Creation began on 10-11-19
Creation ended on 11-08-19
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Hope from the Sky: Familial Severance
A/N: Is family truly forever? Or do we pick our families?
The sight of Evangelion Unit-01 was a magnificent marvel to the current king of Gigante Island as he and his son stood in front of it with Historia and her advisers.
"So, this behemoth is Paradis' hope that fell from the sky," Voight expressed, raising his left hand to touch the right leg, but hesitated.
"It's okay to touch it, Your Highness," Shinji assured him. "It needs me to make it move around."
Voight then pressed his hand against the armored limb, feeling like he was touching dense metal that had been sculpted over the body.
"A giant cast out from the heavens," he sighed, "and forced to find sanctuary on Earth, controlled by a mortal man…seeking a home to call his own."
"In the end, Paradis Island became my new home," Shinji admitted.
"And your father… He threatened the people there…more than once?"
"Twice; once through a girl I worked with…and another time through the exploitation of an aerial combat force tasked with bombing the island. Not the type of way you want to try to pressure anyone into subjugation or submission, but he's an example of how some people in positions of power and authority have a difficult time accepting 'no' as a response to something they want to see happen…or just refuse to take 'no' for an answer."
"It sounds more like your father is the latter over the former; he doesn't have a difficult time accepting a declination. He won't accept a declination of any kind if he wants something or someone under his control, which makes him a tyrant."
"A false ruler," went Draven in addition to his father's claim.
They went over to where seven portable monitors were set up and saw Dot Pixis on the middle monitor, looking irritable.
"Commander Pixis," Erwin greeted. "Are we still in communication with…them?"
"We are, sir," Pixis answered, "and they've not very subtle in their explanation to declare a hostile takeover of our world to reclaim control over their own."
"Well," went Historia, not really feeling up to it, but knew it had to be now or never to get it over with, "let's engage in conversation with this new enemy before anything else happens."
Pixis nodded on the screen and the screen on his left shifted in static to reveal a group of men that they had never seen, and one of them were a visor over his face.
"Hey!" One of them gasped, pointing a finger at their screen. "It's Ikari's treacherous son!"
"How is he capable of treachery if he got lost by accident?" They heard Grausam ask them as he was also present, looking better than ever. "It sounds more like defection than treachery, since he developed a change of heart in a desperate situation by other people he met on that garbage patch island I escaped from."
"You're going to wish you had stayed buried under the abyss, Grausam," Kaede warned him.
He looked right at her and frowned.
"Not if I take you down first," he responded.
Shinji, on the other hand, just looked to the screen and saw his father, who wasn't at all pleased to see him…and the feeling was mutual.
"It's been a while," Gendo uttered to him, echoing the day they met after a long time.
"Father," he responded, "you should know that declaring war against the people of the Eldian nation will only end bad for you and your allies. Now, I would ask that you stop and turn away, but you wouldn't do that, even if there was another way to resolve this."
"The only way this gets resolved…is when you, your pathetic girlfriend, your pathetic queen, and all of these other people you chose to run away from your responsibility to fight the Angels just to protect from their mediocre enemies…are all dead. That's how this gets resolved."
"Spoken like a true tyrant," Voight expressed, "heartless and void of any sense of hope to the end of time."
"Who the Hell are you?" Gendo demanded.
"Voight Fritz, King of Gigante Island."
"Another Eldian, I presume?" Grausam asked.
"And you're the one they all call the Akuma Titan, the Devil of the Titans. Interesting… You don't look anything like a fallen angel…as you resemble a man that has regressed all the way back to the brutal savagery that our primordial ancestors evolved from into separate societies of various wisdom."
"I just met you…and already, you disgust me. In fact, just looking at each of you disgusts me."
"I'm sure the feeling's mutual," Kaede told him.
"Now, this is something," the man in the visor spoke, "a meeting of those in charge of everything and everyone."
Shinji looked at this man…and couldn't help but get the feeling that there was more to him than what his eyes could see and his ears could hear.
"I'm sure as most of you are aware," the man said again, "this all started here when Ikari's son got displaced from our world and into your own. And when the opportunity to find a way for him to return came, he declined in favor of protecting these Eldian people, resulting in the paramilitary agency, NERV, losing one of its Evangelions, the purple behemoth you're so fond of, and a pilot, the boy you look to for your protection against your foes."
