Time is an inescapable law of nature, yet for the last man on Earth it didn't matter. He wished for his own survival, and the ability to come back. That was enough for him. It could be that no one else would come back in his lifetime, but it still would have been worth it. He wasn't happy though. The downside to allowing yourself to feel happiness is the ability to feel the lack of it, that was the dilemma for Shinji. A small graveward adored the outer edge of the beach he first arrived from. He knew they weren't dead, but it still needed to be built. Despite not killing them, and in some cases, allowing them to come back from their deaths, he still inadvertently caused them. In his ultimate weakness he succumbed to hate and jealousy, thus wiping the world's slate clean. He forgot his love and pride.

"Anywhere can be paradise if you have the will to live."

He was taken back to the impact. His encounter with Asuka, making the world whole again, Seeing his mother; the subsequent encounter between her and father, most importantly his rejection of Lilith and reaffiliation of self worth and true happiness.

Speaking of Asuka… He was ashamed. Ashamed of everything he put her through, both conscious and unconscious. Shinji swallowed a bit of bile that welled up in his throat. She was always so lively compared to his perpetual drab and withdrawment.

He wandered to the edge of the shore as he did every night. Sleeping on the beach put sand in his everywhere but it was his way to connect to the rest of the world. He missed the falling spark in the sky that night.

Something was wrong. There was someone next to him, Asuka was next to him. Nobody had retired, let alone anyone he knew. To see the only person he had truly gotten to know in his short life next to him felt amazing!

A small ploop interrupted his thought. Turning his head over and looking left, he saw her. The floating visage of Rei Ayanami, fake girl, fake angel. It was eerily similar to the visage he saw when the first Angel attacked. Then it hit him, he had found the end. Nothing mattered, his one redeeming action in Third Impact had been forwent by her. What's left to lose then.

He slid up, looking down on the unmoving Second Child. He climbed on top of her, again not exiting a reaction. He was getting annoyed, much like she would have back before all this. He didn't care though. Slipping his hand around her neck much like in Instrumentality, he waited for her to either push him off or accept her fate. She did neither. Raising the bandaged appendage up the girl gently caressed his cheek. The tears came, and they didn't stop. They wouldn't for almost thirty minutes. The woman had said something but Shinji tuned it out. He had finally let it all out. She was confirmormation he didn't doom everyone, but in fact allowed them to live. He eventually stood up and off of her, prompting Asuka to sit up herself.

"I had a sister. She didn't know it and neither did I, but we still talked. She died. Everyone can come back but her. Hell, she died three times. Once was her innocence, then her emotion, then her life. Rei Ayanami was a good sister. She protected me when I needed it, and didn't judge me off my failures. She granted me one last favour before she left. She let everyone come back."

Shinji looked back down at Asuka, deciding to sit next to her. "I think I understand my father now. Gendo was so married to the idea of his Wife that he forgot her wishes. Driven by his own admiration well beyond her death."

Asuka spoke up next. Her throat sore from the day's previous events, she was just able to croak out her thoughts. "My mother went insane, even before EVA. She tried poisoning me to get back at her ex-husband. Then after her mind was split by EVA she had this… doll who she called 'Asuka' and loved more than her actual daughter. She hung herself along with the doll, I discovered it."

"My mom got absorbed by Unit-01 while I watched, then later trapped me in her own soul. She didn't want me to be hurt, but failed..."

"Mama was also in 02! Does that mean they were protecting us our entire lives?" Asuka shouted with a smile, that slowly turned to a grimace upon looking Shinji in the eye for the first time. He looked disappointed…

"Fat load of good that did. I didn't even know what an EVA was about 8 months ago. They just 'asked' me to do it after trotting out a bed-ridden Rei as blackmail. She didn't deserve that, and Gendo didn't deserve her."

Oh. That explains why he hated piloting so much. It did only cause him pain. It didn't make him popular, nor did it pay for his hobbies, it just took his spirit. "After the 14th angel I lost it. I hated you, Rei, everyone. I hated myself the most. There was nothing I had to live for, nobody wanted me." She started looking away from him.

