Creation began on 08-27-18
Creation ended on 08-30-18
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Hope from the Sky: Bound by Purpose
A/N: Title was inspired by the song. Credit goes to Strength in Solitude [Wren] for their comment on YouTube, since it helps to progress the story here.
It was an old saying made by the initial generation of people that became the first incarnation of the Survey Corps, but Shinji found it to be quite inspiring to listen to. There was something about it that gave a sense of strength, of courage or conviction to why the later generations of the organization did what they did for the people that once lived in the walls and fought against the Titans. And it helped to reaffirm his own conviction to side with Eldia and fight against Marley.
"Honor guides me. Duty binds me. In this life, I have no reason to keep going, but I cannot lie down and die. No. Only weaklings would. I cannot. The one thing, that keeps me going, that defines me, is what I must do. I am not free to die. Nor free to live. I am bound by honor. I am bound by duty. I am bound by purpose." The old page he had found among some old papers belonging to the Survey Corps read as he sat down to read it to himself.
"Found something of interest?" He looked up and saw Erwin by the door leading into the room.
"Yes, sir," he answered, showing the paper. "Whoever wrote this in the past must've been very inspiring to others."
"A Survey Corps member known only as Wren," Erwin explained. "Some believe he was the first person to ever kill a Titan, proving that they weren't invincible."
"If that's true, then he must've been able to install a sense of hope himself in the people."
"Yeah, he might've."
"What do you suppose happened to him?"
"He gave up his life fighting for what he believed in."
Shinji nodded in acceptance of that belief, though he hoped that no more of the Survey Corps would have to give up their lives for what they believed in.
"How long has it been since the failed attempt with Marley?" Shinji asked him.
"Only five days," Erwin answered. "We've gotten the names and locations of all the towns and cities that have internment zones for the Eldian people around the Marley-ruled lands across the world now. So…whenever you're ready to do your part in our mitigation plan, Shinji Ikari."
Shinji set the paper down and got up. He decided that whoever this Wren has been to write what he did to inspire those around him would aid in inspiring him further to keep this up. The quote that might as well have been titled Bound by Purpose would be words to follow during times of crisis or war. And he, like everyone else involved in this matter that stood up for the people…would be bound by their convictions that aided in why they chose to fight.
"Bound by purpose," he expressed. "These are words that could be lived by for people, even after this is all over."
-x-
There were fifteen internment zones across Marley, meaning there were fifteen cities and towns that the Eva would have to hit in order to get the Eldians that wanted to be free. The queen, Historia, permitting the operation with her blessing, believed that it would be more beneficial to Shinji and the Survey Corps if Kaede Sogen was with them and suspended the Dark Titan's prison sentence until they had been able to liberate each location before the possibility of war became unavoidable.
"The sooner you two and the Survey Corps can achieve the gathering of our people from the internment zones, the better we'll be able to continue towards our future," Historia had told the two before they left to the carrier. "Be careful out there and watch each other's backs."
While Shinji was willing to risk the Eva's armor to get the people out of Marley, Kaede was hoping that the Titans dotting the island would be able to protect the people if anyone from Marley came while they were gone; she wasn't sure how fast the Eva was able to move while carrying both a large number of people or the carrier with that field or sphere it unleashed when it came back to Paradis, but she was hoping that it could do so for as much as possible, and if it required more Titan flesh to do so, she would supply it for Shinji's benefit.
"You take care of her, Shinji," Christine told Shinji.
"I'll guard her with my life," he responded.
Soon enough, Shinji was back inside the plug, accompanied by none other than his girlfriend.
"Cramped," she uttered as this was her first time inside the Eva. "What were your people thinking when they made this thing?"
"From what I was told and picked up while at NERV," he explained, "they were rushing everything they did as much as possible to get ready for when the Angels returned in fifteen years after Second Impact. This meant they weren't able to do everything they did properly. Then again, nothing is ever always done properly."
When the plug filled up with LCL, Kaede groaned as the fluid filled her lungs; she couldn't believe it when Shinji had told her that this substance that made it possible for him to connect with and control the Eva smelled and tasted like blood.
