Creation began on 12-29-20
Creation ended on 01-25-21
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Hope from the Sky: You need to know
A/N: I'll let time pass for a time.
Yui Ikari had seen much change in the time she had been returned to her physical form and banished from the Eva by the Dark Titan's power, and most of the change was not in the way that had been desired by those that used to pull the strings behind the scenes of the world. She had seen several parts of the world reorganize their foundations as they tried to make plans for the other world that her son was in, mostly in the hopes of trying to obtain new resources from Paradis Island by trying to establish a sort of trade business. However, it was unlikely to go down due to every country wanting a piece of what Paradis had, particularly the power of the Titans to produce hardened Titan flesh and the ability to cultivate wastelands and convert them into hospital terrains. But because each nation coveted the power the Eldians possessed, protection of the portal in Nevada was a twenty-four-hour priority to prevent misuse, which meant NERV was in charge of keeping it safe.
Unfortunately, none of this really mattered to her. The Evangelion program was suspended indefinitely, with the sole exception of Unit-01, which now belonged to the Eldians since her son was the only one that could use it, and he was affiliated with the Eldians, and the last time he was ever in its Entry Plug was just to relocate the Eva to a different part of the island for storage. Of course, the last time he used it enabled NERV to look at his memories of what he did in past, one of which was sticking with his girlfriend during her family's waiting for the birth of its newest member, which took almost an entire night and the two teens spent most of the next day asleep.
"To think that he spends an entire night staying up with someone for something as trivial as the birth of a new baby," said one of the NERV personnel members when reviewing the recorded memories, "that just shows his commitment to the girl that has this Titan power at her disposal."
He is committed to Kaede, she thought, and she's committed to him. There's no coming in between the pair when it comes to the future now.
It was now Twenty-Sixteen; a total of six months had passed since the war between Paradis and Marley had ended (well, technically, eight months, but six months due to the fact that Shinji hadn't used the Eva in such a long time period), and their planet, ravaged by Second Impact, had been able to make some progress in reclaiming a bit more of the coastal areas flooded by the ocean, even if it was only a few city blocks and achieved through creating artificial land masses. Under normal circumstances, Yui would've overlooked all of this and tried her hand at something else to pass the time, like genetic engineering to recreate lost species of plants and animals. However, being a scientist without any access to any lab outside of NERV or much claim to a research crew, and her only one success being the one that the world will never know about fully because of the cons that came with using it in the beginning (and there were no guarantees for whatever side-effects that could occur later on for any of those that piloted the Evas), Yui didn't have much to do with her time in any way that was scientific and beneficial for the world. Worse was that she was just going through the days without ever knowing what her son was doing on Paradis or with the Sogen girl that had embraced her newfound status as a big sister to a newborn. She really wished to have at least one conversation with Shinji, to let him know that she was alive and that she wanted to know how his life was with the Eldians.
"Yui," she heard Fuyutsuki behind her down the hall in NERV HQ and turned to face him.
"Sensei," she responded.
"You look as though this new year has been less than peaceful."
"It's been months since the feuding between everyone that was out to get Paradis or even Shinji, and there's no news on what's going on with that island."
"The last any of us ever heard from Shinji's memories was that the Eldians were being accepted by the Marleyans. The lands ravaged by war have been turned into giant gardens and people living on Paradis just trying to put the violence and hatred of their past behind them. We keep sending in satellites to monitor as much of the activity that goes on on the ground and water, and there's no sign of unusual activity that indicates someone trying to instigate a new war. Marley's been put in check, Paradis has their non-nuclear deterrent against any that may want to exterminate them, and people behind the governments of their world are looking for different ways to resolve their differences."
"And yet…there has been nothing beyond these happenings."
"Major Katsuragi was put in charge of monitoring the portal in Nevada while Dr. Akagi has been contracted by an independent research company in trying to create artificial doorways to the other dimension to attempt personal travel to and from that place. She was able to study the inner workings of the portal and map out its function. Who knows when they'll manage to come up with good results?"
But still, that didn't lift Yui's spirits over the one thing that was on her mind right now: What was Shinji up to? That was what she wanted to know? What he was doing, where he currently was, and who was he with?
-x-
"Waaah!" Kaede heard Sumairu cry late at night and the scuffling of slippers as one of her parents got up. "Waaahh!"
"Shinji?" She uttered as she turned in her bed to look down at the boy below on the floor.
"Yeah?" He responded.
"Did Sumairu wake you?"
"Yeah…but it's not her fault. She's a baby. We don't know what she needs until we try everything to calm her."
"True."
