then, she becomes free at the price of his freedom. Like Shinji.
Rei sighs. This is to be a pleasurable experience. She will not allow herself to dampen the moment by acknowledging reality. Thus, she pushes the swing as it comes back to her once again.
"Can you go higher, Rei?" asks Sakura. She kicks her legs. For a time far too long for a child to bear, the girl had casts on her legs. Now, the shackles were torn off, replaced by braces.
"I will not place you in danger."
"But I don't mind. I haven't gotten on a swing in so long. This's so much fun!"
"Your brother will become depressed if you are hurt again, especially under my protection."
"Fine."
The joint where the metal chain of the swing meets the bar of the swing set creaks. It maintains a perfect rhythm unless Sakura shifts in her seat. Some children stare at the twosome. A little girl with braced legs and a pale girl with blue hair do not frequent playgrounds. Rei pays them no heed. Let them stare. Her friend does not seem to care either. Her emotional state soars much too high for those worries.
"Tell me a story?"
"What manner of story?"
"One about you. I never had a friend like you before. I wanna know more."
Rei forces her hand not to twitch for the safety of the girl. Of my life, about two thirds lies outside my recollection. A fourth remains classified. The remaining twelfth may not hold the attention of a young girl.
"Stories about me are not worthwhile."
She lets out a huff. "Of course they are. They'd be about you. Tell me something that is different about you."
"I have blue hair."
She giggles. Did she qualify my statement as a joke? "I know that. What 'bout something I don't know?"
What information will not result in man in black suits abducting you tonight? Other physical deficiencies would not be appropriate to discuss, especially in public. "I dislike eating meat."
"Why?"
"I once saw a fish in the GeoFront's lake."
"Why did that make you like eating vegetables?"
"Because the fish was living."
Noticing the girl's confusion, Rei inhales. This requires a longer explanation.
"This a couple of years ago. My… guardian took me to observe the large, square lake. A small fish jumped out of the water. I do not know if it was to avoid a larger fish or to consume an insect; however, it caught my attention. I realized that the fish was alive, similar but not the same to humans. If I ate the fish, then I must have caused it to be killed first. I do not wish to kill."
"But, why?"
"Eating life is not just the cessation of that life, but all lives to follow. If you were to die, then your children, your children's children, and so on would also die. Worse, no one would remember their deaths."
"Oh, so you risk your future kids' liver whenever you go fight in the-"
"You know?"
"I'm super smart."
"Apparently. But, I do not risk my future children's lives, since they will not exist."
"So, you don't want kids?"
"I am unable to." Sadness seeps through her voice.
"Stop pushing me."
Rei stops. Sakura slides off and hobbles to the teen. She wraps her arms around Rei and squeezes.
"I thought you needed a hug. You must be feeling sad. Hugs make you feel better."
"They do."
Four people stand in the room. On one side, the three pilots who've saved the city stand. On the other side, a raving lunatic just explained her plans to kill this Angel.
"What!" Asuka holds out and clenches her hand for effect. "You want us to catch it with our hands?"
"That's right." Misato sounds chipper. But she was the one who evacuated the whole damn city, arschloch. "While maintaining your A.T. fields, you'll catch before it hits the ground." And why are we doing this debriefing in the commander's room? And why is his room bright now? Ug, that old pervert must've been keeping everything dark just to look like a spooky badass.
"But, what if it doesn't fall where you think it will?" That's using you brains, Shinji! Ha, what a stupid plan you have, Misato.
"Then there'll be a little boom."
If they fail, then her teammates and underlings would perish. "What if the Evas can't handle the impact?"
Their major shrugs. "Then, we'll all be blown to the moon."
"Then what are our chances?" he asks.
Wondergirl speaks up. Took you long enough. "Our chances are one in a hundred thousand." Scheisse.
"Yeah but, um." Asuka can almost see the sweat forming on Misato's brow. "But we still have a chance."
"If we pull this off, it'll be a miracle of Biblical proportions."
Misato slips back into her military face. "Miracle aren't something that just happen. They're something people make happen."
"And you're so willing to sacrifice us all now? Not content with dunking just me in magma this time?"
