Hope from the Sky

by Traitor of All Traitors

Inspired by the works of other writers that took to it, this is my first attempt. Shinji and Unit-01, victims of the Twelfth Angel attack, find themselves in another world with giants that crave human flesh. Can Shinji offer his Eva's assistance in allowing mankind to cancel their extinction, or will he be joining them? Finally Finished. Bonus lemon chapter now uploaded.

51. Double Date!

Creation began on 12-20-18

Creation ended on 01-07-19

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Hope from the Sky: Double Date!

A/N: I'm sure you can guess who this pertains to.

She was bored out of her mind walking along the coastline of the island as she was keeping an eye out for Marleyan ships at night, but at least Kaede was doing her share after the day she had this afternoon…and the afternoon before. So far, she had returned one-hundred of the Wall Titans back into Eldians in an attempt to find Peppermint Doku's parents…and managed to find one relative of hers. An aunt on her father's side, somewhat removing her from the orphan category. And then, there were the other ninety-nine people freed from a living nightmare…but twelve of them weren't as fortunate when they were restored to their lives.

Three women and nine men, advanced in their natural age, passed away from natural causes right in front of Kaede and the Survey Corps, which sent a bad feeling of failure around.

The people endowed with greater medical knowledge confirmed that these twelve died due to heart failure, their hearts no longer able to support their frail bodies. They had also theorized that since nobody actually ages when turned into a mindless Titan, these elders were already dying before the First King turned them.

"Prolonged activity, most likely from traveling between here and Marley, and lack of water and medication prior to being turned caused their heart attacks and were what killed them," one of the medical examiners had informed them.

Still, it didn't do much to alleviate Kaede of her sense of guilt over restoring the elders and not expecting them to be in such a state of distress that was fatal for them.

Even Shinji could see that she was still thinking about it, even though it wasn't really her fault.

"It was the First King that turned them before he even considered that they were in no condition for anything else and needed rest and water," he told himself inside the Entry Plug of his Eva as he monitored coastline two miles ahead of Kaede in her Dark Titan. "Of course, he wasn't even considering using his power to turn them back. He didn't think to consider volunteers and just turned people into Titans to build the Walls and took the memories of other people to forget about Marley and the rest of the world just to live a lie for as long as he could."

For the last two hours, the oceans were still calm of any activity…until…

Splash! Something jumped out of the water for a moment…and splashed back into it.

"Oh, my God," he heard Armin say outside on the Eva's left shoulder. "That was a whale!"

A few seconds later, another one burst out from the ocean water and into the night, bathed only in the light of the stars and moon, enhancing its mysticism.

"A humpback whale," said Shinji, ensnared by its mysterious presence; this was his first time seeing an animal that went extinct in his world. "It's amazing."

"They're so beautiful," added Sasha on the Eva's right shoulder.

-x-

"…They really are beautiful," went Maya as she and Misato were observing what Shinji was looking at in the dead of night in Central Dogma.

As Misato heard the humpback whales sing their song at night, she couldn't help but be reminded that they lived in a world where these majestic giants of the ocean were forced to go away and could never return because of a disaster of godly proportions. To see that such beings were alive in this other dimension had her wondering if any such creatures would ever be seen in this one again.

"He has no idea how lucky he is to have seen an animal that no longer exists here," Maya uttered to her.

"Yeah," she responded, not really paying attention.

-x-

Even with the modern miracle of caffeinated beverages, including different flavors of coffee, nobody in the Survey Corps or Garrison were capable of pulling all-nighters. Nobody was exempt from this; even someone with the power of the Cart Titan needed sleep.

Shinji and Kaede walked back to the carrier for a few hours of sleep until later on.

"What was it that people say when they need to sleep?" Kaede asked Shinji as they entered his room. "Smash and earn?"

"Crash and burn, Kaede, but you were close," Shinji answered her, and fell onto the cot beside him while she took the bed.

"Crash…and…burn," Kaede yawned as she dozed off.

-x-

Even though he was now in charge, Fuyutsuki refused to use Gendo's office as his own. The lack of lighting and the inscriptions of the Tree of Life were an eyesore, not worth the migraine he got half the time from having to do the lesser work that he wouldn't do. Instead, he had the office repurposed to serve as a waiting room for people that needed to speak with him.

So far, with the rebuilding of Unit-02 progressing slowly, the search for the remaining Angels had yet to yield results. But Fuyutsuki was in no hurry to see results; if the Angels left in the world hadn't appeared yet to take out NERV or travel to the Titan universe to attack Unit-01, it was his hope that, in due time, the United Nations would see no further point in keeping NERV in force.

"Since you're in charge, Commander Fuyutsuki," went Kaji to the elder in the hallway as they walked towards the command bridge of Central Dogma, "are you okay with the side interest of Major Katsuragi… I mean, Sub-Commander Katsuragi monitoring the activity of the Third Child in the other dimension?"

Fuyutsuki looked at him and uttered, "I wouldn't call it a side interest or even a hobby…just as I wouldn't call what you've been doing a hobby."

"Sir, what do you mean by that?" Kaji asked, confused.

"You may continue with your pursuit, but do so after you find Rei Ayanami, please. I need to speak with her later."

As the elder walked away, Kaji was more confused over what he was talking about. He even started to suspect that Fuyutsuki had something planned for later.

-x-

"…How is Peppermint doing today, Ms. Doku?" Historia asked the aunt of the little girl that used to be a Wall Titan, watching as said girl was playing ball with the other children she looked after.

"She still misses her parents, but my being here helps her to cope with their absence," the salt-and-pepper-haired, shoulder-length woman of average build and height answered the young queen. "I thank you again for setting me free from that nightmare I was in."

