Chapter 21: Judgement night: Defendants Rei, Misato and Asuka.
Shinji didn't speak. Neither did Mari. They sat with their backs still turned to Rei as the car continued. They understood their artificial-human friend too well and knew she still had more to say.
And a good judge never passed judgement before reviewing all the evidence. Nor did a good friend rudely interrupt another in the middle of what was clearly a very important matter.
"You told me sometime ago Shinji, that something in the way I looked reminded you of your mum, but you couldn't quite put your finger on what it was. You very nearly ran away from me, that time."
"Yes. I did say that" Shinji confirmed, his face riddled with angst that Rei fortunately did not see.
"That's because I was created to be a clone of her. Your dad created me to have the same genes as Yui Ikari, both so that it would be easy for me to trick you into staying loyal to him, and in preparation for when he would eventually use me to resurrect her when the time came."
"You're joking, Rei. Please, tell me you're joking." Shinji pleaded, turning to face the bluenette with a look that seemed as if he'd just seen a ghost.
"For once in my life, Shinji. I wish I could say I was joking, but I'm not. I can't play this game with you anymore. You and Mari deserve the truth, or what I know of it at least. And this is the truth. When the time comes, I will cease to exist to make way for the return of Yui Ikari. My soul will leave my body and I will effectively be dead, along with much of the world which will also have to be destroyed to make real the dream of my creator."
"Well that's not going to happen, Rei." Shinji barked, unable to take the low self-worth Rei still had even after she had done the most courageous act of heroism he had ever seen anyone perform, outing Asuka and Misato for what they really were in spite of her creator's evil intentions for her.
"We will protect you from him and give him what he deserves. You don't need to be sorry for anything, Rei. You didn't ask for this and you were always kind to me. I believe that even if everything you told me is the truth, your concern for my wellbeing was real. If it wasn't, you wouldn't be showing the regret you are clearly showing now."
"Do you, really mean that Shinji-kun? Do you really, forgive me?" Rei's eyes seemed to swell to cover her entire face.
"I was never angry at you in the first place, Rei. You were always a good person and I will always want to help you."
"As will I" added Mari, causing Rei's anxious frown to quickly become a disbelieving gasp. "I know you always had it hard in your life, but you never let it get to you. You've done so well to get this far and all I can really say is, keep going."
Rei nodded as she sat without speaking for the rest of her ride.
This was the best day of her life.
The boy she cared about, returned her feelings for him. He did not condescend her simply because she was the commander's "favourite" and saw the burden her position brought to her.
Him, her and Mari could continue their friendship in spite of her past mistakes, and that was worth more to her than anything.
Or as Rei's books would have put it, Madoka and her friends had finally acknowledged the good in Homura in spite of her faults and were more than willing to try a new friendly start with the misunderstood leper.
And when that happened, life couldn't be better.
Nagato had beaten some sense into Haruhi, and now Homaru was being accepted as an official magical girl, all past transgressions forgiven. All in one night. And yet her creator said miracles didn't exist.
"I used to be so blinded by my past (false) ideals that I lost sight of what really mattered" Rei monologued as the car finally stopped in the gateway to a large and beautiful courtyard.
"Now that I am more reasonable, it will make me stronger."
When Homura and Madoka joined their forces, nothing could stop them. The incubators, err, Angels would wish they had never come.
…
Ritsuko and Maya parked their car on an empty spot beside the pavement where Major Misato shared her apartment with Shinji and Asuka. Maya kept the tranquilizer hidden in a trouser pocket while Ritsuko took out a hairpin and begun to expertly pick the lock.
"Wow, I didn't know you could do that, Senpai" Maya exclaimed in amazement.
"What kind of chief scientist would I be if I couldn't? The high intelligence character always gets the lockpicking skills in a game. And if this amazes you, Maya, then wait till next time when I hack a computer."
The door soon opened without a sound as the two women stole quietly across the complex, taking care not to make too much noise, taking the elevator to save time.
"Remember what Senpai told you." Ritsuko instructed as the lift reached floor 6 to which Maya giddily responded with a goofy salute and a "Hai!".