"I'm sorry. This is the best plan, the only plan."
The girl takes a step forward. "How can you call this a plan!"
"It's not really, I guess. I'm not forcing any of you to do this. You may leave now if you want."
Nobody moves.
"I see. So you are all okay with this?"
Nobody moves.
"Regulations state that all of you are supposed to write out a will. Have you done that yet?" Thanks for being crazy and morbid.
"I don't need to write one. Anyone who I'd give my stuff to would be dying with me today."
"Agreed." Does Wondergirl sound more solemn than normal, or is it just me? "There is no point to it."
"Yeah, me neither." Thank you, Shinji.
"Okay, but when all of this is over, I'll treat my wonderful pilots to a steak dinner!"
"Um, thanks?" says Asuka.
Misato walks away.
"Did she forget that you don't like eating meat?"
"Apparently, Shinji."
"Well, I'm not going to let any member of my squad be left out. Rei, I'll choose the place, and it will have dishes without meat. I promise."
Rei smiles.
Unfortunately, that was the only good thing that happened for quite some time. They changed into their plugsuits, but she had to store her clothes in a locker instead of a wash bin. The janitors evacuated. Then, they were taken to the control room, staffed just by those three bridge technicians, doctor bottle-blonde, and their insane temporary commander. Everyone else evacuated and for a good reason too. Misato placed the Evas around the city randomly. No, woman's intuition. I feel SO safe in the hands of the woman who's main instinct is "get more beer".
Now, the three ride up to their Evas on an elevator. Without proper maintenance crews (since they evacuated too), they shut down all the smaller ones forcing them to take this one. Isn't this the one used to transport parts of their units? Oh well, she'll ask later.
"Hey, Asuka?"
"Yeah?" What does he want?
"Why did you become an Eva pilot?"
Why did I? That's easy. Why do I? Well… Huh, why do I still pilot?
"I became on to show the world how great I was, of course."
"So, it's a way of proving you exist."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." So that's why I must be piloting for a different reason. "What about you, Rei?"
She doesn't turn to face them. "I pilot to become one and to protect Shinji. He already knows this."
"Huh, what about you, Third?"
"I got inside to protect Rei. I still do, but I have more people now. Toji, Kensuke, Misato. I guess everyone, including you."
"Me? I don't need protecting."
"That doesn't mean I can't try."
The elevator screeches to a halt. Asuka and Rei step out. Time to get into the Evas.
"Hey, Asuka?"
"Yeah?" She turns around. For some reason, he stares at the ground and twitches his hand.
"You used the past tense when, um, you said why you pilot Evas."
A cool breeze blows by, or maybe it's just her nerves that makes Asuka shiver. Looking at her feet, she hopes he doesn't notice her checks turning red. "Because I proved to someone I exist, without the Eva."
"Oh, that's great!" He looks up and smiles. It startles her enough to look at him as well. "Who was it? Mr. Kaji? Misato? Um, Hikari maybe?"
Asuka shakes her head. She walks to her roommate, and he flinches, unsure of what she'll do next. She knows the thoughts in his head. Will she poke me? Flirt to embarrass me? Call me a baka? Yell at me?
She hugs him.
"Um, Asuka. I, er."
In a soft voice, she says, "This isn't being flirty, Shinji. I'm doing this as your friend. Relax."
The tension leaves his body. He slowly raises his arms up to hug her back. They stand like that for over a minute. They let go of each other at the same time.
"Be safe," they say in the same moment. Yet again, Asuka curses their sync training. Then, they break out into laughter.
Shinji sits inside the entry plug. He tried forcing everything out, but his thoughts are too jumbled. Instead, he focuses on the many things on his mind.
Asuka hugged me and was… nice. She also said I'm her friend. I guess it's official now. We're friends, good friends. I shouldn't expect her to be nice all the time now, but… maybe it'll get better. At least she might not tease me so much, with her words or her body. Bad Shinji! Don't think like that. I should do something nice back as a thank you.
She also sorta said that I'm the reason she doesn't pilot to prove she exists anymore. She said I already realized that. What does it mean though? Everyone knows she exists. I do, Misato does, Rei does, Hikari does… With her being the only confirmed pilot, everyone knows about Asuka. Then, what did she mean? Only I know she exists?