"You're welcome, but it wasn't me. It was Ms. Sogen."

"The young lady the children are calling the Queen of the Titans?"

"Yes."

"How is she doing? I know that twelve people died suddenly after being returned to normal from natural causes, but that wasn't on her."

"I'm hoping that she's doing fine. It was awful, what happened to them."

"But in the end, I'm sure they were at least happy to know that they were longer Titans."

"What was your life like before being turned into a Titan, Ms. Doku?"

"Oh, I was just a florist, a…person that works with flowers. It was a simple profession, a happy life. My sister was a baker and her husband was a police officer. It was a nice life. We were happy. I mean, I thought we were happy."

"What happened?"

"A week after my niece turns seven, all of Hell breaks loose. Suddenly, the people of Marley, whom we were on speaking terms with, suddenly go and declare war on us and take one of the Nine Titans of Ymir Fritz and use it to hurt us. My best friend of the Tybur family finds me and says she's sorry, but our lives were to end that day. A day becomes days…and days turn to weeks…weeks into months…months into a year of conflict. The king gathers as many of us as he could and tells us all we have to come to Paradis where it'll be safe. But once we get here, I notice one of the elder women about to keel over from exhaustion. I was about to give her some water when I see the king become his family's Titan. He screams and I fall to my knees, feeling like my skin is going to explode, and the next thing I know…I'm wandering in the darkness. I don't know if I'm ever going to find my niece or sister, and I'm about to give up…when I hear another scream, more remorseful than the king's was not…and I'm waking up to find out that, within an illusion of a fortnight, centuries had passed by while I was a Titan that was tasked with being a part of a large wall because the king wanted to protect what remained of his people from Marley, whom he allowed to overthrow Eldia out of contempt for what our ancestors did long ago that we were not responsible for. The past is past. All we're responsible for of our generations living today is what we're doing. Let the sins of our ancestors lay with them, not us, their descendants."

Historia sighed and felt her own degree of resentment towards her paternal ancestor for doing what he did to this woman that did nothing wrong to anyone.

"Again, I apologize," she told her.

"And again, what happened then wasn't your fault, miss. You're a descendant of Ymir Fritz, not a descendant of Karl Fritz. You're not responsible for what he chose to do. You're responsible for what you do. I respect you for helping us."

"Thank you."

The woman then noticed the young queen's bodyguard, Ymir, coming over with a cup in both of her hands.

"Tea, Historia?" She offered the girl, who accepted.

"Yes, thank you," she responded.

The woman noticed, probably more so than any of the children the queen looked after, how the queen smiled whenever her bodyguard was around. Maybe she was seeing things, but she decided not to question it. Whatever it was that the queen did with whoever it was that was with her was her own business.

-x-

Even though it was nothing more than a dream, Shinji found the sight of Tokyo-3 back when he had just arrived after the brutality of his first battle against the Third Angel (something he still couldn't wrap his head around because a lot of it never made much sense, and because nobody back then was being very straightforward towards him about it), something he gave up on trying to understand after he defected from NERV with the destruction of Asuka's Unit-02, rather soothing…to a degree.

"So, this is Tokyo-3?" He turned around and saw Kaede, walking up to the barrier that kept people from falling over the hillside. "From a distance, it is…quite nice to look at."

"Yes, it is, but this was built to be a fortress city. People live there, but whenever the Angels attacked, it became a war zone. I don't think anyone should live in a place like this if it was always going to be a war zone when I think about it differently from how I used to think."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, when I spent my first night at Misato's apartment, I heard some people talk about leaving the city after the first attack. They didn't feel safe, anymore. I didn't blame them, though. Who would feel safe after hearing that a giant monster attacked a city you lived in?"

"But…it can't be all that different from how the Survey Corps fought with the Titans back then, right? I mean, they fought in Trost…and you fought in the coastal city…before I did anything."

"There is a difference between a city that was designed to be a fortress against invasions and a city that was meant to be a place where people could actually live in, have families in, build lives in, and Tokyo-3…didn't exactly fit the mold regarding the people that lived in it to me."

"And Paradius City is a place that fits the mold, despite us protecting its people from harm every now and then?"

"Yeah, Kaede, it does."

Leaning on the barrier, the girl sighed as the view of the fortress city, the closet she would ever get to really being there (not that she wanted to, that is) became soured by her boyfriend's opinion of its dual purpose as a place people lived…and as a battlefield for the monsters he used to face in defense of the people. While there were similarities in what they did in the places they did them in, the end difference was that all of these places on Paradis Island were places the Eldians lived without them needing to be repurposed into conflict zones…while this Tokyo-3 was just a city the Japanese lived in that they tried every now and then to make safe from attacks by giant monsters…because they didn't have anywhere else to go.

"I miss just being able to be like other people sometimes, Shinji," she told him.

He came over and leaned against the barrier on her right.

"What do you mean?" He asked her. "I mean, being like other people in what way?"

"Before the fighting…before the war…before that day the Colossal Titan appeared and blew the would-be peace and quiet away. Back then, and before then, people just did as they always did each day: Laugh, complain, hang with their friends, avoid confrontation, whatever it was that they did to fill their lives with some kind of activity. Didn't you ever have that kinda life? Before Tokyo-3…before these Angels…before that awful day you went to see your father?"

Shinji thought about it and realized that, although his past after he was abandoned by Gendo was awful to a degree, he didn't have to be concerned about anything he had done with his life and was forced onto him. Back then, there was no Eva, no Angels, no needing to be some protector for the human race against creatures he didn't understand in the slightest degree beyond just being told they were out to wipe out humanity. But even as he didn't have to concern himself over those, he also had to be reminded that he wasn't sure exactly where his life was going. He was the son of a man that wanted nothing to do with him, whose own mother was supposedly killed by him, and that had been a stigma that followed him like a stain on one's clothes that couldn't be washed away.

