Creation began on 01-25-21
Creation ended on 03-11-21
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Hope from the Sky: Mother
If any of the other members of the Survey Corps knew Shinji better than Kaede Sogen did due to dating him, they would say that he's a very sensitive person outside of dealing with conflict related to whatever was happening with Paradis. But none of them really knew Shinji outside of his relationship with Kaede and Historia, and only knew that he came from a rather-broken family and didn't have a positive relationship with his father, who died during the attack on Paradis by Grausam and SEELE. And then, they find out that his mother, who he believed to be deceased for over ten years of his life, is alive and well, and that he had invited her to Paradis to meet with him and the Sogen family.
"Most people would be happy to see their mothers," went Sasha as she was practicing her archery alongside several other Survey Corps members that picked up the interest in the art. "But Shinji being cautious about meeting his mother? Why would he be cautious?"
"Well, his father was a psycho that threatened everyone on the island last year," Connie explained why one of their heroes was on the defensive side. "He probably has reason to suspect his mother of being no different from him."
"The chances of his mother being no better than his father," went Jean as he prepared to fire a bow at the target in front of him, "are astronomically heightened by the fact that he has practically no memory of her from his past."
"He was a little boy the last time he ever saw her," Sasha stated. "If anyone at age three or four years old had lost their parents and had no pictures of them or anyone willing to speak about them in positive lights, any child would be no different from Shinji."
"Yeah, but there is one other factor that makes a lack of memory of someone else more troubling," said Armin, who had to use a compound bow due to his lack of upper body strength, "and that's agenda."
"Agenda?" Connie questioned.
"Yes. What does one have to gain from discarding bits of their past? Or rather, what does one have to hide from their past? Was Gendo trying to destroy the very memory of his wife…or was his reason for getting rid of everything due to just wanting to keep her memory all to himself?"
"That's immoral, Armin," Jean told him, and Armin fired the arrow at his target, hitting the bullseye from thirty feet away.
"Shinji's father was immoral towards him and the rest of us," Sasha reiterated. "He wasn't even going to consider the ramifications of what could happen if he tried to kill us all. Maybe he was incapable or merely unwilling to accept that his wife was his son's mother and tried to relive the time they were together before Shinji came into their lives."
"No matter what his reason or reasons for doing what he did, Shinji can't ignore the fact that his father had caused harm," Armin expressed, "and even before his death, he made no attempt to reconcile with his son. Shinji has to live with this for the rest of his life. It's hoped that he won't have to live with the possibility of his mystery mother being just like him."
Sasha then shot three arrows from her recurve bow in rapid succession, her target showing the third arrow piercing the other two that had pierced each other in the target. She was hoping that the visit of Shinji's mother was both peaceful…and brief. The last thing they ever needed to happen to their island home was another parent of their Hope from the Sky to echo actions by the other parent that died violently.
-x-
Yui wasn't really sure what to expect from her visit to the world her son had chosen to stay in as she was on the plane on her way to Nevada. Even with the recorded memories and the limited information from Asuka and Rei, she had absolutely next to nothing on what sort of life her son had there. All she really understood was that he was at least happy over there, and being in a relationship with a girl that admired him as a person that returned her sense of hope for her future, she couldn't fault the relationship's foundation and additional supports that just continue to be added on. Not even her fear of the gray-haired girl's Titan side could change the potential outcome of seeing Shinji.
"I can't believe that he invited us to come see this Paradis Island," one of her son's classmates had expressed, holding a camcorder in his hands.
"Yeah," responded the other classmate in the track suit. "I wonder how he's been doing in the past few months?"
"He's, uh," went Asuka to the boys, "adjusted."
"How adjusted is…well, 'adjusted'?" A girl with pigtails asked her.
"Ikari-Kun is just living a simple life with people that have regained their freedom in the world and have obtained peace with a nation that has despised them for centuries after forcing them to reevaluate their views and beliefs toward them."
"He fought in a war against the people of that island he ended up on and sided with them, despite the fact that they weren't his people and their war wasn't his problem, and in the end…chose them over any possibility of returning here."
"After everything he went through, I can't really imagine why he'd want to come back," said the boy in the track suit.
"If you were Shinji," asked the pigtailed girl, "would you really choose to stay in another world and live with people that were being attacked by other people that were being cruel to them?"
All eyes were on the track suit boy.
"If I were Shinji…and I had nothing and nobody left in my life here to convince me to stay… and there was even a small chance of having a better life over there than here…yeah, I'd consider it," he answered the girl.
This only made Yui feel worse than what she was feeling now. Of course, Shinji would choose to reside in such a place after everything he went through in Japan after she went through with the contact experiment. Without any long-term relationships with his familial bonds, or stable friendships, and having to live with constant reminders of the belief that his father had something to do with her would-be death, Shinji didn't have much reason to return here. But she wasn't going to try and persuade him to come back. She just wanted to see him again, to see how he was doing where he was.
"We'll be in Nevada in another half-hour," went Fuyutsuki to them.
"Great," responded Misato, holding Pen-Pen on her lap.
"Squawk," the warm water penguin went.
-x-
"…So, Shinji's worried about meeting his mother?" Historia asked Kaede as they were a few feet away from the orphans in the village, just to converse with each other.
"Yeah," the gray-haired girl answered. "He's on edge a little on the very fact that he's meeting a woman that has been absent from his life for over a decade. It turned out that some people he knew or worked with from his world knew and had a difficult time trying to decide whether or not to inform him. For over six months, he was completely in the dark about her. Honestly, I doubt I'd have been able to tell him if I knew something like this for a long time."
"I couldn't hide something like this from Ymir if it regarded her parents or whoever her guardians were."
