Creation began on 07-31-19
Creation ended on 08-06-19
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Hope from the Sky: Resurgence
A/N: Any resurgence can be black and white, negative and positive. Nobody and nothing is exempt from a revival that is both unexpected or unanticipated.
"Kaede," went Sig as he noticed his stepdaughter and her boyfriend reading books on the floor in the living room of their apartment, "what are you reading there?"
"Uh…human anatomy, physiology and biology," she answered him, raising the book to show pictures of a human body covered only in muscle and sinew.
"Gross. Insightful…but gross."
"It's a little better than what I'm reading, sir," Shinji expressed.
"And you're reading?"
Shinji raised his book and revealed it to be about culinary dishes from other cultures.
"I'm guessing that when it comes to cooking, you're more 'whatever's available to use', I take it?" Sig asked him.
"Yeah," Shinji admitted.
"But I must admit that your skills are quite impressive. Not many teens can cook unless an expert shows them how."
"Thank you."
"But one thing. Why is Kaede reading on the human body and not something else like a cheesy romance novel or calligraphy or…anything that you kids would be reading?"
Kaede chuckled and explained, "It's Titan-related, Father. The more I know about the human body and its functions, the better my own understanding of the Titan power I have. One day, we might face a crisis where I can use the power to alleviate or even prevent some form of devastation from ever occurring. And this knowledge will help me handle something personal later on."
"What's personal?" Shinji asked her, curious himself.
"Something gross."
"Never mind, I probably shouldn't know."
-x-
"…My God," Grausam heard a voice utter as his hearing returned. "This guy's still alive, despite his emaciated state!"
"Gah!" He gasped as light was shone in his eyes, causing his vision to respond harshly. "Aaaah!"
He spasms and looks around, seeing that he was in some kind of white-lit room, surrounded by masked people with scalpels and strange tools.
"Be calm!" A woman told him, holding him down on whatever it was her was laying down on. "Be calm, Grausam Zanki!"
He felt something small and sharp pierce his neck on his right side and realized he had been stuck with a syringe, injected with something. Soon enough, he felt less agitated, less active. He had been sedated, drugged with a chemical agent meant to disable him.
"Grausam Zanki," he saw a man that was quite old and wearing some strange thing on his head, covering his eyes, looking down at him, "can you understand me?"
Grausam nodded that he could understand the guy.
"That's good. My name is Lorenz Kiel. I'm in charge of the organization called SEELE, and, currently, we're in a situation not too different from your own right now. We've been betrayed and hunted down by the rest of the world, our world, and we've taken refuge here in your world until we can go back and retake control. But in order to do that…we need your help."
"You don't need my help," Grausam responded. "You want my help. How could I possibly help you?"
A second man approached him, dressed in dark clothing and wearing orange-tinted glasses. He reminded him a little of his step-granddaughter's boyfriend, albeit older and…colder, like he never smiled without causing some measure of harm towards another person.
"You were able to turn people into these giants," the man stated. "We want that power for ourselves."
"Titans," Grausam uttered. "You people want the power of the Titans. What makes you think I can help you obtain such power?"
"Because you gave such power to a young girl that helped bury you at the bottom of a frozen abyss before you ended up giving yourself the same power. You needed to make sure your results were perfected, so you used one of your relatives as a test subject. Then you offered the power to these…Marleyans in exchange for a life among their people, and they accepted. We want the power to get revenge on those that turned on us. You know at least one of them."
"Is that right?"
Grausam no longer needed a family tree to know that this man was his step-granddaughter's boyfriend's father. There was a line formed between the man that was before him…and the boy that had escaped his influence, just as the girl had escaped his own influence. In a way, they were not that different in the fact that their relatives turned on them…but there was a fundamental difference in how they were dealt with; this man's son simply ran off…while his step-granddaughter declared a vendetta against himself and swore to get rid of him for hurting her.