"Back when it was as close to normal as normal could've been," he sighed, "but that life, even way back then…felt empty…because I didn't really have anything to look forward to. I didn't know what I was going to do in the future."

"I didn't know what I was going to do, either. I just looked forward to seeing the next day without having to worry about something bad. The worst thing that ever happened was just losing my father. I mean…it was the first of the worst to happen to me. What about you?"

"For me, losing my mother…was the first of the worst. My father abandoning me was the second worst thing that happened. To be truthful, I never recovered from those experiences…and just being dragged into a world of conflict didn't help to explain or resolve anything. Even if things have changed now, the life I had back there in that city…and before it, it's always going to be a cluster of unresolved issues that stem from an unhappy childhood."

Just like how mine had to be my being detached from the people for five, long years, she thought, and those were five years she wouldn't get back, no matter what she did. "If there was one thing you could do that could make up for some of your past before the violence, anything at all, what would it be?"

"A day off from the responsibilities I have," he told her. "Just one day to be a regular person. Some time spent at the beach, some time spent at the park, or just eating out somewhere with you. I could put whatever troubles I have on hold and…just enjoy my life."

She placed her right hand on his left hand and expressed, "A day to be free from the life you lead to enjoy the life you never had…sounds like a good day."

"Yeah…it would."

Suddenly, the world around them became fuzzy…and consumed by darkness.

Shinji awoke from his slumber, a bit rejuvenated, and looked at Kaede as she awoke.

"We had the same dream, didn't we?" He asked her.

"Yeah," she answered.

-x-

"…Rei, what I'm about to ask you to do is probably something you wouldn't hear from Ikari, but as I'm in charge, I can only ask that you respond as you were like any other person I would ask of this," Fuyutsuki told the albino girl when she came to his office at a later time once synchronization testing was over. "You understand, right?"

"Yes, sir," she answered him.

"Rei…I need you to go down to Terminal Dogma…and dispose of Lilith with an N² bomb."

First, Gendo Ikari had Rei impale Lilith with the Lance of Longinus…and now Kozo Fuyutsuki, the new leader of NERV, was telling her to destroy Lilith, one man that had been seeking Human Instrumentality…and another man that was now looking to prevent it from happening.

"So long as Lilith is around, anyone that knows about her can attempt the forbidden union between her and Adam, and this must not happen. And as long as Lilith is alive, you won't be recognized as a person in the literal sense, Rei."

And if she destroyed Lilith, then her link to the Eva would be severed. The very purpose Commander Ikari had for her ever since she was tasked with piloting the Eva would be undone. And what would happen then? What then for her if she couldn't pilot the Eva?

"Yes, sir," she answered him and walked away.

It was Fuyutsuki's hope that by destroying Lilith, Third Impact couldn't be implemented and the remaining Angels would cease their actions against the human race. If Lilith wasn't alive or intact, that meant there would be no Third Impact achieved…and if no Third Impact was achieved, it meant no end of the world for mankind. This was his hope.

No Lilith, no further need for the Evas, he thought.

-x-

Returning to her room for the remainder of the day after Shinji escorted her home, Kaede fell onto her bed and yelled into her pillow, venting.

"I take it you had a bad day?" Sig, standing outside her room, asked her.

She turned to face him and responded, "Not exactly. Shinji and I had a…teen-life crisis of sorts."

"You two had a teen-life crisis? As in, you two had a mid-life crisis that targets you young teens? What kind of crisis are you two having, exactly?"

"Despite the good we've done in the following months since Shinji arrived and changed things, neither of us have been able to simply be like other teens."

"Honestly, even I don't know what you youngsters are like. You kids were forced to grow up too fast because of the Titans back then."

"Try Shinji's past situation. Before his father forced him to pilot the Eva, his life was deprived of any happiness because he couldn't enjoy life. We're not all that different; he couldn't enjoy life…and I was trying to live each day without turning into a monster."

Sighing, Sig sat on the edge of his stepdaughter's bed and looked down at her.

"Why not ask for some time off from Historia?" He suggested. "I'm sure she'd approve."

"I'm pretty sure she'd be in trouble without Shinji and I if we up and left for a day and forgot something that she needed our know-how on. True, she has Ymir at her side, but Ymir is her bodyguard and best friend. It'd make me feel bad if I didn't do my job."

"I've said it before…and I'll say it again. You kids were forced to grow up fast. All of you, including Historia. Just ask her the next time you see her. Even if it's only one day, at least it'll be a day when you can be yourself, whoever that person is for that day."

"Are you sure you didn't get any of that wisdom from after I got the Founder, because I'm sure you never had knowledge like this before."

"We've been living together for, like, what, six years? Even though we've barely spoken to each other, I think I know you well enough to know that you're not entirely happy with your life. I'm not telling you to ask her for a day off or anything… I'm just suggesting that you ask her. There's a difference."

Laying on her back, Kaede chuckled and said to him, "Okay, I'll ask her when I go back to the village to see her, but I can probably guess that she's gonna say something that's the opposite of what I'd like to hear."

"Oh, have hope, girl. You never know for certain."

-x-

"…You're gonna wear yourself out, eventually," said Ymir to Historia, seeing the young queen with her head down on the kitchen table, looking at her with an exhausted look on her face, "unless you already have, that is."

"So many kids, never enough hours in the days to do everything for everyone," she told Ymir. "Comes with the responsibility of being the queen, though, I guess."

