Creation began on 07-11-18
Creation ended on 07-22-18
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Hope from the Sky: Rise of the Queen
The makeshift prison cell ceiling was plain with just the phosphorescent light created by this electricity that flowed throughout the whole city. No more candles, no more living in dark spaces with limited light. It was almost strange for Historia to think not too long ago that this world was blessed with advanced technology that its people had been forced to forget about and live with very primitive technology, like they had gone back through time to an era where they still lived in structures of stone and wood instead of steel and glass. If she became the queen of Eldia, reclaiming her denied birthright, she'd be ruling the Walls and this coastal area.
"Miss Reiss," she heard a male voice speak to her.
"Historia Reiss," a female voice added, and she turned away from the ceiling to Shinji and Kaede, standing outside her cell.
"Sometimes, looking up at a ceiling isn't all good," Shinji told her with a small chuckle. "I've been under a few, and I ended up viewing them all as unfamiliar."
"Unfamiliar ceilings?" She asked him.
"Yeah. Unfamiliar ceilings."
"And…I take it this isn't a social call?"
"It's been almost eight days since we last saw each other," Kaede expressed. "We both thought about what you asked of us."
"And…what have you decided?"
"You want people you can trust to help you do right by the people," Shinji stated, "and we want to be people you can trust. So…whatever it is you need us to be to you…we're willing to be to help you…so…we accept your offer."
Historia got up off the cot she was on and walked over to the cell bars separating them.
"Really?" She asked. "Honestly?"
"Yes," Kaede answered her.
"For as long as we're both alive, for as long as we're both willing and able… And for as long as you choose to trust whatever it is we speak with complete honesty, we'll help you to run the nation. And for as long as I can do so with it, my Evangelion is your sword and shield, guardian, protector, whatever."
"The same goes for me and my Dark Titan, Ms. Reiss, your shield, your guardian, protector, whatever."
Historia bowed her head to the two.
"Thank you, you two," she praised, grateful to them. "Thank you."
-x-
"…How is he?" Eren asked one of the Garrison members of Wall Sina as he walked down some stairs to a prison cell in a dungeon to see Rod Reiss.
"He's been quiet ever since he was moved to a different cell," he explained. "How goes everything in that coastal city?"
"Well, we've been trying to get his daughter, Historia, to become queen, and we've made some progress, but only due to one reason."
"What was the reason?"
"She wants Shinji and Kaede, the boy that pilots the Eva and the girl that becomes the Dark Titan, respectively, to serve as her co-ruling advisers. That was her primary condition."
"The two harbingers of hope? I can't imagine them being able to help lead an entire nation."
"I can't, either, but Historia wants them helping her, something about their honesty and not wanting to take advantage of her."
"That young man, take advantage of her? Ha! He doesn't seem like he can take advantage of anyone. Actually, he doesn't seem like he ever wants to take advantage of any person, even though we took advantage of him."
"We didn't take advantage of him; we merely asked him for his help after discovering that his Eva couldn't be harmed by the Titans or our ODM blades. He offered his help to us. Today, he still offers his help. Even when the people from his world want him back, he defects and realizes it's only because he can continue fighting an enemy he knows practically nothing about over there and mostly for a man that will never accept him as he is, dead or alive."
"His own father, am I right?"
"Yeah, that's right."
"Hard to imagine him being related to someone that might as well be considered a tyrant."
"Nobody asks to be related to someone who's not moral or in their right mind. Not even the ones that want to do right by others."
They reached the cell belonging to Rod Reiss, who looked like he hadn't bathed in weeks.
"And what brings down visitors to my lowly prison cells?" He asked them.
"I'm here to inform you that in a few days, your daughter, Historia, will be crowned as the new queen of Eldia," Eren informed him.
"Historia, become the queen? She doesn't even know how to rule a nation. And she's illegitimate."
"Only because you went and had an affair with one of your servants. That doesn't change her relation to you. As your only surviving child, she has unrestricted claim to the throne."
"Well, her reign will be short-lived. You'll kill her slowly."
Somehow, Eren doubt that. Even if this was what the Survey Corps needed of and from Historia, there seemed to be a significant chance that Shinji wouldn't let anyone, not Rod, Marley, not even Levi himself, serve as or be the cause of the girl having a short reign as ruler of the nation.