"The young man that controls the purple giant," the man told him, "is the direct cause of our loss of control. We get rid of him, and we take a step backwards to the way things were. He ruined everything for everyone."
"Hard to see how any one person can ruin everything for everyone. What, did you give him an order and found that he couldn't carry it out because it went against his sense of morality, that the weight of what he was instructed to do would betray his conscience? No, wait a minute. Maybe it was because he got sick of the violence he was surrounded by and sought only to escape it, only to have the violence pursue him like a predator pursues prey? Whatever your reasons are for blaming this boy, it's not like he's the only one responsible for whatever's wrong with the rest of you. He's just one person, and he's not even much of a threat without that behemoth of his…except for the way he speaks in defense of those helpless people he swore his loyalty to. And for what? Because they accepted him? Because they asked him for help when they were threatened by an enemy they didn't know was out to get them? If you want revenge against whatever enemies you have out to get you, you must be willing and able to pay a high price for it. There is a price to everything one desires, no matter what it is. There is no such thing as free anywhere."
"We were willing to pay a high price for what we sought for in the beginning," Lorenz Kiel explained. "Unfortunately, that is no longer an option because Ikari's son wouldn't listen to him. In essence, everything that failed to happen is this man's fault because he didn't keep his child on a tight leash, but for the time being, we can agree on a mutual hatred towards the boy for not listening to his superiors."
"Does any child ever listen to their superiors? Does any child ever question the ethics of their superiors? You send a child out to war, no matter what the reason behind it is for, whether it's because you can't or because a military wants a young candidate, you must eventually come face-to-face with the fact that whatever innocence they had before you sent them out to fight…is maimed and they may want to live a life free of carnage. If your son is your enemy, then you must own up to the factors that surround him being some of, including the ones that are, your own fault."
"And how is his betrayal my fault?" The man, this Ikari, asked him.
"You either bred him to fight…or you forced him to fight," Grausam explained. "Either way, you sometimes end up doing something that goes against you. Such is the nature of what we know as causality; for every action you take, there will be a resulting action that affects you or someone else. Action…and reaction. Cause…and effect. The same rule applies to whoever or whatever you choose to view as an enemy, whether it's a Titan or just a regular person, except the enemy doesn't truly exist in your viewpoint…until you decide to go looking for one. If your son is your enemy, it's only because you made him your enemy, not because he decides you're the enemy or because he chose to turn away. So, which is it? The enemy that you choose to see…or the enemy that you're looking for to cause conflict against?"
"All of the above," Lorenz stated. "You must have enemies, too, which would put you in the same boat as us. We all have someone we want to see disposed of, and we both have the means to see them disposed of. All we need…is the aid of another."
Commonality was what they were trying to convince him of, something he could understand with Marley and their hatred for Eldia. As Grausam lay on the table, his stumps still present because of the metal bindings prohibiting his Titan-powered regeneration, he saw very little reason to compare them all as being of the same situation; they might've had similar goals toward the eradication of their enemies, but they were vastly different due to who they were. But still, they knew of two enemies that were close, which meant that they were desperate to get rid of them above all others.
"Why my step-granddaughter and her boyfriend above all others?" He asked them. "It can't just be due to the fact that the Eldians of Paradis see them as embodiments of hope or whatever they choose to see them as. Is it because they have power they won't relinquish? Do they know something that endangers your own future? Or is it that you just want to kill them for the sake of eliminating them? Either way you swing the pendulum, the only thing that hurts more than the sting of defeat…is the weight of the losses incurred in the process. Friends, allies, resources, sanity, whatever you either don't care much for or don't consider the possibility of losing."
"So…will you help us, Mr. Zanki?" Lorenz asked him.
"Release me from my metal bindings…and we'll see if the power of the Jaeger Titans can be possessed by people from another world like they could be possessed temporarily by the people of Marley…and if you have the resources capable of providing the means to achieve the results necessary…then my knowledge is at your disposal. I want revenge against those two myself."
