Hey guys, sorry for any delays
Been busy moving to a new place and school and what now.
This is the second part of the other timeline chapters.
Please keep an open mind, here's chapter 22 'Together'
"What is it that brings people together? Shared experiences? Pain? Trauma? Sorrow? Happiness? Maybe a bit of everything really. It took me a long to learn that your family doesn't have to be your blood.
Asuka and Rei taught me that.
I understood Rei's pain and sorrow, her feeling of being 'nothing' and without purpose. Lost, just as I was. I think I was able to help her in the beginning. "
- the broken man
Memories of the Other Shinji
Misato's apartment
135 days after Third Impact
With the sun down, and the clouds out at night, there was little to no natural light in the apartment turned shelter in the broken world.
Electronic lamps running on a stockpile of batteries illuminated the place as Shinji brought yet another blanket to the shivering girl in the living room.
Rei sat in one of the couches snuggling into herself to get warm. She accepted the blanket eagerly and began wrapping it around herself almost instantly.
"Thank you Shinji" Rei said, breathing easier now that she was inside.
"They're only blankets" Shinji said stupidly. He was about to continue that they'd find her some clothes that would fit better tomorrow, when Asuka's voice cut him off.
"Almost done! Try not to freeze to death for another minute or two"Asuka called suddenly. The German girl was inside the kitchen trying to make some hot chocolate for Rei, but Shinji had stayed behind to check on Rei. They'd found her wandering the ruins out in the cold and they were worried about her.
Asuka had given the poor girl a change of clothes that were a bit too big for her, and Shinji admitted it was strange seeing Rei wearing one of Asuka's outfits, but he was more in shock at seeing her again.
Rei broke the silence by tilting her head at him, giving him that curious look with those red eyes of hers, as she said "you have been here for 135 days? Why so long... I do not understand"
"Give or take about a week, it was hard to keep track in the first days" Shinji said after taking a moment to think about it. He didn't know how long he had been alone on that stretch of land before Asuka appeared, was it three days? Four maybe?
That nightmare blurs together and I can't remember how long I was alone for Shinji thought darkly. First Asuka... and now Rei...
"You are staring" Rei observed, speaking in her usual low voice. Wrapping the blankets tighter over herself as she turned to meet his stare with one of her own.
Blank red eyes meeting his brown ones. It took him a few seconds to get used that again. That stare of hers.
Forgot how intense Rei could be... she almost never blinks... funny, I missed that about her Shinji thought.
"Sorry. It's just- I don't understand. I was the first to come back. Then Asuka a few days later... it's hazy and I wasn't in the best state of mind at the time. And now, you" Shinji said. Beaming at her, mouth open to continue but unable to find the right words to say.
Rei seemed to consider that. The sound of Asuka rummaging in the kitchen echoing from out in the hall.
"I remember it. Remember you. Lilith... and your choice" Rei said slowly.
Shinji nodded slowly saying "I thought... I thought you had died."
He breathed a heavy sigh and smiled at her. He was just so 'glad' that Rei had come back. After everything she'd done for them all. Rei had been that one that saved him at the end.
She tilted her head at him once more. Struggling with the words, and Shinji thought he must have been seeing things because it looked like Rei was blushing.
"I wanted to see you again" Rei said at last. Turning her head away from him, seeming to have struggled for an eternity to say those words.
Shinji blinked in surprise. It took a moment to process what Rei had told him. And... and he didn't know how to respond to that. Part of him relived to see her again, and another part of him noticing that his heart had started beating faster at her words.
"Please do not ask me to explain. I am tired. And I am cold" Rei added softly.
Thankfully, Asuka burst out of the kitchen carrying a cup of hot chocolate. Stepping into the living room she handed Rei the warm liquid.
"There wondergirl, don't go freezing on us just yet." Asuka said smirking.
She's just impressed that she made the hot chocolate without my help Shinji thought shaking his head with a soft smile.
He awkwardly got to his feet, letting Rei have the couch. He wasn't sure what had just happened between them, but Rei needed her rest.
The strange pale skinned girl took a long drink of the hot chocolate, seeming to savor the warmth of the drink. Before breathing out and looking up at Asuka with a blank expression.