"If you ever meet Shinji, there's a chance he'll disagree with what others think of Historia ruling for a long time," he told Rod.
-x-
Co-ruling advisers? Was there even such a thing for any ruling order? Kaede was reminded just how little she knew or understood. But she understood that co-ruling meant to have some control over something or someone, even if it was limited compared to the true ruler that had the last say in any choice made. Still, she would stand by Shinji's side and help him to help Historia lead the people, reminding herself that there was no way they could've gotten this far without his help in breaking them free from the Walls.
A lifetime of confinement within a small space that I thought was big because we only lived in a small part of it, she thought as walked down the bare streets of the untouched Ehrmich District of Wall Sina, and it's my first time inside Wall Sina's districts where the wealthy and influential reside. How can the people here be opposed to the idea of life beyond the Walls when, like everything else that was taken from us over the ages, it's no different from our birthrights? We're just taking back what's ours.
Of course, she wasn't much of an exception; she might've traveled away from Paradis just once, but she never once left the carrier beyond swimming deep underwater and discovering the Titans below. But once the coronation was passed and Historia was crowned the new monarch, she would head to Marley and find that man…and make sure that he paid for his treason and exploitation of her and countless others.
"Kaede?" Shinji's voice cut through her train of thought and reminded her that they were here with Historia and the Survey Corps to prepare for the coronation that would take place in three days' time. "Are you alright?"
"Oh, um, yes. Yes, I'm fine. What about you?" She responded.
"I'm doing well," he said, although it was only a half-truth.
Deep down, he worried about her emotionally. He felt her need for revenge against Grausam Zanki…and it was starting to make him wonder if he could keep the promise he made to her to keep her from going down that dark tunnel. If he lost her, he knew he'd be devastated, and so would her parents, but knew also that if he lost her, it would only be because he didn't try hard enough to keep her with him.
"I'm sorry if I seem distant," she apologized to him.
"It's okay. We're both thinking things that are hard to let go of."
"I gotta be honest about something right now, Shinji."
"Okay."
"You don't look good in a suit. I'm sorry, but it just doesn't make you seem like you. It's not…really you, I mean."
Shinji, of course, was wearing a suit right now; he was trying to expand his limited wardrobe here and just put on a suit to see if it breathed on him.
"You're right, this isn't me," he agreed with her. "I'm more of a casual person, not dressing to impress or for success. This is only good for events or adult parties."
He took off his dark coat and pulled out his tucked-in shirt and wore it over his pants as he unbuttoned it to reveal a dark undershirt. Now, to Kaede, at least, he looked a little better, like he could breathe again or something.
"You don't wear fancy dresses, either, do you?" He asked her.
"I never had a fancy dress. And based on how I've seen other girls and women in them, you can't wear trousers in some of them. It's not…conservative, is it?"
"Actually, it's…decency. Remember that day we met on the carrier? The wind blew?"
"Yeah, that was unexpected. If I couldn't wear trousers under a dress, casual or fancy, then I just wouldn't wear the dress without the trousers. I'd rather be decent than pretty."
-x-
"…These are past memories of the Third Child that I've finally accessed from the internal matrix of Unit-01," Ritsuko explained to Gendo and Fuyutsuki in the former's office, as they observed images of people observed from the perception of the boy, the girl, Kaede, in particular. "So far, this memory of his appears to be where he was…approached by these two groups, these…Garrison and Survey Corps groups, for his aid in fighting the Titans."
"And this occurred shortly after his victory over the being they referred to as the Colossal Titan?" Fuyutsuki asked her.
"Yes."
Gendo watched as an elderly man named Dot Pixis made the request to the boy for his help in reclaiming the lost territory of this wall from the Titans and how the people would be grateful for his aid in doing so. It angered him to see how a bunch of complete nobodies from a world where their enemies were giants that preyed upon them had turned to a pilot of NERV for his aid because he had the only weapon that could face the Titans without much resistance.
"…We'd be grateful for your assistance," the man told Shinji, who seemed unsure.
A minute past before Shinji up and spoke of how he didn't feel that Gendo wouldn't have been worried about his disappearance due to their estranged past.
"But what of now?" Dot asked him, letting him know that he was now the only one that could decide what he was going to do with his life for as long as he was in their world.