Her first mission which she would not majorly screw up.
Ritsuko took point and after checking once more to make sure the corridor was empty and no noise was coming from any of the apartment doors, gestured to Maya to take cover behind a corner slightly further down the corridor.
She waited a few seconds for Maya to get into position before stepping closer to room 613 and gently knocking a few times.
"A girl opens her door and get's shot and you think that of me Misato? No, I am the one who knocks" she joked as she heard a loud yawn followed by several hiccups and some footsteps.
"Major Misato, come quickly, something terrible has happened. It's an emergency" Ritsuko called at the door in a quite loud but not overly so voice. She wanted to rouse the occupants of that one apartment room, but no one else.
It took three tedious minutes before the door was eventually opened and an incredibly fatigued Misato clad in a messy red bathrobe stumbled into the doorway.
"H, hey there rits." She blubbered in a still hiccup filled voice. "Is something wrong?"
"Yes, Misato. Something is very wrong, and you need to come with me right now." Ritsuko seriously replied somewhat disappointed and yet somewhat relieved that Asuka wasn't here as well since at least it halved the number of targets they had to deal with. Now she needed to get Misato to take one step out the room. As skilled a sniper as she was, Maya couldn't get a clean shot from this angle.
"What's wrong Ritsu?" the drunk Major hiccupped as she shook a little from the alcohol still coursing through her body. It was clear that this woman should not have been leading anything, save for perhaps a drinking contest.
"It's something concerning you, Misato, and for this reason, you need to accompany me to NERV's headquarters right now." Ritsuko urgently said, hoping that Misato hadn't noticed she had entered the complex which required a door key, without one and take the bait.
"Erm. Well if it's important. I guess." Agreed Misato reluctantly. "Just let me get dressed first and…"
"No time" Ritsuko quickly interjected, cutting her off mid-sentence. "Something is very wrong, and we need to go right now."
"Well, alright." The major took one shaky step out her door to which Maya grinned like a serial killer as she drew her weapon and took aim.
"What exactly is it concerning me anyway?" she asked as a tranquilizer dart soared gracefully through the air and buried itself almost perfectly in her shoulder.
"It concerns how you've been a terrible parent to Shinji all these years, and how he needs to be removed from your presence as soon as possible not just for his own good, but for all of our sakes."
she heard the blonde scientist say through dazed eyes before she fell to the ground and passed out.
"She aims, she shoots, she scores" Maya quietly cheered as she admired the results of her first bullseye, to which an irritated Ritsuko quickly motioned for her to help drag Misato's now unconscious body into the car before anyone came out to investigate.
Maya obeyed and quickly helped Ritsuko pull the purple haired woman into the elevator, and out the door of the apartment fortunately without meeting anyone else. Fortunate that the citizens of the building was apathetic to the suffering of a high ranking officer as they were to the poor pilot who had weathered more abuse at the hands of her and his other redhead than most soldiers went through in a lifetime.
That boy really did face a thousand battles before he even went to war. That alone made him the greatest pilot and soldier not just in NERV, not just in the whole world but ever to exist in this or any world.
Misato's still comatose body was quickly put into the backseat of Ritsuko's car before her two kidnappers got inside and begun to drive back in the direction of Ritsuko's apartment.
"We didn't get Asuka." Maya said with some concern. "What if she decides to take her rage onto Shinji again?"
"Doesn't matter. Without an adult in this apartment, Gendo still has to send Shinji to live elsewhere since he's technically classed as a child. We can ignore Asuka as long as she no longer has any way of contacting Shinji."
"Good point." Maya concluded as Ritsuko's car pulled into its usual spot in the underground parking lot beside Ritsuko's complex.
"When we get back inside, you get some rope ready while I put up a few more soundproofing tiles." Ritsuko instructed as they once again worked together to bring the sleeping major through the building to the elevator. "Then we can go to sleep and rest up for tomorrow. "
"Sounds like a plan senpai." Maya yawned. She had experienced more action in one day than she had in one year in NERV, yet she had loved every second of it.