"That was in the beginning," Historia stated. "We relied on Shinji against the Titans until we could obtain newer methods of dealing with them on our own. Now, he's just here to ensure our protection against anyone with the means and intent to harm the people."
"Yet, he's one of your personal lackeys."
"He's not a lackey, sir. He's a friend, someone whose very value goes beyond what he does for everyone on the island of Paradis."
"Anyway, Ikari's son refused to return, and after one repercussion after another that resulted from his defection, my organization, SEELE, lost control of our world, and now what remains of us have come here to take the means you have at your disposal for our own purposes to reclaim control. At this point, you only have two options: Surrender or die."
Everyone from Historia to Levi looked at one another and we're all thinking the same thing in one form or another.
"So, let me see if I understand this correctly," Voight spoke. "You people are from another world that is similar to our own, with the exception of there being no Titans, no Eldians or Marleyans, where there are no walls with giants inside them, and you were in a war with strange giants that were out to destroy you, so you made giants of your own to fight back…and you're upset that a tyrant's son, who got stranded here as a result of a battle against one of your enemies that went wrong on your side, he refused to return because the people here sought him out as a sign of hope in times of desperation…and you lost your grip on the world because of one…mediocre…AWOL that was unintentionally committed by a young man that was drafted into a war he knew nothing about?"
When Voight said it that way, it did seem like these people were basing their whole plan on the grounds of one defection that led to other factors that ruined their other plans.
"It sounds like that," expressed Levi.
"That is kinda off," added Ymir. "Who bases their hostility towards a race of people they've only just met…off of something as silly as a would-be soldier who unexpectedly runs off from a previous war and into a different war that's full of clarity when information is distributed once obtained? Who does something like that?"
"Shinji, I think it was easier for you to just have your old man hate you," Kaede told her boyfriend, "not a bunch of people that don't even know who you really are."
"Yeah, it is messed up," he agreed with her.
"Could you stop agreeing with those people?!" Gendo demanded. "It's annoying! It's depraved!"
"Maybe to you, but that's you, Father," he retorted. "I could never agree with you over anything…since I don't even know you. You're just this…this man that pushes others out of his way of something he wants…and makes absolutely no time to speak with others about something as trivial as how one's day is or was. Don't forget, it was you that wanted me to pilot the Eva, something I didn't want to do at all when we met in Tokyo-3 when that Angel attacked. You have no idea how much I hated you for that."
"I don't have time for your self-righteous complaints, boy."
If Draven were meeting Gendo in person instead of over a digital platform, he'd know instantly how the father felt towards his only son, but from a distance in this conversation, he was able to deduce that the man was outright resentful of Shinji, regardless of whatever he did or said. It was like this man had nothing but hatred towards his son, since before he was ever born. And Shinji, despite the impossibility of his attempts, had tried to understand his father's cold indifference towards him, only reaching a head when the man made a poor choice to try and harm everyone on Paradis Island with an aerial bomb squad if he couldn't have the Eva back or Kaede's Dark Titan. This made Draven sympathetic to Shinji, who deserved better than his old man's hatred.
"…Is this how far you're willing to go just to have your way?" Kaede asked Gendo. "Someone tells you 'no', and you decide to declare war upon people you don't even know? That's nuts."
"And you having all this power in your possession is nuts! What's the point of you having all that power, all those different abilities at your fingertips…if you do nothing with them that can be more beneficial than just serving those people you live with? Think about it: You're nothing more than a doll for them to play with whenever they wish, and you rarely complain about it. They run childish experiments on you, and you let them. You could do better than that, be better than that. You could have the world under your thumb…and yet you settle for the most meager of desires." Gendo told her.
"I'm sorry, but are you insinuating that, just because I have something you call power, I should act like you do right now?" She questioned as her Dark Titan emerged from her back. "That I should be like some…assertive prick that threatened the lives of my parents along with everyone else on Paradis…just because he wanted two things he couldn't have? I'm sorry, but you must either be very selfish and narcissistic…"
"Or very dumb and power-hungry," said Dark Titan.
Shinji felt more disgusted with his father for suggesting that Kaede be turned into some weapon that people like him could exploit until something better came along. He could've even said this all just to hurt him, but Shinji kept this belief to himself.
"Why do I feel like everything you do, Gendo Ikari," the Dark Titan continued, "is based off the one trait you exhibit more than any other person has done in their lives? Why do I feel…that all that you say, that all that you do…and all that you want…is born of spite towards others?"
"You don't know me, whatever you are," Gendo retorted.