"You are being unusually kind. What has happened to you?" Rei said blankly, tilting her head at the German girl.
Asuka's eyebrow twitched at that.
Shinji almost gagged. He suddenly felt an almost irresistibly urge to laugh, but he held it in for Asuka's sake.
"What is that supposed to mean?! I can be nice when I want to!" Asuka said, her face growing warm for a moment.
Rei chose to ignore Asuka's outburst, tilting her head at the German girl for a second time, before glancing at Shinji then back to Asuka.
What is she doing? Shinji thought feeling himself stifling a laugh. Damn, when was the last time he'd laughed like that?
"I suspect Shinji has been influencing you" Rei said in that blank tone of hers. No emotion in her voice, but simply deducing a conclusion based on the available data.
"No one is influencing me! I can be nice all on my own!" Asuka shouted her face growing red.
Rei blinked at Asuka in surprise, the pale skinned girl seemingly at a lost as to why Asuka was reacting so emotionally.
Shinji stood up, awkwardly moving between the two girls, and holding up his hands.
"Uh... Rei is tired. We should let her sleep." he said.
Asuka looked at him with comically narrowed eyes. I can be nice! Her eyes seemed to say.
When he didn't nod right away, Asuka only got more flustered.
Rei only took another drink of hot chocolate.
"Fine" Asuka said crossing her arms as she shook her head.
"... you can be nice when you want to" Shinji offered lamely.
"Oh shut up Shinji!" Asuka said flustered as she stormed off.
Shinji sighed, glancing back at Rei sipping her hot chocolate.
He left Rei to the living room. None of them really knew why they kept staying in Misato's apartment. Even Rei didn't question it. The apartment was more of a home to Shinji and Asuka than her, but they'd managed to settle her in for the night.
Morning
The windows in the apartment had been opened. Sunlight pouring into their home, the only source of light since the power was out.
Rei moved awkwardly as she entered the kitchen, wearing another of Asuka's outfits, and taking a seat at the breakfast table. Asuka was already seated across from her while Shinji hurriedly cooked them a meal with what limited food that they had. Mostly canned food.
"So you came back too, wondergirl. Do you know how? We don't know how or why we did" Asuka said, the girl wasting no time to start investigating.
Give her a minute to breathe Asuka, jeez Shinji thought as he got their plates ready.
"I... I do not know. I remember things... flashes" Rei said slowly. The pale skinned girl frowning as she seemed to consider something, her expression stoic.
Shinji handed them their plates of food, joining them at the table.
"Do you think we're the only ones?" Asuka asked, exchanging a glance with Shinji.
For over a hundred days it just been the two of them. But the fact that Rei had come back changed everything.
"Maybe others will come back. We did" Shinji said slowly. Part of hopeful, part of him thinking it was unlikely.
"It's been weeks. Weeks and no one else came back. We can't stay here forever." Asuka said. The German girl glancing down at the stack of generators and stockpiled fuel on the far side of the apartment.
Months, it's been months. And yeah, we been over this dozens of times Asuka. The food has an expiration date for a reason. But leaving? Where would we even go? Shinji thought. It was something the two of them had talked about lot lately, but neither of them ever came to complete answer.
Rei choose not to answer Asuka's question right away, instead glancing down at the food Shinji had cooked for them before looking up at him.
"Thank you Shinji" Rei said softly.
"It's no trouble" Shinji said awkwardly. He was getting a little uncomfortable at how much Rei kept thanking him for everything he did. Asuka hadn't exactly been the 'easiest' person to live with all this time, but they'd made it work. And besides... Asuka had had reasons for being upset with him in the beginning.
Asuka took a bite of food before turning back to Rei, her curiosity getting the better of her. There were so many things she wanted to ask.
"Yeah, yeah, Shinji makes good food. But Rei, what did you see? What happened?" Asuka said, choosing to call the girl by her name this time.
Rei thought about that for a moment, the girl tilting her head at the sight of her own hands.
She gazed at Shinji unblinkingly, Asuka waiting patiently as Shinji rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly at the whole thing.
