Reign of the Tabri
Warning: This is if Shinji had choosen to live. Happiness ensues.
Chapter 23: On the Right Hand
"… the right hand."
Logani relaxed slightly and nodded. "I'll stay near you at all times," he said, "to prevent an untimely death."
Shinji removed his tears with a swipe of his hand. "Maybe," he said optimistically, "when I get old we can do it."
Logani nodded thoughtfully. "Maybe we can still stop the Angels from coming back and still let you live out your life," he said before turning to go.
"Where are you going?" Shinji asked.
"I'll always be close," Logani said, "We can never know if someone will try to kill you in some way. Celebrities are often assassinated in this day and age." Then he disappeared from Shinji's sight.
"Shinji!" he heard someone call him from behind him. He turned around to see Asuka walking towards him. Touji and Rei followed her. "Where have you been?" Asuka demanded.
"I just-" he stopped, considering what he should tell her, "- was saying goodbye to Logani," he finished.
"Oh," she said, "He left? Just like that?"
"Yeah," Shinji said, casting a glance around. He couldn't help but wonder how close of a watch Logani would be keeping. 'Will I ever have privacy again?' he thought. He decided it didn't matter, better to live without privacy then be dead.
Asuka tossed back her head and smiled. "Well good riddance to him," she said, finally reaching Shinji, "He was always a little weird wasn't he?"
Shinji thought he saw one of the trees scowl slightly. 'Trick of the light,' he decided. "He was a little strange…" he said.
"Where to now?" asked Touji, catching up to Asuka and Shinji.
Shinji didn't even stop to think about it. With a yawn he said, "Bed."
Life recovered gradually.
The UN had to be practically rebuilt from scratch, most of it having been destroyed by the Tabri offensive only a few days earlier.
When it did get up and running Tokyo-3 became its top priority. The whole mega-city had to be rebuilt, much of it from scratch. Also, at the urging of one Shinji Ikari, NERV was left in operational status.
Shinji became a world hero practically overnight when his name was leaked around the world. Universities he had never even heard of, let alone applied too, sent in acceptance papers too him. He was quickly the most respected persona in the human culture. When he said he wanted NERV to continue the UN had almost no choice but to bow to his will.
Asuka was surprised Shinji had opted for NERV to continue. She'd thought that Shinji had been very strongly opposed to war in general. When it became obvious that NERV and the Evangelions would continue she signed up immediately as a pilot.
However, to her disappointment Shinji refused to be a pilot. He choose instead a job with someone called the Marduke Institute, who Asuka had never even heard of. Whenever asked about the job Shinji would politely refuse to comment.
This was not to say that Asuka and Shinji didn't see quite a bit of each other. Shinji's job was miraculously placed inside of the geo-front, close to were Asuka worked.
Touji went to the University of Tokyo-3 and graduated with distinction. He went on to receive his master's degree in physics and logic. There really was a reason he was picked as the Third Child.
Hikari would've been proud.
Touji then applied to work for NERV, at Shinji's prodding. He was accepted and began work on a series of Evangelion related experiments, particularly soul theory research.
Rei, like Asuka, applied to piloting initially. However, after a few years of standard synch tests she left and went into college. She graduated from Florida University and went to work for NERV. She eventually became head of the recreated NERV 03 in the US.
Anyone who knew Asuka would have thought that, like Rei, she would have left piloting after a few years. Anyone who knew Asuka was wrong. She choose to remain at NERV and pilot.
A conversation she had with Shinji, when she was twenty-eight, was too change her life forever…
"Alright Asuka, that's enough," the tech on the bridge reported.
She sighed and pulled off her neural plugs. She felt, as much as saw, the colors on the inside of the plug swirl. Her plug ejected with a slight hissing.
She climbed out of the plug of Unit 23 and took a towel offered to her by on of the techs. Her hair sorely needed it. Recent scientific findings had found that continuous exposure to LCL could cause hair damage. Asuka didn't really care about the study as much as who had conducted it. Much to Asuka's chagrin the leader had been Touji. 'Jock,' she couldn't help but think in her head.
She headed out of the Eva chamber and towards the girls locker room, toweling off as she went. When she was almost to the locker room, having just toweled off her face, she found Shinji waiting, leaning against a wall. 'Shinji? What's he doing here?' she thought.
Truth be told Asuka hadn't seen much of Shinji lately. In fact… she couldn't recall having seen him since her birthday, nearly a year ago.