"It comes with any position, actually," Ymir responded; she guessed that she understood it well enough that anyone, even Historia, could feel a little overwhelmed after a while. "But you have the biggest position out of everyone here, and it's because of your position that you get to decide anything and everything on the whole island…and what kind of queen you want to be."

"Though, as much as I can cope with the responsibility…I wouldn't mind just one day to myself and relaxing. My family hid behind a false monarch, but they decided everything. I'm not hiding behind any false faces, but do you think one day off would be alright to just…forget that I'm in charge and…whatever?"

"Personally, I think one day off wouldn't be a bad thing for you, Historia. You shouldn't be overworked and let the others assist in the caring of the children. You don't have to do everything all the time. You're not superhuman."

Historia smiled and chuckled at Ymir's comment on her not being superhuman.

"We both need a day off together," she told her.

-x-

The very next day carried quite an unexpected discovery: Historia had requested the presence of Shinji and Kaede as she and Ymir made their way to Paradius City to converse with the couple. This surprised Shinji and Kaede, as the former wasn't expecting to see or hear from the queen for a few days while the latter was going to go see her to request a day off.

"Does this seem unusual to you, Shinji?" Kaede asked as they were going up an elevator to the city's tallest skyscraper's rooftop.

"It's very unusual because I didn't expect to hear from her until a few days had passed. I wonder why she wants to see us now…and here. Why here?"

Ding. The elevator had reached their destination floor and the doors opened to reveal several Garrison members in front of the two.

"Uh, we're here to see Ms. Reiss," Kaede stated to them.

"Yes, she is expecting you two on the roof," a female member responded, pointing towards a door at the end of the hall on her right. "Just go down that way towards a staircase."

"Thank you," Shinji praised as they vacated the elevator and walked towards the stairs.

When they reached the roof, they could see that a lot of effort went into repairing it back when Shinji and the Survey Corps had found it and were able to reclaim for habitation. The weeds had been cleared up, most of the cracks were filled in and there were these large vases of flowers and bonsai trees and a few larger trees scattered around that were likely part of the original design of the building.

Historia and Ymir were nearby where Shinji and Kaede were, sitting on a bench beside a tree.

"Hey, you two," Historia greeted them.

"Hello, Historia, Ymir," Shinji greeted back, bowing his head.

"Are you well, Kaede?" Ymir asked.

"I'm fine," she answered, "just a little…"

"Overwhelmed?" Historia cut her off kindly.

"Yeah," she confessed.

"Same here," the young queen added. "What about you, Shinji?"

"Yeah, but I can't complain much about that. I rest when I'm able to."

"Yet, it seems like, despite being able to work with Kaede, you never seem to…have time for her…or yourself."

"Well, we are dealing with another group of people that want to exterminate us and we're trying to serve the needs of the people here to the best of our abilities…"

"So, you mean to say that you never once thought about taking Kaede out on a date?" Ymir asked him, which caught him off guard.

"Well, I have thought about it, but… I could never…"

Kaede looked at him and seemed to get what he was trying to state.

"He would likely ask me something of that sort when he has a day off," she considered. "I would've done the same…had I asked for one myself."

"Sounds like we're all getting the feeling of being overwhelmed by all that we do," said Ymir to them. "All the more part of the reason Historia wanted us four to meet here."

"I don't understand," Shinji expressed.

"The four of us need a day off," Historia explained their reason for being here. "I need to know when the best day would be to step back from what we do and just be like regular people."

"Would it be too much to ask if we could take tomorrow off?" Kaede asked. "That'd be a good time to take a day off and relax from our responsibilities."

"And go out on a date someplace," suggested Shinji.

"Yeah, totally need to do that."

"I'm all for it," Ymir told them.

"So, then…tomorrow it is," Historia uttered. "Maybe we should double date."

Shinji and Kaede looked at each other before looking back Historia.

"Okay," they both agreed, willing to go with this idea.

-x-

"Okay," Misato and Ritsuko heard Shinji and Kaede say in response to Historia's suggestion that they double date on their day off.

"I can't believe he just agreed to that," Misato stated to the faux-blond woman beside her on the bridge in Central Dogma.

"It only confirms that the queen is in a relationship with her bodyguard," Ritsuko responded, "but hadn't been able to go on a date with her."

"And when seeking information from Shinji regarding same-sex relationships," went Maya, also observing the recorded memory, "he was very open with his responses to Ms. Sogen."

"He was being honest about what he knew from his perspective, which isn't entirely false."

"He wouldn't lie to Historia," Misato expressed. "What does he have to gain through lying to a girl who's been the target of another girl's affection? You heard what Sasha Blouse once said to him. He's too nice for his own good. A kid that doesn't want to lie and wasn't fit for a life of violence…but got drafted in is not such a terrible person."

The only reason they were even able to get this memory of Shinji's was because he was currently synced with the Eva and doing another watch of the coastal edges for any signs of Marleyan naval ships from a distance with the Dark Titan wading in the ocean beside it. In the present, all they really knew was that Shinji was looking forward to the double date, even though it wasn't likely to be anything classy like the kind you see in the films.

"It seems like the island of Paradis is getting to the modern day period," Misato expressed as they saw the Eva pass by a small village that looked as though it had been recently established with more modern technology like the kind they'd use in their world, but were still using primitive technology, such as lanterns strung up around the walkways and edges for the people to see the world beyond their establishment, getting a good look at the Eva and the Dark Titan.

"Which would be where we currently are," Ritsuko stated, "since it seemed Marley isn't anywhere near as advanced as what was found in that Eldian coastal city on Paradis."

"Paradius City," Maya clarified, "like a time capsule containing various technologies from our present-day world."

They could see that Shinji noticed some children were up way past their bedtime, just wanting to see the purple giant walk past their home and the Dark Titan in the water.