She looked at her wristwatch and sighed at the time being after three. They needed to see Historia at the orphanage village at nine, and they needed to be rested. There had been some minor issues with the transition with the Reiss family's return to life and their return to their home in the former lands that were once Wall Sina; some of the the nobility were trying to challenge Historia's rule, despite Frieda being against any other member of their family ruling when Historia represented the people's freedom from the Walls the past and their progression into the future, with anyone else that ruled before her being a representation of a cruel return to their life behind the Walls.
"My mother is among those still troubled by Historia being the queen," Frieda had explained to them the day before. "I'm not sure they're going to be as simple to the other people that have already left the Walls in favor of the coastal city."
Both teens were wondering how to deal with the nobles that had been against Historia's reign from the start. Since the Eva had been put into storage as an additional nuclear deterrent, as nobody in Marley or on Paradis sought to return to the world of war and death, Shinji's position had been reduced to just being an adviser to the young queen. While this might've made him somewhat useless, Historia still viewed his presence as helpful to her.
The wailing of Sumairu had ceased, indicating that she was either calm or asleep again, and the teens fell back to their own slumber so they could get up later and aid in the resolving of difficulties with people that had been unable or unwilling to accept what was now over what used to be.
It's not like we didn't anticipate on there being some difficulty with the nobility being persistent in returning to the old order that doesn't work, anymore, Kaede thought as she turned to her right side in her slumber. We knew there would be issues with them before Historia was crowned to ensure order. But we still stood by her side, for better or worse. They're just trying to poke at what they don't want to accept because they fear it ruins their own way of life.
-x-
Despite the fact that the Angels were no longer an issue and the world of humanity was protected from total destruction, Asuka, against the request made for her, refused to return to Germany. Her reason for refusing was due to not wanting to see those two people that didn't ease her spirits when she had nothing else to do with her time there. And, as much as she disliked Japan, she wasn't so happy with the very thought of going back to Germany when SEELE was exposed and several people in league with the secret organization were found out, including her father, and this discovery left her wondering if there was anyone in her family that wasn't trying to either destroy the human race or go after Shinji because of his defection and allegiance to the Eldians of Paradis. The only good thing her father owned up to was being a coward and not going to the other dimension, despite the assumption that access to the resources Paradis had would reinforce his own.
"Asuka, family is everything," she recalled her father telling him over the phone, trying to get her to return to Germany.
That's what they say when things get worse before they even begin to get better, she thought as she walked down the streets of Tokyo-3 with Hikari. Or worse, what they say when the law starts to catch up with their involvement with some very bad people.
The one thing that most people had a tendency to ponder about in this city was whether or not "that man's son" or "that Ikari bastard's kid" would ever come back after discovering that he was alive and living with people that weren't his own in a world not his own. It wasn't really much of a question whether or not Shinji would return; he had a girlfriend where he was and the environment of the island was affected by the change of seasons and wasn't mostly underwater due to some catastrophe that happened sixteen years ago. Why would he want to return to this one? He had lived with strangers for most of his childhood after losing his mother and being left behind by his father at less than four years old, didn't have much of a life where people actually knew him more than they spoke about his parents, and then, at age fourteen, he gets called to a city he hadn't been to before by his father, a man he rarely ever saw or knew, to join a paramilitary group he never knew about, to face strange creatures that he didn't know about, and nearly got killed in the process, time and again. It was pretty obvious to those that didn't overthink it too much that the choice was clear to the kid when he made his decision back when his old man was still alive and tried to dictate what he would and wouldn't do after discovering him alive.
"…So…you're not going back to Germany, Asuka?" Hikari asked her.
"No," she answered back. "There's not really anything to go back to for me over there."
"You miss Shinji, don't you?"
"No. He's… I don't know how he is able to live with himself and move on after his father gets killed trying to kill him. Or at least not go crazy after everything that has happened. I mean, he watched his father smash into his Eva's AT-Field in a fit of rage after he realized that he had lost the battle before the first move was even made…and when I asked him how he was doing before Ayanami and I left him, since we didn't have any orders to bring him back with us…and he said that…that…"
"What did he say?"
"That he'd be alright. I don't know how he'd ever recover from that carnage. Just seeing his father end up the way he did should've traumatized him enough to make him have nightmares or even go through days without thinking about anything else. But Shinji just… He just walks away from the fact that his father dies in front of him, and he's confident that he'll be fine."
"Maybe he has access to therapy over there. Or he spends enough time with this Kaede Sogen and her family to not be bothered by his lack of familial ties here. What does NERV really know about the people Shinji defected to when he fell into their world? There's more to people than just what they possess. There's their culture, their history, society, something that may be similar to what's here or even better than what's here."