Asuka hadn't actively avoided him. At least not more then twice, when she was covered in crap and not presentable. And Shinji wouldn't have avoided her…
She cursed him and his new job. She didn't even know what he did and she hated it. His job was almost certainly to blame for the long absence he'd had. Back when they'd still seen each other frequently, for a few years after Adam's destruction, Shinji had told her his job would require quite a bit of traveling, just none of it soon.
But now he was suddenly back.
"Long time no see," he said, in a very Shinji kind of way.
"Humph," she said, crossing her arms, closing her eyes, and lifting her chin up high. She decided to just ignore him and go into the locker room and get changed. She'd think of something while she was in there.
She passed him, pushing him out of the way with her eyes closed and entered the locker room.
Shinji began to shout something after her but she was too busy ignoring him. She closed the door and opened her eyes.
Three pairs of eyes stared at her. She blinked in astonishment.
Three…kid girls were in the room with her. She looked them over in confusion. "What are you doing here?" she asked them.
"Us?" one, a blonde, asked.
Another, an African brunette, replied, "We're here to pilot."
That sent Asuka running out of the room.
Shinji was waiting outside. "I tried to warn you," he said dryly.
Asuka grabbed him and started strangling him. "What the hell are those kids doing here!" she demanded.
"Ack!" was Shinji's only reply, at the moment.
Asuka released her grip when the three girls came out of the locker room. The last of the three, a redhead like Asuka, just looked at her, mouth open in amazement. Asuka cringed slightly.
Shinji managed to stand up, slowly at first. He massaged his throat for a moment before speaking. "Um… Girls, go and get your plug suites on. Asuka… could I have a word?"
The three girls turned to go back into the locker room. The redhead was the last to go. "What? Do you think I'm going to start strangling him again when you leave?" Asuka asked her.
The girl scuttled out of the room. Shinji scowled. "That wasn't very nice," he said.
"Well she should learn not to stare at people," Asuka said, turning back to her victim.
"Good luck with that," he said, "She's practically in awe with you."
That got Asuka's attention. "In awe," she asked, dumfounded.
Shinji nodded. "Uh huh. Come on, lets go to my office and we can talk," he said, still massaging his throat slightly.
Asuka followed him through the corridors. So far she hadn't been allowed to find out even as much as where Shinji's office was. She was surprised when they finally go there.
Shinji's office was arrayed in a slightly different matter then its two previous masters. He had removed the sephirothic runes on the walls and floor. Instead he had paintings of the various Evangelions on one wall, with the Angels on the other. He sat behind the desk and offered Asuka the seat across from him. She took it.
Shinji sat in the same position the original owner had used. He gazed at Asuka over his hands for a moment, as if considering her worth, and then placed his hands in a more relaxing position in his lap. He sighed and pulled a file out of one of the drawers. He tossed it to her.
"I'm sorry to get you involved Asuka," he said quietly. Then his voice rose to a more normal tone, "Everything in that file is security code five. You will repeat none of it."
Asuka opened the file and found bios for five children. Her eyes widened slightly when she recognized the three girls. She turned back to look at Shinji, confusion etched on her face.
"Those are the biographies of the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth children," Shinji began.
Asuka opened her mouth in shock. "No," she whispered weakly.
"Yes," Shinji said, "We need them and I'm here to tell you why."
Asuka shook her head and pressed her palms to the side of it. "Why can't we train older ones!" she demanded.
"Don't worry," Shinji said soothingly, "They won't have to pilot until they're older. Hopefully much older."
Asuka let out a long breath and eased down. "Why do we need them?" she asked finally.
"For the same reason we were needed," said Shinji calmly.
Asuka narrowed her eyes.
In the following hours Shinji told her everything Logani had told him. How the Angels would come back when he died and how more pilots would be needed to fight them off.
He also told her of his decisions. How he had resurrected the Marduke Institute his father had used in order to find suitable pilots. How he had chosen Asuka, the only remaining pilot in operation, to train the first batch of pilots.
She took it in calm. After all, she had been through hell already.
What was another lap?
Well, this is the end of Reign of the Tabri. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, sorry about the ending. As I said at the beginning of 22, I wanted to give some sort of warning for this. It just never really happened...
I think this chapter makes the other option seem all the more depressing. Knowing that they could have been happy, just for a little while...
More reviews will mean my next fic will start sooner. But don't expect it too soon, school isn't far off.
But I did leave this story open ended...