And then Shinji had the ludicrous in him to decide to help these people because he had the only weapon that could give them back their place in the world.
"I'll help you retake Wall Maria, sir," he told Dot.
"Thank you so much, young man."
"Still, they turned to him for help," said Fuyutsuki. "What kind of person would he be to refuse them, knowing that he could?"
"This memory is of what occurred approximately four months after he helped them retake the wall they informed him about," Ritsuko showed them another memory recorded from Shinji's mind while he was in the Eva.
It was of some sort of party or celebration happening outside, possibly relating to the reclamation of the wall and congratulating the Third Child for his aid. The boy watched people eating and dancing in the night before his attention was turned towards the girl that had, apparently, gotten his full attention at a later time.
"Thank you for fighting the Titans for us," she had spoken to him, and gave him a piece of paper.
"Almost seems like love at first sight," said Fuyutsuki, to which Gendo's right eyebrow twitched in irritation over how easily the Third Child was influenced to continue fighting for people he didn't have any right protecting.
"What is this memory that was dated after the first battle between the Evas and the Titans?" He asked Ritsuko, who seemed bothered by it.
"That's a memory you're not going to like the Third Child for having in his head," she stated. "However, it would appear that time flows differently there than it does here."
-x-
"Nervous?" Ymir asked Historia as she examined herself in a large mirror, dressed in regal clothing comprised of a white dress with a green shawl.
"Yes," she answered the former Jaw Titan. "Wouldn't you be?"
"Not as much as you are. But you'll be alright today."
"How do you know this for sure?"
"Because you have two people that are the hope of the people at your side…and myself, your personal bodyguard. How could you not do alright?"
"You're not just my bodyguard, Ymir."
As she was going to be queen, Historia wanted Ymir close by, meaning the older woman had broken away from the Survey Corps and became, more or less, the third person the illegitimate daughter of the Reiss family trusted more so than anyone else in Paradis.
Ymir, despite still wearing the standard uniform from when she was in the training unit, now served directly under Historia, also serving as her companion.
"I appreciate this, Historia," she told her.
-x-
"…You mean…I can have children of my own someday…and they wouldn't be like I am right now?" Gendo heard Kaede ask Shinji, whom had explained to her some information he had found on something called Titan Shifters, which he deduced was the term used to identify people that could become Titans at will.
"Yeah. Yeah, that's what I'm saying," he told her.
Gendo found it pathetic that his son was disclosing information that might've been useless to a girl that would be better off serving as a research specimen to NERV; they didn't have time to indulge in any foolish desires or petty relationships that didn't further his goals. Worse, it made him angry that this girl kissed the Third Child on his lips as a perverse form of thanks for telling her of how her future was still hers to decide upon…and how he actually let her!
Who does this girl think she is, trying to be with him? He thought, watching how they met on the aircraft carrier and she asked him if she had a shot with him.
"…Would you like to be…my boyfriend…is what I'm saying," the girl spoke.
The door to his office opened and Dr. Akagi returned with another disc.
"I'm afraid you're not going to like what the Third Child has done to solidify his defection from NERV and this world," she informed him.
He looked up at her and announced, "I already don't like what he has done to defect from NERV. Anything else he has done just warrants his immediate incarceration and termination from the Eva program. He turned his back on us for a pretty face that asked him if she had a shot with him."
"Well, then, this won't change anything much. He has sworn his loyalty and the service of Unit-01 to a girl that has just recently been crowned queen of the people alongside this Kaede Sogen, and the new queen's first decree was that both be recognized as her co-ruling advisers."
Gendo didn't believe this! First his son defects from NERV and takes the Eva, and now he's sworn his loyalty to a complete stranger that has become a queen that has bestowed upon him a piece of authority along with some girl he likes when he's supposed to be here with the Eva fighting the Angels until the time for Human Instrumentality was upon them! He wasn't going to stand for this!
"How long ago was this?" He asked her.
"Based upon the memory and the most recent time he got back in the Eva for his memories to be recorded… At least four months have passed over there since this coronation happened."
Four months?! Gendo thought, confused by how that much time had passed and how the Third Child's relationship with these outcasts had strengthened. What could he have done to help these poor fools in that length of time while only five days have passed here?