"A girl that likes him because she believes that he gave her back her sense of hope after telling her that what her step-grandfather, and a real man devoid of any soul and morality, did to her to turn her into some kind of human that can turn into a Titan at will, didn't diminish her future in the least."
"Why is that?"
"Because unlike these previous people that possessed this Titan power, they were believed to be only permitted by some higher power to possess it for no more than thirteen years; whether or not they die or the power leaves them in favor of a new host is not fully understood by most except Shinji, who researched the history of these Titan powers, but people that used to have the power were still like they were before they were originally turned into mindless Titans and ate the previous holders of the power. But the people turned by her step-grandfather didn't have to eat anyone; they possessed intelligence and were able to do whatever some of the previous Titans could do. And the girl was the first person that man turned before he used his success on himself…just to regrow his lost leg."
"But…if she was still the same as she was before he harmed her, why was she afraid that her future was diminished by what he did to her?"
"Because she was terrified of being around men. She was relieved when Shinji told her that she could still have a future because he was convinced that she wouldn't die in thirteen years or anything like the past holders of the power. But it was her fear of being around men that made her afraid to take back her life."
"But she's not afraid of Shinji? Did her fear go further than what you're saying?"
"After he told her what he had learned, she asked if the discovery meant that she could have children of her own and they wouldn't be anything like what she thought she had become…and he answered that she could…and then she kissed him."
"Well, not many ladies that find out that they can still plan for their future would probably thank someone that tells them that their lives are still theirs to decide what to do with. If I was in a car accident that left me with a broken arm or leg and I was told that was the only thing wrong with my body, I'd be grateful that I could still have children of my own when I meet the right person."
"Except I could never get why she would choose him…or why he would choose her. And after the craziness with his father and her step-grandfather, they're still together."
"The heart is mysterious and full of wonder and potential, Asuka. If these two truly love each other, then they're able to overcome whatever comes their way. People that are in love, that are meant to be together, regardless of boundaries, obstacles, time, distance, other people, they can't be separated by any force, in this life or the next, in this world or in the next."
Yet Asuka found that almost impossible to comprehend due to such an emotion being so hard to make sense. That boy could've returned before things changed with his defection and his father trying to bomb an entire island full of people that had nothing to do with their problems out of spite towards him, but he chose to stay there. And the Sogen girl could've chosen to pursue some other boy that she might've had eyes for, assuming she even had eyes for maybe a childhood friend or a neighbor, but she chose to care about the one boy that had to grow a spine at what had been, probably, the worse time for him to get lost. How did these two ever find each other in such an unusual point of time?
"Are you seeing anyone, Hikari?" She asked the pig-tailed girl.
"Yeah, Suzuhara," the girl revealed.
"That stooge?!"
"He has a compassionate side to him. He went to see his sister in the hospital ever since she was injured in the first Angel attack. After she got out and began her rehab, he volunteered to help her walk after her cast was removed. He practically leaves school early just to make sure that she never gets lonely. I asked him if he needed any help, and he invited me to come see her."
-x-
It made no sense to either Kaede or Shinji for Mrs. Reiss to try and make a big deal out of Historia being the queen when she was doing such good job and the people loved her. There was no point in raising a fit over her husband's child with another woman being in control who spent the majority of her time looking after orphans…unless she was simply worried about something as trivial as her family's public image, which was already ruined by the revelation that Rod had fathered another child during a secret affair. Even so, what was done was done, and nobody could change that (not even Kaede dared to cross that line, deciding to erase somebody from existence, as it would be a betrayal to both her conscience and the people). This meant Mrs. Reiss needed to get with the times that were the here and now…and let go of what Rod did behind her back.
"…Can't you even see that she's not worthy of being the queen?" She tried to convince Shinji.
"Except she is," he responded to her as they sat on part of the remains of Wall Sina; the remains, even after Kaede had awakened the Wall Titans within them, had been reinforced to stand without them serving as the internal pillars. "Historia has been doing everything for the good of the people ever since she became the queen. There's no disorder or infighting, not even another attack on the island after the war against Marley was won. And you heard Frieda, even if you could challenge the decision, it wouldn't change anything."
"You don't know for sure. You're still young."
"I know that I swore my loyalty to Historia when she became queen, and every day since has been a long road of both recovery and expansion. There's no further reason to fight, to persist. It's just stubbornness and relentlessness to get over the fact that the life you once knew…is in the past and has to remain there. People that do that, either because they fear the unknown or want to return to the selfish belief that the world beyond this island is off-limits, can't hold onto those delusions forever. And the ones that let some drive to commit random or directed acts of violence take hold of them without believing in a different way to seek peace and freedom…are just as difficult to contend with because they probably felt that they had to overcome obstacles through violence or were brought up in an environment where all they knew was violence, which is just as bad."
