Yet another post third-impact fic, at this point everything to be done has been done, all I can contribute to this massive pot of content is, well, my take on it. Which is majorly inspired by Angel Egg 1985. before you press exit, let me just say it's not going to be dreary or anything, just a little bit real. give it a chance you might like it or not, but anyway let's get to it.
Here at the end of the world, two children sat on a derelict beach, staring at a descending severed head, far off in the distance. This giant figure had worn the face of an old friend of theirs, now surely long gone.
"So...This is it huh?" Asuka said.
"Yeah." Shinji responded.
"We're just going to have to wait here till they come back, huh?" she asked again.
"Yeah." He responded once more.
"This is the end isn't it?" she asked for a final time, after which he didn't answer. He only looked forwards into the distance, continuously staring at that severed head. from where she was sitting she couldn't get a proper read of his face, but there was a contortion, fear or maybe disgust, concern? she wondered or perhaps all three...
And so with a sigh, she placed her back to the ground and went back to lying on the beach sand, rolling over to the one side, With Shinji still staring.
but eventually he turned back and walked up, just above the hillside: looking into the ruins of the Geofront.
Dark twisted and bent, it looked to be something from an ill fever dream, and now looking back towards Asuka and the open beach sand, he let out a small sigh and went about exploring the ruins, to look for some food or salvageable shelter.
The further away he was from the remains of Rei/Lillith, The lower the temperature seemed to drop. The once bright and sunny streets of Tokyo-3 were now dark and morbid, the greys and whites turned into twisted blacks and corroded blues, hidden in dark shadows.
Walking through the empty city, Shinji wondered. Do the animals count as Lilin, because so far nothing had attacked him and even though he'd hear echoes of sounds and shouts, he couldn't tell if those were made by falling debris or something else.
Passing by the old High School it truly broke his heart to see it in such a sad state, semblances of old memories and friends flashed-back, in and out of his head.
"Those were such simple times." A voice announces. Looking to his left he swore he could see some ghost like figure which resembled Rei. But at the blink of an eye the bright light was gone. A tear snuck down his cheek and he quickly wiped it off, composing himself and looking onwards walking away from the school.
Passing by Misato's old apartment, he wondered What happened to PenPen. He couldn't make out much in the dark but, the building seemed to be standing on its last legs, it couldn't have been safe to take a step on, this saddened him even more as he stood there watching his old home crumble away and fall into debris and dust.
At the end of his trek he had found little more than wood and small packets of preserved foods.
Returning to the beach, he had gathered all the found resources and started a small fire, meanwhile Asuka stood in the waters staring at that very same head as the current pass her by the hips. The tide had become somewhat weaker and so she decided to amerce herself in the red sea.
Shinji sat by the fire for a while, before Asuka eventually walked out the ocean and made her way directly towards him.
"How long have we been here?" She asked
"I don't know." he replied
"They're probably not coming back." She said
"I don't know." he answered
"What do you know?" she asked
"I…" he paused unwilling to finish his sentence, he only fell further into recoil.
Asuka annoyed looked back to the ocean
"I tried to go back y'know...tried to become one with the LCL... But I couldn't"
She waited for a response, but he didn't say anything, and so she kept speaking.
"I couldn't... no matter how hard I tried I couldn't." she said annoyed and frustrated, "I bet if you tried you could."
He still remained silent
"Y'know it's funny." She said in mock laughter " I don't even remember coming back, hell I don't even remember much outside the fact that I died! or at least that I should have died at the hands of the eva series."
Shinji still kept quiet looking downwards.
"But then I wake up and find you at it, ready to finish the job."
Asuka waited and Shinji still refused to say anything. She stood there for about a hour, waiting as the fire crackled and waters crashed upon the shores, but Shinji kept looking down refusing to utter even a vowel, and so she waited once more, patiently waiting for an answer or some sort of reply but was yet again met with nothing, and eventually, she snapped.
"Dammit tell me, why!?" she said, grabbing him the collar, lifting him up. "Why am I here Shinji!? Why am I back here!? Did you bring me back? Why!? Why did you bring me back!?"
"..."
"Dammit talk!" she said angrily, "Why!? Why!? Why am I here!?, why did you bring me back to this hell were you tried to kill me and now you won't even talk to me!"
"..."