-x-
Four months since Historia's coronation, and Shinji and Kaede were able to get much more done around Paradis along with the Survey Corps as they finished preparing for this journey to Marley across the ocean. As time progressed, Shinji had used Unit-01 to help Kaede create more land for farming within the Walls, enabling the people to cultivate more fruits and vegetables since the only Titans left within the land were the ones all literally inside the Walls. And Kaede, having taken more time to explore what her Dark Titan was capable of with the powers of five of the Nine Titans at her command, found that she was able to withstand this drawback of those with the power of the Titans referred to by Hange as some form of absorption far longer than Eren could in his Attack Titan, by almost eight hours from repeated use in half-hour breaks…and twelve hours from a prolonged usage, whereas Eren Yeager couldn't stay in his Titan form for longer than an hour-and-an-half, and hers didn't decrease in either size or appearance. In addition, she spent three hours mastering a basic level of control that made some of the Survey Corps members impressed by her fluidity over the Dark Titan: Talking through the Titan, which seemed like a fantasy.
"I hate Titans. I love my parents. I love Shinji Ikari." She had managed to say, among other choice sentences, exhibiting a degree of control that was almost as great as her unique ability to restore Titans back into Eldians with her spinal fluid.
Although Shinji was slightly embarrassed by everyone in the Survey Corps hear that Kaede and he were a couple, it wasn't as embarrassing as the fact that before that even became a fact was how some of them had already begun thinking of them as a couple.
"I will cast this body aside now, Shinji," he heard Kaede say to him as she finished digging patches in the ground for the farmers to cultivate more crops.
The Dark Titan rose up and walked over to a space unmarked by the work and laid down. From the nape emerged Kaede, steaming as her simple, brown and white dress was damp.
"Aah," she sighed as she breathed through her lungs instead of the Titan's.
Shinji, knowing that he couldn't let the remains go to waste, as every scrap of Dark Titan flesh boosted the Eva's internal battery and replenished its reserves, went over and began consuming as much of it as possible while leaving behind enough to salvage more of the spinal fluid that saturated the flesh. When he finished most of it while leaving the lower half (and restoring four hours to the Eva's increased reserves, he shut down and ejected the plug. It had gotten to a point now that he no longer became bothered by the smell of the LCL, but he still wore the plugsuit because he didn't want to ruin his clothes with the fluid.
"Thank you again, you two," one of the dozen or so farmers praised the two, looking at the large patches of loose soil made from the digging they did with their hands. "You and our new tool will be able to cultivate more crops now."
Looking over at the rusted vehicle that Shinji identified for them as a tractor, Armin and Hange had found a way to make the primitive vehicle function with gas from the iceburst stones beneath the island…and were able to retrofit at least eight of them so far.
"Just…doing our part," he told them; their praise was great, but he didn't want it all going to his head. "Kaede and I will be heading back to the coastal city until we're needed again."
"Bye-bye," Kaede waved to them as they left with the Eva.
She once considered getting into the Entry Plug with Shinji to see how he put up with it, but decided against it due to the unnecessary need for such a thing, as in the event of an emergency, he would've had to open his plug just to let her out…and trying to change inside the plug could prove fatal to both of them. Besides, the power of the Female Titan, according to Ms. Leonhart after several weeks of silence, made her Dark Titan far more versatile; based on what the Marleyans had informed her about the Female Titan before they gave it to her for her thirteen-year-term to serve as a Warrior, it was an all-purpose Titan capable in all fields (and as far as Kaede, Shinji and the Survey Corps could suspect, this included water). And now, the Female Titan's versatility had been assimilated into the Dark Titan.
We go to Marley in another week to try and resolve this feud they have with us, she thought, looking at the vast land she now helped to govern alongside Shinji with Historia. I hope the idea that Shinji wants to implement before the Survey Corps can implement theirs will take us down the path of least resistance. No matter how advanced or large Marley is, even if they have that monster helping them, they don't have Eldia's hope from the sky.
-x-
Might isn't always Right
Shinji's suggestion to the Survey Corps while inside the command center of the carrier, four days ago, which contrasted with Eren's suggestion of declaring war with Marley the second they got to land controlled by the enemy nation that had decimated and taken over all other nations on the planet, was of the more less-offensive kind. Instead of just going all-out like with the Titans, initially, Shinji wanted to approach the Marleyans in his Eva as a form of intimidation and reaching out to the people in charge, because as much as there were people out there that despised the Eldians and their Subjects of Ymir, the only ones able to become Titans, they should've been against the unnecessary slaughter of civilians, even if they did hate them due to propaganda.