"And you still serve the girl, regardless of the opinions of others?"
"We respect Historia and care about her," said Kaede to her. "She chose us as her advisers, and whenever something she doesn't understand quite well arises, we look for the best answer possible to give her, regardless of whose opinions are heard."
"But why?" She questioned. "Why is she considered the one best suited?"
"She…has a good heart. She's caring for others…and doesn't want to control the people. What makes one a good ruler? How does one become a good ruler? What do you believe makes one a good ruler?" Shinji questioned.
"Possessing the power of the Founding Titan and the support of the nobility," she stated clearly.
"The nobility only make up a tiny fraction of the island's population," Kaede replied. "If it was measured in fingers, they would only take up to three of my fingers with the other seven being represented by the common folk, the everyday people that don't have wealth and privileges. I have the power of all Nine Titans restored into one unity and I don't even know one member of the nobility if Historia isn't considered a member…but I use my power to benefit the people. I can't just…pick and choose based on the desires of those that think they know better than everyone else."
"And you tore the Walls down to release the Titans within them to protect the people…and yet you didn't unleash them upon the world? You could've done so if you chose to."
"I have no need or desire for mass genocide or unnecessary manslaughter. The power of the Wall Titans was needed to protect Paradis against a different threat…and I kept them scattered across the island to stand watch over the people…and I got sick for a while due to having taken in so many different Titan powers into myself and not taking the time to adjust to them. It's like trying to eat a sandwich that's too big for your stomach and you find that you've bitten off more than you can chew…instead of simply taking time to chew the first bite and swallow it and then wait for your breath to be caught."
"That sounds awful."
"Oh, it was awful. It took me a couple of days, but I made a complete recovery. But if I had to relive that time over again, I would have done the same actions to protect the people, knowing that it would lead me back to a sixty-day prison sentence because of my deception used."
"Sixty days in a dungeon cell? That sounds a little soft."
"Historia still wanted to trust Kaede," Shinji stated. "She's the only Titan Shifter in history to have recombined the Nine Titans created after Ymir Fritz's passing…and the only Titan Shifter left in existence. And she looks up to Historia as the better ruler, and we come to discover that they're both capable and fit to rule."
"The Three Rulers of Eldia. One for Paradis, one for Gigante, and one for the Titans. It sounds like a fairytale."
"But we've been to Gigante," went Kaede to Mrs. Reiss. "We've seen Titanus Yggdrasilus, people that have lived on the island and were from other parts of the world that were involved in wars with each other. It was peaceful over there, too; nobody there really wanted to fight or engage in war, politics or anything that would be found elsewhere."
"Why is that?"
"They're past all of that. That and because of a storm wall that was made long ago to protect the island from the outside world. It's best not to drag anyone there into a conflict. I wouldn't endanger them."
"What kind of people live on that island?"
"Eldians, Marleyans, descendants of people from other countries, like the Russians, Asians, Germans, and they're all mixed to varying degrees."
Missus Reiss leaned in front of one of the parapets and looked out at the land that could've one day been infested with Titans…but would never be due to the actions of those that were always seeking a life beyond the Walls.
"How long do you suppose that your precious queen will be able to serve the people without the power of the Founding Titan…or any of the Nine Titans, for that matter?" She asked them.
"Until she retires and names a successor," Shinji answered to the best of his belief. "But she's only been queen for less than two years now. Nobody's in a rush to see her retire or get replaced. Even Ms. Frieda is impressed by her actions, especially her care of the children orphaned because of the Titans or other conflicts. They love Historia as much as they love Kaede."
"And Rod being imprisoned?"
"He was part of the reasons behind an earlier attempt on Shinji's life when he fell from the sky and helped the Survey Corps to reclaim Wall Maria by causing the Titans back then to fear his Eva after learning that it could eat them to empower itself. These members of the disbanded Wall Cult were afraid of the hope Shinji gave and the loss of control over the people that began to believe in a future beyond the Walls. So, a few of them tried to make an attempt on his life one night while he was asleep in Shiganshina District after it was rebuilt. But something went wrong and they were killed. Whoever did it was never found and nobody claimed responsibility for their deaths. Even though it's been over a year since he fell from the sky, our lives haven't been the same because of Shinji's presence and the aid of his Eva. And not only can we not go back to the way things used to be, most of us don't even want to go back to the way things used to be."
"We can only go forward, but we can keep one eye on the past and the other on the future," Shinji added with Kaede's belief.