"Say something dammit!" She said breathing heavily "Say something!"
He still remained silent head facing down. "Damn it Shinji..." she begged "Just say...something."
Tears began to fall down his from his face and drop upon the sand, Asuka stopped her inquisition and let him go.
"You…tell me why dammit." She said still frustrated, holding back her own tears.
"It's because…" he paused and looked up towards her, seeing her face she was pissed, angry and somewhat disgusted, which led him to hesitate a bit, but eventually he spoke up.
"It's because...It's because I need you." he said
Asuka's expression went from anger to relief, back to anger and frustration to straight up confusion.
"You…" she paused holding back her emotions "You don't get to say that…you don't…" she paused again, "You have no right." She finished leaving him there.
Shinji lay on the sand and Asuka went back into the oceans, staring at that head once more. This continued for a while until they both fell asleep. Asuka in the oceans and Shinji on the sands.
Morning.
Asuka woke up to blue skies and the squawking of peacocks and pelicans, bluebirds and doves. Shinji had cooked some food, and left it by the fire. It was small though, but it was enough. She got up from the shore and ate it, with Shinji being nowhere in sight. After a while she got up and climbed up the hillside, looking into the grey ruins of Tokyo-3. She went inside and walked through the derelict city, moving past everything and anything that was left, she noticed that some of the animals had returned, not just the birds and the bees but some of the greenery too.
Some doves flew past her as she roamed about the city, lifting her bandaged hand as the sunlight, glistening waters and nature breathed life around her. she couldn't help but think that it was all so beautiful, and serene. It brought a tiny smile onto her face.
But nonetheless she continued to explore the city walking past old town squares and broken down centres, eventually she came by and entered the old highschool and went into their old classroom, remembering Hikari and the others she places her hand on her former desk, letting out a tiny laugh as she does so.
"I miss them too." Shinji says, she then looks back and lifts her hand of the table.
"Oh, it's you." She responds
"Yeah." he said, reminiscing as well "oh look who I found." A small penguin came from behind him "It's PenPen." he said
The penguin came up to Asuka and squawked near her. Asuka pat him on the head and even gave him a smile.
"How ya doin buddy?" she asked him and he only squawks once more "I'm glad to see you too." she responded
"You know, there's a broken down clothes shop nearby, I think the fabric is still in good shape, although-"
"Of course your perverted mind would think of such things first."
"it's not that I just-"
"Whatever." She cut him off coldly, "I'm not taking the suit off, it might be the only thing holding me together."
"That can't be right, even if-"
"You what? brought me back half dead to torture me, the least you could've done is taken care of my wounds but they're still here, I'm still in pain and I don't even want to-"
"Okay." Shinji said interrupting her, "Okay...I'll go" he said backing away.
He went out of the classroom and PenPen followed behind him shortly.
"You idiot." She says clutching the desk with her hand.
She eventually left the school and checked out the store that Shinji spoke of. "Looks like he was right, the fabric is still in good condition." she said to herself as she grabbed herself some warmer clothes to survive the cold nights.
Taking off the suit, it had stuck to her due to her time in the red sea. The pains were sharp at best, but nothing she couldn't deal with. She wasn't ready to take off her bandages though, for fear of trauma and scar tissue. she kept them on even tighter how did these even get on me. It's probably that idiot. she thought
Eventually she came out of the store and it was evening, she roamed about the city a bit more, seeing some wild dogs and cats. It might just get worse. She thought
She found Shinji staring from another shore near a broken down statue, the evening sun reflecting of the nearby ocean. Recoiling she just simply walked past him, but Shinji spoke.
"I met a strange guy here." He says, stopping Asuka in her tracks. "His name was Kaworu...and he was an angel." Asuka didn't look and tried to continue walking.
"He was nice." Shinji spoke once more, "I think given time, you two might've made good friends."
Asuka sighed "Is there any point to this?" she asked him.
"Yes. You see, kaworu had to die, I had to kill him." he said turning towards her, "Nothing I could do back then... would've saved him."
Asuka still didn't look back, "And nothing I do right now will ever make up for the past Asuka. what I did to you was..." he sighed, "It was wrong...but I want to redeem myself"
Asuka turned back giving him a stoic look. "At least give me a chance to help...to help you survive, on our own we're easy pickings but together...together we-"
"Together you'd kill me." she said vaguely. "I would never I-"
"You nearly choked me to death Shinji..." she said "Twice."