While Kaede and Armin actually agreed with him, Eren was against deploying the Eva so soon when they didn't know if such a ploy would even work.
"Eren, might isn't always right," Shinji told them. "Unless it's absolutely necessary, not every strategy has to include heavy conflict. And based off of what Mr. Hoover disclosed, the enemy they fought with before coming to Paradis as a test of the Titans' power against Marley's other adversaries, they may have started developing anti-Titan weaponry based on the belief that they rely too much on them. That makes my Evangelion your best option if they had to go up against Titans that they didn't control."
"And why is that?" Levi asked.
"It was built to face Angels, who could withstand conventional weaponry. Any weapon that was meant to harm a Titan would fall into that category. Even with your new ability to harden your Titan's skin to improve its defensive capabilities, if you went up against them, Rogue Titan seeking and fighting for Eldia's freedom, you might not just end up getting taken out by their weapons, you could end up handing them over the Founding Titan, which is what they've been after for over five years now."
"And if they get your Titans, they win," Kaede added, siding with her boyfriend.
"But they don't have any way to control the Founding Titan," Eren defended. "Only a member of the royal family can ever control it. My possession of just makes it so that I can influence the power of the Founding Titan when in the presence of a member of the royal family, like Historia, without the ideology of the First King holding me back."
"That may be true, but even if anyone with royal blood had possession of the Founder, they'd be no different from any other member of the Reiss or Fritz family that had it when the First King made his vow to renounce war. They'd be under his influence and could our lives difficult."
"But Shinji, you're not a Subject of Ymir," Armin reminded the Eva pilot. "You wouldn't be subject to any degree of memory manipulation like we would be."
"If you're suggesting that we simply turn Historia into a Titan Shifter or bring her back into the fighting when her becoming the queen to maintain order was the better objective, I need to put my foot down on that, Mr. Arlet."
"No, that's not what I was trying to suggest at all. You'd just be the only one that couldn't be influenced by anyone with the Founder."
"And none of you would remember anything."
"How do we know their weapons won't affect your Eva?" Mikasa asked Shinji. "And they still have two other Titans in their possession that belong to the Nine Titans."
"Unless they have another Angel or an Eva of their own, mine is, for all intents and purposes, a glorified, walking wall of fortified, armored plates covering it from top to bottom. And eating the Dark and Rogue Titan remains makes it so that I can go for days before it runs out of power. And as for the remaining two Titans we need to get out of their possession, that's where a peace-seeking measure would prove most beneficial. Request talks of peace treaties, look for ideas that both sides can settle on, have drinks with the ones that can turn into Titans, and take their Titans before they even realize they're being taken."
Some of the corps members could see the common sense in Shinji's idea, and his Eva was intimidating in its own right if Titans couldn't be used against it.
But Eren…simply wanted to fight the enemy and let them know that Eldia was going to come back for revenge against them all, no matter what.
"And what if your idea fails?" Levi asked him.
"Then I guess I'll go to Plan 'B'," Shinji expressed.
"And what would that be?"
"Do you suppose they'd pass up the opportunity to waste their ammunition against something as big as a Titan but couldn't be harmed by them?"
Basically, Shinji would've let the Marleyans shoot at his Eva for as long as they had the guns and cannons to spend bullets and shells on, knowing that they'd be wasting their firepower and allowing the Eldians the best opportunity to face an exhausted foe and get the upper hand.
"Look, I'm not the one leading this operation and I can't and won't force you to agree with me," Shinji told them, making it known that he couldn't and wouldn't take charge of the operation. "So I'm asking that you think about it or at least consider voting whether or not to try it."
There was a silence in the room now. Nobody was sure what to think or what to say. Do they go charging into battle against an enemy they had yet to face beyond their manipulated Subjects of Ymir and an Angel that brought them to Paradis…or let Shinji try to seek peace with the enemy and save them the trouble of fighting at all?
"All of those…in favor of attacking the enemy?" Erwin asked the people.
Several of them, including Eren and Mikasa (possibly because she wanted to protect Eren from the enemy), all raised their hands. It seemed like a lot of them, but there was only one way to know for sure about that.