And Mrs. Reiss had to look at Shinji and see that he was clearly on the side of being able to move forward instead of staying stagnant as the nobility had for countless years. But there was something about him that she couldn't understand very well; it had little to do with his ethnicity as it did with his conviction to commit himself to a people that he didn't belong with. True, he was the primary reason her husband was currently in prison and unlikely to ever get out, but it was only because he could use a giant that was not a Titan, and now that the fighting had been ended, he was just a regular person with a position of significance to the current ruler, so he was still invaluable.
"You should go to the coastal city sometime," Kaede suggested, "or the orphanage village where Historia lives. You'd get an excellent view of the ocean, the sight of the two carriers, hear the laughter and cheers of the children that Historia looks after, the lives changed by living outside the Walls and so on. Think about it. Has there ever been something you wanted to do for a long time, but wasn't able to due to the stagnation of the old reign? Anything at all?"
The woman sighed and then pointed up to the sky.
"I wanted to see what the land looked like from up there," she revealed.
"You mean, fly?" Shinji questioned.
"I heard a rumor that a couple once tried to fly away in a balloon," she explained, "but the Military Police stopped them and destroyed the balloon. If they had been able to get away, what would they thought of the world below? What would they have been able to see from up there (she still points to the sky)? Would they have seen a beautiful place? Would they have been able to count how many Titans were out there beyond Wall Maria? What would they have seen?"
It was an interesting question from a time before either teen came around and changed the way things were on the island. What would this unknown couple have seen if their balloon had gotten off the ground and the Military Police couldn't catch them?
"I can turn into a flight-capable Titan," Kaede offered her. "We don't know if people have rebuilt any hot air balloons yet. We took Marley's blimps in the last attempt they made on Paradis. But it is beautiful when you see the world from up there. Heh-heh… It's like a large canvas painted by nature."
"Show me."
Shinji grabbed the rope of the lift that was beside the wall and helped to lower the three down to the ground below; after he had been shown how to operate it, it became a simple task for him to do on his own, but he got the impression that these lifts were modified with some small technology that had been found after they discovered the coastal city and everything that had been buried around its streets.
"Who is this boy to you, Ms. Sogen?" Kaede was asked by Mrs. Reiss.
"He's my boyfriend," she stated simply. "The love of my life."
"You're that serious about him?"
"We've been together for over a year now. If anything, Shinji's the longest relationship I've ever had with anyone that wasn't family…and he's practically a part of mine."
"He's the one, isn't he?"
Kaede got the impression that Mrs. Reiss was referring to Shinji in that sort of way, the way that most involved in romantic relationships would refer to as the one for them. And it was true, Shinji was the one for her; he was where she got her first kiss, her hope returned to her, her first crush and everything else in between. She would do anything for him.
"Yes," she told the woman, "he is."
-x-
"…The last time he was using the Eva, it was just to put it in storage," said Maya to Yui in Central Dogma, "and he stated that he hoped it would never need to be used again for as long as they had peace with Marley. He was really adamant about it, not using the Eva. Keeping it as a deterrent in case someone deliberately tried to instigate another conflict was a solution that worked for Shinji."
"Yeah," Yui expressed; the lack of access to the Eva meant no further access to Shinji's past recollection of what he had seen, heard or did, and no communication with him.
"It's not like he has a cell phone to contact anyone," Misato stated to Yui; even when he was at NERV, Shinji's use of a cell phone was practically limited to calls relating to the Angels, as he didn't have much of a social life, even before joining NERV. He doesn't even have his phone.
Yui had her share of regrets when it came to her own decisions and everything Gendo did before he caused his own death, but Shinji having no knowledge of her very existence was a major regret because it was as if she was truly dead to her son, something that had been true in a sense due to having no trace of her left. She felt she couldn't move on until Shinji knew at least a little about herself. With the original plan for the future no longer possible, all the people had here was…whatever they could do to rebuild their lives and homes with the time that they had.
"It's not like he's going anywhere any time right now, though," Misato told her. "He's spending much of his time on Paradis with Kaede and her family. Unless there's another war or predicament that requires the use of the Eva, he's as ordinary as the people he lives with are."
-x-
It was an unfathomable experience for Mrs. Reiss, flying atop the Dark Titan with her wings outstretched and hovering on an updraft, enabling Shinji and them to gaze down at the world of Paradis below.
"It's…really beautiful," she told them.
"Yeah," Shinji agreed with her. "It's like you're looking at a new world, but it's really the same world being seen from a different angle."
"I never thought this place could be any more beautiful."
Then the Dark Titan uttered, "Even when it's not viewed as being beautiful…it can still amaze you with how beautiful it truly is…when you take the time to see it for what it is."