"That's true, I don't know you. I just know of you, and suffice to say, you are cruel. So very cruel. You…Grausam…and if this…SEELE bunch are the ones that set him free from Titania's Abyss, they're cruel, as well…and it is a dreadful feeling, to know you're threatened by cruel people from another world that want what they shouldn't have because their intentions are less than friendly. And as for Grausam, I hope your acceptance of his help doesn't turn out to be your undoing…because he's not right in his heart or his head, the same as you are. Still, it's your choice to make a deal with him in exchange for his services, just be prepared for the outcome that is unexpected in the end. You can't make a deal with the Devil and expect to benefit from it when he's the one that gets it all in the end."
"People…will make deals with the Devil all the time to get what they want."
"And what do you want? What do you really want?"
"What I want…is for that petulant brat to lose everything and suffer."
Kaede reached down for Shinji's left hand, taking it into her right hand for comfort.
Shinji looked to her and gave her a reassuring nod.
"This will get us nowhere," went Erwin, "and you can't declare war upon us and not expect for there to be resistance. If you attack us without so much as a provocation of your intentions, there will be Hell to pay."
"Then there will be Hell to pay," said Grausam to him, "and there's plenty of it to go around. I'll make sure of it. Because their intentions are different from my own. They want your resources to retake their world, a major grab for power. My intentions are simpler. Plain, old-fashioned revenge against the little bitch that served her purpose and wasn't put down."
"Actually, Grausam Zanki, it was you who should've been put down long ago," uttered Historia to the Akuma Titan. "Exile was supposed to be your mercy in the hopes that you'd just die on your own accord once completely cut off from the world, buried in a cold, dark place where nobody would ever find you. Except it seems that the only thing that would ensure nobody else suffers any further because of your relentless brutality, you must be executed. You can call yourself the Devil all you want, but you're less than that. You're less than a man. You're even less than an animal. You're just darkness. An ever-consuming…parasitic darkness. Sooner or later, you will eventually die…and you won't be missed by anyone."
Grausam's face suddenly looked as though it were contorting against his volition as he frowned over what Historia told him…and then his face started to look more like his Titan's face.
"You better hope," he uttered, more inhuman than he already was, "for your sake…that I don't find you and kill you. As much as I hate my step-granddaughter, I got no problem with murdering members of this pathetic Eldian monarchy you're all so tied to. I'll kill you just for the Hell of it. Everyone that wants it has a right to your worthless throne, royal blood or not…if they can take it from you."
Then Shinji came closer to the screen and uttered, "If I so much as see your ugly face again, you're gonna wind up without it when you go to Hell, Grausam Zanki. So consider yourself an irrelevant piece of crap under the sole of my shoe. The same goes for my old man, too. You're both expired carcasses."
Grausam raised his right hand up, looking larger than a regular hand would've been, and then the picture went static.
"I think you pissed him off, Shinji?" Ymir said to him.
"Sorry about that," Shinji apologized.
"Don't be," Historia told him. "He crossed the line. They all crossed the line."
"Worse," added Draven, "they just openly declared war on us for our resources. They got their own resources, and yet they desire more, and just so that they can retake their world like dictators. It's a self-destructive move."
"I think they're all self-destructive," Erwin confessed, "but Grausam… Did anyone notice the features of his face starting to look more like those of his Titan?"
"He must've made another batch of his serum after he recovered and started shooting up again," Levi suspected.
"Grausam's a drug addict?" Voight asked.
"Only to his own formula that allows him to turn people into Titans with intelligence," Kaede explained. "Except it looked like he was starting to turn into his Titan, just not in the way associated with the transformation of regular Titans or someone with the former Nine Titans."
"What do you suppose has happened with him?" Historia questioned.
"Just what we already suspect of him," she answered, "that he's shooting up again, getting addicted to his own crap like it's candy or heroin."
-x-
Grausam had smashed the whole monitor to bits…with his fist being the size of a table and weighing as much as a motorcycle, surprising everyone around him. Pulling his hand back from the wall it had gotten wedged into, he examined the limb as it shrunk back to its normal size, showing no signs of harm. It had surprised him to be capable of such a move.
"My apologies," he told Lorenz as he walked away. "Ikari's son got me frustrated."
"That tends to happen when a father lets his son run loose without installing a sense of loyalty," Lorenz explained, deciding to overlook his act; so long as he continued to produce the Jaeger Serum for them to exploit, Grausam was an invaluable asset in their goal to take the Eldians' resources for their own. So long as we get what we want in the end, he's above reproach.
