Creation began on 05-23-18
Creation ended on 07-10-18
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Hope from the Sky: Don't give in
A/N: With the revelation of the latest chapter, it's all the more reason to deviate and create new paths to choose from.
The cool night air did nothing to ease Kaede's mind. Not even Shinji's company on the rooftop quelled her silent rage over what was discovered fifteen minutes ago.
Shinji, despite being her boyfriend, wasn't sure what he could've said to her to get her mind off the revelation that had been shared with the Survey Corps, her parents…or themselves by the former Titan Shifters that exhibited similar coloration to her Titan form.
Grausam Zanki, the father of Sig Zanki-Sogen, the second father-in-law of Christine Sogen, and the step-grandfather of Kaede Sogen…was alive and well…and was working for Marley's military by creating Titans with intelligence, using the Eldians they send into their wars as foot soldiers and cannon fodder…and knowing this made the family, particularly the daughter and stepfather, beyond upset. The very fact that he was working with a race of people that hated Eldians due to a past history that left scars that ran deep into the present day was enough to convince Shinji that there were people here no different from the ones of his world, people that chose to abandon morality and common sense to commit genocide just to survive.
"They call him the Titan Doctor," one of the women had informed the Survey Corps as they were tied up and on the ground. "He was absolutely heartless, just like the Marleyans are. His only reason for doing what he did…was his belief that greatness required sacrifice…or something like that."
"Bastard," Sig had uttered, referring to his father. "What now? Does he have any hope of just seeing the inside of a prison cell?"
"The guy's a complete psycho," a man revealed to them. "His loyalty to the Marleyans is unquestioned, so long as he provides them with his Titan Serum, which has proved to be many times greater than the previous version they used years ago."
A Titan with their intelligence retained is more effective than a mindless one that focuses solely only trying to eat people in the hopes of returning to human form, thought Shinji as he held Kaede in an attempt to keep her from going crazy over the revelation. What do I do if she desires revenge over what he did to her? Do I try to keep her from crossing the line between right and wrong…or do I help her get closure and justice?
I wonder what he's thinking? Kaede thought, referring to Shinji's current train of thought. He was probably hoping that the man was dead, same as I was.
-x-
"Well, at least we know how they were able to create the Titans that attacked," went Armin, hoping to alleviate the situation.
"That doesn't change the fact that someone from here escaped the Walls and made a Devil's deal with the enemy in exchange for a life over there," expressed Eren. "What kind of man… What kind of person…betrays his own family…and his own people…by siding with an enemy that is out to exterminate us?"
Several of the Survey Corps members gathered in the small room heard the question, but none of them had the answer to the reason. They just knew from the revelation that the girl that became the Dark Titan and her parents were beyond upset that this reflected upon them more than everyone else affected. If they were to ever meet this guy in person, they knew there would only be two options they would have to follow: Capture or execute.
-x-
"You look like Hell, baka," said Asuka to Shinji as he returned to her makeshift prison cell, seeing one of the Garrison members was keeping watch over her.
"Don't start with me, Asuka," he told her, finding a chair and sitting in it. "I've had a bad day among others before and after the Angel showed up. On the positive side, one Eva sufficed because it was partnered with the Dark Titan, so the Angel's history."
"That's crazy."
"Not as crazy as what's on the list of things to do later. Where's the people you came here with?"
"Why do you want to know that?"
"Because you're just a liability if you stay here. The Eldians of Paradis already have POWs that give them some useful information, and they don't need someone like you that has absolutely nothing to offer them, either in information or assistance. So you're going back to the other dimension."
"You…you can't possibly be serious."
"Do I look like I'm joking?"
-x-
"Hey! We got an incoming transmission from Unit-01!" Hyuga announced to the staff as his console received a message from the other world.
On his monitor appeared Shinji's face within the Entry Plug.
"Eh-heh," went Misato, somewhat bothered by this unexpected transmission. "Hello, Shinji."
"Hey, Misato," he greeted back, though it was less than what he actually felt after seeing her after a situation he resolved through violence. "I wish this call could've been made under more…positive circumstances. Sort of."
"Well, why are you calling?"
"I need whoever Asuka was sent over here with to take her back."
"Wait a minute, you're just handing her over?" Shigeru questioned.
"That's right."
"No prisoner or anything?"