Rei never blinks... ever... Shinji thought nervously.
"I remember Lilith raising. Lilith, flying over the clouds and leaving the Geofront in ashes... I remember- " Rei turned to look at Asuka.
Shinji's eyes widened as he realized what Rei was about to say.
"I remember your death" Rei told Asuka, before turning back to Shinji. Leaving the German girl on edge as she remembered her 'battle' with the MP Evas.
"And... and the dreams." Rei said slowly. Having trouble finding the word for it.
"Instrumentality" Shinji said, thinking intently.
Rei nodded.
"The visions. Seeing the people... all of them" Shinji and Rei simultaneously.
Shinji and Rei staring at each other with wide eyes. Shared experiences from the Third Impact. Memories from both sides of the experience.
…
Shinji screaming as he was brought into the Instrumentality, Lilith/Rei finding him in the confusing of his mind and giving him a moment to talk.
Seeing the best and worst of humanity's gathered souls, the individual and the whole. His mind flooded which the images and emotions of mankind. So much... too much.
Then Shinji's choice and the death of Lilith.
...
Asuka looked between them both, not understanding a single word either had said.
I remember you, Rei. Remember how you saved me. Giving me my choice Shinji thought.
I saw your pain. I did not want to see you in such pain. The people... I did not understand their souls. I did not understand their sorrow. Data without context. But you were different Shinji... I never saw it like you did. Rei thought.
Shinji shook his head.
"I didn't understand it at first. Lilith showed me... I have trouble describing it" Shinji said staring down at his hands.
He looked back up at her saying "you saved me, Rei."
Rei tilted her head at him.
"You were the one who saved me. " Rei said, her lips trembling as she spoke. A rare moment of emotion from the stoic girl. Like she was almost smiling at him.
What? I didn't do anything. I only-
"What are you idiots talking about?!" Asuka said looking between Shinji and Rei with an exasperated expression that snapped the two of them out of it.
Are they reading each other minds or something?! What are they on about?! Asuka thought.
She wasn't mad at Shinji per say, okay maybe a little, but neither of them were making any sense. In fact, Asuka was sure the two of them had forgotten she was in the room with them.
Tck. Freaks. How dare they forget that I'm here too! Asuka thought crossing her arms.
"Sorry Asuka. Rei and I... we were... we were on opposite sides of it" Shinji explained hurriedly.
Asuka still narrowed her eyes at both of them, feeling more 'left out' than anything else.
They mostly enjoyed a reasonable breakfast after that. It frustrated Asuka to no end that neither Shinji or Rei knew anything else. Neither could say why they'd come back, why it'd taken Rei so long while Shinji and Asuka had been the first ones, nor could they explain what they'd seen.
…
In the days that followed, Shinji and Asuka helped get Rei settled in. Taking her to the abandoned stores and getting her some clothes.
"I do not know what to wear. What is appropriate?" Rei had asked upon entering the store.
Shinji had frowned at that while Asuka only sighed in frustration.
"Whatever you want. Seriously, just pick something" Asuka had told her.
When Rei had only tilted her head at the German girl, Asuka had gotten after her saying that 'how could you not know what you like?!'
Rei had had no answer to that. Throughout her entire life, everything had been provided to her by Nerv and Gendo. Rei had never actively chosen anything for herself.
When Shinji had nothing to offer he just shook his head, trying not to laugh as Asuka started grabbing clothes and throwing them into Rei's hands out of frustration.
…
Living with Rei was... odd.
Often, she seemed aloof of general etiquette and seemingly unaware of basic house rules. Rei leaving a mess at times when she did not clean up after herself in the apartment, plates of food, clothes thrown to the floor, etc.
Shinji found it funny, while Asuka did not. In the end, he took the time to help Rei clean up, and it reminded him of the old days with Misato and Nerv and piloting, and to her credit, Rei put in the effort to learn.
Rei listening carefully to his words when he explained things, or else when he'd explain how he and Asuka had managed to survive for so long in the Post Impact World.
Still... Shinji noticed she had a habit of staring at him for a second longer than normal. And, if he was honest with himself, a part of him liked it. Having someone who didn't shout at him all the time, okay Asuka didn't yell at him everyday, in fact she'd gotten 'nicer' as time went by, but Rei was good company despite how little she spoke.