"He didn't seem capable of that before he was put into the abyss," Gendo told him, looking at the damaged console. "Do you suppose that he tinkered with his formula?"
"If he did, it's within his right to do so."
"And you're willing to let him do as he pleases?"
"His agenda may be separate from our own, his beliefs may even be different from our own, but he's not a threat to us. If his goal is simple revenge, that's his goal to pursue so long as it doesn't interfere with our goal to take what we want from the Eldians. Once we have procured the means to our return and reclamation of our world, we will leave this place. Even if there were a possibility of this world serving as a haven, it'd be just another temporary fix until the end of the human race arises."
But Gendo had his doubts about Grausam not getting in the way of their plans. Just as Grausam didn't trust Gendo to get in the way of his revenge. Neither man could take a chance on the other not crossing the line.
-x-
Shinji had never questioned it because it never really mattered to him, but now he was looking at a board with select words written so that he understood their meaning by Kaede, who had looked up the words.
"Even if they weren't spelled with all capitals," she told him, sitting beside him, "each word is of German origin. NERV, the paramilitary agency you defected from when you got lost and fell from the sky into our world, is just 'nerve' without the 'e' at the end. SEELE, the group that your father is currently with, means 'soul'. If anything, any group that refers to dealing with these beings they referred to as Angels, despite not appearing as the traditional type of angel from different forms of religion, may use a German word for its name. Maybe that man with the visor over his face, Kiel Lorenz, was German, and he decided on the names of both groups."
"Yet I doubt he was the one that decided to have the people my father is with declare war on Eldia for their resources. Maybe not intentionally, but he probably has the means to make the last say. My father, probably trying to incite violence between us and them, suggested that they come here and take what you have instead of merely asking for assistance…not that I would've decided against helping them cause problems with someone they had it out for."
"Honestly, I think mostly everyone that saw your father on the screens today believe that he's the one purposely trying to incite violence against us, and all because he hates us. You and I, I mean; you because he can't even understand, no matter what he does because it's always the wrong way to try so…and me because I have the power of the Nine Titans of Ymir Fritz…and he can't persuade me to see things from his perspective."
"If you had to make a serious choice on how to deal with them, what would it be?"
"What I'd choose to do? No matter how it affects you?"
"If they're threatening you, they're past threatening me because I'm with Eldia till the end. So…no matter how it affects me, what would you do?"
"Excluding Grausam, I would imprison and have them sent back to their world if possible…but have them eliminated only if absolutely necessary."
"Grausam would be excluded because he needs to be eliminated. Even if we dumped him back into the abyss, there's always a chance that someone else will dredge him up again. And my father… There's no way I'll let him lay a finger on you, Kaede. So…whatever it takes to deal with this…SEELE, even if it means making it so that none of them get to walk away."
Kaede nodded in agreement with him.
"Whatever it takes," she responded.
"Whatever it takes," he repeated.
-x-
"Sub-Commander Katsuragi!" Misato heard Maya yell as she ran down the hall to meet her. "Sub-Commander Katsuragi!"
"Yes, Ibuki?" She asked her.
"We just got contact with Shinji in Unit-01," she informed. "The Eldian nation has a situation that involves his father."
Misato followed her to Central Dogma where Asuka and Rei were, and saw Shinji on a monitor.
"Hello again, Shinji," she greeted.
"Misato," he responded. "I'd call this a social communique, but unfortunately…the Eldians and I have a problem that started just recently."
"We know, your father and some people he worked for, this SEELE organization…have gone over to the other dimension and may have dredged up Grausam Zanki from his icy prison."
"It's worse than you think. They just contacted us while on this island called Gigante and openly declared war upon the Eldians for their resources while Grausam is out for revenge against Kaede. Of course, my old man is out to get me because he thinks I purposely betrayed him by refusing to return to fighting the Angels, and for him, that's hurting everyone here. Just what is his deal here and why does he have to be such a… Sorry, I was running in my mouth over the obvious and unnecessary."
"Well, that's understandable," Misato overlooked. "You were threatened, and your father isn't exactly…the understanding type."
"Ikari-Kun," went Rei to Shinji, getting his attention, "your father may do whatever he has to in order to hurt you or worse. This may actually extend beyond the Angels. He's just bitter towards you, despite the Angels having ceased showing up here to attack."