"Have you ever spent the night with her in a makeshift prison cell trying to decide what to do with her? It's awful. Even the people here are irked by her vocal babbling. It's either she goes back to NERV…or I hand her over to the enemy that wants the people I'm helping dead, and they don't have any qualms with doing whatever they want with her. I'd rather see her taken back than any alternative decided upon here. Is there anyone she came with or not?"
"There is."
-x-
Even though the plan to dispose of Asuka was underway, the redhead was still confined to her makeshift prison…and now bound and gagged to silence her inane babbling; the last two members of the Garrison that were tasked with watching her had to complain that she refused to be quiet, even when asked to by them. The girl was, beyond any reasonable doubt, the most troublesome individual any of the Eldians of Paradis had ever encountered from another world, and she was the only other person they knew that operated a giant besides Shinji, who was considered by most to be easygoing.
"Mmm! Mmmm! MMM!" She grumbled through her gag.
The door to the room opened and in came Kaede, who had to sigh at how pathetic the redhead looked right now.
"Will everyone be relieved when you leave," she told her.
Asuka looked at her and grumbled something that was probably offensive.
Shinji came in from behind Eren and sighed; he had been informed of how Asuka drove the guards to do this to Asuka and was willing to tolerate it so long as the girl was still alive.
"Let's just get her outside and away from the city before she drives another person crazy," he uttered as Eren went to unlock the cell gate.
"Shinji! Kaede!" Armin's voice came as the petite boy ran into the room.
"Trouble?" Both individuals asked him.
"Un-uh," he responded, catching his breath. "Captain Levi sent me to give you two a message from Historia Reiss. She wants to talk with you two before you return Asuka to her group."
"Did she say why?" Kaede asked him.
"Only that it had something to do with the monarchy."
Shinji looked at Asuka and sighed and nodded in the positive.
"I guess you'll have to be patient for a while longer, Asuka," he told her, and they walked out of the room, leaving the redhead.
"Mmm!" Asuka grunted, hating that they were ignoring her.
-x-
"Unit-03 requires three days to be prepared for deployment," Ritsuko informed Gendo in his office. "All it needs now is a pilot."
"The Fourth Child," he stated.
"Yes."
On his desk were at least three photos of candidates to choose as the Fourth Child…and each had some association to his son that he was hoping to exploit against him to retrieve Unit-01 and capture the Dark Titan possessed by the girl he was with. The only trouble he currently had was which child to choose from that would best serve his needs.
-x-
"Where's Ymir?" Kaede asked Historia, noticing the girl's cell was emptied of the other girl.
"I requested that she be put in a separate cell," she explained. "This was something I needed to deal with on my own with you two."
"Oh," went Shinji, confused by her sudden need to speak with them. "Okay. We're here. What is it that you wanted to talk with us about?"
"My future," Historia explained. "The Survey Corps wants me to be the new monarch of the Walls…and…if I chose to become so…I'd like to have people I can trust to help me make the hard choices."
"People you can trust?" Kaede spoke. "What makes you think we're the ones best suited?"
"You both turned down the suggestion once before, which tells me something about you two that might be trustworthy…and because Shinji never truly answered this question of what keeps him here over returning to his world, which I hear he has defected from completely."
That part was true, that Shinji never answered the question of what kept him here over returning to his world that he severed his ties with in a way. But the fact that Historia stated that she felt they were to be trusted simply because they rejected the suggestion of ruling the Walls once before was a bit odd to Shinji. He wasn't sure why she would view him this way after one mere conversation. But he owed her the answer to his personal reason.
"It's Kaede here," he answered her.
"Me?" The girl he was in a relationship with uttered.
"Kaede?"
"Yeah. She's my reason for staying here, for choosing to defect and help all of you free Eldia from Marley. So…yeah, my reason is simply out of love. Laugh if you want, but that's my reason, my excuse, my choice."
"You chose to stay in a world at war, to give up returning to your father, your friends back home, whatever future you have over there…simply because of love?" Historia wanted to make sure she understood right.
"In the end, that's the main reason I choose to stand by," he confessed. "I hate my father, I hate keeping secrets, being lied to about things, hurting others, but in the end, I just want to think about one thing that will matter most in the end, and that's who I want to share my future with."
"Thanks, Shinji," Kaede expressed.
"And it's because of your honesty, your morality, that I want to offer you the choice of helping me run Eldia," Historia expressed. "I'd… Well, you'd probably be considered royalty if you did help me. Both of you."