Inside her Titan, Kaede agreed with her. Even before the Walls were attacked, even after they had been attacked and people were trying to survive the population influx into smaller, enclosed spaces, she could still see the beauty of the world she lived in. And up in the air, able to soar above the people, to see them like some kind of deity charged with overseeing the masses, she marveled at the mountains, the snow, the sand, the buildings, the trees, the ocean. If the world itself was perceived as a deity, she was a follower, a believer of it.
-x-
The news media was blowing up with how long NERV was going to keep the portal in Nevada closed off from the rest of the world. One representative from the United Nations questioned that if someone from the Japanese nation ended up there and made it a point to stay there with these people that possessed a power that could reshape their own countries if they had the girl that possessed it, why did they need to refrain from making a trip there to attempt seeking their aide. Another representative also argued that at this point, it was moot to keep this from the public, as there were small groups, both political and radical, that sought out the power of the Titans for personal reasons, and that these months that came and went had to have enabled the Eldians to settle their affairs and rebuild their relationships with these Marleyans and other parts of their world. But Misato, among those that was as neutral to both sides of the line, had to disagree with everyone that saw the Eldians as some sort of new resource to exploit while hoping that Shinji and Kaede were doing fine as they had to be on the watch for any unpredictable possibilities, be they from the people they help to govern or their neighboring countries.
"They're still going on about the portal?" Asuka asked her that night.
"Until there's something new to complain about somewhere else, they're just going to complain about the portal that we're keeping watch over."
"I honestly don't know what's worse: The Russians desiring access to the power of the Titans, or the Germans wanting access to the power for the same reasons as the Russians."
"And why do they want the power of the Titans? Land development? Agricultural expansion?"
"No, weapons development."
"Weapons development?"
"Both countries see the Titans as the next generation bioweapon, and that failure with the attack on Paradis by SEELE and Shinji's father… They think it'd be a shift from the use of hardware by having a handful of soldiers that can replace the majority and having increased strength, speed and durability. Unfortunately, the last time I spoke with my father, I told him that desiring power like that was what got those people killed. Me? I'm all for the Titan power being used to help build new bridges and houses for people and maybe reinforcing old dams or even building new planes, but people seeking a power that was meant to be used benevolently when it was obtained for the wrong reasons… That's just madness waiting to happen."
"With access to the Evas now shutdown, every nation is looking for the next source of power that can make them superior. But Paradis is the only one that will ever have the power that their ancestors found."
Ring-ring! Misato's cell phone rang, and she looked at who was calling, surprised by the name that popped up on her screen.
"No way," went Asuka as she saw this. "Is this for real?"
Misato swiped and accepted the call.
"Katsuragi, speaking," she greeted.
"As in Misato Katsuragi?" She heard Shinji's voice on the other end.
"That's right."
"It's Shinji here. I'm just…trying out my new phone."
"A new phone? I didn't think the phones there were working."
"A lot of things here are made with different materials that last a lot longer than most expected them to. The one I have right now, it was made over several centuries ago, and it still looks like it was made very recently. Architects behind the phones, they must've been masters at streamlining objects. Anyway, the reason I'm calling is to see…how are y'all doing over there?"
"People are being people, Shinji. The restructured UN is being unsettled by groups of people from across the world that are upset that travel to the world you're living in has been restricted and that the power of the Titans isn't being used to benefit them because, and it's partially because of what Asuka had informed me of, some countries aren't thinking of benevolent ways to see it being used. But nobody here has any say in what the Eldians can and can't do with the Titan power, whatsoever."
"Desiring power for the wrong reasons can be a route leading to one's own downfall."
Cough, cough! Asuka made a gesture that was meant for Misato to remember that there was something Shinji really needed to know about…and it couldn't be put off any further.
Even if it was something that seemed to go against the overall way he believed in things, Shinji couldn't be kept in the dark any longer.
"Uh, Shinji," Misato uttered as she composed herself, "there's something that happened a while back that you weren't informed about that you really should know about. It's a…very sensitive subject that…you might not take very well."
"If one of these countries is trying to declare war with Paradis, I'm under no obligation to be merciful to their military forces if they try to make unreasonable demands," Shinji told her.
"No, it's nothing like that. Nobody from here is coming through that portal unless they have everything they need to make a safe travel to and from there. This…is a really sensitive subject that you've been kept in the dark about."
The next three minutes were a quiet whirlwind of positive and negative back and forth before the call ended.
"That, uh…didn't go as well as I had expected it to," Asuka told Misato.
"Actually," she responded, "it went exactly as I had believed it would."