"Ceased? You mean, the Angels have stopped completely?"
"We haven't had another attack ever since…the second one that showed up in your world did," Asuka explained, seeing Shinji shudder at the memory of that Angel. "NERV is on constant standby in case one does, but there's doubt that one will."
"If you're on standby there, is it possible if you could send some assistance here?"
This was a first for them. To hear Shinji requesting aid from NERV, despite their sour history together after he defected from them and destroyed Unit-02 (something Asuka still held a grudge against him for doing), and this was mainly because his father and a group of people he was in league with had threatened the people he himself was involved with.
"How much of a nuisance do you expect your father to be over there?" Misato asked him.
"As he and this SEELE bunch are allied with Grausam Zanki, I think it could be expected for him to be an extreme nuisance, even if we have the means to reduce the nuisance a little."
"You suspect that he will have obtained the power to turn into a Titan?" Rei questioned.
"The very thought of him becoming a Titan is scary enough as it is, but what he could do as a Titan is scarier."
And the three women did find the very thought of a Titan version of Gendo to be utterly unsettling; a giant of a man with a face so terrifying that it was enough to make one lose control of their bowels.
"Ugh!" Asuka shuddered. "If you smash up Unit-03 like you did with my Unit-02, you don't have to worry about your father wanting to kill you. I'll kill you myself."
"Trust me, Asuka, you're the least of my concerns right now," Shinji told her. "I just want to protect the Eldians from my father and Grausam, even if it means I have to cross the line with those two in particular."
"You mean, kill them?" Misato questioned.
"If it comes to that."
None of them could see signs of hesitation in his conviction to carry out his aim if it got that far. If Shinji felt he had to kill his own father, there was no denying that he would if it meant protecting the Eldians from him.
"We gotta retake the NERV base in Nevada where the portal between our worlds is, but we'll contact you once we're successful," Misato informed him; that goal had to take precedence before any at NERV could provide assistance instead of the previous persistence that was when Gendo was in charge.
"Okay," Shinji accepted; if the means to travel between worlds was compromised because the people his father worked with took control of where it was located, then he had to exercise patience until further help arrived. "Good luck to you."
When the connection ceased, Maya, with a look of concern on her face, turned to face Misato, who noticed the look.
"I don't understand, Sub-Commander Katsuragi," she went. "You didn't tell Shinji about his mother being alive."
That wasn't missed by either Asuka or Rei, who also wondered why the former tactical strategist hadn't told Shinji that a woman he believed to be dead was alive again.
"I didn't want Shinji to feel like he was being pressured to come back here," she explained her reason for not telling him. "Or worse, try to trick him into coming back. Things are still hectic because the world knows what was going to happen before he got displaced."
Of course "hectic" was a word they were using loosely due to the fact that NERV and the UN were either on restriction or restructuring due to the media outbreak of leaked information. While some wanted to believe that the majority of their very fate had been thrown off its original course because some kid got lost in another world that was just around the corner in Nevada, there were others that believed none of this would've happened had it not been for the Twelfth Angel appearing and turning into a black hole of sorts that swallowed the boy whole and crapped him out elsewhere when NERV decided to bomb it in an attempt to retrieve the Eva, a rather expensive piece of hardware, regardless of whether or not the kid survived. Even those of NERV were divided on the subject; some believed that Shinji not being around was the best decision because it meant they got to live out their lives with the Angels no longer showing up while others felt it was necessary for him to return and continue piloting his augmented Evangelion in service of NERV…along with surrendering his girlfriend for her power over the Titans that was able to power his Eva. But Misato was among those that were against any moves or suggestions that involved personally harming either Shinji or Kaede.
Rei, knowing that anything that was meant to cause pain to Shinji, had to be against any suggestions of the sort, even if it meant him not being able to see his mother. The very thought of Shinji being forced to accept some fear that the life he currently had with Kaede, the Eldians, Paradis, all of it being nothing but some dream he was having, unable to awaken from until something happened that forced him to awaken from it…would just be hurtful to him.
"How soon until we can go to Nevada?" Asuka asked; with Unit-03 painted red and her synchronization with it comparable to Unit-02, she was capable of aiding the people she viewed as a distraction this time over harming them.
"Less than three hours," Misato told her. "Go get ready."
-x-
"…So, you were able to get in touch with your former guardian?" Historia asked Shinji after he vacated his Eva.