Sometimes she seems so sad. Lost. Just like I was in the beginning. Why? What happened to you Rei? I'm sorry for whatever it is. I wish I could help you... but I can't even help myself Shinji thought often. Feeling that same sense of being lost. He'd dealt with it in his own way, choosing not to dwell on old wounds and living day by day with Asuka.
But Rei wasn't like him... she couldn't do that even with their help.
It was the little thing that gave it away, Rei sitting motionless for several minutes at time seemingly at lost of what to do. Staring blankly at a wall or else 'waiting' for Shinji or Asuka to gave her a job, to call her so they could eat, or else join them for a supply run. The quirks of one whom does not know what to do with themselves.
Shinji would often 'check up' on her asking what she was doing.
"Nothing" Rei would answer flatly. Her voice empty and hollowed out. Her red eyes peering up at him with something he didn't have a word for.
That made Shinji more sad than anything, but Asuka had told him not to be a creep about it. Claiming that 'that's just how wondergirl is, leave her alone'.
It reminded Shinji of the days before, when he'd first met Rei. She had been a tool set aside by Nerv, given orders and expected to follow them, and Rei had. Until Shinji and the others, without meaning too, had awoken something in her. Allowed Rei to develop feelings on her own. Feelings which allowed her to reject Gendo. Allowed her to save Shinji and give him his choice at the end of the world.
But she wasn't 'fixed', Rei was still struggling on the inside. A soldier without orders.
...
More snow began falling as the days passed, no longer the white powder that drizzled down on them every now and then, but rather a light 'sheet' of white that began to liter the roads.
The three of them had to take the time to go searching for 'winter' clothes. It was absurd, for so long Japan had known only the perpetual summer following the Second Impact. Third Impact was a completely different game, the summer having faded somewhere during Shinji and Asuka's 135 days of being alone, and now the cold winds were raising.
It took them almost two weeks to find winter clothes.
A warehouse that had been a supplier for Nerv expeditions on the edge of the city. Traveling that far scared all three of them, seeing the 'wasteland' for lack of a better term beyond Tokyo-03.
The trees all dead, the empty plains that stretched onward seemingly without end, and the snow that had started to blanket the roads leaving the city. None of them knew what was beyond and they weren't sure they wanted to find out...
200 days after Third Impact
"I've actually seen snow before. So shut up, this will be fun. I did this back in Germany" Asuka was saying smugly. Smirk planned firmly on her face.
Ah, she's right. The West never experienced the eternal summers the East did. No wonder Asuka's been dealing with the cold better than us Shinji thought. Wondering why Asuka had never mentioned it before.
Shinji and Rei watched her with blank expressions, the three teenagers standing in the cold and wondering why they weren't inside trying to get warm. They were wearing at least three layers of clothing before topping it off with heavy duty jackets that were too big for them.
Asuka's face fell when they didn't share her excitement, before she shook her head at them and gestured for them to follow her into the park again.
We will have fun! Her determined expression seemed to say.
Asuka's idea for them had been to skit around the icy paths in the park and enjoy the blankets of snow while they were still 'small'.
It wasn't all bad, the German girl having fun making a 'snow angel' whilst Shinji just watched on unsure of what to do. He could feel his teeth chattering in the cold, he'd never experienced weather like this in his entire life.
Neither had Rei it seemed.
The two of them stood watching Asuka running around in the snow, apparently having the time of her life.
Shinji felt something his chest elate at watching Asuka enjoying the snow. He didn't know what was wrong with him but he just couldn't enjoy it the way Asuka did. He had too much on his mind, they all did. Plans for what to do as it got colder and colder.
He turned to see Rei staring off into space again.
She's still doing that. Like she doesn't even 'know' what to do without orders. Ah- damn you Gendo. Damn you to hell. Shinji thought closing his eyes tight.
Shinji remembered his father and felt his hands clench into fists.