But Kaede, due to her possession of a shadow of Ymir's memories up to the last day she possessed the Jaw Titan, understood that as far as Ymir herself could recall, the girl had no memory of her family after being found on the streets and made a figurehead of some small cult that worshipped Ymir Fritz. The girl herself had her doubts about ever having any parents or guardians back when she was younger…and she just learned to live without them. It didn't really bother her. It would've bothered people that had difficulty with losing one or both their parents or guardians or whoever it was that was responsible for them in the beginning.
Kaede thought of her father back when he was alive, and how happy she had been with both her parents in her life. There was no heartache, no fighting that went on for days at a time, not even the craziness of other people's problems could bother their lives. And then…he wasn't there, anymore…and there was this void in their lives that just couldn't be filled. Sure, Sig had been there, but it just wasn't the same; there were no number of friends or extended family members that could ever replace the people that were no longer there.
"But you'll be with Shinji when his mother and the other people he knows arrive," she heard Historia say to her. "Never let him out of your sight. Never leave his side."
"Yeah," she replied, looking over at Shinji as he was tackled to the ground by seven seven-year-olds in front of Frieda, who was also visiting the orphans to see how her sister was doing, living with so many children.
-x-
"…Uh, is it just me, or does this portal seem a little bigger?" Asuka asked when they arrived at the NERV base in Nevada, noticing that the makeshift building that housed the portal was a bit wider.
"Yeah, it's a temporary issue that we're hoping to resolve later," explained Ritsuko when she showed up to meet them. "It expanded by eight meters a month ago."
"What if it continues to expand?" Misato asked her.
"It won't expand any further, because we've found a combination of gemstone and metal that keeps it from expanding. Platinum, mercury, copper lined with a synthetic diamond and emerald circuitry. We're three days away from completing the ring that will surround the portal and keep it in check. Once it's finished, we'll set it up and the expansion problem will be resolved."
"You make it sound simple."
"It took five hours to figure out the combination of materials needed. It'll be another seven days to build completely and wrap around the portal."
Yui looked at the building the portal was inside of and had to admit that it was better than nothing surrounding it. Having it exposed just made it a large target or an eyesore, and anyone reckless enough could've tried to drop something in it, be it an object or a person.
"So, I hear that you were invited to Paradis to see Shinji," Ritsuko expressed.
"Yeah, that's right," Yui responded.
"Nervous?"
"It's hard not to be nervous."
"The location, the people or the girlfriend?"
"Huh?"
"The island, the location where he has relocated? The Eldians, the people he had dedicated himself to protecting in the beginning when he ended up there after the Twelfth Angel…or the girlfriend, this Kaede Sogen that is also a Titan Shifter that he's romantically involved with? One of these or all of these must bother you to some degree, but which one?"
Yui could've said that it was just the Sogen girl, as her Titan was very intelligent, possibly more so than the girl herself, able to do things that seemed inhumanly possible for others to achieve without similar powers, but she held her tongue. Even if she did say anything, it wasn't likely to get her in anyone's good graces after everything that happened months before. And the last thing she wanted to do was cause Shinji pain by letting her discomfort about his girlfriend hinder whatever relationship they could still have. Her personal feelings would have to be set aside to ensure there was some sort of bond between herself and her son.
"The island," she stated instead. "People used to live entirely behind these fifty-meter walls that encircled them in a limited space, and now they're mostly living in this coastal city that may be the most advanced place in history…and it only seems to get better with each new day. In the beginning, it was just a regular city by the water, but now it's a hotspot for modern living, and it, like the rest of the island, is watched over by these giants that just stand around, waiting for the next order."
"The people used to be afraid of the Titans," said Kensuke, "and in many respects, probably still are, but knowing that there's someone that can control them and keep them from harming others, that keeps the fear of them at bay. Who wouldn't want to live in a city where the twenty-four/seven watch is a bunch of giants that used to be confined within some large walls?"
Yui and Ritsuko looked at him like he had asked a crazy question.
"Well, it's not like some people without any common sense wouldn't consider that kind of life," the military otaku stated. "They even have two aircraft carriers that still work."
While Ritsuko wanted to say that Paradis didn't have the MAGI or the Evangelion, that would've been meaningless; Paradis had Unit-01 now, and the people living on that island were much smarter than they had been before. Maybe nowhere near the genius line, but nobody there was naïve in any sense of the word.
"I hope you two don't try something as careless as hitting on some girl over there," went Asuka, stating a possibility; the chances of these two so much as trying to hit on the Sogen girl that was with Shinji very much a definite, even if one of them was in a relationship with Hikari.
"You're kidding, right?" Kensuke asked her; he had seen the footage and saw some of these Eldians, time and again, and he knew better than to even so much as try to hit on a girl who could step on him with a large foot or crush him with a large hand. "Kaede Sogen is off limits, and from the look of everything else that has happened, just about every other girl over there isn't even single. Plus, Toji here is with Class Rep."
-x-
"…I honestly don't see what the problem is if he's seeing his mother for the first time in so many years," went Eren to Mikasa and Armin, who had informed him of why they were to be expecting a spacecraft from the other world that Shinji was from as they were on the remains of Wall Maria.
"It's a complicated situation for Shinji," Armin explained to him. "He hasn't seen her since the day he was led to believe that she had died. His father destroyed every photo of her and his very memories of her are faded. In short, Shinji meeting his mother for the first time…is not so different from meeting a complete stranger. We don't know what to expect from a visit from these people that he does know that aren't out to get us like his father had been with SEELE and Grausam. Most are hoping that their visit will be brief."
"Why? You think his mother is no different from his father?"
"Our orders are just to meet with them and show them around the city where they'll meet with Shinji and Kaede," Mikasa stated. "Should something happen, Shinji and Kaede will deal with the problem."
"We can expect her to be the watchman should someone misbehave." Armin stated.