"I..." he paused "I've grown past that version of myself."
"You say that now but Given your little impulses, I'm not so sure I can trust you."
"Nothing I say will make you believe me so..." he pulled out from his bag a firearm
Asuka backed away a little and but Shinji drew closer and gave her the firearm. "Take it, if you ever think i'll harm you, then fire at me."
Asuka was a bit shocked at this sudden turn of Action, but Shinji did not quaver.
"Word's can only take me so far." he says
"What the hell is wrong with you?" she said throwing the gun away "You really wanna die that badly!"
"I thought-"
"You thought wrong."
"I'm...I'm sor-" Just then sounds of howling began as the sun set. Shinji composed himself and they both looked around searching for any signs of life, pretending the incident with the gun never occurred, after which they walked back to the beach.
By now the giant head had been completely submerged, and the crucifix positioned Eva series had sunken into the oceans, some were still standing, but mostly they had crumbled away or fallen apart.
The ocean shore had become colder and devoid of heat.
"So what now?" she asks him. Shinji then pulls out a map and says: "Tokyo-3 had an emergency bunker for civilians during the angel attacks, there should be some preservatives and canned foods in there."
Would make for good shelter too." Asuka said, "but walking around at night, we'll be dinner for predators."
"I found a route through the old Nerv tunnels, it should be untouched by nature, or at least most of it isn't."
"Well We need to go now." she said, looking over to the hill side, she saw moving shadows.
"Alright." He said putting the map away. "Let's go."
Walking through the city, this time the shine of the moonlight illuminated through, turning the blacks into grey blue hues. Without any electric lights the skies were feathered with stars and they could see shapes and forms that they'd used to search for out in the wilderness.
"A depth of field by satellites, the hammock moon, aircraft sinking into Heathrow. Above the light pollution, among the drift of stars tonight." Asuka spoke.
"What does that mean?" Shinji asked
"It's a poem." Asuka replied to him "Light Pollution."
"Oh." Shinji said looking upwards "The sky, it's beautiful isn't it?"
"Yeah." she says "it's really something."
"Makes me wonder if everyone just suddenly came back, what would happen to world, to nature and the animals?"
"It's not like everything is back to zero." Asuka responds, "there's still damages done due to third impact and at best the world is resetting itself, finding its equilibrium."
"and the sudden return of humanity would upset that process?"
"Or add to it. It's not always black and white, sometimes it's grey."
"Alright." Shinji said, "It would just be a shame to loose all this beauty."
"Sacrifice one thing to get another. it's just the way it is." she responded
"Unfortunately." Shinji said in undertone.
In the tunnels, starlight reflected and shone through the open spaces and waters(puddles) They could sometimes see and hear packs of animals running and hunting. The red sea shone, illuminated by the moonlight and all creation was visible as they were passing through the tunnel, taken in by the greenery.
They made it to the shelter, and opened the vault/chamber, surprisingly it was unlocked, and as they descended down the flight of stairs the darkness became thicker, and as they kept walking down the air got damper. At the end of it all Shinji took one final step and his foot landed in what felt to be a liquid.
"Water?" he said, "how did that in here?"
"That's not water." Asuka said pointing the torch towards the liquid, and by the orange hue Shinji knew. He almost threw up but held himself back. Asuka though hesitantly, proceed onwards, walking into and through the LCL. Shinji reluctantly followed her through. And as they walked through it felt to be like they were walking in water, but knowing what it was Shinji felt different. With every step he took and splash the LCL made he felt sinful, unethical, debauched.
"This is wrong." He said as the LCL splashed around due to their movements.
"Yeah well, it's us or them." Asuka said, Shinji just sighed and hammered through. Eventually they made it to the rations locker, They pulled the door open pushing through some of the LCL.
"I don't know how much more of this i can take." Shinji said, as the LCL rose above the skirting boards, "Well we made it so-"
"Yeah." he said interrupting her and moving onwards.
They did indeed find some canned foods and some preservatives, but they were so little, nearly all the stock had been finished.
"This should be enough to last us for a few days." He said, "But...the storage is nearly deplenished, there should be enough here for months."