"The final true angel was the worst. His name was Kaworu, and I think I loved him. I ended up fulfilling his wish by murdering him. Before that I watched Rei die and "come back", only to find out what she really was just a few days later. She was a clone of a clone, a doll like you always said." Shinji stood up again.

"I'm the only one who was never truly in there. I floated on the outside looking in, but never walked in the door." Asuka suddenly felt more queasy at how he never knew the ultimate lack of privacy that Instrumentality cost. "Can you walk? It's better that we find an actual shelter now that it's not just me."

"I think so…" She gently started to rise from her seated position, barely able to stand. Shinji started to help her up when she shouted at him. "I'm fine! Don't touch me!" The boy backed off then looked off in the distance at the crucified Mass Production Evangelions. "I wanna go home." she barely whispered.

"There is no home now. There hasn't been for months. I've been foraging the ruins for food, but I've just been sleeping on the beach. Tokyo-3 is all but gone, and there wasn't any reason I needed to go anywhere else."

"That's changed. You may be fine just scavenging, but I need a consistent source of food. Is there anywhere with a greenhouse or farm near here?"

"No. If you want to move, that's fine, but there's somewhere we need to visit first." Shini said, turning the opposite direction Asuka was facing in.

Trekking up the beach's outline the pair came across a grassy knoll with several sticks poking out of the ground. Shinji leaned over to the grave marker with a Greek Cross nailed in. He took the hammer leaning on the sign next to it and pried out the rusted nail. Saying a small prayer, he kissed the remaining wood marker. Turning to Asuka he handed the hammer to her and pointed to a small cross with her name on it, before walking to the coast and dipping the cross in.

"Huh, trying to stroke my ego, eh. No, I won't destroy you." She took a nearby board and nail from the other grave and inscribed a message for the world to see.

"Misato died getting me to the EVA. If I wasn't in my own well of self pity she would have lived. Now, the Cross is covered in her own blood, forever stained. She's in there though, I saw her. Misato bore through the worst of my sins, and still loved me. She was the only person who cared."

"C'mon let's go." Quietly said the still standing Asuka. The two started out along the new coast of Japan, hoping to find a way to tough it out in a new world created by their actions, both directly and indirectly. Many men would ask 'What if?' and many more would eventually wonder why, but only one person would ever know that reason.

Time is an inescapable law of nature, one Shinji Ikari has just been tasked with keeping. While not feeling happy, he had found a reason to exist. That reason walked next to him on the hot sands of a red sea. She had found her reason to exist, and that reason was walking next to her.

The wind was picking up now. It hounded the exposed pair as they walked along the beach, blowing their LCL crusted hair towards the ruined Tokyo-3. It was cold, something that neither of them were accustomed to. Maybe they could try to find a clothing store? No, nobody in Japan still sold jackets and coats. A house would be the best bet, maybe having a jacket from before Second Impact. That was still very unlikely. Asuka let out an exasperated sign which drew Shinji's attention.

"You alright? It's getting a little chilly, we should set up camp. Tomorrow we need to get actual clothing." Shinji looked around in search of a sheltered area where they could start a fire.

"I'm fine, Third," She said in contempt, "Just hungry, I haven't eaten yet"

"Well there's a collapsed convenience store about a block from here, and a bit more supplies around that area."

"Why do you know all this? Just how long have you been here?"

"I have no idea, but at least a few weeks. 3 months at most." Asuka's reaction said it all. She took a step back and opened and closed her mouth several times before simply frowning. "You don't measure time when you're the last person on Earth. Truthfully, I didn't think anyone would come back in my lifetime. That was fine with me."

"What is wrong with you!" Asuka screamed with a disgusted look. "Alone? The rest of your life? You're fucked up if you think that."

The response was… unexpected. Shinji started chuckling, then laughing. Asuka then joined in not long after. Neither really knew why they were laughing. It was just a way to bring a bit of levity to the end of the world.

Finally, Shinji spoke. "Since we're only 2 people here, we've got to be fucked up in some way." Asuka slowly stopped chuckling and signed in a very exaggerated way.

"Way to kill the mood, Idiot."

END

A/N: There are exactly 23 people who know where the money is.

Shoutout to Bwanagator's You Can (not) Get Satisfaction, a fic about sniffing hair that features to Rolling stone songs. I fuckin hate the Rolling Stones.