Misato would wake the next morning with her hands tied behind her back and her feet tied together with a material approximately three point nine-five times stronger than nylon.
She had entered into a place that those who entered it both loved and loathed. Where those who lost themselves within both wished to stay forever and at the same time would trade anything to escape.
The place that warden Ritsuko Akagi would title, the paradise prison.
A place first devised by the great Homura Akemi to keep her united with her tragic friend Madoka who she could not otherwise ever be with, in eternal bliss, FOR ALL ETERNITY.
Naoko Akagi had held nothing but loathing for the artificial human Rei, because she stole valuable attention from the cruel chief Gendo, who she would have done anything to get with.
And Ritsuko had foolishly held the same belief at first until she realized that a man who mistreated his heroic and helpful son who the world depended on, was not worth anyone's time.
And that none of the faults in NERV were down to poor, misunderstood Rei, who in a sense was more human than all of NERV combined, second only to Shinji in kindness.
She had broken down one lonely evening before the blue haired girl, kneeling as she pathetically cried out her repentance of how petty the Akagi family's hatred for Rei had been. How she had very nearly become her mother in terms of pettiness and foolhardy discrimination.
She pleaded Rei's forgiveness expecting but a silent glare typical of an emotionless being. She got a reassuring hug as the artificial human ran her fingers through the doctor's short blonde hair.
Rei said nothing but it was not necessary. From that day on, the chief scientist and the homunculi had grown closer and closer. Two replaceable cogs in the soulless machine that was NERV, which were irreplaceable to each other. They began to find more things they had in common, than either of them could imagine them having.
A shared passion for an identical series of underappreciated books was just one of them. Their mutual admiration for the incredibly well written character of the series in question "Homura Akemi", was another.
"I humbly welcome you to my paradise prison, Madoka" Ritsuko grandly announced as she and Maya finally got Misato up to her door, unable to resist to opportunity to make one quote from her and Rei's favourite character of their favourite series.
"stay as long as you like, stay…forever" she finished the quote with a short, demented cackle, imitating Homura's voice perfectly. Her delivery would have single-handedly won any film an Oscar.
"That's my senpai" Maya proudly quipped as she closed the door behind them as they entered. "Isn't she cool."
…
Asuka sat on the stone steps of some unknown building somewhere in the city, clutching the bruised spot on her arm where Hikari's kitchen poker had harshly and forcefully whacked into it.
For the second time in her life since the passing of her beloved mother who to had been driven to suicide by her mad father, her eyes began to resemble nearly bursting rain clouds.
"No." the usually tough and unrelenting bully insisted to herself "showing sadness is a weakness just like kindness. I can't cry. I just can't"
"I'll count to three. Stay after that, and I'll hit you the same way you've hit poor Shinji all these years." Hikari's furious voice rang out, clear as a bell through her mind. Though it was just her imagination, Asuka still covered her ears and desperately shook herself as she reflexively reeled back, expecting at any second to see a heavy and hard metallic poker materialize before her to smite her once more.
The emotional damage with which it struck, far outmatched the admittedly very severe physical pain now present in her writing limb. She would be unable to write or move that limb even slightly without unbearable spasms of pain for several days.
It made even walking somewhat difficult.
"That idiot, stupid Shinji deserved it." Asuka tried to reason, as if Hikari were still close by. "He was getting on my nerves and he needed to know not to cross me. He's nothing but a wimpy wimp who'll never measure up to anything and who the world would be better off without."
More mental images flashed before Asuka's increasingly teary eyes. Past memories of all the lovely meals Shinji had gone out of his way to prepare for her, even when it was clear he should be in bed resting from all the stress and injuries he had incurred from both her, his father Gendo and the Angels.
Not one meal tasted less than exceptional. Not one dish looked badly formed.
She had traversed the entirety of Tokyo-3 looking for a better culinary sensation, but none were any match for Shinji's cooking.
"Even if the entire world turned against you Asuka, I will still care for you." She heard Shinji's voice saying to her one rainy night when Hikari and her had gotten into an argument of sorts and she was forced to rush back to their apartment soaking wet through the rainstorm.