"How's he going to be after he's taken the time to process it all?"
"He'll probably be needing a few days to let it sink in, to know that we're not deceiving him."
-x-
Kaede didn't feel like Shinji was being himself after he had left the Sogen apartment to be by himself after dinner was over. If anything, he looked as though someone from his past had done something to upset him, and she wasn't sure who or even why.
Knock, knock. Someone was knocking at her bedroom door, getting her attention as she sat at her desk and mirror.
"Who is it?" She asked.
"It's your mother, Kaede," the voice of her mother replied.
"Come in."
The door opened and her mother came in.
"Was it just my imagination, or did Shinji seem…upset about something." Christine asked her.
"It wasn't just you that thought about Shinji being upset about something," she responded. "Something was definitely on his mind after that phone call he made to his former guardian. I tried to ask him about it, but he brushed it off as nothing serious. But it must be something that he didn't expect to hear about because every time he talked, it was like he had more doubt and distrust in it than realization and acceptance."
"Do you think he might…hurt himself over whatever it is that's bothering him?"
"I hope he doesn't. Still… I can't risk that he might do something wrong because of it."
Kaede then got up and grabbed her shawl as she walked past her mother. Even if it was nothing serious, she had to make sure that Shinji was alright, for better or for worse.
"Do you even know where he went?" Christine asked her before she opened the front door.
"Probably the roof," her daughter explained. "Be back soon."
She ran down the hall, got into the elevator, and pressed the button for the top floor.
Shinji, what is wrong? I want to know what troubles you.
Ding! The elevator had reached her destination and she vacated to head for the stairway leading to the roof.
Unfortunately, Shinji was nowhere to be found on the roof. Still, because Kaede was concerned that Shinji might've done something serious to harm himself, she looked over the ledge of her building…and sighed a breath of relief that there was nothing far below on the street that was getting people's attention. But if he wasn't on the roof…or at least he didn't jump off this roof, where was Shinji Ikari at a time like this? Where did he go to be by himself?
"The beach!" She suspected out loud. "He's gotta be there! It's one of the closest places to go to be alone!"
-x-
The truth he heard from his former guardian… Just what was true, anymore? Here, the truth was verified through generations of memories left to the present and future by those of the past, enabling people to move on and reach the impossible through cooperation and forming a symbiosis with one another; both or all sides could receive benefits, no matter what they were. But back there, where he used to live, where his life began, the truth was… The truth was a matter of what was known…and what was constantly kept from being known.
Shinji didn't want to believe what Misato had told him, even if it was just another series of words meant to either coerce or deceive him. Just knowing about it now left him feeling conflicted; he had finally moved past the death of his father, who was nothing more than a face that deserved to be forgotten from his conscience so he could move on with his life here with the Eldians, and now he finds out that his mother has been around since before his old man condemned himself to death due to his arrogance, and he just didn't know how to deal with this. How was he supposed to come to terms with this? He didn't even have a single memory of her; his abandonment issues and lack of a photograph keepsake because of his father had erased every memory he had of what she looked like before she died…or so he was led to believe. He wasn't even sure of how to tell Kaede about this, if he could even handle telling her.
The only thing they really had in common now when it came to their familial background was the fact that both their fathers were dead, although that was the only thing they had in common regarding their parents. His girlfriend's father was considered to be a good person while his own father was anything but a good person in any sense.
"Shinji?" He heard her voice and he turned to face Kaede, who looked as though she had run all the way to the beach. "What's wrong?"
He looked away from her and back out at the dark ocean water. How was he supposed to tell her? Could she even handle it any better than he had difficulty doing so?
"That call I made to Misato ended with her telling me something that I'm having difficulty dealing with," he told her.
"What did she tell you?" She asked him as she sat on the large rock with him.
"My mother, whom I thought was dead ever since I was little, is alive and well…and has been for the last few months," he revealed to her.
"Really?"
"It was sometime before my father and SEELE came to this world and tried to wage a war against the people here on Paradis. My only guess is that she showed up shortly after the Tybur family and Marley lost the War Hammer Titan in their second naval attack."
"But…if she's been around since then, why didn't she tell you before?"
"She didn't want me to feel like I was being pressured to return to the other dimension…and there might still be some people there that are upset with my defection from NERV."
"That would be understandable; anyone that would be upset with you choosing to stay here might still be around over there. But…do you believe her?"
"Why would she lie to me?"
"You're still a sensitive person when it comes to your past-related problems. Only if I had to, I'd refrain from telling you something until you were ready to handle it. Can I trust you'd refrain from telling me something until I was ready to handle it?"