"Someone took them." Asuka said.
"You think?" Shinji asked "Probably before third impact."
"Yeah probably." Asuka said doubtful
"Well in any case we can't stay here, and the beach is no option either."
"We could set up camp in the corridor." Asuka suggested.
"Might draw some of the animals." shinji said
"I don't think they'll be able to get through." she said "The steel is still holding, and I saw some wood that would work nicely for a fire. plus it's not like we have choice, unless you'd rather sleep in here with all the LCL."
"No." Shinji spoke quickly, "as long as we're outta here."
"Good." she said. They went out the same way they came in, Shinji took one last look back at the chamber before closing the door, it felt so strange in there, somewhat alive.
After setting up the fire, Shinji pulled out a blanket and handed it over to Asuka who was resting by a wall. Moving over to the other side he gave it to her.
"What about you?" she asked.
"I'll just sleep near the fire." He said with a smile on his face.
"Are you trying to be some kind of hero?"
"No I just thought that-"
"It's fine hero." she interrupted, "but if you freeze to death don't blame me."
"Alright." He said quietly warming up by the fire.
As the night continued it grew to be colder and colder. Asuka sat somewhat comfortably in her blanket, and although it did help an extra one wouldn't have hurt. She look up from her blanket and saw Shinji lying on the open floor, cold and half-awake. Even after all he'd done, seeing him in such a poor condition, bothered her morally. She scoffed the guilt away and tried to get some shut eye, but he seemed to be shivering and quavering. dammit she thought stop playing the hero. Frustrated, she got out of the blanket and walked up to him.
"You idiot." she said kneeling down to his level.
"Come on, get up." She said, gently pulling him up from the ground.
"Huh." he said shivering and stuttering "W-wh-what's happening?"
"I'm helping you." she said, taking him over to her side of the fire, near the wall. she then covered him with the blanket making sure he rests soundly
"w-wh-what about you?" he asked her
She didn't reply, but only got in from the side and covered herself up, placing his head over her shoulder.
His breathing was heavy, and his body somewhat cold. Asuka pulled in a little closer, placing her hands over his.
"Thank you…Asuka." He said still shivering.
"Yeah well...whatever." she said as he close his eyes and fall asleep.
Soon Asuka also fell to the night and succumb to the darkness of night.
Daylight broke and Shinji woke up to the suns warm embrace. looking around he saw that Asuka was nowhere to be found, so he slowly got up from the wall, shaking of the colds of last night.
"I wonder where could she be?" he said, packing all their supplies and materials into a bag, readying himself to go back.
Asuka stood outside the entrance and watched as the old solar panels rotate and reflect light around the city. She was surprised that they could still work. Shinji came out and watched the sight as well.
"It amazes me to sometimes." he said "reminds me of the old days."
"yeah." She said, "makes me wonder what the rest of the world is like now."
"I'm willing to bet there are people out there, just like us. People who came back at the end of it all."
"Why would anyone come back here?" Asuka said coldly.
"Because they saw, or at least they hoped that, things could be better, people may hurt each other and maybe even worse then that, but even with all with all that happening, we can be better. We can choose to do better."
"Thanks Gandhi." Asuka teased
Shinji laughed a little at her comment, "But still...anywhere can be paradise, so long as you have the will to live."
"You make that one up?" she asked taking the first step ahead, "No, i heard it from someone." he chuckled.
They walked around the city once more, searching and looking for some signs of human life. But still no one had returned. After some more walking and searching the solar panels stopped.
"That's strange." Shinji said "What time is it?"
"Should be around 10 or 11 by now." Asuka replied
"Alright." he said back, walking onwards
Just then from the corner of her eye, Asuka saw a little girl taking a turn off the corner of the street.
"Did you see that?" she asked
"what?" he said,
"there was a little girl."
"Where?"
"Over there." She pointed out going over to the corner, going towards it.
"Wait up." he said
Asuka went to the corner to chase after the girl. Arriving there she saw the edge of her dress as the little girl took another turn left.
"Come on." She said, still chasing after her. left then right and then right towards left. they were running between broken down buildings and corridors
"Asuka wait." Shinji kept saying, but she didn't listen, she only kept on chasing after the little girl until eventually at the edge of the corridor leading from two buildings, the sunlight flashed and Shinji pulled her back.