"Yeah, unfortunately, they couldn't or wouldn't do anything to remedy that," he told her.
"After this town we're heading to, I'm never getting into this plug with you unless there's no other choice," she told him.
"Totally," he agreed with her as the Eva activated. "Here goes nothing. Let's see if that wasn't a one-time only thing."
Outside on the carrier, Unit-01 rose up and generated the wings of light that appeared last time.
"Incredible," Hange sighed…and stumbled as the carrier was being lifted out of the water once more. "I'm seriously glad we have Shinji on our side."
The Abraham Lincoln, which housed at least two-hundred of the Survey Corps members currently present onboard and the few dozen former Eldian slaves that were restored to human form during the Angel attack on Paradis, was going to be used to hold and ferry as many of the future Eldians rescued as possible, since it was such a massive ship that was actually meant to complement over five-thousand people at any given time, given its military-intended purpose. It was hoped that in the future, the secondary aircraft carrier found, discovered to be named the John F. Kennedy, would be seaworthy once it was fixed by the Garrison and other people that were blessed with new knowledge that included ship maintenance.
"How many of these ships were ever made?" Kaede asked Shinji. "Because they're huge and they're heavy."
"There were a limited number of these carrier made over the years because they were so expensive to build and maintain. But this carrier was one of ten ever made as part of a class of supercarriers. The one you salvaged was actually the only one of its kind ever built. I'd say the chances of finding any other carriers would be slim. Amazing how you were able to dredge up the John F. Kennedy, though. That's one for the new history and record books."
"I'll be honest, though… I never want to move anything as heavy as a carrier, ever again."
"Heh-heh-heh… I can live with that. You're still young; you have your whole life ahead of you."
-x-
"…So, he defeated another Angel?" Gendo questioned Misato and Ritsuko in his office, two days after the last recorded attack Unit-01 was involved in.
"Yes, sir," Misato answered him.
"Again, he was aided by the Sogen girl," Ritsuko explained.
"Except the girl wasn't with him when the Angel appeared," said Fuyutsuki to them, also present in the office; he had reviewed the footage before having to show it to Gendo. "How did he receive aid from her when previous footage indicated that she was incarcerated by the young queen they both serve for her deception in protecting the people from Ikari's ultimatum?"
"It would appear that…the Third Child and the Sogen girl…share a connection that allows her to communicate with him through the subconscious," Ritsuko suggested; she had been confused by it, as well, but judging from older footage and some sort of dream-like memory obtained that showed the two teens in a tranquil setting at night, the girl had become more than what she had demonstrated recently.
"The deeper their bond, the greater they become," the sub-commander expressed.
However, this only made Gendo more disgusted with his son. His son…and the girl he was involved with. They had all of this power…and they wasted it every time by helping hopeless people instead of helping him in this world to achieve his grand design that was no longer viable. No Unit-01 with an S² Engine to eliminate its power restrictions or an extended power supply that was the result eating Titans, no Angels being defeated any further near or in Tokyo-3 because the last two decided to go to the other dimension Unit-01 was stranded in, and no matter what he or any of SEELE did, nothing was going to end the way they wanted. No, even if they had the Eva returned intact instead of in bits and pieces, the scenario was for naught because the situation had deviated from the original design based from the translations from the Dead Sea Scrolls that were never made public.
"…The Angel was trying to turn his hope into despair," he heard Misato say, "even though he knew what he was being shown wasn't true. Miss Sogen may have very well saved him from a pit of despair."
But Gendo felt that despair was all that Shinji deserved with what he'd done against NERV, himself and the world they resided in, simply because he may have doomed them by making the Human Instrumentality Project impossible to achieve, something he would inform SEELE about to see how they would react.