"Why the fuss on these other people from his past?" Eren questioned. "What, are they soldiers, too, like the redhead from before?"
"Hardly. They're just adults that he had to see whenever there was a situation they needed him to help deal with…and kids his age that he used to see in school and spend time with. The only thing that can really be expected of them is just…typical behavior from where they live."
"Define 'typical'."
"None of them are… Well, they're just not like Shinji is," Mikasa stated simply. "He doesn't look at other girls and say things about them to other guys, but two of his friends from his world would, and, unfortunately, much of his own information about them is outdated due to his absence from their lives, just as his own absence from their lives means much of their knowledge about him is just as outdated, even if they were able to obtain information from his past through the Eva. They don't know everything about him or even about us."
Eren then looked up and noticed something in the air.
"Is that them?" He asked them.
They looked up.
"Yeah, that's them," Mikasa revealed. "They're probably heading to the landing strip away from the city."
-x-
From a distance, Paradis looked different from Japan. From up in the air, it looked like a little patch of land floating in the ocean. But up close, it looked livelier and better than the archipelago had ever been in the last sixteen years. Up close, you could see the scars…and how they were healing due to everyone's involvement in the reconstruction efforts and the authority that governed them.
"Remarkable," went Rei to Yui as they looked out windows, "isn't it?"
"Yeah," Yui agreed with her, albeit not with much enthusiasm.
When the shuttle came to a stop, they vacated and stepped out onto the open runway that was away from the coastal city. They were then greeted by several Eldians in military uniform affiliated with the Garrison branch.
"Welcome to Paradis Island," greeted Dot Pixis to them.
"Thank you," Misato replied back, bowing her head.
Hikari looked at these young people and couldn't believe that in the beginning, Shinji spent his time helping with his Eva to clear out the Titans or provide some other type of service they hadn't been able to do without much assistance. Not only that, she couldn't believe that not too long ago Asuka had endangered these very people when NERV was trying to force Shinji to return to their world. And after she got to see the earlier footage, she recognized Mr. Pixis as the man that requested to Shinji his aid in reclaiming the outermost wall of their Titan-free lands shortly after he had arrived here last year, resulting in Shinji helping them and making the choice to stay here.
"This way, please," Pixis instructed them, and they followed.
Misato looked around and couldn't believe she was actually here. Unlike Japan and the rest of the world they were from, around here, it felt like the air was cleaner. Even with many modern-like sights nearby, she couldn't see any sort of industry that resulted in some form of pollution being spewed into the air. Not even the sight of the Wall Titans gave any indication that something was off.
"Whoa," she gasped, seeing that they were near at least five of them. And they are so unlike the one we took and lost back to them. They're so…stiff and…thick.
"Fifty meters in height," said a female Garrison member. "Back when we thought the only Titans that were a threat were the fifteen-meter ones that couldn't even knock at our doors without knocking at the gate. Back then, the scariest Titan was the former Colossal, which was sixty meters, taller than the Walls by an extra ten meters. Now, we have a horde of them scattered around the island and they're the only ones we don't have to worry about."
"What about the Dark Titan?" Toji asked.
"We haven't seen her around for a while. I mean, not at her enhanced height of one-hundred meters. The latest thing we found out about her was her ability to fly."
"Fly?" Kensuke asked her.
"It's unbelievable until we saw it for ourselves. Miss Sogen is quite impressive with her Titan powers after a few weeks." A different female member expressed, and then pointed over towards a small building. "Shinji will find you over there. He's likely on his way with Ms. Sogen."
They entered the fort and sat down at a large table where plastic water bottles and a basket of fruit were present.
"Has it really been over a year for Shinji here?" Toji questioned. "It seems like it's been longer."
"Well, for Shinji, it has been longer," Misato stated. "He's been here longer than he's been in Tokyo-3, and he's adjusted to life here."
"I'd be surprised if he doesn't recognize us," said Hikari.
Slam! Something outside made a noise, like hitting the ground.
"That must be them now," went Pixis.
Thud! Whatever was outside now had made another noise and it was followed by another strange noise that sounded like sizzling, or evaporation.
"Maybe next time, we should just borrow an ATV, Kaede," they heard a male voice say.
"They're useful, but not fast enough to get where we need to go all the time," a female voice replied. "And you don't have to worry. I'm fine. It's not exhausting for me to change."
"I just don't want anyone…getting the wrong idea about us."
"Whatever they may think about us may not be the truth. I'm ready to meet the people from your world. You think they'll like me?"
"I make no promises on their opinions, whatever they may be, but I hope they do like you."
The door opened and in came two teens.
"Hello," greeted Shinji as he bowed his head to them. "How are y'all doing today?"
All visiting eyes were on Shinji, who looked somewhat tense about seeing them. Then, half of these eyes were on Kaede, who was, despite having been seen from previous memories of Shinji's saved by the Eva, quite the unusual beauty due to her gray hair.
"Hey, Shinji," greeted Kensuke to them. "It's been a long time since we last met."
"Too long. Y'all look good."
"And you look…like the worst is behind you," said Hikari to him; due to it being months since some of his former classmates last saw him, Shinji did seem to be adjusted and past the point of whatever grief he might've had long ago.
Yui looked away from Shinji as Misato, probably due to not seeing him in person for such a long time, hugged him, and looked at Kaede, who seemed to be looking at her, as well.
"How do you do?" She greeted the girl.
"I enjoy the days as much as I can," Kaede responded. "You, ma'am?"
"Pretty much the same as you."
Kaede looked over as Shinji was still getting squeezed by Misato, who was clearly happy to see him alive and well after many months away, and then noticed something that Shinji probably hadn't seen just yet because there had been no introduction between them: Yui Ikari…looked exactly similar to Rei Ayanami, the albino girl.
Rei noticed Kaede looking at her…and felt suspicious.