Shinji had never raised his voice when talking to her. Not once. Not even when she had struck him hard with a kick to his face causing blood to gush from his broken nose.
"He deserved what I gave him" Asuka repeated, this time with great doubt in her tone. "But, then why am I all alone? I hate being all alone."
The last sentence finally overcame the ban that checked her tears as a few salty droplets of water finally dripped onto her chest.
"I don't want to be alone. I don't want to be alone. I don't want to be alone." Asuka repeated to herself as she tried and failed to stop this pathetic display of weakness. She couldn't show weakness in front of anyone. Weakness was not the mark of a winner and to Asuka, winning was the only thing.
Those who lost got no reputation and no glory.
And Rei had just taken every bit of her reputation and shattered it to pieces before her very eyes. Why that little…
Another spasm of pain erupted from Asuka's right arm and she squealed in terrible agony. Hikari really knew how to hit when she wasn't happy, didn't she?
"Can I help you?" a soft and melodious voice offered, causing the red haired German to force back her tears and look up to see a helpfully smiling grey haired Russian boy clad in a matching grey shirt and cheap blue jeans and worn sport shoes ,which looked as if he had snooped them from the bargain section of the second hand store. "You seem very distressed and it's getting very late. Is something wrong?"
"And what's it to you, creep?" Asuka distrustfully barked, unable to prevent a light sob leaking from her mouth despite her best efforts. "Why don't you mind your own business and leave me in peace."
"The streets aren't safe at night, miss, and the earlier display of grief I witnessed from you tells me that for one reason or another, you are not alright. I'm only trying to help" the boy insisted, looking at her with unusually sympathetic eyes which seemed to pulse with the same warmth as…stupid Shinji's.
"I don't need help. I'm fine. Now why don't you go away before I get really cross." Asuka asserted, wiping away a stray tear from her cheek as she did.
"I cannot simply leave a fellow pilot in such clear distress and walk away like that. It wouldn't be right, and I wouldn't be doing my duty properly." The boy simply replied, patient as ever.
"You, a pilot?" Now Asuka was slightly curious in addition to being annoyed and impatient with the first human being to witness a display of human weakness from her.
"Allow me to make a formal introduction. My name is Kaworu Nagisa Mikhail, currently the fifth child of NERV. You may not have known about me beforehand as a few years prior, I suffered a severe head injury during a battle and have since then been stuck in a coma that I only recently awakened from. I am sure we'll be performing many missions together in the future."
Asuka opened her mouth to try once more to shoo this interloper away but his next question got in the way of that.
"Asuka… is that correct. Asuka Langley Soryu? You're the second child, aren't you?"
"H, how do you know who I am?" Asuka demanded, more afraid than angry. When she said she enjoyed fame and attention, she didn't mean for a random stranger to walk up to her and reveal they knew details about her that they could not possibly have had the means to acquire legitimately.
"I was informed by my superiors in NERV that I would be working alongside you and the other pilots" he calmly explained, taking pains to sound as nonthreatening as possible. "And I am beyond happy to make your acquaintance."
His genuinely modest voice seemed to relieve Asuka the slightest bit as her gritted teeth and fists relaxed the slightest bit. This boy did seem friendly enough, rugged as he appeared.
"You're hurt." He noted, pointing at the bruised area of Asuka's arm which Asuka had been clutching earlier to try and soothe. "What happened? Is it serious?"
"It's fine, idiot. Really it is. It's nothing." Asuka snarled, not wishing to expose another sign of weakness to embarrass herself further.
"Did someone hit you?" he asked, seemingly truthfully concerned for her wellbeing. It was the same voice her parents would have used when she was still part of a loving family, believing in the false hope that such a luxury would last forever and taking every moment of it for granted.
"Yes!" she eventually answered, giving in to his soothing mannerisms. "Someone did hit me and for no good reason. It was completely not fair. I did nothing to deserve it whatsoever. That someone, was supposed to be my best friend and they not only hit me, they locked me out of their house and now I have nowhere to sleep."