Remembered Gendo Ikari and his obsession. Him creating Rei and using her a tool, becoming attached to her due to her resemblance to Yui. Remembered everything Gendo had done for his goals, even willing to sacrifice all life on earth, including his own son, all for the sake of his imagined 'happiness' with Yui. The man deluding himself into thinking he could see her again.
Shinji had learned the truth about his old man during Instrumentality. Shinji had seen what his father was and he understood him. And Shinji hated him for it. He hated what Gendo had become. What Gendo had did to Rei. Not once, but three times.
Three different versions of Rei that Gendo had used for his own ends. When one died, Gendo had used Nerv's resources to transfer the memories to the next version of the pale skinned girl. Never once caring what kind of damage that did to a person. Leaving Rei alone in a pathetic apartment, never treating her like a human being, never once trying to teach her anything about living. Far worse than the rejection Shinji had faced.
Both of us... scarred by Gendo. He really was a monster. Shinji thought darkly.
He took a deep breathe and decided to talk to Rei. All this wallowing in the past only made him angry and hurt, filling him with old wounds he didn't even know he had.
"Rei? Is everything okay?" Shinji asked suddenly.
Asuka's chants of joy at the snow audible as the German girl played nearby. The only sound in the silence that followed his question. Rei avoiding his gaze in this empty empty world.
He strode over to the quiet girl standing alone on the snow.
Rei finally turned to look at him with those red eyes of hers, tilting her head at him like she usually did when he approached her these days.
"I do not know what to do?" Rei said simply. Her eyes blank and her expression lost even after all the days they'd spent together.
Shinji frowned at that.
Rei you don't have to do anything. I- We're just... surviving out here. He thought.
Shinji glanced back at Asuka, the girl rolling up balls of the white powder and throwing them at a row of cans she'd set up.
"Bulls-eye" Asuka chanted nearby, her aim being true and knocking the cans down on the first throw.
At least Asuka's having fun Shinji thought.
"I have no purpose here" Rei said in a low quiet tone.
Shinji looked back at her and blinked in surprise at how sad she sounded. Her eyes glued to the floor and head tilted downward. Seemingly lost in this new world.
He stared at her for a long moment, face falling and wishing he knew what to say.
Damn you Gendo... SEELE... you took everything from her the day she was born he thought darkly.
"Maybe you don't need a purpose Rei. You're- you're not a tool. Just..." Shinji said struggling with the words.
He was never good with people. In this moment Shinji wished he were better, that he could help Rei. Comfort her the way no one ever had. Teach her that there was value in her life.
When Rei did not answer he continued.
"Gendo is gone" Shinji said. Rei winced as if hurt by the mere mention of his name.
"He is dead... " Rei said in barely a whisper.
"Gendo was a monster in the end. We saw him for what he was. He rejected me, but what he did to you was worse. You saw it even before Instrumentality, you rejected him" Shinji said firmly.
Rei nodded.
"I remember Shinji. He shot Dr. Akagi and gave me to Lilith. I remember being... being angry at him for the way he looked at me. For all his orders. I told him that I would not be his doll. Not a puppet for him to control." Rei said slowly. The memories coming back to her.
Shinji frowned seeing the lost expression on her face again.
I have no orders anymore. What am I without orders? Rei thought. A crisis she had never foreseen having. Unfamiliar territory, her only tethers to the world being the boy whom had saved her, and the girl whom lived with him.
Shinji didn't need her to say it to know what she was thinking. He'd seen her soul in Instrumentality too, just as he was sure she'd seen his. He knew her pain just as he had known Asuka's.
Yet the memory of Gendo still lingered over her. A manipulative sad failure of man ordering her around like she wasn't even human. The man having stripped any chance of a real life away from her.
"He's dead and he doesn't have any hold on you. Rei... " Shinji sighed, the anger making his voice tremble.
Rei nodded unable to meet his gaze.
"You're not a tool. It's okay not to have a purpose. You don't have wait for orders" Shinji added sadly, pleading to her. Wanting her to be free after everything she'd been through. Wishing he could make things better but feeling like he couldn't, just like everything else in this nightmare they lived.
Rei tilted her head further down, hair covering her expression as she glanced at him with sad empty eyes.