"But…we barely know each other," Kaede reminded her; she and Shinji were getting to know each other fairly, but they and Historia still had a ways to go before they were even considered close friends or confidants. "And I don't know the first thing about helping to rule a nation…other than being the Dark Titan and protecting the people."
"I'd be okay with that," she stated. "I…I just don't want to be surrounded by people that would make me do things I'm not comfortable with doing if…they didn't have my best interests at heart."
"You mean, you don't want to be taken advantage of," Shinji realized. "I… If I chose to help you, I'd never do that sort of thing. I'm…I'm not like that."
Shinji knew what it was like to be taken advantage over. So did Kaede. Both had been exploited by members of their own family and knew what it felt like to be used…and to hate feeling helpless at it ever happening again. They both had only a semblance of control right now, and here was Historia, offering them an opportunity to be in control if it helped her with dealing with the duties of being a ruler of a nation.
"You don't have to decide right now," the girl informed them. "At least think about it for a few days. Levi and the Survey Corps are waiting for me to decide, so I'll be waiting for you to decide. That's…all I wanted to say to you."
"Well, thank you, Ms. Reiss," Shinji replied, and then did something that was probably unusual of him, but was part of his culture that he couldn't break from: He bowed his head to the girl of royal blood. "I'll be sure to think it over. And should you choose to be the queen, I'll be the first to bow to you."
Kaede decided that, since Shinji did so, she would bow to Historia, as well.
"Until we meet again, Historia Reiss," she said, and the couple walked away.
-x-
The NERV soldiers saw the purple Eva approaching their location with its right hand raised up in front of it, presumably transporting the Second Child.
"The Eva is in sight," a man radioed to Commander Ikari.
"Any sign of the girl that becomes a Titan?" He asked back.
Looking through the binoculars, the man observed the approaching Eva, but saw no sign of the Dark Titan's possessor.
"No sign, sir."
The Eva stopped eight feet away and lowered its right hand to the ground. From within its hand was released the Second Child, along with a gray-haired girl that dragged her a few feet away from the Eva.
"Don't even think about approaching until we're away," they all heard Shinji's voice through the Eva's loudspeakers. "Otherwise, I will disable your ship and you will be stranded here."
The men around the shuttle backed up closer to it; none of them, despite their orders, had any desire to be stranded on an alternate Earth where there were two nations at war with one another and a race of man-eating giants they had no control over.
"Hey, hey! There's no need to get hostile," the leader declared towards Shinji.
"It's not hostility," Shinji explained to him. "It's a warning not to get hasty."
Before Kaede had turned to walk away after dragging Asuka a good distance that in between the Eva and the space shuttle, Asuka grumbled something to the girl and got her attention. She removed the gag and stood over her, looking down.
"What is it?" She asked her.
"What in the Holle do you see in that baka?" She demanded of her to answer. "He's not worth being around. He's a disgrace, an embarrassment and also a traitor. What do you see in him?"
"What do I see in him? There's nothing that I don't see in Shinji. He gave back to me the one thing I thought my step-grandfather had taken from me over five years ago."
"He gave you back something? What, your freedom?"
"More than that. He gave me back my sense of hope."
"Hope? He doesn't give hope. He doesn't give anything. He takes everything and leaves you with nothing. He betrayed NERV, defected, went AWOL and stole an invaluable piece of machinery that your world's Titans made stronger and more powerful than anything the technology in our world has achieved, and he can't see the big picture that it would be beneficial to our cause in ways that are more important than your cause."
"And you threaten him with the people here that he wants to protect? You threaten their lives? Threaten my parents' lives as well as my life just because I have a power that has become my gift and my curse? You know, it's only because of Shinji's mercy that you're still alive. If it were up to me and everyone else here, you'd be either mindless Titan food or handed over to the Marleyans as some slave or something. His morality that you may view as a hindrance or weakness, maybe even something you hate about him or whatever, is in fact one of his greatest qualities. And I'd rather be with him than with anyone else in this life and the next. It's because of him that I can look up at the sky and embrace the future. I want a future with him."
"Oh, let me guess, you want to marry him and have kids with him one day?"
Kaede simply nodded in the positive and said she'd like that.
"You're pathetic. He's just going to hurt you in the end. Anyone that even thinks of being around a dummopf like him is inviting utter humiliation because he's an egotistical, good-for-nothing brat whose own father doesn't even give a damn about him."
