Creation began on 11-08-19
Creation ended on 11-13-19
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Hope from the Sky: Welcome Back
"…I'm sorry you couldn't stay longer," Frenzia expressed to Anastasia Tybur and her daughter Agnes as they and the other Marleyans and Eldians that weren't part of Gigante Island's population were vacating the underground city.
"One of the benefits of this trip was that we got to see a tree that we thought was no longer part of the world," Anastasia responded. "To find that Titanus Yggdrasilus still stands, that there's another part of Eldia's past that has survived to the here and now… It makes me feel more confident that peace between Eldia and Marley can be achieved."
As Calvi walked away from the large, subterranean realm, he thought of the people there that were of mixed backgrounds, some with Eldians, some with Marleyans, some with some other race or both, and started wondering if any of this could've been his life had he ended up in a place like this during a previous war. Try as he might to find a reason, just one excuse to revert back to his old ways that were rooted in his past, he couldn't see these people as an enemy because they never had any involvement with any wars or the other nations that Marley had taken their hatred out on for decades. These people that had no negative opinions on the Titans because they lived with ones that never attacked them or were controlled by a ruling body of tyrants were just a bunch of locals and former soldiers stranded because of the storm wall that kept them safe and off the grid. Even if Marley did know about this island, it wouldn't do them any good to attack it for anything because they couldn't get to it or leave it whenever they wanted to.
They're lucky, he thought.
-x-
He saw what looked like a giant tree made of light…and then a giant tree made of a combination of bark, leaves, vines and Titan flesh. While it didn't give him much to be impressed about, it did make Grausam wonder what was so special about a tree that clearly reached high into the upper parts of the planet where no human could go. But it was the tree of light that caught his focus…because he thought he saw a small child in front of it that disappeared in front of Kaede and her allies. Why he was seeing this just moments after he ascertained his step-granddaughter's location? It didn't make sense…until he thought of a theory that was just a possibility.
Due to his experiments on Kaede with his prototype Jaeger Serum, followed by his own injection of the serum…and later injections of the modified variants…must've somehow left Grausam with some connection between himself and the girl, resulting in a minor awareness of where she was at any given time, along with an additional view of her mind, allowing him to grasp at certain things she had done or experienced.
That bitch, he thought as he paced around the lab on the ship after he had shot up with another dose of his serum. Even when I made it clear that I want her dead, she still latches onto me like a sickening parasite. Of course, this must be my fault for turning her first instead of myself when I got the results I needed for the formula's effectiveness. In many cases, the first is the worst while the second attempt yields greater expectations. But even I still see errors in my Titan's design. Never enough endurance, never enough stamina, never enough…or anything to make it an effective force against anyone that stands in my way.
He stopped pacing and looked at the table where another syringe was lying in wait to be used by him, filled with another dose of his serum that was meant to augment his Titan form's internal structure and manipulation, and he sighed at how there wasn't any other person in this world that was nothing like what he'd become…and never would be. Taking the spring off the table, he jammed the needle into his neck and shot up again, feeling the serum course through his veins. It felt good, the chemical oblivion that made him forget for a time where he was and who he was with…and why he was here. He felt invincible, unstoppable…and incredible.
I don't care if you are some young ruler's personal slave, Kaede, he thought as he removed the needle from his neck and discarded the syringe, I'll still find you and kill you. My experimental subject, my failure, my mistake, my…dead end that should've ended years ago.
-x-
"…Until we meet again, Queen Historia Reiss," Voight uttered to the Queen of Paradis, bowing to her.
"Until we meet again, King Voight Fritz," Historia responded, bowing to the King of Gigante, and then boarding the helicopter whilst Shinji's Eva erected its AT-Field to escort the aerial vehicles safely through the storm wall.
The Eva levitated off the ground of the king and his royal guard, being watched as it floated away towards and through the storm wall where they disappeared.
Traveling through the wall to the other side where the carrier was, Kaede shuddered as she held onto her seatbelt.
"Can't wait for this to be over?" Ymir asked her across from where she sat.
"Totally," she answered. "I can handle travel by boat, by car or even a hot air balloon, but through a storm, that's not easy."
"Some things we can't control," Historia expressed, "these…random acts of the divine. But with Shinji and his Eva, this is…within manageability. We can travel safely through a storm, fighting back against it. But yeah, I find this unsettling myself."