"If I am not a tool anymore... what am I?" Rei whispered suddenly. Her eyes on the verge of tears, her voice shaking a way he'd never heard her speak in before. Raw. Lost and vulnerable.
"A person. A human being." Shinji answered.
He sighed when she did not respond, only keeping her sullen expression on him.
"It's okay to be lost Rei... I am too" Shinji said unable to meet her eyes. This was hard for him too, it hurt to talk about these things.
Asuka had been hard enough, admitting his failures and mistakes, accepting his punishment, owning up to his flaws, and being honest in understanding nothing here. Opening up and telling Asuka that he was sorry for everything. The truth was that Shinji wasn't sure if he wanted to be alive anymore. Wasn't sure if he had made the right choice in coming back at all. Maybe he never would.
Rei was different. In many ways she was like him, just as lost and confused as he was if not more so. She had the same guilt he did.
The guilt of the Third Impact.
Shinji the vessel via SEELE's last orders, and Rei the instigator via Lilith's actions. Bringers of the end times.
And more than, the shared scars of seeing all of mankind, the individual and the whole, amid Instrumentality. They shared the scars that been left to them by Gendo Ikari.
The man looming over both of them even now. A shadow that pulled on their wounds from beyond the grave.
"Just live your life. That's it. I... we're alive Rei. And maybe as long as we're alive, we have the chance to be happy" Shinji said. Echoing his mother's words.
He didn't know how it had happened, or whom it was that had reached for the other, but Shinji noticed that somewhere along the line they'd held hands.
Shinji could feel the tremors in Rei's hand as she considered his words carefully, battling some inner demon from her years of being little more than a tool. He ignored the rush of his rapidly beating heart, the sensation of Rei's fingers intertwined with his.
"... are you happy?" Rei asked suddenly, her voice a whisper as soft as silk. So low that it barely carried over to him at all.
Shinji froze at that.
"I... I don't know" Shinji admitted uneasily.
He avoided Rei's glance, unsure of himself and the world he'd unintentionally made 200 days ago.
Shinji took a deep breathe, suddenly feeling like he was older man and not the teenager he really was. Hell, he even spoke differently these days. Seeing all the things he had had changed him.
"I used to think so... at least I wasn't miserable all the time. Now, everything's different. I only know that we're here now Rei. You're not alone." Shinji said slowly.
Rei tilted her head at him. "I am not alone" she whispered slowly.
Shinji laughed sadly, saying "we're all lost here but at least we're together."
Rei looked up at him in surprise. Staring at him unblinkingly, and he felt the urge to step back. The intensity in her eyes unnerved him at times. Making him feel like he was the only thing in the world when she looked at him like that.
I said the wrong thing... I'm sorry Rei. I can't fix anything. I only wanted to help. My father did this to you. He made you think you were just a tool. But... but you BEAT him. You did Rei! You rejected him at the end! Shinji thought.
"We are together" Rei said slowly, her eyes never leaving him.
Slowly, Rei curved her lips at him. A small smile forming as she nodded ever so slightly.
He felt his face grow warm.
...
Then the moment was forcefully broken as something white collided into the side of his face, sending him stumbling back and Rei tilting her head.
"Ah!" Shinji gasped in surprise.
He and Rei turned to see Asuka smirking from a good distance away, rolled up balls of snow at her feet and currently holding another one.
Asuka had thrown a snowball at him.
Rei looked between them as Shinji shook his head in disbelief saying "what was that for?!"
"It's a game idiot! Stop being such a killjoy!" Asuka shouted back at him.
Shinji was about to reply when suddenly something soft collided into his chest, smearing his jacket with snow. He turned in surprise to see Rei, her hand extended, having just grabbed some snow and flung it at him.
"There! Wondergirl's got it!" Asuka said.
"What now?" Rei asked, the shadow of a smile Shinji had brought out of her lingering even as she spoke.
"Hit him again!" Asuka shouted.
What?! Wait a minute why are they- Shinji thought.
Only to flinch as Asuka threw another snow ball his way.
"Gah" Shinji grunted even as Rei knelt down and rolled up a ball of snow for herself.