Lorenz turned to a woman nearby with a tray of surgical tools to remove the bindings and nodded for her to remove them.
Revenge will be mine, thought Grausam as he felt the bindings on the stump where his left arm used to reside fall away, releasing pent-up steam as he felt the power he had beginning to act up and repair his maiming. The Akuma Titan rises again.
-x-
"…Are you excited about going to Gigante Island, Kaede?" Christine asked her daughter as they were eating dinner together.
"Oh, it's very exciting," Kaede responded, "and I look forward to seeing what's there. The very thought of an island isolated from the rest of the world by a storm system leaves much to rediscover after such a long time. My biggest question concerning the island, beyond that of the tree that resides there…is how the people there were able to survive cut off from the world."
"You believe there are people still alive on the island?" Sig asked her.
"There has to be. I mean, if there's a storm that was created using the power of the Titans to act as a barrier to protect the island, then there aren't any sort of walls that act as a barrier against potential invaders like there used to around here."
"But…what if they devolved over the years? Like, they have a primitive social structure?"
"You mean cave people behavior?" Shinji questioned.
"Yes, like that."
"It's a possibility, but the people there had technology just like what we found here, so there shouldn't be that much of a shift in their behavioral change. But that's just if we find anyone there."
"As always, Shinji," Christine told them, "you take care of Kaede while you're out there."
"Kaede's my primary concern," Shinji assured her.
-x-
"…What in the name of Paradis is this?" Hange wondered as she examined Kaede's blood samples, not seeing any similarities between them or the samples taken from the former Titan Shifters Reiner, Bertolt, Annie, Pieck, Eren or Agnes Tybur. "That's strange."
"What is strange?" One of the medical staff asked her as he returned a sample of the original Titan Serum into a cold storage unit that looked like a refrigerator with a biohazard sign on it among other messages for people to not put food in it.
"Miss Sogen's blood samples," she explained, looking away from the electron microscope. "Some of the cells don't match up to the ones found in the former Titan Shifters. She's enhanced like they were, but she's not on the same level as they were. It may have something to do with her being the first Jaeger Titan created by Grausam Zanki, but the strangest thing about it is that I'm positive I've seen some of these blood cells in at least one other person."
"Who?"
"I'd rather get another sample of their blood just to be sure before I say anything."
-x-
Gendo had seen the progress of the Angels' regenerative abilities, but this power that Grausam displayed once his bindings were removed was completely impressive. Not only were his limbs growing back fast, but there were no signs of degeneration or flaws in the nerves or bones as they rebuild themselves beneath his flesh. The only thing that seemed to be a drawback for him was that he was severely emaciated, requiring food and water after being buried alive for such an extended time period. Fortunately, they had several IV bags in case of emergencies that helped in his regeneration.
If possessing this power includes accelerated regeneration, then this man is invaluable, he thought as Grausam was nearing full regeneration of his body. Until he isn't, anymore, that is.
Standing on his newly-regenerated feet, Grausam stood up as he raised his arms in front of himself as the fingers grew back and flexed. It felt like a long time since he last stood on his own, unaided by a walking stick or some fool.
Regeneration is like a rebirth every time, he thought, taking a step forward, breaking in his new feet. You will always know you're reborn when you're made whole once more, when someone beyond yourself sees fit to permit you a continuance in your existence. The man escapes his confinement, trades his soul for the power to escape, trades it again for a life of freedom beyond a cage…and will trade it further for the one thing left that defines the demon that is filled with hatred towards the ones that thought they could condemn me to a frozen Hell: Revenge. I will have my revenge upon you, Kaede Sogen. I will find you…and rip your spine right out of your ass!
-x-
"…So, you really want to see Titanus Yggdrasilus?" Historia asked Anastasia Tybur as she and her daughter stood on the island of the carrier as Shinji walked over to the Eva.