"I'm sure Shinji is unsettled by this, too."
"Why would he be unsettled?"
"Well, he…he's all that stands between us…and a storm of violence just outside his sphere of influence that keeps it at bay."
"Your concern for the man in your life is quite befitting of a woman that has a future planned out," Ymir expressed her opinion.
"I…I have yet to plan ahead on anything," the Titan Shifter confessed; she loved Shinji with every fiber of her existence, but even she had no way of knowing how her future would shape up when all was said and done.
"Hey," went Historia to her, "neither do Ymir and I. We're just…going with the flow on this."
Soon enough, all of the helicopters and the Eva had made to the other side of the storm wall and were heading towards the carrier.
"Except…there's only so much one can achieve…by going with the flow," Kaede admitted.
"We still have our whole lives to plan ahead after we deal with what's in front of us. For now, we simply have time for what is in front of us, what we can deal with now, not later."
-x-
Christine didn't think of whatever was going on outside the world she was currently inhabiting in the solitude of the soothing, hot bath she was having. After this coastal city was reclaimed and people began receiving new knowledge from their lost past that had once been from everyplace across the planet, she felt they were no longer a bunch of people that lived primitively behind stone walls and had to continue living in such a subtle way. She appreciated this new lifestyle the people had here, especially in such a well-preserved city that only needed a little cleaning in the beginning and becoming livable once more. And the comfort of a bathtub made out of something that wasn't wood or metal, it was as if she were laying on smooth stone, with a scented candle releasing the aroma of vanilla. Oh, she was enjoying her bath in such bliss.
Knock-knock. A knock at the closed door came, and her little peace and quiet left her conscious.
"Yes?" She asked, opening her left eye to look at the door.
"Kaede's back," her husband announced to her outside.
"Okay," she responded, grateful to know that her daughter was back from her time away from home. "I'll be out momentarily."
Meanwhile, in her room, sitting on her bed, Kaede, feeling like there was going to be another storm that destroyed the calm that currently was on Paradis. Even as Shinji volunteered for the night patrol so she could be with her parents, she worried for him, knowing that his father, like how Grausam was with her, wanted him dead over some lousy reason he initially had no control over, but took control of by making his own choices that didn't work with his own interests. No matter how she chose to perceive this matter, they had a relative from their respective families that was out to get them to settle personal grudges that they either caused unknowingly or wittingly by either severing their ties or for just existing. It wasn't something one could process as easily as they probably could anything else they had time to come to terms with.
"Welcome home, Kaede," she heard her mother say to her, standing in the doorway of her room.
"Hey, Mom," she greeted.
"How was…Gigante Island?"
"It does exist…and there are people living there in an underground city because the tree their former village was built around suddenly developed a bit of an attitude problem from time to time. There's also a monarchy there related to the Fritz family…and I learned something of interest while I was there."
"Oh, you did, did you? What did you learn while you were there?"
"It's good…and it's bad, too."
"Whatever you found out while you were there, I want to hear it. Let me guess, and this is only because I'm curious about what you and Shinji did while over there, but I'm thinking you saw some of Shinji's back or legs that you don't often see? Give a lady details."
"First up, Mother, you wish Shinji and I did something other young people would be doing because they're not involved in the Garrison or Survey Corps. Second, the worst thing I found out while over there was that Shinji's father and some people he worked for did the unthinkable and dredged up Grausam from Titania's Abyss in order to get his help because they want our resources. Shinji's father, however, wants Shinji dead, wants me dead or on a table someplace where he can experiment on me like I'm some lab rat. Grausam, he just wants me dead because he blames me for getting buried alive in that icy abyss. I honestly don't know who's worse than the other: Gendo Ikari for wanting Shinji dead…or Grausam Zanki for wanting me dead and willing to side with people from another world to aid in his revenge?"
Christine, wearing a green bathrobe, sat beside her daughter and held onto her shoulders.
"They're both bad news, Kaede," she expressed. "Who would desire to murder young people for something as stupid as wanting revenge for something that isn't even their fault? And worse, why would any parent want to kill their child or grandchild for the same excuse?"
"Not many would cross that line, Mother."
"What else did you find out that was…the positive of your time over there?"
"I met my father in a past memory and found out why our hair was always gray. It goes back a long way."
"Tell me, please."