"Can you not go back to your own home?"
"The only person in my house is a lazy drunk whose probably too drunk to even answer the door if I did go there. And earlier today, a stupid little thief stole my apartment keys. Not that I would want to go back there anyway now."
Misato's constant drinking and other unsavoury life habits had always made any time Asuka was forced to spend in that apartment without Shinji, deeply unpleasant. That idiot did make that place at least tolerable, as much as she hated to admit it.
She really would rather be in an EVA risking her life.
"Would you like to come to my place then? NERV provided me with my own private room in their building and it's fairly comfortable. I can take you there now if you want."
How he managed not to sound like a stalker with a crush vocalizing that request, god alone knew.
"Grr. Fine" Asuka eventually responded after a long pause. "Take me there. But don't try anything if you don't want my fist in your face."
"But of course. I would never wish to upset my fellow pilot, especially one who has given so much to the world" he politely complimented as he walked to the still fairly packed street to hail a cab.
"Compliments will get you nowhere with me, creep." She uttered annoyedly under her breath as a cab stopped beside them just seconds later and Kaworu helped her inside, before climbing in himself and ordering the driver to take them to NERV HQ. Though deep down, his entire way of addressing had made her bizarrely pleased that someone somewhere acknowledged her superiority.
Kaworu sat in quiet contemplation during the ride. While it was true that he did not approve one bit of the violent acts of domestic abuse he already knew that Asuka had committed upon Shinji, undoing any good she may indeed have done for the world as a pilot, mankind's mission still dictated that any personal differences between him and his fellow pilots be left far behind for the good of all.
He had no love for war, and he had even less respect for hypocrisy. Even if Asuka was a target to eliminate on his list, she was also a pilot and to lose her was to lose the battle.
Nor did he believe in grudges, which made every party only more unhappy.
From the tears she had tried without success to conceal from him when he first stumbled upon as well as the evident seriousness of the injury on her arm, he would say she had been punished enough.
And even if she wasn't, it simply wasn't right to answer violence with violence.
Homura Akemi didn't make the decision to begin to try and get better when Madoka chose to treat her as badly as the rest of the world had been treating her up to that point. She chose reformation when Madoka chose niceness.
And if someone as broken and lost as Homura could be changed be simple human kindness and compassion, Kaworu was sure Asuka could as well. His time spent sharing literature with Mari had made him something of an optimist. And as bad as Asuka's actions towards Shinji were as tasteless as Rei claimed, he didn't think Shinji would approve of seeing her poorly treated.
That boy had to have had the forgiveness of a saint to put up with this girl for so many years. Kaworu could at least try to be half as decent as him.
They reached NERV's headquarters where Kaworu headed to a block of buildings slightly separate from the main building with Asuka reluctantly leaning on his shoulder, unable to walk well with her injury.
A short elevator ride later and they reached a small door at the end of a red velvet carpeted hallway with beautiful oak floors and hallways. Kaworu swiped a card from his pocket into a nearby scanner and opened the door to reveal a generously sized bedroom with two well cleaned and well-arranged beds and a bathroom further inside the room. A huge painting of a Sakura tree with pink blossoms decorated one of the walls. The carpeting matched that of the corridor they had come through.
"Show me the injury, I have something which should hopefully make it better." He instructed as he turned the lights on, to which Asuka very reluctantly took off her uniform leaving only her yellow tank top and pants allowing him to see the full extent of the horrific bruise which a furious Hikari had inflicted upon her.
In answer, he opened a nearby wardrobe revealing a bottle of vodka which had become all the tastier in the four years and a bit it had been sitting here.
As Germans loved their bratwurst and strudel pastry, Russians loved a good glass of high-quality vodka.
Very carefully, he applied a small amount of the expensive alcohol on the bruise, causing the redhead to wince and cry out a little at first, only to sigh quietly in relief a few moments later.
This idiot was a friendly idiot, she would give him that.
"I'd give you painkillers, but I'm afraid I don't have any." He apologetically stated as he took a glass from another section of the same wardrobe and tipped a small amount of vodka into it. He presented it to a now much less in pain Asuka.