-x-
The city of Eisen was Marley's smallest city by the bay, with a population of less than two-thousand Marleyans…and an internment zone of less than three-hundred-forty Eldians. Fortunately, because of this, Eisen had little to concern itself with about the possibility of Eldians causing trouble for the Marleyan people, who made it clear that the second they did create trouble, whether it was being out after curfew or just wearing a dress or coat that Marleyans felt they weren't supposed to have, things would get ugly. This made the relationship between the two groups of people strained but simple enough to accept.
Suddenly, several of the Eldians of the internment zone began to walk out of the open gate that kept them locked in most of the time, the adults and teenagers wearing concerned faces while the children seemed rather compliant with whatever their parents or guardians were up to.
"Hey!" A member of the PSA shouted at them. "You're not authorized to leave the internment zone! Return to your homes, immediately!"
"We can't, sir," a man in his fifties responded. "They'll be here shortly."
"What are you talking about?" Another member of the PSA questioned. "Who will be here?"
Seconds later, the ground started to shake.
"They're here!" A little girl shouted.
Up in the sky, something was blocking the sunlight as it descended upon the ground. It was a giant; the giant that had appeared in Acier a few days ago, with these wings of light that appeared on its back, like some sort of monstrous angel with a horn.
Slam! It landed on the ground just by the coast, causing a small wave to hit the streets as it entered the streets.
"I'm here for the ones that desire liberation," the male voice the Marleyan people had heard from minute information from those in Acier had said was the one that controlled the giant uttered. "Let freedom be offered to those that seek it."
The Eldians quickly ran to the giant's legs.
"No! Stop! We'll shoot!" The PSA demanded, but the people that were despised by them kept running towards the giant's legs.
"Sayonara, Eisen," the giant expressed, waving to the people as it levitated off the ground, taking the Eldians with it as flew away.
But it didn't fly away from mainland; instead, it was flying inward, deeper into Marleyan territory, as if it were going towards another town or city that had Eldians in an internment zone.
-x-
"…How far apart are these fifteen towns and cities?" Levi asked an Eldian man that used to live in one of the internment zones deeper in Marley.
"Each town and city with an internment zone is miles apart from each other," he answered the young man. "Sometimes, it takes two-three days to get from one town to a city or another on foot. How are you able to get such a detailed description of the mainland from old maps we had of it?"
"Technology," said Hange as they were looking at an electronic display of the Marley mainland that had just shown the location known as Eisen being hit. "Marley never knew what was right there for the taking."
"Next place is the city of Grube," went Armin, showing the next internment zone location to be southeast of Eisen. "Eight-hundred Eldians reside there…and Ms. Sogen reveals that the whole internment zone wants to get out."
"How long before Shinji Ikari and Unit-01 reach the city from Eisen?" Erwin questioned.
"The Evangelion is moving at an unprecedented speed not displayed by the Titans," Sasha revealed. "Mach one. It'll be at Grube in less than a minute, sir."
"Incredible," Eren uttered; the Eva was flying faster than a Titan could run, whether displaying intellect or abnormal behavior.
"Unit-01 has now reached Grube," Shinji's voice uttered over the intercom to the Survey Corps.
"It's bigger than the first two towns," Kaede uttered. "None of the buildings are more than eight stories, though."
The plan was to strike the internment zones two at a time, so as to not overwhelm Shinji, and return to the carrier to deposit the liberated Eldians. This way, the Marleyan military wouldn't be able to know which places would be liberated and they couldn't be halted.
"The military is mostly spaced out across the place, but spread too thin," a former soldier from Acier had revealed to the Survey Corps. "If anyone were able to hit any of these places quickly, they'd probably feel more like they were one-upped by a bunch of amateurs or an organization much stronger than theirs."
"Well, they haven't fought the Survey Corps, the Garrison or an Evangelion or the Dark Titan yet," said Erwin in response to this.
-x-
"…What is he doing now, Major Katsuragi?" Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki asked Misato, three days later, curious as to what Shinji was up to in order to make a difference in the Titan world he was displaced in.
"He's been helping to relocate people that have been walled off to isolated parts of different cities and town across this continent," she answered him, "but the way he does it is unlike what we've anticipated from the Eva. He's able to make it fly and levitate large numbers of people to a carrier and even levitate the carrier itself, which should be impossible…but he's doing the impossible all the time."