Kaede sighed and revealed what she found out about her hidden heritage to her mother, letting her know what it meant and why some of the people she met on Gigante Island were impressed to see her. She didn't let this status as a member of royalty get to her head because she was still just a girl that grew up among the other people that lived in Shiganshina or Trost, a simple person didn't have such dreams of glamour or popularity or whatever that some desired over others. Even with the power of the Titans, her very birthright at her command and the power to decide whatever she wanted, Kaede was a girl that had a morale to her conscience, a need to do the right thing, whatever she believed it was, whether others agreed with her or not, but never to hurt or impede the people that lived here.
Christine just hugged her daughter and felt proud of her. Though, it wasn't something you often heard all the time, to find out that your late husband, your first love, was descended from a royal family with a member that decided to use the power of the Titans to change their hair color in order to stand out, or that every relative with gray hair on Paradis lived under the nose of the Reiss family when they had the Founding Titan, just waiting for the day when an opportunity could arise for them to defy this fate that Karl Fritz had set into motion for them over a long time ago, completely unsure of how or even when they would undo this accursed path to extinction that he started out of a sense of guilt towards what his people hadn't even done. She never imagined that a day like that had come and gone when some lunatic decided to play God with creating a new breed of Titan in order to benefit himself, turning her daughter, her late husband's magnificent gift to herself and the world, into the one that ended up defying the will of a former possessor of a primordial Titan that had wielded the power to control all the Titans and freeing them all from a life of primitive ways. In her mind, her daughter was truly deserving of being a queen, no matter what anyone said.
-x-
"Historia, Historia!" Several orphans greeted the queen as she and her bodyguard had returned from being away.
"Hello, everyone," she replied as she knelt down to hug the younger children that ran over to her.
It was good to be back on Paradis, to see the orphans' faces after a few days away, as it reminded the queen what was to come if this new enemy appeared soon. There were people here that needed to be protected from this threat that now included Shinji's father, a rather disturbing individual that didn't do her advisor any justice by threatening his life along with the rest of them because he despised them.
-x-
"…This is insane, you know," Hyuga told Misato as they boarded a plane that was serving as a mobile command center. "NERV was made for dealing with the Angels, not people. Maybe we should stick to that objective, even though it's unnecessary."
"We didn't intend to interfere with whatever's going on in the other dimension," she responded, "but Shinji's father and the remnants of SEELE started this by declaring war upon an entire nation of people just trying to get by and reestablish a sense of order and peace with their world, and Shinji asked for our help in case he isn't able to deal with them because they might be abusing the power of the Titans provided by that Zanki guy that despises his own people. How do we face Shinji and tell him that help isn't coming because we didn't try anything? How do we face him…if nothing pans out the way it should…and some innocent people over there get killed on his watch…because we didn't do our job, which is, technically, to defend mankind. Our job description doesn't necessarily mean protecting the people of this world only. It doesn't even matter if Shinji defected from us; he was protecting people that came to him after he had saved them from a Titan that had been an enemy that could kick a hole right through their defenses."
Hyuga found that he couldn't win this argument regarding Shinji. Even if there were repercussions following his defection, with the fallout of the world governments and exposure of many hidden secrets, not many still in control considered the Third Child's actions to be a problem since he wasn't technically present to speak in his own defense. Plus, with Fuyutsuki in charge of NERV now, the defection and would-be betrayal Shinji committed was to be overlooked, just forgotten about.
"We're set to take off, ma'am," the pilot informed Misato.
"Good," she responded.
On another plane carrying Unit-03, Asuka had strapped herself into the seat as the plane took off on a course towards Nevada in the US.
Time to retake a NERV base, thought Asuka.
-x-
"…You're certain they're at this Paradis Island now?" Lorenz questioned Grausam as the ship they were on began to change course towards warmer waters to travel on.
"Positive," Grausam answered him. "Can your people breach their defenses?"
"They rely on an Evangelion for the majority of their defenses. If we disable that, all they have are the Titans that are spread across the coastal edges of the island on all sides."
"Except you've yet to face a Titan, so you have no experience dealing with them. Of course, they may be the least of your worries due to lacking intelligence. Be wary of my step-granddaughter, though. She's…difficult to manage."
"Is that your way of saying she's a rebellious child like Ikari's son because he didn't teach him a day in his life about respecting his superiors?" One of the men questioned, which made Gendo frown over the remark. "Your kid, your shortcomings."