"Asuka!" he screamed, catching her by the back of her shirt.
Asuka looked down and saw, she nearly fell down into a hole dividing the former city sections.
"The little girl." She said
"I don't think-" He paused, "I'm sorry."
A tear fell down Asuka's face, she began to cry, softly and slowly.
Shinji held her from the back, "It's okay." He comforted her, "It's okay."
.
.
.
.
.
.
Later they were at the entrance/exit of Tokyo-3, the time was evening and this time they hadn't found a shelter.
"Great…just great." Asuka said
"I guess we'll have to set up camp again." Shinji responded
"Fine." She said, "but you better have your own blanket this time."
"Yeah, I found one and few more."
"good."
After setting up the camp they sat at the fire for a while. listening to the sounds of nature.
"Moths around the flame." Shinji said, "it seems even the insects are back."
"how long have we been here?" Asuka suddenly asked.
Shinji was a little bit surprised by the change of topic but "Give or take a few days." He answered
"They're probably not going to come back." She said
"I wouldn't say that so soon, they just can't recognize themselves, that's all."
Asuka scoffed "so we're just going to wait here till they come back huh?"
"I guess so." He responded, "but at the same time, I'm kind of glad."
"You're Glad?" she asked rather sarcastically.
"I'm glad that you're here with me, at the end of all things." he said with a smile.
"Idiot." she said, hiding her blush. Shinji kept smiling as he stared into the fire
"they'll come back." he said "Even if it takes a month or a year or decades…I just know that...they'll come back."
She sighed and walked over to him, combing the blankets.
"what are you doing?" he asked gently.
"Don't want to freeze to death, so we're sleeping under the same blanket. Body heat"
"okay." He said, as she covered the both of them and drew closer to him. Resting by a stone.
"Thank you Asuka." He said with a smile, looking up to the sky he still felt he could still see Unit-01 sometimes.
"Don't think this means I forgive you." Asuka said,
"I know." he responded, "But thank you for giving me a chance."
She didn't say anything and only closed her eyes laying on his chest. Shinji looked up to the sky one last time before he fell to the night.
A few weeks had passed by now.
Shinji and Asuka had explored a vast majority of the outside country, this time they had been walking on open land and until they approached a former botanical gardens, which was surprisingly still in good condition.
"You know, Kaji showed me a thing or two about farming." he said
"Really." She asked as they were walking down the pavement
"Yeah practically…well I say that but I saw him watering some melons a while back."
"Did you happen to see him doing anything besides that?"
"No but…how hard can farming be?" he asked leaving a chuckle behind his comment.
"Very hard Shinji…very hard."
"Well if we just find some good land I could try."
"WE could try." She emphasized. "I'm earning my keep."
"Alright." he said "This botanical garden looks good enough."
"to start a farm?" she asked
"Something like that." he responded "I'm tired of scavenging around for food."
"Well then you shouldn't have ended the world." she retorted
"What happened to no below the belt." Shinji asked
"end of the world. No rules." she said moving onwards as they explored the gardens.
"I like it here." Shinji says
"I bet the wild animals probably like it here as well." Asuka responds
"I think we can manage that." he said, "I might have a plan."
"Unless it involves the airport, I don't want to hear it" she said, "I wonder what Germany is like now? i wish i could see it just one last time"
"I'm really am sorry Asuka." he said "I Wish I could fly or sail you there."
"One day when everyone's back I hope so." she says
"what do you mean?" he asked but just then
"Hello." A voice echoed.
Shinji and Asuka both looked towards each other, "You think-", "Maybe."
"Hello." The voice said again.
They both ran around the gardens, tracking and tracing down the voice. as they were approaching it's source the voice became louder and louder, until they passed by a mirade of leaves, bushes and flowers until they came at the end and what they saw was Rei, holding apple as she stood next to a tree
"Ayanami." Shinji said. "Wonder Girl." Asuka whispered
"Pilot's Ikari and Soryu." Rei said.
"It's been a while." she said giving them both a smile.
I wanted to treat them as humanly as possible, without rushing to instantly ship them as most of the Post-3I fics do, at the same time I didn't want to seem to slow or cautious as that kills the action. realistically these things take time, a lot of time, hence I chose this point of view to take. I want to do at least one more chapter to end it.