When she was done, Misato let go of Shinji, who was obviously embarrassed by being seen being bear-hugged by Misato; he had forgotten such a comfort after he ended up on Paradis.
"Oh, Shinji," she went, remembering why they were here to begin with. "Even though it's been so long since you last saw her, this is your mother (she points over to Yui, whom Shinji could see with clarity). Yui Ikari."
He looked at her, noticing a similarity between her and Rei. In fact, the similarity was almost…too coincidental to anything else. It was almost as though…the two were related in a strange way…or someone tried to make a copy of her and it didn't turn out right. He wasn't sure how to go about talking to her, as this was the first time he had seen her in many years since he was simply led to believe she was dead by nearly everyone that knew anything about her.
"Hello," he simply greeted her.
Kaede, just hearing the subtlety in his voice, knew there and then that Shinji was reduced to a nervous wreck in front of this woman he had no memory of. It was depressing at best, seeing him uncertain of how to be around his own mother. He had been worried about this meeting ever since they knew his friends from his life back in his world were coming over to visit.
"But you'll be with Shinji when his mother and the other people he knows arrive," Historia had told her before. "Never let him out of your sight. Never leave his side."
"Hello, Shinji," Yui replied to her son. "It's good to see you."
I don't want her to hurt him, Kaede thought as she walked over to an empty chair. I don't want Shinji to be hurt by his mother. I'll keep my distance, but I'll keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't do anything to hurt him.
"Squawk!" Her train of thought was broken by the presence of a small and strange animal, the likes of which she had never seen outside of an animal book.
"Oh!" She gasped, and the creature just continued to look at her. "Oh, uh, uh…what is this?"
"That," Shinji explained, "is Pen-Pen. He's Misato's penguin."
"Penguin?"
Pen-Pen then jumped onto an empty chair and sat down.
"You've never seen a penguin before?" Hikari asked Kaede.
"We still don't have a working zoo yet," she responded, "so the only animals we've ever seen are all the kind you'd have on a farm. And aren't penguins supposed to be…well…southern-dwelling? We're in the eastern parts of the world."
"He's a warm-water penguin," Misato stated. "He's adapted to live in more temperate conditions than a regular penguin could."
-x-
"…You don't think Kaede has a positive opinion on Shinji's mother?" Ymir asked Historia as they were watching the orphans play on the swings.
"Honestly," the young queen responded, "I think if I met her, I'd have less of a positive opinion myself. The problem is the lack of recollection; the less a person can recall about their parents, the less of a chance a relationship can be built between them. And it's not that Kaede has a negative opinion on his mother, she just doesn't want to see Shinji get hurt by his mother when they meet for the first time in years. Personally, I wouldn't want to see Shinji get hurt by her, either. He's already been hurt by his father's past actions."
"But I thought he got over that."
"He did, but it's not something you can truly forget about, no matter how much time passes. You can get over it…but you can never forget about it."
"Like with your mother?" Ymir questioned, and Historia looked away from her for a second. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way."
"No, it's not your fault," Historia told her as she turned back to face her. "I just remembered that a while back, Kaede had asked me if I wanted her to try and change the fate of my mother from that night…and I told her not to. Even though I know Kaede would try her best to change the outcome like she has with many other people, I'm not sure if it would change anything about how she felt about me. As we've learned from Frieda, she wasn't very open with her feelings. And…even though she only spoke towards me two times…I don't want to hear speak a third time to me if she's going to say something that's just as awful. So…I'm okay without her. I will be okay with her."
Ymir smiled at her willingness to go on through life without Alma; her will to persist all the greater after her reunion with Frieda and the other members of the Reiss family. But she could tell there was still that trace of pain in her heart that wouldn't fully mend that was caused by her mother. Maybe if Kaede used the Founder's power to make it so that Alma was more open about her feelings or even caring towards Historia, but then that'd be along the line of what Kaede didn't want to do with the power at all; altering a person's memories to make them the way they were desired to be for others was no different from projecting one's will onto others like with the Titans, and the young queen wouldn't allow Kaede to cast aside her morals just to have a mother be kind towards her.
"What's your opinion on his mother?" Historia asked her.
"Me?" Ymir responded. "I think that if she wants to mend her relationship with Shinji, she has to work hard at it. I can't expect Shinji to be quick to forgive for her absence in his life."
Historia chuckled and returned her attention on the orphans playing.
-x-
"…Well…this is Paradius City," Shinji introduced his guests to the streets of the coastal city as they walked down the sidewalk. "This is where…most of the people live these days."
Yui looked at the tall buildings and the trees that were occupied with small birds. It seemed as though the city had been lived in for years by the people her son had helped to set free from a confined dwelling, but reminded herself that they had only been a little over a year. And the people that were reclaiming their freedom within the city, it was nice to see men and women doing something as trivial as riding bicycles or skateboards.
"It's…really beautiful," she told Shinji.
"Thank you," Kaede expressed, holding Pen-Pen as they walked down the street.
"Say, Shinji," went Toji, "I'm probably crossing the line a little, but I really need to know. What do you do for fun around here when you're not doing anything else?"
"What do I do for fun? What do I do for fun? I…I just cook when I do nothing else. I rarely leave my comfort zone."
"You mean…Ms. Sogen here hasn't tried to make you go swimming or take a hike up a mountain…or something that you rarely do?" Kensuke asked.
"Unless there's an inflatable tube handy," Kaede stated, "I wouldn't pull Shinji into deep water. And the last time we went up a mountain was two months ago when he lost a card game to me."
"Let me guess," Asuka asked, "he took a while to get up the mountain?"
"No, he was just worried that I wouldn't like going up a mountain."
"Oh."
"We were marking a path for people to go up and down safely later on," Shinji explained, "but it was a good hike up on the mountain. I never got to do anything like that before I got here."