"Ever the nicest person alive," Ritsuko uttered.

-x-

Because the N² charge she was using held a shaped charge, Rei could adjust the range and yield of the explosion to just the section of Terminal Dogma that contained Lilith. A small-scale explosion less than a tenth of what was used in the nuclear bombing of Nagasaki should've been sufficient in making sure that there was no salvageable trace of Lilith and that no alarms would go off. Once the charge was inserted into her, Rei had Unit-00 step back and spread its AT-Field to the max before the explosion occurred.

Nobody could hear the explosion or feel the tremor that came. When a minute passed, all that was left was a red, melted cross and charred remains of a giant that sank into the half-evaporated lake of LCL below.

"Commander Fuyutsuki," Rei uttered to her superior.

"Were you able to do it, Rei?" Fuyutsuki responded.

"Yes, sir," she answered him. "Lilith is no more."

"That's good, Rei. Return Unit-00 to the pens and go home."

Rei obliged and vacated the chamber. With no Lilith, she felt empty, like there was no longer any other reason for her to exist, and wondered what was left for her to do if there was no longer any need to pilot the Eva any further.

-x-

With the discovery of there being more than one type of time to live by in history, as the Survey Corps, Garrison and former Military Police used to live by military time, and the fact that many of the small devices they found around Paradius City still had the capacity to tell time and told a pretty depressing year that seemed impossible to be accurate (but might as well have been), Shinji and Kaede had to insist that, despite the impossibility of it, it was, undoubtedly, a year that was truly over what had initially been believed. Way over what the current year and century Shinji came from was.

"Gives a whole new meaning to this song I found called 'In the Year 2525'," said Marco as a sort of joke, though nobody really laughed at the partial-disturbing fact that they were past that year…and the Twenty-Sixth Century.

Shinji and Kaede, after calling it a day after their night shift keeping watch over the coastal edges of the island, slept in for much of the early morning and afternoon as they rested for their double date with Historia and Ymir.

"How does a double date work?" Ymir had asked, as it never occurred that the four of them would even date on the same day.

"Honestly," Shinji had explained to the best of his ability, "it's just a social event where two couples hang out."

"Basically, two couples attend the same places and everything?" Kaede made sure she understood right.

"That's right."

With only a few hours of rest left before their double date began, all four had to agree on how to best prepare, which was basically resting and wearing their fun clothes, whichever they were.

"Wow, Ymir," went Historia as she saw her in her chosen outfit. "You look beautiful."

Wearing a teal-colored dress with long sleeves, Ymir examined herself in a mirror before looking at Historia, who was wearing a simple, white dress with long sleeves.

"So do you," she told her.

"It's almost eight now. Shinji and Kaede should be here in a while, depending on how they get here from the city."

"Will they be arriving on his Eva or on her Titan?"

"Probably her Titan, since Kaede's smaller forms can be unnoticed by people a little."

Historia then looked outside her bedroom window at the other houses that housed the children being looked after by the adults in the village, a look of worry on her face.

"Do you think they'll be okay while we're gone for a few hours?" She asked Ymir.

Ymir came over and looked out the window at the other houses that were built so close together they might as well have been one building spread across the village.

"Yeah," she answered her. "They know it's only for tonight. We'll be back before they even wake up tomorrow."

The young queen nodded, but she still had her concerns because the orphans were needy and happier when she and Ymir were around, when they knew they were around.

"You really sure they'll be okay while we're gone?" She asked her again.

"Positive," Ymir responded, and could understand that Historia was just nervous about their date and not getting cold feet over it. "Maybe you should check to see if they're okay."

Historia was about to do just that, but then realized what Ymir had suggested.

"Eh-heh-heh! So nervous and everything," she told her.

"It's okay to be nervous. We just want to have a good time without worry."

-x-

"…He's been rather upset at being unable to know what NERV has been up to," Yui had informed Fuyutsuki about her husband's response to the Committee's decision to relieve him of command of NERV, walking down the hallway with the elder.

"Nothing much has changed since he left," Fuyutsuki told her. "We're still rebuilding Unit-02 and performing synchronization tests…and observing Shinji's activities through his synchronization with the Eva in the other universe. It would appear that he and Ms. Sogen are attending a double date with the young queen, Historia, and her bodyguard, Ymir."

"A double date comprised of three girls and a boy? That's a surprise."

"It turns out that they're going on this double date because neither couple has had time for themselves, instead having had to look after the people around them on the island."

"And when this Historia Reiss isn't being the queen, she's taking care of over a dozen children orphaned by war and crime in a small village with Ymir as her bodyguard to keep her close, Shinji spends his rare periods with Kaede at her family's apartment in this coastal city when he doesn't need to be on an aircraft carrier in case of danger and needs to get to the Eva, and they just disposed of a nutter who was beyond forgiveness and whom the girl feared would've harmed her family if he got the chance. I can't imagine how they were able to go this long without any quality time together."

"They put the needs of the people that look up to them before their own needs, being responsible, despite their ages and limitations."

Yui had forgotten how much piloting the Eva and facing the Angels had been depriving her son of his life and how, despite his service being necessary to the salvation of mankind, he hated it all the time. And now, despite his predicament of living in another universe where the only enemy was just another country, he was trying to retain some free time for himself.

"What do you suppose are the chances of another Angel attacking over there?" She asked.

"Slim to none, actually," Fuyutsuki answered her; if he was right about this, there would be no more attacks from the Angels now that Lilith was dead. "If the last Angel was smart enough to overestimate its ability to take down an Evangelion allied with a Titan Shifter more powerful than those that came before her, then the remaining ones are smart enough not to underestimate it or even go after it."