Shortcomings? Grausam thought. Each and every one of you are nothing but shortcomings in my way of revenge against Kaede. I will waste any that stand in my way. Nobody is exempt.
The Third Child isn't part of my shortcomings, Gendo felt as he walked away to the inside of the ship. He's just a waste of space that should've never been born. He threw mankind's future away…for a useless girlfriend and a worthless life in some world where the seasons still exist.
In many respects, Gendo was a man that had hatred for many things, places and people. He hated God, he hated Japan, he hated SEELE…and he hated Shinji. But Shinji…Shinji was someone he despised more so than SEELE for unknowingly destroying his master plan…just by running away when he refused to be rescued, throwing off everything. The sooner he got rid of the boy, the better off he'd be.
"You called your Titan form the Akuma Titan?" He remembered asking Grausam as he was recreating his Jaeger Serum. "You understood what 'Akuma' meant…but nobody ever told you about its origins? Yet you refer to your Titan as the Devil of the Titans. Why is that?"
"There was an old question that was barely spoken: Is it better to be feared…or respected? My understanding of the question is that people can respect who or what they fear. If you don't fear, you don't respect. I've lost all semblance of respect towards any I've been taught to fear…and I admit to having rather embraced the fearful nature of life. Legacies end, bloodlines become irrelevant, and the past is past, no longer important. No one's feared more so than the Devil."
The Akuma Titan…the Devil Titan. This man thinks himself the Devil…when he's just an old man we salvaged from the ice. When we have what we came here for, he's as good as iced again.
-x-
Silence in the night of her room didn't ease her mind as she slept. For Kaede, the quiet was akin to dread. Dread because the Paradis portion of what remained of Eldia would be threatened again. She suddenly awoke and felt the subtle misery of her solitude. Then, she got up and grabbed her shawl and stepped outside to the roof of her building, looking out at the city and ocean.
Why is it that just whenever we're so close to finding a solution to a problem we're currently working on, something new happens to undermine us? She wonders as she looked down at the street, seeing some people walking around. Why must Shinji be the target of some people that have an axe to grind?
"Kaede?" She heard a male voice behind, and turned to see Shinji, dressed in his casual clothing instead of his plugsuit. "I thought you'd be sleeping."
"I was asleep," she told him, "for a while, that is, until I woke up. Your night shift ended early?"
"Yeah. It's terrible, you know, having to be on guard, knowing that someone's out there, wanting to hurt the people, hurt us, for something they can't accept."
"Are we cursed, Shinji? I mean, are we destined to be stuck in this cycle of calms and storms? Your father, SEELE, Grausam… What comes next?"
"We're not cursed, Kaede. My father, SEELE, Grausam, they're just very bad people that can't accept what was or is. They're just a small band of people with no ties to anyplace here, wanting what they don't deserve, willing to kill to get it. But we have more than what they have right now. We have people we want to protect, a future we want to preserve, and…we have to ensure that we all survive so that we get to fulfill our own dreams one day. Whatever we gotta do to safeguard the people. Whatever it takes to protect everyone."
Kaede nodded.
"There's something I've been meaning to tell you right after I saw your father, Shinji," she told him, "and it's quite bothersome."
"What is it that you want to tell me about him?" He asked her as he walked with her back into the building.
"There is absolutely no way that he could ever be your father. I mean, the guy looks grungy, harsh, has no respect for others, shows no value or appreciation for one's social bonds, and his glasses, sideburns, beard and mustache make him one of the most disturbing people to have ever laid eyes upon, like he's never smiled a day in his life or something."
"Yeah," he agreed with her, "I've never seen him smile before…except for when something was going his way. Other than that, his face has always been the negative smirk I've always seen every time I see him. I don't think he can ever smile without a degree of malice behind the intent."
He then smiled himself, demonstrating his own happiness at being around her.
Kaede then smiled back.
"Are there any ideas as to how we're going to keep watch over the whole of Paradis, besides what we already know is available and at our disposal?" She asked him.
"Aerial surveillance," he answered, "underwater surveillance, that huge telescope at the observatory, and our most basic resource of twenty-four-hour surveillance back when we didn't have any of this technology to aid us. Some people watch out for everyone during the daylight hours…and other people watch out for everyone during the night hours."
"There's also teamwork."