"And… what of his… Well, what of his girlfriend?"
"From his memories we're just eavesdropping on through the Eva, it seems she's with him in the relocation operation. She was serving a two-month prison for her role in responding to Commander Ikari's ultimatum, but the queen suspended her sentence so that she could provide more assistance to the relocation operation. Some more footage, found to be memories of whenever Shinji's unconscious or in a dream state. It seems that Ms. Sogen IS able to reach out to him more than anyone else because of some personal development she goes through every once in a while. And last I checked, she got into the Entry Plug with him and experienced some of what he goes through each time he syncs with the Eva."
"Oh, is that really so? In what way does she experience what he does?"
"She…complained on how the LCL smelled and tasted like blood. I'm guessing that she doesn't like that aspect about the Eva any more than Shinji does, though he stated to her during their second encounter that piloting the Eva over there doesn't feel as hazardous as it seems to be here, but he doesn't want to jinx it in case something happens to change that."
"And what is…your personal opinion on the Sogen girl?"
"My… You want to hear of my personal opinion of the girl, Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki?"
"Yes, what do you think of her? Is she…someone that Shinji could truly spend the rest of his life with after everything else is said and done?"
"Honestly, sir, I think Kaede Sogen may be the only girl for him out there that actually sees him beyond the Eva. She views him as hope incarnate after finding out what he could about her current predicament that allows her and others like her to become these…Titans…and is willing to go out of her way to ensure that he's kept safe from his father and anyone else that might be after him for the Eva."
Yet, she might be helpless against Ikari, he thought as he worried about Gendo and his unwillingness to let the subject go just because of the girl's threat to them. It'd be worse than anything else if he decided to try and manipulate SEELE to get involved.
"What is your opinion on the girl, sir?" Misato asked him.
"Mine? Well, other than her compassionate personality and rather simple attire and dislike of any type of clothing that restricts her from wearing trousers under a dress, I find Ms. Sogen quite remarkable for wanting to be with someone like Shinji. And she is likely the first civilian to personally thank him for when he helped her people retake a wall she later tore down."
-x-
All over Grube, the Marleyans couldn't believe that a giant, purple behemoth was gathering the Eldian scum of the world from the internment zone. But what really surprised them was how the behemoth was able to take them from the city without a hassle; instead of relieving them from the buildings from the small zone that housed all eight-hundred of the enslaved people, the giant, against all impossibility, somehow ripped up the entire zone!
"My God," A Marleyan woman gasped as the zone was ripped from the very foundation and resembled a floating island with a giant statue in the middle of it, flying away.
Within the Eva, Shinji and Kaede couldn't believe that this was happening; Shinji's original intention was to rip up a small portion of the internment zone to relocate the Eldians to the carrier and Paradis, not rip up the whole zone. The young man was starting to see that this cybernetic behemoth was a lot stronger than usual now.
"We'd best get out of here before things get worse," he told Kaede.
"Yeah," she agreed with him. "We got who we came for."
The Eva levitated the large portion of land away from city.
"Are you okay so far, Shinji?" Kaede asked him, hoping the strain wasn't as intense as she felt it was for him.
"Just a feeling of weight in my hands," he assured her. "We may have to relocate this whole zone to Paradis instead of the carrier."
"Understood, Shinji," said Erwin over the intercom to them. "Be careful getting them there."
"Yes, sir."
With the Survey Corps leader's approval, the Evangelion pilot relocated the Eldians currently in its possession towards Paradis.
-x-
Again, Gendo was frustrated by SEELE's unwillingness to take the matter regarding the Titan world serious because of the Eva and the Sogen girl that had gained much power over the time spent there. Even if they found it tempting to possess an Evangelion able to raise small portions of landmasses off the ground and a bunch of people with it and carry them across a large body of water at an unprecedented speed, they dared not to risk provoking unnecessary conflict with was two nations already at war with each other and how the lesser nation the Third Child was affiliated with seemed to be the lesser of two dangers now. No, Gendo still had to abide by their order and leave the matter alone, even after he informed them about the Angels being dealt with by the Eva there instead of here and how the plan for Instrumentality had become compromised to the point of possibly never happening, no matter what occurred.