"I don't drink." She simply stated, her reluctance to try new things which she was not familiar with combined with her strong aversion to any kind of alcohol in the years spent in constant contact with a drunk major speaking for her, despite how tasty the drink looked even from a distance.
"Try a bit." He insisted. "it will make you feel better. As long as you don't take too much, you'll be fine." To which Asuka's better judgements finally gave way to curiosity and she slowly took a few sips.
It was strong and fiery, with a definite edge to its flavour like a sword cutting across her taste buds. Exactly the sort of taste she liked in her food and beverages.
"I can see why Germany liked Russia in the past" she mused to herself as she drank the rest.
This idiot was a man of culture.
"It's good" she could not help but state as she finished.
"I knew you would like it" he replied as he took two sets of pyjamas from the wardrobe, one of which he placed gently beside his new roommate and one he kept for himself.
"If you want, the shower and the bath are over there." He pointed to the doorway leading to the bathroom. "I'm going to try and get some sleep now. I'm still tired after waking up from my coma."
"You're what?"
"The reason I've not been joining you on your missions is because I've been in a coma for a while. And before that, I was often sent to other countries on missions. I've recovered now though, so you can expect to see me with you in the next battle, if there is one."
"Yeah, sure. Whatever"
"Hey. Have you met my friend Mari. From what I've been told, she's a pilot too now." He nearly grimaced as he said these words. Part of the reason he joined NERV was so that she wouldn't have to. Though he did have to give props to her devotion to him and her courageous selflessness. And if it meant more friends to work alongside in an otherwise bleak and risky mission with no end in sight, that was always a positive.
He just hoped they would all survive to see a world with no more Angels and Impacts. Asuka included. No pilot left behind.
"I have, and I don't like her. She's so annoying and I don't care for her in the slightest." She turned away from him as she winced slightly. Another reason, not that she'd care to reveal it, was that Mari was secretly taking more and more of stupid Shinji's attention for herself, along with Rei. It was becoming a bad habit of those with Nami in their names to do so.
"Give her time" he said in a slightly teasing tone. "She'll grow on you. She might seem a little out of the ordinary, but that's what makes her such an interesting character. And then, maybe all us pilots should have a little get together. Just because it's the end of times, doesn't mean we can't have some fun as well."
"You talk too much." She simply said as she headed into the bathroom and locked the door behind her.
"I'll take that as a yes" Kaworu whispered to himself as he changed into his sleeping clothes, jumped into his bed and turned the lights off and managed to pull the duvet over himself as a wave of drowsiness he had been concealing hit him head on and his head sank limply onto his pillow.
"When the time comes, all of us will get along smashingly." He mumbled as sleep took him over. A few things would have to be done before then, but he was firm in his belief that Asuka could still make amends.
Nearly an hour later, Asuka had finished her daily long dip in a hot bath and upon finding Kaworu fast asleep already, put on the set of pyjamas he had provided for her and settled into bed herself after turning the lights off.
A very strange feeling came over the usually confident German girl as she tried without success to drift off, despite how soft the bed, blankets and her pyjamas were.
Even though she had been tended to by a very attentive companion for the past few hours, a part of her felt that this was wrong on every level.
The vodka had done a good job soothing the physical pain of her injury, but it had only made the emotional dagger Hikari planted into her skin along with the poker cut even deeper.
She began to think that as wrong as her friend had been to overreact in such a manner over something she felt was so petty, that it had been somewhat justified. And that having the pain of that blow removed prematurely, only made her feel dishonoured rather than relieved.
Though every one of Kaworu's words had been spoken in a respectful and calm manner with no bearing of hostility, something in each word he said made it blatantly apparent that he was not doing any of these kind acts for her because he had any real respect for her as a person.
He was treating her well out of duty, because they were both pilots that the world depended upon for its future. As a subtle and unintentional way of declaring that he was better than her. And most of all, because his close bond to his friends no doubt with Shinji among them, prevented him from being harsh with her.
He was doing these favours for Shinji, Mari, Rei and the rest of the innocent people who had not done any wrong in the world and therefore deserved to live in peace.