But in truth, Yui just wanted something to happen to confirm whether or not the Angels left were still a threat. She hated not being able to do anything that gave meaning to what NERV did around here.

-x-

It was probably a risk on her part, but Kaede just wanted to look her best for Shinji, so she cast aside her trousers while wearing a dark blue dress that seemed to invoke a sailing theme, only it came with a skirt that reached below her knees. But she didn't want her legs to get cold, so she put on a thick pair of leggings. One of her only minor problems, though…was whether or not she should try to get Shinji's attention more with her…lack of assets; ever since she hit puberty, her chest developed the least. She was practically flat-chested.

"What are those?" She remembered asking her mother one afternoon when she was seven, helping her with the laundry, curious about the two lumps under her blouse.

"They're called breasts, Kaede," Christine had explained to her.

"Are they always like that?"

"Not always."

"Will I get them?"

"You have to wait until you're older, like fourteen or fifteen, before they start coming in."

"How long is that?"

"You're seven years old now, so another seven or eight more years, when you're taller."

"That long?"

"That's right."

"What are they for?"

"Besides being another source of weight on the female body, they're often a sign that a girl becomes a woman. And when you have kids of your own one day, they… Well, they start to be what you need to take care of a baby when they're too young to feed with a bottle."

But because of the way her mother was explaining it at the time, all Kaede could interpret the function of the breasts when regarding babies…was that exposed organ on a cow that produced milk, which confused her further.

Even after she hit fourteen, she was still small, something she had to forget about back then a bit because nobody knew who she was just yet. But today, being well known and seen as an important part of Eldia's path to the future, she felt like she was still waiting for her breasts to set in like her mother's had when she was little.

"You do realize that Shinji's just going to like who he already sees every chance he gets, right?" Sig had asked her as she examined her figure in the mirror in her room when she was still getting ready for the double date, and she turned to face him, covering her halter with her arms.

"Why didn't I close my door while I was getting ready?" She had questioned.

"Just my advising you not to worry about your appearance so much," he told her. "I knew a girl like that when I was nineteen, and I had to tell her one time that her boyfriend at that time was going to pay more attention to her personality than her chest. There's no need to highlight or fake anything that's already there."

"Thank you," she told him, grateful for his advice.

The only thing that was likely going to suck with her dress was it getting damp when she vacated her Titan after she and Shinji picked up Historia and Ymir and went wherever. And right now, as the Jaw Titan-influenced Dark Titan, she and Shinji approached the orphan village to get the other couple.

"The crazy thing about tonight is that we have nothing much planned!" Shinji expressed as they reached the village.

"Just go with the flow, Shinji," Kaede told him as she stopped by the house at the edge of the village where she wouldn't be seen by most of the children and where she could see Historia and Ymir running over.

"It's a good thing you showed up when you did," Ymir told them as Kaede lowered her Titan's right arm for her and Historia, "because the queen here was beginning to get cold feet."

"Not that much," Historia defended as Kaede lifted them up to her back. "I mean, I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to the children while we're gone for the night."

"You sound more as though you're a concerned parent than a worried guardian," Shinji stated honestly, "which isn't a bad thing."

"Is that so, Shinji? Is that right?" Historia asked him.

"Well, yeah. Your agitation over their wellbeing shows your heart is in the right place."

"Isn't there a negative to that?" Ymir asked.

"Yes," went Kaede as she ran away from the village with them on her back. "It's called being overprotective, which shows when you get too close into a person's personal space."

"So…what are we doing tonight?" Historia asked.

"I heard a while back that there was some sort of rave that's happening on the eastern side of what was left of Wall Maria," Shinji informed. "Some people, including members of the Garrison, got knowledge of music and dance that even I knew nothing about. Anyone interested in dancing at an outdoor party?"

"A rave is a dance party?" Ymir asked him.

"Yeah, just not any traditional dancing is performed. People can freestyle at these raves."

"And what is freestyle?"

"It's where people dance however they choose, depending on their personality traits and the way they feel to the music being played," Kaede explained.

As she carried them to where the rave location was expected to be, Kaede climbed up the remnants of the wall that were still intact, enabling them to see the site from a high point.

"Whoa," Ymir gasped, seeing something unlike anything she knew over sixty years ago.

There was a large, metal structure a good distance away from where the wall still stood, large lights of various colors shining at every direction. All around the structure were several generators used to power the lights and loudspeakers that were blaring with noise. And people, dozens of people, were dancing like crazies, with glow sticks and rings on their arms and necks.

"My God," Historia uttered, impressed by the sight. "This is a rave?"

"Yeah," Shinji uttered as Kaede carried them back down to the ground below and exited her Titan body.

"Shall we?" She asked them as she felt her face cheeks for any minor scarring that would've resulted from using her power.

"Totally," Ymir said, and they walked over to the ravers as the music blared in the background.

-x-

"…Hold on, they're going on a date?" Asuka asked Misato when the purple-haired woman informed her of what Shinji was up to in the other world after coming home.

"A double date, actually," she explained. "Shinji's with Kaede and Historia's with Ymir."

"Why would they choose now to go on a double date? And wait a minute, isn't this Ymir person also a girl? That young queen is with her bodyguard? Isn't that…prohibited?"

"Believe it or not, Asuka, what's between those two is actually mutual…and Shinji and Kaede might be the only ones to actually know about it because they were asked about it."

"The girl's royalty…and yet she's…involved with her bodyguard. If people find out, they're going to disapprove of their relationship because of how important it is for her to have a successor in her later years when she's no longer able to be the monarch."

"Right now…nobody's concerned about the queen settling down and having children of her own any time soon. So long as they're able to contend with Marley with their superior technology and knowledge over their larger numbers, they're just trying to embrace a new way of living on their island as they try to go beyond it without persecution or being exterminated."