That was an understatement, the fact that Shinji went up a mountain without it being an actual requirement for him to do so. Of course, not having any threat to the people or the world was what made doing so worth doing so. The time when he, Asuka, Misato and Ritsuko had to go to Mt. Asama and deal with the Angel inside the magma didn't really count because it was a job, not a pastime.
"How tall a mountain?" Hikari questioned.
"Well, not Mt. Fuji-tall, but somewhere along that, in the land between Walls Maria and Rose, about a thousand meters shorter than Fuji, but still very tall when you go on foot."
"That's still tall enough to be impressive," Toji expressed; there's no way, not even in a thousand years, could he or would he go up a mountain.
As they continued to walk down the street and towards a park, Kaede decided that she needed to clear the air between herself and Yui, and slowed down to meet with the woman.
"How are you?" She asked her.
"Good," Yui answered her. "Yourself?"
"Swell. I've had many good days. I can look up at the sky and not feel worry. There is, however, one thing that is making me concerned about how today turns out."
"And what is that?"
"I'm sure you already know the answer to that."
Yui looked up ahead at Shinji, who was pointing at something in front of them to Rei and Asuka. Yeah, she knew exactly what Kaede was concerned about. It was impossible for either of them to not be concerned. The young girl was devoted to her son…and only wanted him to be happy. And yet…the woman had her reservations about the gray-haired girl because of her Titan, which clearly had a will of its own…and probably had a reason to have the girl be suspicious.
"You don't to see Shinji hurt," she told Kaede.
"Correction," the girl responded, "I don't want to see Shinji hurt by you."
"Me?"
"He's been worried about your reunion ever since he was told you were alive. I understand that, as his mother, you have every right to be around him, but you should know…the very last thing I want to see is him being hurt by the other half of his parents after one half demonstrated his unwillingness to turn the other cheek just because he couldn't make his son or the people he was living with bend to his will, which resulted in his paying a high price and going somewhere he can't ever return from. I don't want to see him have to experience something like that all over again…so…can I trust that you're not going to hurt him like his father had?"
If this was a threat, Yui felt Kaede was being very subtle about it, almost as if…she didn't want to do what she was probably thinking she'd do if she crossed a line.
"Um, just…how committed are you to Shinji?" She asked her.
"I am…deeply committed to him," Kaede answered. "I'm at my happiest when everyone I love is happy…and I do love him."
"And…your Titan?"
Kaede sighed as the dark purple markings under her eyes appeared, followed by her Dark Titan's head emerging from her nape.
"If she cares about Shinji," the Titan spoke, "then he's important to me, as well. So, the question is…can Kaede trust you not to hurt him like his father had attempted, which resulted in his merciless demise?"
Yui sighed and responded, "I don't want to hurt Shinji at all. Things have changed from what had originally been expected, and there's nothing I, or anyone else, for that matter, can do to change them back. Fate took a turn the very second Shinji ended up here, and everything else changed as a consequence…so…this is simply…the way things are now."
"Then, as an old saying went, the chips were allowed to fall wherever they may," the Dark Titan stated, something Yui was surprised to hear, "and you were among those that simply accepted the result, whatever it was."
"Yeah," she responded; because the Human Instrumentality was rendered impossible to achieve, no matter what anyone tried to do, there was no other way to achieve a future for all of humanity the way that had initially desired, and thus all of humanity was forced to accept what was and had to be over what could've been. "Tell me, can you really see the future?"
"Only if I want to…and I don't want to," Kaede revealed.
"Why not?"
"To know what's going to happen…before it even happens…just takes the joy out of life. If you know what's going to occur, then you live in fear or hatred of the future just beyond the next day. And even if you were to try and change the outcome if it's a bad future, something else will likely occur due to simply knowing. For some to know the future…and decide to act on it…either end up keeping it to themselves…or even enabling the very future they were trying to keep from happening to happen, anyway. By not knowing, there's no future to try and avoid, no fate to be warned of, no lies to spew or secrets to keep. By not knowing…I can choose how to perceive the future for myself. To know is a bane, and to not know…is a silent blessing."
The girl was clearly of a different mindset than what Yui had anticipated. She could see the future whenever she desired…and she chose not to know the future, wanting to be surprised by events as they unfolded. To know that her son was seeing an extraordinary girl that preferred an ordinary existence…was not something Yui could totally comprehend. Normality, simplicity, subtlety, basically the stuff of the mundane were all this lady desired in her life…and without a doubt, the very same things that Shinji desired, as well.
So long as he had the will to live, anyplace for him would be like paradise, she thought as she looked up to where Shinji was, realizing that they were standing outside an observatory. But for Shinji, being in a place like this, a world that isn't maimed like our own, where the climate isn't perpetual summertime and half the world isn't underwater, is paradise for him. And the people here, who used to be primitive and forced to live behind walls to safeguard themselves against giants that would eat them, only to mask a war that was going to happen later on, one that he helped put an end to, are people he can be around without any degree of discomfort. In a way, this is his version of Heaven, and he's happy here…and all he had to do to get here…was fall into a shadow and get lost. And this girl, this…simple, caring, simple girl…chose him over countless other, potential suitors that actually reside here…and he accepted her. They accepted each other.
Shinji looked over at his mother and his girlfriend, wondering what they were talking about as Misato and everyone else entered the observatory.
"Are you two getting along okay?" He asked them.
"Just talking, Shinji," Kaede explained. "I was explaining to your mother how you make me smile every time you do something nice."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah," Yui replied; since the girl hadn't outright threatened her, so there was no need to tell Shinji about how uncomfortable she felt being near the Titan Shifter. "You have quite the girlfriend here, Shinji."
He nodded in the positive and held the door opened for them as they stepped inside.