"And all of those…in favor of seeking peace with Marley and going with the alternative outcome if that option fails?" Erwin asked them, and raised his own hand to express his vote and support of Shinji's suggestion over Eren's.
Others, including Kaede, Armin and even Sasha Blouse, all raised their hands to support Shinji's idea.
Based on the number of hands previously seen by Kaede, it seemed like more were in favor of Shinji than Eren.
"Well," went Levi, looking at Shinji, "it looks like we're going with your idea then, Shinji. Congratulations. I hope you know what you're doing."
-x-
She never truly thought that people would just accept her as the queen, that it was just a falsehood because of how her family didn't do anything to stop the Titans or Marley from attacking. But she was reminded that her elder half-sister, Frieda Reiss, couldn't have done anything, even if she wanted to because of how the Founding Titan had been compromised by one of her ancestors' ideology to renounce fighting out of guilt. This left Historia, now overseeing a recently-repurposed settlement within the Walls to house the orphaned children, wondering how things might've been had her family not been so heavily influenced by the uselessness of their Titan, something she didn't possess…and hoped never to possess.
"I now crown thee," the priest in charge of the coronation said as he placed the crown on her head in front of the people present to see, "Queen Historia Reiss."
Looking back to them, members of the Garrison, members of the Survey Corps, Shinji Ikari and Kaede Sogen, she had felt like she was now in charge of them.
Shinji, dressed in the attire of a simple commoner (pants and a shirt), slowly approached the raised platform she was on…and kept his promise to be the first person to bow to her.
Kaede, following suit beside Shinji, became the second to bow to the new queen of Eldia.
I trust these two more than anyone, she thought as she saw the orphans playing by a tree with something Shinji had called a tire swing, either waiting for a turn on it or already sitting on or hanging from it.
"You may have more responsibilities as the ruler," said Shinji to her after the coronation when the people were enjoying a feast in the Ehrmich District, "but you're still young and have the right to enjoy yourself in whatever you choose to do with your time."
"Like, say, if I wanted to start an orphanage for all the children that lost their homes and families to the Titans and war? I'd be allowed to do that?"
"As an obligation or because it's something you want to do?"
"It's what I want, Shinji."
"Then…you should follow your heart and dreams, my queen. The only one keeping you back…is you."
And it was the way he spoke to her; Shinji didn't treat her like some figurehead or dummy. He believed in her…and he barely even knew her, encouraging and supporting her decisions.
"Whoa! Hey!" She turned and saw Ymir being ganged up on by at least ten children and sent falling to the grass.
"Eh-heh-heh!" Historia chuckled at how she and Ymir were among the people the orphans looked up to. "It looks like you made some new friends."
Ymir, despite being outnumbered by the kids, couldn't help but smile at how positive Historia had become since being crowned the queen.
-x-
"…So, not only has he defected from NERV, become a fugitive from our world, a stranger in another world with a girl that chose him as a love interest," went Asuka, infuriated further by the new update from the recorded memories of Shinji's time in the Eva, "he's sworn his loyalty and servitude to some other girl that just became a queen of a nation?!"
"That's…about right, Asuka," Kaji informed her. "Both he and his girlfriend have sworn to serve this…Historia Reiss person…and it seems that part of the reason for such is because she wanted people she could trust to help her…and she turned to them."
"But why would she choose that idiot Shinji out of all the other people there? She could've picked someone more capable than he could ever be! He's so…so ungrateful, so spineless, so…"
"He wouldn't take advantage of her, Asuka. The girl probably has no idea how to best lead the people, so she puts her faith in two people above all others to achieve the best of outcomes. Shinji and Kaede…are her co-ruling advisers now."
"Co-ruling…advisers?"
"You'd think Shinji would turn down such a position of power and authority, but he actually wants to help this Historia and the people to the best of his abilities and knowledge."
"It'd be easier if they just turned to NERV for aid."
"Asuka, you threatened to hurt them if he didn't surrender himself and Kaede to us. That, in and of itself, has marked NERV as just another enemy that has no interest in helping them, and now, because of Commander Ikari, Shinji may be on the receiving end of a very heavy ultimatum that won't end well for anyone, no matter which side they're on."
"Just how serious is this ultimatum to be?"