I refuse to let this end, he thought, looking at the recorded footage taken from the Eva's internal systems as it slayed the Angel on its own after the Third Child was encouraged to keep fighting by the girl after she reached out to him. Don't think it's over just yet, boy. You left yourself vulnerable by caring for people that won't always be there. One way or another, I will make you suffer for your disobedience and arrogance, even if it means destroying all that you know in this world you've abandoned!
-x-
Gasp! Kaede filled her lungs with air as she vacated the Entry Plug with Shinji so they could introduce themselves to the Eldians they liberated from Marley.
"Kaede," she turned to face Shinji as he flexed his left hand open and closed. "I really think we can do this."
"We can do this, Shinji," she agreed with him.
"I mean, war may be unavoidable, but we are helping the people to avoid it, right?"
He must need my approval to believe that we're making a difference here, she thought, and hugged him. "We're helping the people that want to avoid the conflict yet to happen, Shinji. So long as we can get to them, we can save them. So long as we can do something to help them, we can ensure their future."
Shinji smiled and felt relief from her words.
"Next place we get to is this town called Berg," he expressed, already seeing the place in his mind, "named after the mountain it was built around."
"And the internment zone location of three-hundred-seven Eldians, of which three-hundred-three of them want to get out of and relocate to here," she responded. "Let's go get them."
"The faster we move, the faster they can get here."
To be continued…
A/N: The worst people in life are the ones that refuse to stop trying to make life difficult for other people that just want to lead it simply. Don't know how long until the next chapter, but be on the lookout.
Omake (The Wolverine-influenced)
As they ran from Section Two, the Garrison and Survey Corps across Tokyo-3, Shinji Ikari, Kaede Sogen, Historia Reiss and the woman known simply as Ymir ran out of an alley and slowed down to catch their breath.
"Shinji, how far is it to the nicer parts of this place?" Kaede asked her boyfriend, who looked at the buildings and street signs.
"The nicer parts of downtown are another five blocks east of where we are right now," he answered her.
"Why don't we hide there for the night?" Ymir suggested, pointing towards a tall building that looked like a hotel, and then walked towards it.
"No, hold on a minute, that's not a simple hotel," Shinji uttered, but the girls had already gone inside. "This is a love hotel, you three."
"This is a what, Shinji?" Historia asked him.
"This is a love hotel," he repeated. "It's for couples when they want to…be alone together."
"Ooh," Kaede sighed; even if the four of them were couples in their own right, this really wasn't how they wanted to spend time alone together.
"Sorry," Ymir apologized, and then approached the front desk where a woman was working. "Uh, excuse me, can we get four rooms? Separate? Adjourning?"
Unfortunately, the woman was speaking a language none of the girls understood, meaning Shinji had to translate for them.
"What is she saying, Shinji?" Historia asked him when the woman was done talking and pointing towards a wall with several rooms that were lit up.
"She's saying they don't even have two rooms next to each other," he translated. "She wants to know if we prefer the labyrinth, the doctor's office, the hillside…or the moon suites."
Ymir and Historia looked at each other and then back to Shinji.
"Whichever ones are on the same floor," they told him.
Shinji then picked the hillside and moon suites, since they were on the same floor and just across the hall from each other; not adjourning, but they'd be close by to keep in touch with one another. Once he paid for them, he gave Historia and Ymir the key to the moon suite while he and Kaede took the hillside key and went up the elevator.
"How do you plan on sleeping tonight, Shinji?" Ymir asked him, trying to make a light joke on his and Kaede's suite being a hillside.
"I don't plan on sleeping," he answered her. "You and Historia plan to sleep with no gravity?"
"Like you, I don't intend to sleep, either."
"Looks like you and I are sleeping alone tonight," Historia told Kaede.
"Yeah," she agreed with her.