"Kaede Sogen is a force to be reckoned with, and she's still learning as I am about the ups and downs of our relationship."
Asuka poked her head from around the corner in the hall and asked, "Which one of you is the man in the relationship?"
Both teens turned to face the redhead and the Dark Titan extended past Shinji and in front of her.
"Your question is poorly stated," she told her. "The man in the relationship is…whoever the lady gives her heart to when affection is admitted. If you were to ask which one of them wears the pants in their relationship, that would've made more sense, as they both wear pants, metaphorically and literally."
"Okay, you're really creepy," Asuka had to admit; she was put off by the gray-haired girl before when she was lifted from off the ground by her, but seeing this Titan appear like some sort of creepy appendage with a face on it was just another level of weird.
"To each their own opinion."
Before Yui went inside, she had to ask Shinji, "Does everyone get bothered by her Titan like this? I mean, coming out of her neck or back like this?"
"Only those who have never seen her do so," he explained. "I was the first person she showed this ability to. I have gotten used to it. There's one person she hasn't introduced her to, and she can't until she's older."
"Who?"
"Her sister, Sumairu."
Yui looked at Kaede and was surprised to know that her sister hadn't seen her Titan yet.
"She's less than seven months old," Kaede told her. "I don't want to scare her."
"I can respect that."
"Much appreciated."
-x-
What do you suppose are the chances that they'll be able to reconcile?" Fuyutsuki was asked by Ritsuko over the phone, regarding the would-be relationship between Yui and Shinji.
"I honestly can't say," he responded. "I just hope they are able to reconcile to whatever degree they can. Shinji never had a positive relationship with his father, so he deserves at least a stable one with his mother."
"And what do you suppose are the chances that his mother and his girlfriend can get along?"
That was another story, since Yui was worried about anywhere near the Dark Titan. It was in fate's hands that the visit didn't result in any violence due to differing beliefs or mother and son were just on two different ships going down different paths.
"I can't predict what, if anything, could happen between them," he told Ritsuko.
"Me, either," she replied.
-x-
"…Shinji, you really have a nice life here," said Toji as they sat at the beach to watch the sunset. "Really, man. I honestly can't imagine you doing anything else."
"Thank you," Shinji responded.
"What do you intend to do when you're older?" Kensuke asked him, still filming with his camcorder. "I mean, what will you do as time goes onward?"
"I… Honestly, in the beginning…I was willing to go far away with Kaede, before Marley's initial hatred and going overseas and everything. But after months of helping the Survey Corps deal with Marley when they were fighting, I couldn't really imagine Kaede leaving her family when the fighting was over. I'm all for settling down and doing something as simple as working at a food shop in the city."
As he was conversing with his former classmates, Kaede was trying to converse with the women from Shinji's past.
"Ikari-Kun seems very happy with you," Rei stated to the Titan Shifter. "He…doesn't smile his brightest unless he was happy."
"Thank you," she responded, turning to see Shinji chuckling a little. "I…I care about him a lot."
"How far has he gone with you?" Asuka wanted to know.
"Asuka," went Hikari, "that's not something you ask any girl you barely know. It's improper."
"Surely, you must be curious, Hikari."
The pigtailed girl looked at the gray-haired teen and shook her head in the negative. Whatever she did with Shinji was her own business.
"Could you elaborate what you mean?" Kaede asked the redhead.
"I mean, how often do you two hit the sack together?" Asuka clarified a little better; there was no way this girl was that dense.
"Oh…you mean have Shinji and I… We've never done it." Kaede revealed.
"That's, uh, surprising," said Misato to them; she wanted to stop Asuka before she crossed a line she couldn't uncross, but got the impression that Kaede, despite keeping her face from contorting into an expression of disgust, had more control in her to see that Asuka was simply trying to poke fun at her relationship with Shinji…or just trying to get payback for being stepped on by the girl. "Are you two…waiting until you get married?"
"Uh, yeah," she explained. "Couples do that sometimes, right? They wait until they're married?"
"But…he lives with your family now, doesn't he?" Hikari had to ask.
"Yes."
Hikari was still surprised that this girl was so accepting of her boyfriend just living with her family. It just didn't seem right, for them to be living together, but it wasn't really her place to state such a belief. If people that were seeing each other were living together, it was just one of those things that she had no control over. And from what she had learned a while back, most of these Eldians that had lived on this island had been living their whole lives behind three walls for centuries since this one guy decided to engineer a slow-motion genocide due to a guilty conscience over the cruel treatment of what he believed his people had given to the people of the world, something that the people here were not responsible for at all, and put a stop to in favor of peace with the world and reclaiming their freedom and knowledge that the man had taken from their ancestors. What right did she have to judge these two for how their relationship was going?
"Aren't you seeing someone, Ms. Horaki?" Kaede asked her.
"Yes, but… We don't live together. I mean, I hope we do when we're older…"
"Everyone is just trying to see where their lives are going, and we can't see what is likely to happen until after it happens. The only real sin that exists in any romantic relationship…is the sin that is hurting the people that matter the most to you."
"How are you so bright?" Misato asked the girl.
"I take on the world…one day at a time…and I try to take the path of least harm whenever available. And because I have Shinji in my life. There's nothing that has been able to turn my smile upside-down these days."
Yui found that, for a girl that had been previously scarred, both physically and emotionally, by a former relative that had been removed from physical existence in a way that is worse than death, Ms. Sogen was definitely adjusted and better off now because of Shinji. Her emotional scars had healed up, her relationships had improved over the time people had left the Walls, and her outlook on life was brighter.
"Although, I was surprised that Shinji's friends hadn't tried to hit on me since we met earlier today," Kaede expressed, pointing over to the men. "Of course, I would still turn them down."
"Oh, they were informed about you earlier," Asuka stated. "They're aware that you can step on them if they crossed you."