Not for her, a dishonoured rat who had only fallen down the dark path of her domestically abusive father, that long ago she had sworn she would avoid.
Though her bed was only a few inches from his, Asuka had never felt more alone in her life than now. Every one of the compliments and favours he had provided her, rang hollow, merely formalities. Medals of honour given to a scumbag with no honour.
She would have felt better if he had called her names and delivered a forceful beating upon her before throwing her into a wall the way she had once thrown Shinji into one.
"Shinji. Where are you." She uncontrollably sobbed as she tried without success to close her reddened and bloodshot eyes. "Come back to me so I can hug you. I can't do this on my own."
Horrible pictures sprang before her in answer to her completely unreasonable request.
A picture of Shinji smiling and standing next to an equally content Rei was first, followed by another one of Shinji standing next to Mari, both of them still all smiles.
A picture of Shinji with Hikari.
One of Shinji with Misato.
Another one! Shinji with Dr Akagi.
And one of him with Maya.
Now Shinji was standing next to Kaworu, who was not even a girl and who had never even met Shinji.
"Ich Hasse dich Asuka. Ich hasse dich Asuka." She heard the brown-haired introverted son of NERV's chief intone again and again despite there being no one else in the room but her and a sleeping Kaworu.
Her negative emotions were corrupting her language lobes once more and the German/Deutsch setting was being enabled by default.
What? No. Shinji was now next to Kaji. That was impossible. Since when were those two a thing?
And then Asuka could no longer tell the second person in each mental image as one after another of Shinji standing next to a different person each time always smiling, flashed before her very anguished eyes. No matter who the second person was, Shinji was always smiling.
And it was never ever, her. Never.
Unable to take any more of these tormenting thoughts, Asuka buried her face into her pillow like an ostrich burying its head in the sand.
She opened her mouth to scream despite her corrupted language lobes severely limiting her speech options. It was lucky that the pillow was made of very thick and sound muffling cotton and Kaworu was a very heavy sleeper still suffering from the effects of a recently finished coma.
"SHINJI. KOMMT ZURUCK. ICH VERMISSE DICH!"
Ironic that a book of all things could bring completely different individuals together.
It was as if that night as Tokyo 3 rested for once in tranquillity and civility, there were three Homura's each accompanied by their matching Madoka's, all at different points in their long and difficult journeys.
Asuka, the young and still very homicidal Homura who had recently discovered the meaning of niceness upon meeting an equally young Madoka.
Rei, the now far more sensible Homura who had decided not simply to quit the way of villainy but to embrace the one of selflessness and heroism. The previous one sought simply to do no wrong, but this one looked for any chance to do right. Who had been accepted not by only Madoka, but Madoka's friends and their friends too.
And Ritsuko Akagi, the now almost omniscient older Homura, who had taken Madoka's place as the reasonable one who knew right from wrong, while Misato, her Madoka became corrupted and crazed. The cycle of a hero choosing to help a villain through niceness for them to become the next hero, was about to repeat itself.
Help another so that one day when you could be helped by them when you could no longer help yourself. The law of the beautiful cycle that was friendship.
...
Another chapter. Thanks once again to all my reviewers for reviewing.
You'd be surprised at the vast quantity of Asuka X Kaworu fan works despite them never interacting in the series. You'd also be amazed at the number of fans who like to draw fanarts of the different characters being tied up in one form or another.
So I decided, why not implement both these trends into my story.
A lot of stories which fix Shinji's problem have either Shinji or another character being just as jerkish as the characters the author intends to punish, which defeats the purpose of the story since now Shinji or another character has been made into a bully instead. Not to mention, canon Shinji would never use unnecessary cruelty even on his tormentors in the series.
And yes, Asuka does have a tragic backstory and she has saved the world a few times as well, so there's that too. So what I wanted, was to have a story where Asuka and the other mean characters receive some consequences but where Shinji and the other nice characters are still nice people.
As well as to give much needed characterisation to a character I believe got far less screentime than I believe she should have gotten.