"Yes, and despite getting aid from them, they'll be delayed due to SEELE having control over the portal that connects the two worlds together," he explained. "I don't believe Misato would ever lie to me about a problem NERV was having over there."
"But can we trust them not to try anything like they had months ago?" Ymir asked him, reminding him that it was NERV that sent a second Eva piloted by a girl he once worked with when his father was in charge, desiring the power of the Titans for himself at the expense of causing them harm.
Draven read his mind and expressed, "If his father is here, then he's no longer in charge of this NERV organization, meaning someone under him has succeeded him in the authority hierarchy. Someone who isn't like his father, someone that has boundaries. He only knows that he can trust his former guardian not to try something he is against."
"It's a leap of faith," Kaede uttered. "If we can't trust a woman Shinji knew, how can we trust anyone that we ask for aid?"
"I'm willing to trust Shinji's judgement on this," Historia stated, "just not the girl that operated the red Eva when she appeared to enforce an attempt made to take two of our own in a power grab. Based on that day, this…Asuka Langley Soryu…isn't someone I would entrust our lives to. Not with her attitude."
Shinji nodded in agreement with her; while grateful that he hadn't killed her, he couldn't trust Asuka as far as the Eldians were unable to stand her for her actions. And if help from NERV arrived after a while and she ended up causing a greater mess than before with Unit-02, it was going to fall on him because she would've been the result of him asking for help.
"Any clue as to where these people Grausam is with might be?" Erwin questioned them.
"Probably around Titania's Abyss where we buried him," Kaede suggested. "What kind of transport can we expect from them that we might've already seen? Ships? Planes?"
"Probably those, but not as many if they're going to use the Jaeger Titan Serum and get their own personalities twisted," Shinji stated, "unless they aren't twisted already."
"Do you suspect they'll try to attack Paradis?" Draven asked them.
Kaede was going to speak on that possibility…but then she froze up.
What? She wondered, no longer surrounded by anyone…except for the madman that was released from his prison, looking like he was just as confused to be standing in front of her.
"What?" Grausam questioned. "You again, Kaede? Why? Why is that every now and then, I find myself face-to-face with you, the one I hate most?"
"I find myself wondering why, as well," she responded, angry to be here, wherever "here" was. "We're going to find you and condemn you again, Grausam. Your freedom will be short-lived."
"Why find me? I'll make it easy for you. I'm looking for you…and I know exactly where you are this very moment."
"I doubt that, Grausam."
"Oh, is that so? Then why are you on Gigante Island, miles away from Paradis where your parents still reside?"
Kaede's eyes widened in fright. How could he know where she was? For all she and the others knew, the people behind SEELE weren't informed of their location by Dot Pixis. To know that this man was aware of where she was made her fearful of what he could do if he decided to pay Paradis a visit.
"Oh, don't worry," she heard him say to her, "as much as I would feel some satisfaction in hurting your parents, it would only be a temporary bliss. Besides, I don't want them. I want you. Just you, Kaede Sogen."
But Kaede wasn't relieved; anyone could lie to anyone, and Grausam was no exception. Why say he wouldn't bother with her parents?
"Revenge is most delicious when it's seized against the one that is the most hated," he admitted. "While SEELE and that Gendo Ikari have a vendetta against the latter's son, my vendetta is only against you. I kill you…and I settle the score."
"I know what you've done, Grausam. You're a killer, whether it's against your own people or some other nation's. You killed dozens of innocent lives with your Titan. Men, women, children, all dead because you got a taste for murder."
"You got the same taste for murder yourself, Kaede. You've murdered thousands of Marleyans."
"And those deaths will follow me to my grave, but I killed those people to protect my own from getting killed. You killed because Marley had an enemy they wanted to see dead, and you made it so for them."
"Oh, that little request they had me do for them? I won't deny that I did cause those deaths. I would say that I…actually got a thrill out of demonstrating to Marley and myself that my Jaeger Titan Serum was more effective than the regular version they used to transform Subjects of Ymir into Titans. To retain all of my knowledge, my memories and skill set is a grandiose benefit of my genius, but to have the power of regeneration, great strength, speed, durability and dexterity, even when in the body of a giant that is infamous for being difficult to defeat… Some people would consider me a monster, but I consider myself a teacher, here to spread a message. The message? Every last one of us, Eldian, Marleyan, Asian, Canadian, whatever, is capable of anything when you…let go of your inhibitions and get released from the restraints society holds us by. I never felt freer than that day I sent so many people back to their gods."