Pen-Pen walked past the two to return to his fridge, oblivious to what they were discussing.

"How does that Sogen girl know Shinji won't try something with her and she tries to let him go easy?" Asuka asked.

"I think we both know that Shinji wouldn't try anything with her," Misato stated, defending that Shinji wouldn't take advantage of Kaede. "Remember the memory where she kissed him after he told her that despite being able to turn into a Titan, she was still as human as the day she was born? Never saw any girl as happy as she had been to find out that they can still have a future of their choosing without it being decided upon by other factors. Plus…after seeing her with him, I can picture what their kids would look like if they had any right now."

"You're sick, Misato," Asuka told her as she walked back to the living room.

"Don't forget that you're the one that asked her."

-x-

It was really was turning out to be a good rave for the double daters as they danced with the ravers there.

Historia had found herself some glow sticks and gave half to Shinji and Kaede while they were dancing with Ymir.

The music was still blaring, but nobody was going deaf from it. And after a few more minutes, Kaede pulled Shinji away from the ravers behind a nearby tree.

"Should we really spend the whole night at this rave?" She asked him.

"Nope," he answered; they had a whole different night planned out, and being at this dance party was just one part of it. "We still have the whole night planned to waste away."

A whole hour had passed by until someone had declared the rave to have ended and that everyone had to leave.

"Well, that was fun," went Historia, panting as she dropped the glow sticks.

"Very," added Ymir. "You weren't a bad dancer out there."

"You weren't too bad yourself."

"Thank you."

As some of the people were returning to the town inside the former wall, others were heading towards whatever settlements that existed beyond it.

Nobody saw a brief flash of light or hear a tremble that was Kaede turning into her Titan and running with her passengers towards Paradius City faster than a car could drive.

-x-

"You wanted to see me, sir?" Ritsuko asked Fuyutsuki as she walked into his office.

"Yes," he responded, deciding to grease the wheels of SEELE's scenario further. "I needed to ask you something personal…and professional…on the same topic."

"Which is?"

"How committed are you to the Human Instrumentality Project?"

"Professionally, it wasn't something I was dedicated to. Personally, it's not something I feel should happen, no matter which side survives."

"And…if I were to ask you to destroy the Adam embryo…would you do it?"

This was a question Ritsuko Akagi didn't expect to hear from Fuyutsuki now that he was in charge. Not only was he in charge now, but he could've decided anything NERV was to do. And while they did possess Adam in his embryonic state in safekeeping away from Lilith, there was no telling what could happen with it now that the scenario was thrown off with Shinji's defection from NERV and this world.

"It would depend on whether or not it could be disposed of," she expressed. "Why?"

"Just a question, nothing more than that," he responded. "You're dismissed."

As Ritsuko vacated the office, she decided to look into finding a way to dispose of Adam…but after reevaluating more of the recorded footage from Unit-01 so she could still poke around at Shinji's digital memories of his time in the Titan world, hoping to understand more of the workings of this Dark Titan that became one of the Paradis island's resident protectors. Every time she poked around the older memories, she got the feeling that she was getting closer to the memories of the first time he arrived there, the time where he fought the Colossal Titan and defeated it to save these Eldians.

Sighing, Fuyutsuki decided to refrain on telling anyone that Lilith was disposed of.

-x-

"…My gosh," Historia gasped at the sight of a street that had been cleared of its debris and looking like a marvel of beauty made of marble and steel and saturated with water. "What is this place?"

"It's…beautiful," expressed Ymir, though she was confused by why the groundwork had so many holes in the metal base.

"I saw something like this once before on television," Shinji realized, but couldn't recall what it was; he only knew that it was related in some way to fountains.

"It's a splash fountain," went Kaede; some time ago, in her dreams, she had tapped into the power of the Founding Titan to give herself a brief history lesson of the city's architecture. "It's a fountain that shoots up water from the ground."

"When did you learn about this?" Shinji asked her, curious.

"While I was sleeping," she explained, walking over to the splash fountain. "Maybe they're still working on this one."

Historia looked around the large, inactive splash fountain, and noticed a small, metal box nearby with a switch on it.

"I don't know, Kaede," went Ymir to the Titan Shifter, walking onto the center of the architectural structure. "It's been months since we mostly relocated more people from the Walls to this place. A lot of work went into reclaiming it all, so it's likely that with the return of knowledge they were able to get this working…unless it's not connected to a water source."

"Or maybe it's just not turned on," Historia told them, and then flipped the switch.

Shinji, closest to Historia when she did this, heard a humming sound emanating from under his feet…and felt a minor rumbling.

"Incoming!" He yelled, but it was too late.

Water, lit up by random lights that seemed built right into the holes, shot up and released small geysers into the air around Shinji, Kaede and Ymir, soaking them.

"Aaah!" Kaede gasped, running away from the geysers onto a patch of the fountain that wasn't shooting. "Over here!"

But before Shinji and Ymir could escape the vertical streams of water that had caught them, they water ceased where they were…and continued where Kaede had moved, resuming her soaking.

"Oh!" She gasped.

"It's a timed setting!" Shinji realized, running over to his girlfriend. "It sprays in different patterns at random moments!"

"Ah-ha-ha-ha!" Historia laughed at the three, but then ended up getting soaked herself when the water around them ceased spraying. "Aaah!"

"Ha-ha-ha!" Kaede and Ymir laughed at her.

"We gotta move!" Shinji laughed, running over to a patch where the water wasn't spraying. "Over here!"

The ladies rushed over, but then the water stopped and started spraying on the other side of the fountain away from them.