Kaede then did the unexpected to Asuka: She put her left foot down on her chest.
"Urgh!"
"I know that Shinji can hear us speaking, so I hope he'll forgive me for this verbal transgression I'm going to make against you," she told the redhead, and lowered her head to meet her gaze. "This is a feeling of rage that I reserve for my step-grandfather, should I ever meet him again, but should I ever see you here again, I pray that Shinji doesn't hold me back, because I will hurt you with my Dark Titan. Not kill you…but hurt you. Maybe it's pity, but it's pity that stays one's ability to cross the line and do the unthinkable. Don't think that I won't, that I don't have the guts to do it. I don't know what I'm capable of if pushed too far, but I know one thing. I don't want my step-grandfather's forgiveness for what he did to me. I just want him dead…and I want to be the one that kills him so that he can't hurt any more people, ever again."
There was something in the girl's eyes that Asuka saw that wasn't there before. She saw a hatred that mirrored her Dark Titan's wrath…and it was almost frightening. There was no doubt in her mind that if this Kaede Sogen wanted to, she would harm her if ever crossed…and she doubt that Shinji would even try to stop her.
Within the plug, Shinji felt the weight of his girlfriend's verbal threat to Asuka if she ever came back. It almost made him fear for Asuka, but not in the way that would spark actual concern. If Kaede did go that far, he was willing to sit back and watch the potential atrocity become reality.
"You'll still be nowhere as attractive as I am," Asuka told her.
"I don't care about my looks, Ms. Soryu," Kaede responded. "I'm not out to attract people, to make them notice me or to prove that I exist or whatever. If people like you for you, then they like you for you. I love Shinji for him…and I wouldn't make him do anything he didn't want to do, and if you see his father, give him this message."
Everyone with eyes that could see the girls watched as Kaede, despite the seemingly-impossibility of it, picked Asuka up with one hand and lift her over her head, surprising them.
"Whoa!" Shinji gasped.
"His son and his Eva are no longer his to possess like pieces of property," Kaede told her. "They're free here and a part of Eldia's future, and just as he protects them with it, I will protect him from each and every one of you if I have to. Do I, in any way that is comprehensible to you, make myself clear?"
Asuka, frightened beyond reasonable doubt, responded in an equally-frightened voice, "Yes, ma'am."
"Good. I'm glad we understand each other."
Kaede then lowered her to the ground and returned to the Eva's arm.
-x-
"Holy Susanoo!" Misato, having heard this conversation through Shinji's Eva, gasped.
Everyone else present in Central Dogma that heard it, got the feeling that Shinji was either the most unluckiest bastard to have ever lived that managed to get a girlfriend like this…or was most likely to wind up in a relationship where the girl that could become a Titan of similar size to the Eva had the most power and influence between them.
"That girl…is not to be messed with," went Maya, not wanting to get on Kaede's bad side.
"And she actually stood up to Asuka," said Kaji, surprised that a girl of this sort lifted her up single-handedly. "Yikes."
But Rei, simply due to illogical impulses in her brain, worried that Shinji wouldn't be disregarded by Commander Ikari, even if he was warned, and that Shinji's relationship with this girl would be shattered by those that felt it needed to be in order to be able to repossess him and the Eva. And, either because of those same impulses, she felt…threatened by Kaede being with Shinji, that she would hurt him instead of what the Second Child claimed.
-x-
Returning to the city and shutting the Eva down, Shinji met with Kaede on the rooftop beside Unit-01; he needed to speak with her about what happened between her and Asuka.
"How were you able to pick her up the way you did?" He asked, still surprised that she could do something of that sort. "I mean, that was… She had to have weighed… Next to your Titan-based abilities that you've displayed so far, that was the most amazing thing I ever saw you do."
"To be honest, Shinji…I just…did it," she answered him; truth be told, even she didn't know how she did it.
"About what you said to her back there," he decided to change the subject, "about my being free here and how you'd protect me from them if they ever came back… Did you really mean that? I mean, that wasn't just some…impulse to make yourself sound more intimidating to frighten Asuka, right?"
Kaede hugged him tightly, surprising him.
"I meant every last word I said to her, Shinji," she told him. "I meant everything you heard me say."
He held her shoulders and responded, "Thank you."