"He wants to attack them using the JSSDF…and they will use N² bombs to lay waste to as much of the island as they can."
Asuka believed that such a course of action was too extreme, even for them. She had been willing to harm the people of that world because they weren't her responsibility, but only as many as necessary for that idiot to get with the program. But his father…his father was willing to harm all of them if it meant getting back the Eva…and maybe just to hurt his son.
"Is this a professional-based objective or is this move just personal?" She asked Kaji. "Because it sounds a lot like it's the latter over the former. Even if we did something like this, it's unethical and unnecessary to destroy an entire race of people, even if they're primitive and lived behind walled structures their whole lives."
"Honestly, Asuka, it seems like it's nothing but personal for Commander Ikari," he answered. "And nearly everyone here with an opinion about him is saying the same thing: He's only doing this to make his son's life miserable. This has absolutely nothing to do with the Angels or the end of the world. It's just about causing Shinji immense pain."
"But that's insane. It makes no sense at all. It's like the guy hates his son to the point of wanting him dead…and they don't even talk to each other! And that's the father's fault!"
-x-
The rediscovery of electricity, recycling products and combustion engines, even the knowledge of hot air balloons and blimps had gotten much attention from the people in the last few months since Historia's coronation. And now, there was talk about how on the other side of the island, an old facility by a frozen river had been rediscovered by the Survey Corps during a survey in the north and they needed Shinji to help investigate its purpose to see if it had any value. This left Kaede, who was at home with her parents, to help hold the peace of the coastal city with the Garrison members currently there for now. She had time to waste, so she spent her free hours sleeping.
But in her dreams, there was anything but peace. She found herself back in the settlement where the people were walled off from the rest of the place, but it was empty this time.
"Hello?" She called out.
"My, my," a man's voice uttered…and she saw a dirty blond-haired man dressed in a suit. "I didn't expect you to still be alive, and in such good shape, too."
He might've had one leg too many, but it was unmistakable. This was Grausam Zanki, the father of Sig Zanki-Sogen and Kaede Sogen's step-grandfather.
"You," she spoke in anger. "I was better off thinking you were dead."
"I thought you were dead, too, Kaede…or at least reduced to a research specimen."
His eyes were the most devoid of compassion in any with green eyes. No shred of sympathy, not even for his past sins.
Fortunately, Kaede had no sympathy for him…and would go to whatever lengths she had to in order to make him pay for his greatest crime of harming her.
"Your sacrifice gave me back my leg, Kaede," he told her. "I have a great life in the nation of Marley. I help put the Eldians to better use because of my refined practice and improved use of Titan creation. What have you done with your life that has been an achievement? Could anything you have done compare to my success?"
"You…are…going…to…die," she frowned; if this hadn't been a dream, she'd kill him right now.
"There's just one problem with that: You're on an island infested with Titans…and I'm on a continent only those that have something to benefit the people in charge are permitted to run free."
Infested with Titans? She thought, realizing that her step-grandfather and the rest of Marley had no idea that Paradis' Titan population had been resolved completely because of Shinji and her. "One way or another, I will find you and kill you, Grausam. You had no right to do what you did to me. My mother was hurt and my stepfather was upset with what you did. If he had legal standing, he'd disown you from the family."
"Oh, I was pretty much disowned the instant I escaped from the Walls. I was willing to cast aside my whole family if it meant escaping from that chicken coop. If I hadn't gotten away, I knew I was going to be stuck there forever. When Wall Maria was broken into, I saw opportunity knocking, and I answered the door. I reclaimed my lost leg, experienced the exhilaration of running away from confinement, I had grasped the power of the Titans for myself, Kaede! You have that same power flowing through you!"
"Except I didn't want this power you got! I wanted nothing to do with what you did! You forced this power onto me! You! What, am I supposed to be grateful?! Am I supposed to thank you for this?! I'm a prisoner right now because of you! I can't go home to my parents! I sleep in a prison cell! Oh, you got the slice of Heaven while I got nothing but Hell because of you!"
"It's not my fault if you didn't have the common sense to run away."
"And go where? Huh?! You better pray that I don't come after you! You better learn to sleep with both eyes open! Because one way or another, I will kill you! You hear me?! I will kill you!"
The strangest thing about this dream was that it felt as though their conversation were happening in present time, like they were actually engaged in this verbal spat that was the first they had in over five years since the fall of Wall Maria.