"Now, why would I step on them for something like that?"
"Uh…some men are hard at taking rejection?" Misato tried to explain. "They can get insistent?"
"These days, most, if not all, men and women are with someone that they wouldn't mind spending the rest of their lives with if their feelings are mutual. I've never had to use unnecessary force for any trivial matter. Nobody has had to."
"Squawk!" Pen-Pen went in Hikari's arms.
"I think if you brought him to see the children that Historia looks after, they'd all fight just to hold him," Kaede had to admit to Misato.
"I believe you," she responded.
Kaede then noticed that Shinji had gotten up and walked away from his friends…and then looked at Yui.
"What?" Yui questioned.
"Go talk to him," she told her, and Yui noticed that Shinji was walking further down the beach.
She got up and followed him.
"I take it you had a specific reason for that?"
Asuka asked her.
"Yes," she answered. "A very specific reason."
-x-
"…I was wondering when you would come here," said Historia as she was gathering the orphans under her care as the last bits of sunlight disappeared from the sky. "How may I help you…Eren Yeager?"
The young man in question was standing three feet away from her, his face deadpanned. For the last few months, he had continued his mandatory therapy for his temperament and relationship issues with other people. He recently discovered that Paradius City had something called a rage room, a place where people could go to vent out their frustrations or whatever their issues were by breaking things, something he found actually helped with his issues. The anger he had against anybody that had different views or opinions about whatever was still lingering, and probably would always be lingering, and he had to own up to his intolerance towards what was and is over what could be due to his former knowledge of the erased future he saw.
"I've been adjusting to everything," he said to her. "I just had to see how you were doing here."
"Well, everything is going well here, Eren," she told him. "Be honest, though… Do you hate Kaede for all of this?"
That was a question he had been asked before by others, and his answer was often the same each time. No matter how he responded, he couldn't change the past or future. All he could do…was live with the time he had left.
"No," he admitted. "No matter how much I could resent her for all of this… She had more clarity than I did and followed her conscience rather than do whatever others felt was the better way."
"She's always looking for a different way to resolve a problem. Her heart, her will, her very conviction…is like steel. When compared to you, however, she's an example of nothing is always set in stone. You have to be willing to do the least amount of violence against others and hope that whoever is out to get you…will realize that it's no longer a necessity to keep fighting. Those that aren't able to do so are the ones that are desperate to continue persisting."
"Some people…just want to watch the world burn."
"That's right. But can you settle for the peace that has been since Marley accepted defeat?"
"I don't have a choice in the matter. Everyone else has accepted this peace. I just want to see where I fit in it."
"My suggestion? Go out and see the world. We're not confined to this island, anymore. People can go wherever they want, whenever they want. And we're not the only ones that had been looked down upon by Marley in the past. People from other parts of the world, after Marley started using the power of the Titans for their own purposes and imperialism, have been freed from oppression and had been given back their lands and can return to their ancestral practices. The only place untouched by war is Gigante Island, and the people there have moved past war and hatred."
"The inaccessible island where Titanus Yggdrasilus stands to this day?"
"And where people that ended up there ended up staying there. Eldians, Marleyans, people from other nations, all living together there and having no prejudices about anyone. Petty concerns are practically nonexistent with them. You could probably enjoy life there."
"I doubt that."
Historia then noticed how Eren turned his head away to look at an open space, reminded of something that only some of them were aware of due to their previous memories of the old future that they couldn't believe had once occurred in at least another lifetime.
"You still see him, don't you?" She wanted to know. "That older version of yourself from that future? You still see him?"
Eren sighed as he turned back to face her.
"Yeah," he confessed. "He's just the part of me that I can't let go of. My anger, my desire for freedom, my violence forced to be held in check."
The queen was cautious about him being around with the children nearby.
"I'm going to go now," he told her. "Have a good night, Historia."
As he turned to leave, Ymir had gathered the children up and saw Eren walking away from the house. She had to wonder why he was here.
"Hey, what was that about?" She asked Historia.
"He was just visiting," she explained. "He seems like he's getting better."
"No resentment? No contempt? No disgust towards the here and now or whoever he feels needs to be treated with violence?"
"Nope, he seems to be putting it all behind him. But…he still sees himself when he shouldn't. That anger that he can't let go of just yet. I hope that he does let go of it one day."
"Me, too."
This was only because Ymir was protective of Historia. She didn't want Eren around her if he was still a minor problem with his mental and emotional issues. The last thing they needed was an accident to happen because he was left alone with someone that wasn't even a threat to him or anyone else, either on this island or out in the world.
-x-
This was unexpected for them, but Shinji and Yui were walking down the street back to the beach with a bag of marshmallows, crackers and chocolate bars.
"Why s'mores, Shinji?" Yui asked.
"They're my treat to enjoy around a fire," he explained to her. "Haven't you had one at the beach before in your past?"
"I, uh…didn't go to the beach a lot."
"That's terrible. What do you do for fun…when you're not working?"
"I… I don't really know what is fun for people these days, Shinji. I've been more scientist than anything else for years."
Shinji looked at her like she said something wrong, and then sighed. He knew that she was trying her best to be around him, but it felt like both of them were trying too hard to get past the errors of their separation from each other. There was no doubt she wasn't going to do anything that echoed his father's mistakes, but he couldn't keep her at a distance by being suspicious of what she might or might not do. He owed it to himself, her and Kaede to rebuild his relationship with his mother.
"Mother," he started. "We really need to stop trying to expect something that won't happen. I keep expecting you to do something wrong…and you probably keep expecting me to do something that isn't likely to happen. So… Can we start over with where we are right now?"
He was right. So long as they kept waiting for something that may not happen at all. They had to begin anew, here and now.