"Move that way!" Ymir pointed over to her left as the water began spraying in a rising and lowering way, as if it were chasing them.

They ran all across the fountain, either able to outrun the water or ending up doused by it.

Historia and Shinji once slipped and slid across the wet metal while their girlfriends laughed at them before getting laughed by their soaked partners as they were getting wet.

It went on for a couple of minutes until Shinji ran over to the power switch and turned it off, putting an end to the excitement.

"That was fun!" Historia cheered as she sat on a nearby bench.

"You said it," added Kaede as she sat next to her. "This was the first time I got wet with my clothes on and it wasn't raining."

Shinji, on the wet metal surface, stared up at the sky and couldn't help but feel such elation over the whole experience.

"Best night out ever," he praised.

-x-

With the severe loss of Marley's Eldian population due to the raids by the demons of Paradis and their purple giant and this…Dark Titan that Grausam created over five years ago to test his original formula, Theo Magath, due to the loss of Grausam, was transferred command of a Marleyan unit while Calvi had what remained of the Titan Biology Research Society to resume production of the Jaeger Serum and its variants after the creator left the secret to them before departing to the island.

"Since I'm in this for the long run, I have to make sure Marley has the gift I gave in exchange for a new life," Grausam had told him a few days before leaving on one of the ships that was leaving for Paradis. "My notes containing all my secrets of the Jaeger Serum and Jaeger Titans are now yours to carry on. Good luck to you in the future…and until we meet again."

It was his insurance that Marley wouldn't be defeated, no matter what happened to himself, and if he was gone, if the fleet hadn't reported back in another three days, then Calvi would have to consider the fleet's invasion plan another failure, especially since a member of the Tybur family had gone with the fleet after taking a variation of the Jaeger Serum to increase their War Hammer Titan's height. To have so much trouble from such a small island…was an embarrassment to the whole nation. But soon, the tables would turn when they got their answer within the next three days. If attacks at sea failed to do away with the Eldians of Paradis, they would find a method that they couldn't best…and send them back to Hell.

Grausam's Jaeger Serum is Marley's version of Ymir's Curse, he thought, overlooking the empty internment zone of Acier, only it's now Grausam's Curse, meant to condemn what's left of Eldia. And from their ashes, Marley will be free of all its enemies.

-x-

She felt the sun's rays on her face…and opened her eyes to the gorgeous sunrise.

"Wha…" Historia muttered, feeling a pair of hands holding her and seeing Ymir behind her as she was asleep.

Looking to their right, she saw Shinji and Kaede asleep in each other's embrace, and found that they were on the beach. Then she checked her watch and realized what time it was.

"Oh, gosh, it's six-thirty!" She gasped, stirring up the others. "It's six-thirty!"

Shinji checked his watch and realized Historia was right.

"Uh-oh," he uttered. "What time were you two supposed to be back?"

"Before the children got up, at seven," Ymir answered.

Getting off the sunloungers that they found last night, Kaede uttered, "I blacked out after Shinji and I kissed. I had a really nice dream, too."

"We gotta get these two back home," Shinji told her.

"You'll be back at your village in no time," she assured them.

-x-

Thud! A strange noise awoke several of the orphans from their slumber and out of bed.

"Did anyone hear something?" A little boy asked a girl across the hall as she and three other girls had been stirred from their slumber.

"Was it an earthquake?" One of the girls suggested.

They went downstairs and found Historia and Ymir, setting one of the tables up for breakfast.

"Rise and shine, sleepyheads," Historia greeted them.

-x-

Running away after dropping Historia and Ymir off as fast as she could with Shinji, Kaede suspected that her arrival had caused a minor stir that awoke some of the children, but not quick enough to take notice of their guardian and her bodyguard's return.

"That was a close call," Shinji exhaled as he held onto her Titan's hair.

"Yep," Kaede agreed as she slowed down, having ran from the village far enough to be unnoticed by some people. "Last night…was the best night of my life, Shinji."

"It was mine, too."

"Let's make a promise that when we're done fighting with Marley, the four of us do something like this again."

"I'm down for that, Kaede."

As she carried her boyfriend back to the coastal city, Kaede looked up at the grayish-blue sky that challenged the rising sun. Their double date was unlike what she had expected of it. While not at all fancy or romantic like these novels the people had discovered, it was pleasant for her to escape her responsibilities as an advisor to Historia for the day…and she would do anything to make it so that they could all have more days like this when the need for fighting was no longer a necessity or a way of life.

"Still, you gotta explain it to me how you were able to transform without hurting yourself," Shinji uttered. "We were surprised and you didn't bite yourself or use a knife or…anything."

"I'm still working on how to transform without shedding blood, but one of the earlier tests we did with Hange showed that I don't often need to be harmed to shed blood, Shinji," she explained to him.

"What…do you mean by that, Kaede?" He asked her.

"As a girl, I can shed blood without wanting to for a few days until I recover from it."

Shinji was still confused by what she meant…until realization struck him.

"Oh…it's that time of the month for you," he realized. "Are you… I mean…are you hurt anywhere? Do you need anything?"

"No, I'm okay. I guess my Titan powers keep me safe from the negatives of what I go through each month…and whenever I feel injured like that, it just…heals up."

"When we make it back to the city…how about I cook you breakfast?" Shinji offered.

"I'd like that," she responded. "Thank you, Shinji."

To be continued…

A/N: Possibly my longest chapter here. What did many of you think? I'm pretty sure double dates can exist comprised of three girls and a guy, Marley really does have Grausam's Jaeger Sreum formula, Fuyutsuki has decided to throw a series of thorns into SEELE's side and Kaede revealed an edge to her Titan power. What do you expect to happen later on?