"I look forward to that day," Grausam expressed, unafraid of her. "I'll be sure to leave my door unlocked for you."
Behind him was the head of a dark-skinned Titan with red eyes that mirrored his face.
From behind Kaede emerged the head of her Titan, much larger and more menacing than his could've ever been.
"Even if my hands are stained with bloodshed," she warned him, "nothing will stop me now."
-x-
Gendo should've known it was a mistake from the very beginning to have his son brought to Tokyo-3 to pilot Unit-01 and face the Angels. If he had known Shinji was going to betray him, usurp the Eva for his own use, defect from NERV and swear his loyalty to some girl of royal blood in exchange for a position as a co-ruling adviser to her, he would've stuck with Rei piloting it instead! Now, more than ever, it was imperative that the Eva be retrieved and the boy punished severely. As he sat in his office, he looked at the boy's recorded memory of this blond-haired girl, this Historia Reiss, and how he bowed to her once she was crowned the new queen, followed by his girlfriend.
I'll have them all killed if necessary, he thought, perfectly willing to eradicate all the people his son protected from outside threats. All except the Sogen girl; the power of the Dark Titan will belong to NERV, no matter what.
-x-
"Are you alright, Kaede?" Shinji asked as he saw his girlfriend the next morning on the aircraft carrier, noticing that she looked upset about something. "You seem… Well, not like you're having a good day today."
"I had a dream last night," she explained. "I saw my step-grandfather…and it felt like more than a dream. It felt like an actual conversation after five years. That man knows I'm still alive now."
"What? Are you sure?"
"Positive. I recognized him, even though I haven't seen him in so long. He might've had one leg too many, but he hasn't aged much over the years. You couldn't believe how he told me he was willing to sacrifice his whole family to get where he is. Nobody matters to him."
That sounds almost like my father, he thought, almost fooling himself into trying to compare their relatives together when he was certain that there was no comparison between a Japanese man and an Eldian who was a Subject of Ymir. Except that my father can't become a Titan Shifter, even if he had access to Titan Serums.
"Shinji, there's something else I want you to know," Kaede spoke. "That man… He called his Titan form something that makes no sense to me, but from the way he pronounced it, it had to mean something I think only you would know. He called it…the Akuma Titan. What does 'Akuma' mean?"
Shinji's eyes widened. The only other time he heard of any other variation of that word was before he ever piloted the Eva.
"Kaede," he uttered, "that man called his Titan…the Devil. He sees himself as the Devil of the Titans."
"The Devil? What kind of man… No, what kind of person…calls something they can turn into…after the Devil?"
That's what Shinji wanted to know, too. Anyone that likened themselves to the Devil or some other great demon clearly had to be either foolish to think themselves so dangerous or powerful…or had become outright inhuman over such a prolonged period and did so only because there was no other way to describe themselves.
"I don't know why anyone would consider themselves similar to the Devil, but I will say this about your step-grandfather: He's likely more dangerous than we think."
"If he's made himself more dangerous, then I guess it'd be pointless to incarcerate him if apprehended. Which means it's necessary to kill him."
"This Grausam Zanki may not be the kind of person that can be apprehended, Kaede. He might actually be the kind of person that has to be stopped."
"You don't have to kill him for me, you know. That rite should be mine to do."
"I'm against killing. I'll make that known for as long as I have to until everyone understands, but if I don't have any other options available…I will make your step-grandfather an exception."
"He should be the only one. Everyone else in Marley, regardless of whether they hate Eldia because of false propaganda or personal issues, we shouldn't fight them unless we have no other choice."
-x-
The JSSDF had finally replenished enough of their N² arsenal to become a ultimatum threat to the Third Child. This discovery would enable Gendo to make his move on the boy and force him to surrender. And once he did, he would break him by ridding his future of these insignificant people he abandoned NERV in favor of protecting. Everyone and everything in life existed to be taken away, and he would take everything from his son until he had nothing left.
"Commence the operation and deliver the ultimatum," he ordered someone over the phone in his office.
To be continued…
A/N: What did you think of the dream sequence? It might be something related only to those that Kaede's step-grandfather turned into Titans so long as they're still in possession of the power. And as for NERV, Shinji will have to deal with two different situations where he will have difficulty.