Maybe… Maybe it's just being a friend, one that sorta understands her.
He sighs. This Angel should show up soon. Standing here waiting is like holding one's breathe for too long. The tension might kill him before the Angel arrives.
He lets himself drift off to another memory. It's another one that's been on his mind.
"Shinji," said Misato. "Yesterday, you asked me why I joined NERV."
They were standing on the balcony, overlooking the city covered by the orange rays of the setting sun.
"It began with my father. He lived for his work to the exclusion of everything else. I was never able to forgive him for that. In fact, at times, I even hated him."
"That sounds like my father," he said.
"He never really took care of me or my mother. His friends always said he was too sensitive and fragile, but the truth was that he was such a weak person. He didn't want to face reality, so avoiding his family was easier than dealing with it. When my mother decided to divorce him, I was actually happy. I was sick of hearing her cry herself to sleep. When my dad got upset about it, I laughed at him. I thought he got what he deserved.
"But, then he sacrificed himself to save my life during the Second Impact. I was the only survivor at ground zero. I didn't know if I loved or hated him. The only thing I knew for certain was that I wanted to destroy the Angels who caused Second Impact. That's why I joined NERV. I have to avenge him, to be free from his shadow forever."
Shinji shakes his head. I won't let your shadow cover me, Father. I won't let it smother Rei either. I promise.
Misato's voice comes over the intercom. "The Angel has been sighted. All Evas, get on your marks." Shinji crouches, ready to sprint. "We can only give you a rough estimated trajectory based from our optical sightings. The Magi will guide you to ten thousand meters. After that, it's up to you. I'm placing my trust in all of you."
The umbilical cable disconnects. On his visual feed, he sees the targeted area. He sprints.
He makes his legs move faster than he thought possible. Hell, human legs can't move this fast. His feet get pummeled by debris. Houses, stores, streets. All gone thanks to him, but it doesn't matter. If he arrives even a second too late, then it's all gone anyway. I hope everyone did evacuate.
He sees it. A giant orange eye with two smaller eyes connected by thin orange robs. It's huge, almost the size of the GeoFront. Oh, it also plunges to the ground like a meteor. Oh shit.
"Spreading A.T. field at maximum!" He stands on top of the hill as the Angel falls from the heavens. Too bad I only can do this during combat. Huh, will I get squished like an ant under a boot? I hope not. There's too many things I want to do. I want to see those seeds I gave Rei bloom into a flower. I want to see Sakura run around like a normal kid. I want to see Misato free herself from her father. I want to see Asuka.
The Angel slams onto his A.T. field and neutralizes it. With his bare hands, he pushes up against the Angel, somehow still thrusting down with some unseen force. He feels the bones in his arms crack. Screw pain. They need me to hold on. He lets out a scream of utter agony. Just a few moments longer. They have to be here soon, right?
"Asuka, expand your field!" Was that Rei yelling and using Asuka's name?
"Already on it!" Oh, she must be close too.
At the same time, the sole Eva becomes a team of three. Rei expands her own A.T. field only for it to be canceled out too. She resorts to Shinji's more physical methods.
Asuka shouts, "Stop hurting Shinji!" She plunges her knife into the massive red core. It pierces through the surface. She twists the blade, and the core glows.
"Expand your fields!" their lead pilot orders. "Contain the blast."
Shinji and Rei do as they're told. A blinding and deafening explosion smothers their beasts of war. Then, it stops. The hill became a crater. The three Evas lie in the dirt, without power but intact.
He ejects the entry plug. It thuds on the ground, and he opens the hatch, grunting from residual pain. By the other two Evas, his teammates climb out dazed but unharmed.
"Hey baka, how's your arms!" she yells over the distance. They jog towards him.
"Just lingering pain."
They stand next to him, panting. He sees the smiles on their lips, matching his own.
"The recovery team was also evacuated. It may be hours before they may come to retrieve us," Rei says.
"Ug, my hair will be ruined again."
"The hair at my length is more manageable. You could cut it shorter if this remains a problem for you."