He looked between the two girls in panic, Asuka smirking and Rei with that small soft smile, just before they both threw snowballs at him.
"No fair" Shinji cried out as he started to jog away, trying to hide behind a dead tree.
Two against one Shinji thought even as Rei managed to get him on his back.
He lunged to the ground, grabbed some snow and hurriedly tossed it at Asuka. The German girl cursed as he manged to get her across her torso.
Rei hit him again before he could hide, and so he ran further into the park with the two girls chasing after him. Snowballs in hand.
He found himself laughing at the whole thing, really laughing. Not a chuckle or a shadow, but actual laughter. He couldn't remember the last time he'd laughed this hard, or Asuka, or even Rei. It just happened.
The three of them playing in the snow, finding a glimmer of joy in the coming winter that had felt so omnipresent and menacing in the days before.
Asuka laughing her head off while Rei only joined in with a bemused expression, the first hints that maybe she wasn't all that broken after all. They were all lost here in this empty world, but at least they were lost together.
"Rei! Go after Asuka!" Shinji managed to shout even as the two girls pelleted him with snow, all three of them laughing in the cold.
"Hey! Wondergirl we're on the same side don't-" Asuka had stammered before eating a mouthful of snow as Rei hit her.
Shinji laughed harder, thinking that the mental image of that would never leave him. Then Rei got him in the head too and he was sent stumbling back.
It was fun. Who would have thought the three of them could have had fun at the end of the world? Even if, only for a day.
One year after Third Impact
Winter continues on, light but ever present
That day in the park ended up being one of Shinji's fondest memories. The three of them finding joy in something as simple as a snowball fight.
Sadly, it did not last.
With the raising cold winds they were forced to stay indoors more. None of them knew how to fix AC equipment, and even if they had, they had no power source big enough to run them.
Shinji, Rei, and Asuka were forced to huddle up for warmth in the apartment on the worse days. Making due with an old portable heater they'd stolen from a warehouse somewhere.
On the better days, the three of them would get up and try to clear the snow so they could travel as needed. Stealing/taking more supplies from the abandoned stores and warehouses in the inner city.
The outer city and the outskirts of Tokyo-03 were a lost cause, too much damage, too far, and the roads beginning to disappear in layers and layers of snow and ice.
It drove Shinji and Rei to shivers just being outside, Asuka handled it better than both of them. Calling them both 'wimps' before charging out into the snow. Shinji and Rei exchanged grim looks before charging out after her.
The first winter Shinji had ever seen in his life.
…
"You are moving too much"
"Ack, you're too rough. Rei why don't we canel-"
"Stupid Shinji, your hair's too long. It looks hideous!" Asuka shouted him down before he could finish.
15 year old Shinji Ikari sat in the chair, Rei working behind him and occasionally tugging on his head to get the best position. A stolen pair of clipper clutched in her calm but rough hands.
Rei had decided that Shinji needed a haircut. He had the sinking suspicion Asuka only agreed so she could watch the spectacle.
For so long they'd gone with making due, cutting their own hair sloppily when it needed to be done, but apparently Rei had started reading up on it. All this because Shinji had mentioned how he missed the hair cuts Misato had used to give him.
I didn't mean you had to spend a month reading and practicing. I was just saying Shinji thought, glancing up Rei.
Rei hummed softly to herself as she went to work, cutting his hair and looking calm, content even here in this home of there's, and Shinji couldn't bring himself to be annoyed for long.
Asuka glared at him.
She spent all that time practicing on those stupid dolls. All for your dumb ass. You better be nice to her Asuka's glare seemed to say.
When it was over, Rei handed him a mirror she'd taken from the restroom. The pale skinned girl looking at him intently as he glanced at his reflection.
Huh. It's pretty good. Shinji thought looking at his crop of brown hair freshly trimmed. It resembled his old hair to an uncanny degree. It reminded him of better times, not perfect by means but better nonetheless.
Asuka jabbed him in the rubs and he coughed.
I know! Asuka, I was Rei's friend before you were! Shinji thought fighting back a scowl.
"Do you like it?" Rei said tilting her head down at him.
"It's perfect. Thank you Rei" Shinji said smiling softly at her.