Kaede recalled the memories of Reiner, Bertolt, Annie, Marcel, Pieck and Zeke and how they were used by Marley to destroy an enemy army through six of their seven Titans at the time and how none of them felt like they had the right to call themselves human beings after murdering people in a war over land, resources, beliefs, differences, one's very right to live freely in an unfair world. But the truth was that if they regretted their actions, that was all they needed to prove their humanity, no matter what other people believed, because they weren't monsters of their own volition, or murderers or criminals (Zeke was the exception due to his intentions of sterilizing the Eldians to erase them from the world), but Grausam… This man was a monster, regardless of what he did and why he did it.
"Think what you will of me," Grausam told her. "I honestly don't give a damn. I've gone further than you could ever have with the power we possess. It's become part of our identities, our way of affecting the world we live in. We're two sides of the same coin, but one of us will lose everything while the other gains everything."
She frowned at that assumption and responded, "That's your opinion, which isn't worth much. You believe yourself to be the Devil, then there's something that only you can do as such a demon, which is to go back to Hell. Your current state is no different from that of a purgatory one, caught in limbo between bliss and pain. Are you familiar with the concept of Purgatory? It's mostly understood by people that practiced a form of religion referred to as Catholicism. It's a way station between Heaven and Hell. Maybe for those that got swept into war, the way station is everywhere, whether it's in enemy territory or at home…until they can escape it. Maybe it's the same for us. For me, Heaven is at home with my family and friends, moving on with my life, free from you, and for you, Hell is…well, it's eternal damnation, longing for the sweet release of oblivion that never comes due to your wretchedness."
Grausam frowned again…and his face started to look puffy as it darkened to resemble his that of his Titan's face.
"I am eternal, Kaede," he told her, his voice growing colder and more inhuman. "I am indifferent and above all around me. Any that stand in my way will be another stepping stone on my path to greater things. You want to stop me? You don't have the balls to stop me."
"You're right about that," she retorted, "but I have the advantage of not needing them to think of how to best deal with you."
Then, before he said anything else, something about the way Kaede looked right then and there…stood out in front of Grausam. It wasn't the fact that she wore simple clothing or had a natural beauty unaided by the chemical effects of makeup that most other women spent their time and dimes on acquiring. No, it was something else about her, something he knew nothing of. What was it that was being hidden from him…and why did he feel threatened by this secret?
"You…you're not the same as from when I saw you last time, before you had me buried in the darkness," he stated.
"Yeah, I've grown by two centimeters," she expressed.
"No, it's not that. It's something else. I don't know what it is, but I refuse to let you best me because of it. The next time we meet, not even familial ties will matter. Next time…one of us will fall."
Then he disappeared from her perception…and she was standing in front of everyone from earlier, who were looking at her oddly.
"What?" She asked them.
"You were zoning out again," went Draven to her. "You were unresponsive for ten minutes."
"Sorry. I had another undesired encounter with Grausam."
"Anything he disclosed while talking to you?" Historia asked her.
"He knows that I'm here. He's not interested in paying a visit to Paradis, even if it's a resource target for SEELE. It's really personal for him, his vendetta against me."
"One group wants power to retake their world," Ymir states, "one man wants revenge against you for being buried in an icy grave…while another man wants revenge against your man for something as trivial as defecting from his own world. Our activities are divided between our visit to Gigante, our safeguarding of Paradis against future threats, seeking peace with Marley and establishing a new community on a neighboring island that was abandoned for years. So…have I left anything out?"
"No, I believe you've reminded us of everything," Shinji uttered. "How do we go about this?"
"As long as the storm wall is active," Voight informed, "we're protected against invasions or attacks from other nations. And anything that manages to come through would find leaving harder than it was coming through…except for your Evangelion, that is."
"We may need to cut our visit here short," Historia told them. "We need to protect Paradis from them if they show up in the future."
Shinji and Kaede accepted her decision; even if they had enemies that couldn't breach the storm wall that isolated Gigante, they had to ensure Paradis' protection against an enemy that was newly-empowered by Grausam.
"Gather everyone up," she requested of Erwin and Levi. "We're heading back home."
To be continued…
A/N: Just read the new chapter of Attack on Titan and it has me thinking that at least one character is just too bad to consider saving or viewing as a hero of sorts. How can anyone be on the side of right if they view the outside world as one enemy? This…is just an inability to view other parts of the world as individually as one would view people.