Asuka raises her eyebrows but refrains from getting angry. "Thanks but no thanks. My hair's beautiful the way it is."
Shinji feels like there's another, unspoken reason, but he lets it go.
"Well now what? No offence, but you two sometimes have less personality than Pen Pen."
"We could, um, tell stories about ourselves. Get to know each other better." Shinji rubs his arms trying to decrease the aching pain.
"Fine. I'll let you two know more about my awesomeness, but let's have Wondergirl go first."
She looks at Asuka then at Shinji. She tilts her head. "Have I ever told you why I dislike meat?"
Rei blushes. It is more of a slight reddening of the cheeks, but it qualifies as a blush anyway. No one notices, since the red tinge of the lights masks her change in complexion. Thank you, Lieutenant Sohryu.
"A ramen stand?" Major Katsuragi asks.
"Well, we know how poor you are, Misato. This'll be fine, and since there's no meat, Rei will eat with us too." The Second Child turns to the server. "I'll have shark fin ramen with roast pork. Also, supersize it."
As Rei and the others order their meal, she glances at her lead pilot. Even though the redhead has her food, she does not eat. Instead, she sits on a bench and hums to herself. I did not expect her to have a positive disposition considering the hours LCL fluid festered in her hair. I will not complain, however, since it seems to put pilot Ikari in a better mood as well.
After Rei receives her bowl of garlic ramen, she sits next to the Second Child.
She says in a low enough voice for the other two to not hear, "Thank you for hugging my brother."
Lieutenant Sohryu almost drops her bowl on the ground. "You saw all of that?" she whispers.
"Yes… I misjudged you."
"What do you mean?"
Rei stares at her soup. "I thought you would be harsh… cruel to Shinji. I was wrong, mostly. I ask for your forgiveness."
"Tell no one, and I will."
"Thank you."
The Second Child lets out a small smirk, though the she appears troubled that her display of platonic affection was observed.
Their fellow pilot and his guardian sit down on the bench.
"Hey, Misato?" he asks.
"Yeah?" she says in the middle of a slurping bite.
"When my father praised me today, I realized I was out of his shadow."
The Major stops eating her noodles. Dozens hang suspended from her mouth half submerged in her bowl.
"His praise, it didn't mean much. It was sorta like a stranger congratulating me. He… He's not family anymore. Not like us."
"Us?" This time, the Second Child does drop her bowl. It clanks on the pavement.
"Um, yeah."
Rei takes another sip of her steaming soup, but it is not the soup that makes her feel warm inside.
Misato's voice: "Since the pilots have about one minute of doing anything (which is complaining about being naked) during the next part of the story, I'll just tell you it all now! They're all naked. They get in the some test Eva thingies. They get ejected from the thingies because there's an Angel in the HQ. The Angel commits suicide because Ritsuko makes it feel bad with her laptop. The pilots sit in a field in their entry plugs naked. Oh, and their ages are fourteen, thirteen, and fourteen respectively. Do you still want that fan service?"
Misato's voice (again!): "Woo hoo! I just narrated an entire episode! Anyway, SEELE wants to get updates on the Angels and stuff. But… why would they though? They were all killed. End of story. Oh, oops. Uum, Rei's the one Gendo sends to do the debriefing. Also, Shinji and Rei swap places with testing the Evas. Will Shinji find out what or who resides inside Unit 00, or will it be berserk and try to kill us again? Find out in the finale for the second part of our story! Oh, there may also be fan service, and there'll definitely be allusions to periods because Rei made a poem! Hurray!"
Authors notes: Wow, it's so much fun for my Misato's voice sections. Also, yeah, I'm skipping episode 13, since there's no point to it for my story (especially since there's hardly any teens in it). I felt as though I'd have to add too much fluff to the chapter to make it a decent size, and I definitely didn't feel like spending extra time on three naked pilots. Plus, "the largest Angel" seemed like a much better climax to this section instead of "the Angel killed by a laptop".
Like my earlier chapter Rei II, this chapter was the culmination of this narrative arc. Shinji and Asuka hugged (surprised?). All three of them killed the friggen' massive Angel. They ate noodles and Shinji said how they Rei, Asuka, and Misato are his family. Like A Human Work, the next chapter will be the resolution. Oh, and maybe you'll get some more reveals on Rei. Anyone up for some cross compatibility tests?