"I left you when you were barely four years old," she told him. "That's not something that will get me in people's good graces."
"I chose to forgo any chance to return to other dimension where I used to dwell in favor of a future in this one, and my decision didn't make anybody happy to know," he responded. "Who's on anyone's good graces these days? People's good graces vary from person to person, and not every grace is a good one."
"Your girlfriend has been giving me the suspicious eye ever since we got here."
"It's not every day you find out someone that you were led to believe was dead is suddenly alive again. And in her defense, you're a stranger. I don't have any memories of you. Not even a picture. My father was viewed as a threat because he desired the Eva and my girlfriend's Titan power for himself, something he wasn't going to have, yet he was willing to hurt a lot of people just to get either one. So…anyone with negative ambitions regarding either has to be looked at with suspicion. But you're not here for either, are you?"
"No. I'm just here to see you, Shinji. The Eva and power of the Titans aren't desired by me. Lately, it seems that people back home are just trying to reclaim land or build artificial islands."
"Artificial islands? I once found it unusual for people to have built submarine stations or oil platforms until I started reading about them. Here, we just use synthetic oil because we're striving to be environmentally friendly. Hopefully, every other country, in a few years, give or take, will want to be the same."
"Renewable resources?"
"Yeah."
"But…you don't seem like the scientist-type."
"No…except when it comes to cooking. I've taken an interest in molecular gastronomy. Miss Zoe, however, she's the mad scientist when it comes to nearly everything, and she's practically one of the specialists at the hospital in this city. There must be over ninety-six other people that were imbued with greater scientific and medical knowledge than anyone else on the island, and she can think faster than they can most of the time."
"She sounds like a mad scientist."
"But in a good way. She likes Titans back when we were in the dark about them, and every time there's something new about them to be learned, she's like a kid in a candy store or something."
"Really? That's quite a person."
"She's a good person. Mister Levi is a good person. Armin Arlert is good, too. Sasha Blouse, and she's a passionate carnivore. I've met dozens of people on this island, and they're all good. Good, bad, indifferent, funny, caring, careless, selfish, selfless, friendly, loving, full of potential…and they're not so different from people back…back home."
"Yeah…I believe you."
-x-
"…So, just so that I understand perfectly," went Misato to Kaede as they were gathered around the small fire in the barrel, waiting for Shinji and Yui to return, "you won't ever change the color of your hair, even for one day?"
"Why mess with perfection?" She questioned. "If it's not broken, don't fix it. Even if it was by use of hair dye, I'd never change this shade of gray. I'd rather stand out than blend in. Would you really change your hair color?"
"Heh-heh, no way. People with my hair color are just as much a rarity as you, Ms. Sogen."
"What about Ms. Ayanami? Hers is blue. I've never met anyone with blue hair before."
Rei didn't respond to this.
"Rei is an albino," Misato explained; as of four months ago, Rei's file was suddenly updated with new information that had just turned up, as if someone was trying to cover up something they didn't want anyone else knowing about. "People with albinism will always have a different coloring in their hair, skin and eye pigmentation."
"I've read a little about albinism in humans, and don't they require medical treatment because they can't produce something in their bodies that protects them from ultraviolet radiation?" Kaede questioned, just making sure she understood right.
"That's true," Hikari answered.
"I'm medicated," Rei finally spoke up.
"Hey, is it alright if I ask a Titan-related question?" Kensuke asked.
"Feel free," Kaede told him.
"When you turn into a Titan…does it ever hurt? Do you ever feel pain or any discomfort?"
That was a basic question for Kaede.
"No," she explained to them. "It's more like being inside a warm room, really. Not too hot, not too cold, and that was in the beginning for me. Now, it's like…being in a hot tub or spring."
"What about," went Toji, "when you have to walk around or raise an arm?"
"My Titan is like an extension of my body. We're joined somewhere in between. Inside her, I'm fused to her flesh to varying degrees, especially around my face under my eyes. I don't have to move my limbs to move hers. I think about moving an arm, and she does it."
"Incredible," said Misato to her.
"You and Shinji, though," Hikari uttered, "are you sure you don't need to see into the future to know what will become of you?"
Kaede looked at the pigtailed girl and responded, "To know the future before it comes to pass is to lose the joy of having a life before you even get to live it. I'll be honest, I only saw into a possible future just once, once, and it wasn't too far from the present. We were still together, and that was enough for me. We even had a shared dream about our future…and we were the both of us still together in it. Not knowing what tomorrow brings means anything is possible. Knowing what tomorrow brings means tomorrow happens today. Even if it is something terrible and you can try everything to prevent it, the fact that you know it…is a nightmare you can't forget."
"All I gotta say is this, then," went Asuka. "I hope you and Shinji will live long and happy lives when you're older. Really."
Kaede then looked away from the group of visitors and saw Shinji and Yui returning with the food, still talking, and apparently having a good time of it.
"Yeah," she responded, just thinking about that shared vision that had been experienced by Shinji, herself, Historia, Ymir, Draven and Frenzia back on Gigante. "I hope so, too."
Then, Shinji looked over to where they were and waved his right hand to them, raising his left hand up with the bag of snacks.
"It looks like they're getting along," said Toji to them, referring to Shinji and his mother.
"Yeah," agreed Kensuke.
"Who's up for s'mores?" Shinji asked them.
"Me," Kaede, Yui, Misato, Asuka and Rei all expressed.
"Squawk!" Pen-Pen went.
To be continued…
A/N: I can't say for certain, but I do want to see how the last chapter of the canon manga plays out and see how the last chapter of this crossover will deviate from it. I'm sure many characters will have outcomes that could've been had things been different, with relationships expanded upon, differences set aside permanently, and maybe something else we can't foresee. What can you see happening in the future? Stay safe and healthy, everyone, and thank you for following this story. Peace!