"Kaede, I'd never lie to you about anything I find out…and, yes, I'd refrain from informing you about anything until you were ready to handle knowing about it."
"Still…your mother being alive… That's a good thing, isn't it?"
"Except I don't remember her. I don't even remember what she looked like. My father got rid of every picture of her."
Kaede put her left arm around Shinji's shoulder and looked out at the ocean with him.
"What do you want to do, Shinji?" She asked him.
"I'm not sure what I should do," he responded. "If I do decide that I want to see her, I'd probably have to go back there…and that's the absolute last thing I'd ever want to do if it kept me from coming back here."
"If Ms. Soryu has been able to come here several times, and that's due to a portal in space up there in the sky, it should be possible for your mother to come here if we wanted her to. If it's still up there, bridging the two worlds together, it's possible."
"Yeah…but then I'd have to question her about some things, why she did what she did and why she came back. I don't want to be judgmental, but when you find out how far your old man was willing to go to get his way, you have to make sure a woman you don't remember isn't the same as him."
"There's nothing wrong with wanting to be sure. Still, it's your choice, Shinji. What do you want to do about her?"
-x-
Misato had informed Yui that she had revealed to Shinji she was alive and that he might try to contact her. However, it had been a week since she told him…and there had been no response or anything to indicate that Shinji was making any attempt to try and contact her.
"He's a sensitive person," Misato had told her. "Plus, he's had to cope with the death of his father and every other decision made by either him or himself that occurred after he made the choice to defect in order to protect the Eldians against those that either see them as a threat or as a resource to exploit in a negative way. He needs time to process everything he finds out about, however long it takes him. It's not everyday you find out your mother's alive after believing her to be dead for over ten years."
Except that she wasn't really dead. Well, legally, she had been dead, but she was just in the Eva for an extended period, lasting longer than a few minutes or hours, and she told Fuyutsuki about what she was going to do beforehand. But Shinji was deliberately kept in the dark because nobody informed him after the contact experiment, so he had no other choice than to believe she was dead…and it took a toll on his heart and soul. And then, there was the Dark Titan of Ms. Sogen, making a move that was meant to ensure that neither teen could be separated by whoever or whatever came their way, seeing things from a different perspective that she, as a scientist, could not see without coming to terms with the new predicament that was the present. The Dark Titan wanting only for Ms. Sogen to be happy with Shinji, going to the lengths she did to ensure that Shinji wouldn't feel like he was being manipulated to return to a world that had been ravaged by what he had been misled to believe was due to the Angels when it was really the arrogance of people of the previous generation, and abandon the peace that was where he was now, among people that used to live behind three walls on an island in fear of giants that prayed on them like savage animals due to the disillusionment of a previous ruler's self-hatred and slow-motioned plan of genocide.
Of course, he'd choose to be there than over here, Yui thought as she stood in front of the decommissioned Unit-00 in the cage. If he came back here and something…or someone…kept him from ever going back, he'd be crushed by never being able to see Kaede or her family, the Survey Corps or Garrison groups, or even the young queen he aids from time to time. Never again to see any of them, as if it were nothing more than a dream he was forced to awaken from. That would crush anyone's spirit.
"Yui," she heard Fuyutsuki's voice, breaking her train of thought as she turned to her left to face him, seeing that he was holding a tablet. "Major Katsuragi received a text message from Shinji. He's sent an invite for each of us to come to Paradis to meet with him."
"He wants us to go to Paradis?" She asked him, making sure she understood right.
"That's right. It's obvious that part of his invite is due to his fear of coming back here and being unable to return."
"Over there is the only place he has been able to see the seasons change."
Fuyutsuki knew that Yui was beating around the bush with that half-truth; not only had Japan yet to regain the other three seasons, but the planet was still years away from returning to its proper axis. The woman probably couldn't believe that Shinji was now willing to meet with her, after so many years apart and believing her to be dead. It was anyone's guess as to how the meeting between the individuals would play out when they do meet.
"When does he want to meet?" She asked him.
"That depends on the weather conditions here and our own sense of punctuality," he explained; since the meeting was dependent upon their ability to show up, Shinji would be the one waiting on them, not the other way around.
"Just who has he invited over?"
"Whoever can be bothered to show up: Major Katsuragi, Asuka, Rei, three of his classmates from school, yourself and I."
Eight people. Not a whole lot of people from his time here, but then again, he didn't really know many people from his life in Tokyo-3 or any other part of Japan.
"You're nervous?" Fuyutsuki asked her.
"Yeah," she admitted.
To be continued…
A/N: Well, now Shinji knows that his mother is alive, but how will their first meeting after more than a decade apart will shape their relationship?