"Of course we do," Agnes responded to the young queen as they saw Kaede on the deck beside the Eva, giving Shinji a hug and kiss before he climbed up to the Entry Plug.
"I…I still can't understand it," they heard Calvi, who was among the Marleyans that had volunteered to be part of the escort for their journey to Gigante Island, seeing the girl walk away from the Eva. "The boy is Asian and he's in a relationship with an Eldian girl who's a Subject of Ymir with all the power of the Nine Titans. How can he tolerate being in her presence and not…feel like she could kill him without any hesitation?"
"Were you ever married, Mr. Calvi?" Ymir asked him. "Are any of your friends or soldiers married or in a relationship with anyone? There are many unknowns in a relationship with another person. The only way to get past them is to be able to level with the other person. You have to be open with them, understanding of who they are, and they have to be understanding of who you are. If you want the relationship to be a long-term one where you both can be happy. In other words, your relationship has to be unbiased and unprejudiced when you're of two different things, be they ethnicities or even worlds. The reason the boy of Asian background can stand to be around the girl that is a Subject of Ymir with the power of the Titans…is because he accepts her for who she is. He looks at her…and sees someone he has spent months getting to know ever since he showed up here. He's spent time with several of the Survey Corps along with several civilians. There isn't anything about us here that makes him think we're dangerous. If anything, some of the people he once served were the ones that were dangerous, to both him and everyone here."
"How so?" A Marleyan woman asked.
"His father was going to bomb the entire island if he didn't surrender himself and Ms. Sogen," Historia explained. "And the worst part was that his father didn't even care about anyone here, whether they were friend or foe. In his mind, we were all just an obstacle in his way to getting what he wanted, and he was willing to commit genocide just to hurt his only son. Not the kinda thing you want to do to show your would-be authority to anyone, whether you're an enemy or ally to someone else or not. In the end, however, Shinji refused to submit to his father and was willing to give up his life to protect as many of us on the island as he could…or die with us all."
"But…why would he side with you over his own people? There's no logic to that."
"There's no logic to anything here. Nobody's perfect. We don't live in a perfect world. Everything's flawed for a reason. If we can't coexist harmoniously, there will always be a degree of conflict between those that have something and those that want something. One race of people might have something they're willing to share with people of other races that have something they don't have, and another race of people may not have anything…but are willing to take from other people without giving anything up in return because they don't feel they have to. Shinji gave up any possibility of returning to his own world…and ends up calling this one his home, even if some feel he doesn't belong here."
"No one belongs anywhere in the world," another Marleyan man said, and then sighed, "and everyone belongs everywhere in the world."
"Anywhere is everywhere," said Ymir.
"Exactly," the man responded.
"Whoa!" The other Marleyans gasped as the Eva came to life and stood up to its full height.
"Yeah," went Historia, impressed by the fluidity of the Eva's form, "that's one of my advisors for you."
"Someone like him could take the world if he wanted to," Calvi suggested.
"What would taking the world amount to for him when all he wants is a place to call home?"
"Home can be anywhere…or everywhere, even."
"Some just want to commit to one place."
"Okay, everyone," went a voice over the speakers on the carrier. "I must request that you hold onto whatever is welded to the floor as we begin takeoff to Gigante Island."
"Can this behemoth of his really carry this ship to where we're going?" Calvi asked Historia as the queen took hold of the railing with Ymir.
"It can," she answered.
The Eva then erected its AT-Field and enveloped the carrier, levitating it out of the water.
"Holy Marley!" One of the women gasped as they all held onto the safety railings.
"And off we go!" Shinji's voice came from the Eva as the carrier was flown towards its destination.
To be continued…
A/N: Resurgence is in many ways neutral to the universe. A bad guy comes back…and the universe won't care who gets hurt in the process. Several Eldians and an Asian take a handful of Marleyans with them on a trip to an island they've never been to that's been isolated from the world…and nobody knows what's to be expected.