This chapter did prove a bit hard to get "right". Rei was initially supposed to be at that party, but then I realized that there was no point. She'd just be there and add nothing to the development. Plus, she wouldn't like it. Rei prefers smaller crowds. Thus, I let her have some nice, philosophical time with Sakura.
In case you're wondering, the answer is yes. I've been intentionally making many of my recent "Rei scenes" without just Shinji as the only other person in them. Why? First, she's already in a great relationship with her brother, thus most of her character development would come from her interactions with others. Second, much of Shinji's time has been taken up by Misato and Asuka recently (though there has been a bunch of scenes with all three pilots). However, don't worry. There'll be a very nice one next chapter.
I'll keep my author's notes for this week short. Next week seems like it'll have a very long one to me.
Replies to comments:
PrometheusDark, it's good to see you like my Gendo. (More on him in the next reply.) I also agree it's really hard for Asuka and Shinji to be in a healthy relationship (that stays in character). However, as y'all have probably noticed in this fic so far, I enjoy doing things a bit different from what we normally see in Eva fanfics. I'm interested to see what you'll say about what happened between the roommates this chapter.
As for the subject of protagonists, I try to give equal spotlight to all three; however, Shinji gets the most narration time, Asuka seems to be the center of attention whenever she's around, and Rei's the most… pervasive and mysterious one.
Lastly, if you've been enjoying my Misato's voice sections, you got some more this time. I still want to do more with her character, but so far I've only been able to do so subtly and not blatantly. It is pretty interesting to see how many of her scenes in the anime were without any of the teens. Heck, she was pretty much the audience's bridge to the adult world.
Hello There, you're right in that EVIL Gendos aren't as interesting as morally grey and/or mysterious Gendos. While I won't comment on your suggestions (other than I like them) with his character (because I want to avoid Gendo spoilers as much as I want to avoid Rei spoilers), I can give you something else.
Gendo was actually the third character I "finished" when planning the fic. Obviously, Rei and Shinji were the first two since… well, they're the entire reason this's an AU. After completing those two, I realized that Gendo now has a seriously different back-story (since he has two kids instead of Shinji). Not only does Shinji have a sister, but Gendo has a daughter. Not just an "artificial tool", but a living, breathing daughter who shared half of his DNA and half from his beloved Yui. Y'all will see more of the Bastard King as we move along.
Traitor of All Traitors, very interesting idea. I hadn't thought of that, but that's not the reasoning behind my (well… technically Rei and Gendo's) decision. For one, there's a lot of fanfics out there with Asuka as the lead pilot in some way, so I wanted to deconstruct that a bit and/or put in an interesting twist or two. More importantly, I felt that Rei was perceptive enough to see Asuka's potential as a tactician. Lastly, there are two Angels in particular where I felt that this'd be pretty necessary. I guess I'll have to remember to mention "Hey! This's the Angel I was talking about so much in previous chapters but never by name!" when I get there.
Oh, as some of you might have noticed, the pilots have different (and more balanced) kill stats. In terms of delivering the killing blow, Shinji has four (3rd, 4th, 6th, and 7th), Asuka has four (6th, 7th, 8th, and 10th), Rei has two (5th and 9th), and Ritsuko and her keyboard has one (11th). With many of the most formidable Angels coming up (such as Bardiel and eventually Tabris), Shinji will most certainly be in harms way.
List of notable (enough for me) things that happened that aren't canon:
Shinji came up with the party idea.
Rei spent more time with Sakura.
Asuka mentioned how she proved to Shinji that she exists.
Shinji and Asuka hugged (with Asuka the initiator. Asuka initiating nice human contact didn't happen in cannon until EoE final scene.) I feel like I should do one of Evangelion's "deep psychological inner conversations" with Asuka. Unlike Shinji and Rei, I'm writing Asuka's characterization from a significantly more complex perspective… Oh well, now I'm ranting in the wrong section.
Shinji says how Misato, Rei, and Asuka are his family.