"Heh-heh, totally. Not many bad guys have that, and the ones that do don't usually have enough of it to trust their own."
"Because of their own greed and arrogance, I presume?"
"Yeah."
"I trust you, Shinji."
"And I trust you, Kaede."
-x-
"What is this place?" Grausam wondered, finding himself someplace that clearly wasn't a lab or a bathroom; the last thing he remembered was shooting up another injection of his serum and then passing out on his cot.
Now, he was in a dark place where there was limited light, the ground was like burnt soil, and in front of him was a colossal decaying tree that reached high into the sky. In front of him was his Titan form in its original state prior to being augmented by the repeated injections of new serum variants. It stood around fifteen meters with dark skin, resembling his human form as he was already, but still showing signs that the form could be improved.
"Power is divided," his Titan spoke, "and adversity is amalgamated."
Grausam responded with, "What do you mean by that?"
His Titan pointed to the tree of decay…where there appeared to be…two Titans impaled on some of the branches. One resembled a man with a jagged jaw structure that showed an inability to vocalize any measure of human speech, and the other looked like a woman with few feminine qualities in her build. Both were in a state of lifelessness, unable to move or defend themselves against any form of assault.
"Slivers of their strength shaved off the true master of the new destiny," the Akuma Titan continued. "A mockery of an almighty being incarnated in flesh that transcends time and space, you have become your own nexus for the future battle between what is now and what could be later. How far will you go to ensure your own survival in this world of cruelty? Are you willing to stake it all over the defeat of the queen?"
Defeat the queen? Grausam wondered; he never once even thought of his Titan having a personality, that it was just a form he now possessed that enabled him to get off of Paradis and survive in Marley. "What do you mean by that? Defeat the queen?"
"Sacrifice…all or nothing…to overcome adversity," his Titan uttered to him, and then started to fade away in front of him. "Those beneath you can only receive the bronze…which is no different from lead. Lead…is expendable."
As it faded away, Grausam looked at the tree again and saw some people laying on the branches. He recognized some of them…and began to put the pieces of the puzzle in front of him together as he realized what his Titan was telling him.
"Bronze is no different from lead!" He yelled at them. "Lead is expendable! You no longer matter! I'm in control of each and every last one of you! I decide all!"
-x-
Eren Yeager awoke to the new day, escaping a memory from the previous time that no longer was…and realizing why he couldn't let go of his distrust in Marley's ability to be redeemed…and how far he had been willing to go when he had the power of the Titans.
I used the Wall Titans to destroy the world beyond Paradis, he realized. I wasn't just committed to defeating Marley. I was committed to wiping out everyone that didn't belong on Paradis, whether the others agreed with my intentions or not.
Not only did he remember his unjustifiable actions against everyone, but he also remembered what made the Attack Titan unique from the other eight Titans of Ymir Fritz. While all of the Nine Titans were capable of bestowing past memories onto current possessors, the Attack Titan could bestow memories of future possessors onto the current one, enabling them to fight for the freedom of Eldia, no matter what the era or generation it was in. But Eren, because of his stubbornness and unwillingness to explore other possibilities that could've led to peace, had been unable to see everything relating to the future of the previous timeline.
"What good is freedom without peace?" Armin once asked him. "If there's no peace, then how can we embrace our freedom if we can't find balance between ourselves and Marley?"
Ever since he discovered that he had this power, Eren had been convinced that it was necessary to defeat Marley at all costs, no matter what anyone else believed, including those that believed in peace between the two nations. But then Kaede changed everything by taking his power and using it to a different extent than what he could've done with it. And worse, she had more self-control than he did, more stability in her actions…and lacking any axe to grind in the backs of whoever wasn't her step-grandfather, who forced the power of the Titans on her to benefit himself when he escaped over five years ago. He was able to see how different they were in terms of restraint and intentions…and his had been poor; even if he had taken the injection of the Jaeger Serum, he would've most likely turned into a tyrant on the verge of self-destruction if his personality was so negative.
"Dammit," he uttered.
To be continued…
A/N: Well, I think we're going to experience some heavy blows later on. What do you think about what could happen later? Eren has his revelation, Grausam has been informed by his Titan about something, and Kaede told her mother about her hidden heritage that puts her in the same league as Historia. How much further do you suspect this path will be until the end is foreseeable? How much longer…until true peace is achieved?