They still needed to talk about what was asked of them earlier by Historia, but for now, the young couple just wanted to enjoy what time they had to be in one another's embrace. For Kaede didn't really care about what Asuka claimed Shinji was likely to do, and Shinji didn't care if his father sent the whole world after him to reclaim the Eva, both had a reason for seeing where this would lead them as the next day was beyond them.
"Um, Kaede?" Shinji uttered.
"Yes, Shinji?"
They broke the hug…and Shinji kissed her deeply.
Kaede kissed back.
Neither bothered to look up at the sky as the space shuttle that brought Asuka and Unit-02 was flying away from them.
-x-
"…So…you asked them to help you run the nation if you accept your position as the queen?" Ymir asked Historia later that evening after being returned to her prison cell.
"Yes, I did," she responded. "I won't lie and deny it."
"Why them over anyone that knows what they're doing?"
"Because they seem like they're the most honest in their intentions."
"But the boy, Shinji, he's not from here, and he practically has, like, a bounty on his head by his own people because of his giant that he uses to help us. Even if he does accept your offer, there's no guarantee that he'll be around forever to help you, just as there's no guarantee that the Sogen girl will be around because of her status as the Dark Titan. They could let you down."
"That's if they choose to accept. My decision…rests on their decision, Ymir."
The former possessor of the Jaw Titan then realized why the illegitimate daughter of Rod Reiss had asked the two most unlikely of people to help her above all else. She was hoping that they would accept…because she was afraid to do so herself.
"Why…didn't you just ask me?" She asked Historia.
"Because…I need you around if I do agree. I lost my mother, my brothers and my sisters because of factors beyond their control. I can't lose you, too."
"What do you mean, you need me?"
"I care about you, Ymir."
It was the first time in her life that someone ever really did, and not because of what she was…but who she was.
"Thanks."
-x-
"Are you okay, Kaede?" Sig asked his stepdaughter when she returned from her time with Shinji and the Survey Corps. "Were you able to handle the situation regarding the girl that demanded you and Shinji surrender yourselves?"
"For the time being," she answered him as she sat down on the sofa. "There's something I need to tell you two about earlier today. The daughter of Rod Reiss, uh, Historia, requested to see Shinji and I…and asked us to help her if she agreed to become the Queen of the Walls and Eldia."
Her mother sat beside her on the sofa and handed her a cup of water.
"She asked you two, specifically?" She questioned.
"Well, yeah."
"What did you say?"
"My previous response was to decline any suggestion of ruling a nation, as it was just a fantasy for me back in my early childhood, and Shinji declined the original suggestion because he says that he has no royal heritage. Yet this time, we didn't give an answer to her because she told us to think it over. I think she's afraid of being in control because she doesn't know who to trust and wants to trust Shinji and I because we're not likely to take advantage of her… and that's true. I don't want to take advantage of her. To help her run the Walls…and Eldia, to help retake our place in the world… It's heavy."
Christine looked at her daughter, seeing that she was unsure of herself. It was a lot to take in. Not too long ago, they had found out she was the Dark Titan, that Sig's father was the one responsible for bestowing this gift, this curse, upon her, and that he was still alive and helping the people that hated them worse than how people hated pests. Sometimes, she had to wonder if it was easier for them when they still lived within the Walls.
"What does Shinji think about this?" She asked Kaede, wanting to know what her boyfriend thought.
"He's not sure, either," her daughter answered. "We're both thinking it over. But I know one thing that has nothing to do with what she asked of us."
"And what's that, Kaede?" Sig asked her.
"Is that I want to see that man again…only to kill him so that he never hurts others the way he hurt me again. That's what I want right now."
Christine and Sig looked at each other and knew that, one way or another, Kaede was not going to be impeded by anyone or anything that tried to come between her and Grausam if they ever saw each other again. This was the first time they ever knew her to want something like revenge, even if it was tempered by her newfound love interest from another world that chose to stay in this one out of wanting to help their people and be with her. While they understood that love was a powerful force, the power of vengeance was just as powerful…and Kaede Sogen…had felt both.
To be continued…
A/N: In response to the latest chapter of the manga version of Attack on Titan, I've created a new poll to help decide what would happen to progress the future of Historia Reiss if she accepted her position as the new monarch of Eldia. I'm sure some of you didn't expect Kaede to threaten Asuka the way she did or Shinji threatening to strand the people that brought her over if they tried anything. Soon, things will get hotter than ever before. Two of the Nine Titans remain, and Eldia must take them back.