Rei blinked in surprise as she held his gaze. Her face flushing and slowly her lips curved in that shadow of a smile she got when she was 'happy'. Such a rare sight for her, the last time Shinji remembered her smiling had been at the park all those days ago.
"You're not gonna start making out are you? Jeez, get a room" Asuka teased suddenly.
Shinji almost fell out of the chair, and Rei only tilted her head at Asuka. A questioning look growing on Rei's face.
"I do not understand. Define 'making out'?" Rei said simply. She looked at Shinji expectantly and he blushed looking away.
Shinji hurriedly got up saying "nothing important Rei, but you said you wanted more practice right?"
"Yes" Rei answered simply.
Asuka glanced his way, her mouth open as she realized what had just happened. She tried to pull away but Shinji grabbed her by the wrist saying "your turn."
"My hair is fine-" Asuka began.
"Rei spent all the time practicing for us." Shinji interrupted, a grin planted on his face.
Asuka gaped at him, Rei watching her expectantly. Those two had always gotten along back in the old days, but one year after the end of the world changed things. Spending all this time together with only the three of them, it... brought them closer in a sense.
Why you little- sigh. Damn you Shinji Asuka thought scowling inwardly.
Asuka took the chair as Shinji took his turn to watch the show.
He laughed at the bizarre sight of it all.
Rei giving Asuka a haircut? What had the world come to? He had honestly never expected to see something like this.
"You're too rough. Wondergirl stop-" Asuka complained.
"Stop moving. You are making it difficult" Rei added simply and firmly. Echoing her earlier words to Shinji. Rei was like a soldier on a daring mission, her voice an authority onto and in of itself on cutting all of their hair.
Is this... is this what a normal family is like. Laughing and bickering? Living together and getting on each others nerves one moment and helping each other the next? Shinji thought.
His memories of a 'home' were nothing like this, and a part of him wished it had been.
Shinji's face fell, and he looked away from the ongoing scene of Rei cutting Asuka's hair. The 15 year boy old stood and grimly looked outside the window.
Misato's old glass framing holding for now, even as winter continued out into the city.
Snow, more and more of it. Light sheets of the white powder littering the empty streets. Almost half a foot of it now.
And ice, ice in Japan of all places. Freezing over the windshields of abandoned cars, masking the pavements in a frosty coating.
Shinji didn't how long they could keep this up. Surviving here in a ever growing winter that slowly crept on them with each passing day.
…
"Rei seems different. What'd you do to her?" Asuka asked him one day.
The three of them were out looking for a replacement generator. One of the ones back home had broken and none of them had the engineering skills to fix it. Luckily, the broken world had an abundance of material and supplies... for now at least. Who knew what would happen as the years went by?
They'd timed it right so that the sun would be up and the weather at its warmest despite the strange winter. The snow had stopped falling for now, it would come back later but for now they had their window to take what they needed.
Shinji blinked in surprise, having just found a replacement for the generator that had broken. He'd begun hauling it towards their cart when Asuka had surprised him.
"I haven't done anything" he said slowly. Asuka watching him as he struggled with the generator.
Rei, I'm so glad you came back Shinji thought offhandedly. His back straining as he struggled with the manual labor so common in this world of theirs.
"She still talks funny" Asuka said deep in thought, the girl putting a hand to her chin and mulling things over.
"Rei's always been like that" Shinji said looking away, feeling another surge of mixed anger and sadness at what had been done to Rei over the course of her life.
She talks like a machine. Always 'can not' but never 'can't'. Always 'proper' and stiff. Another side effect from Gendo... she never had a chance at a normal life. He thought darkly.
"That too... but she looks different these days. Not so... so lost. And she's starting to talk normal for once. And did you hear her humming earlier? When she cutting our hair? Where did that come from?" Asuka said still thinking things over.
It's like she discovered that she had emotions after all Asuka thought.
Maybe that's how Rei has always been. The real her buried down deep by Nerv and my bastard of a father. Shinji thought.
"I think that's always been there. Rei's human, Asuka. She just didn't know how to show it. Why are you complaining?" Shinji said. The boy grunting as he heaved and began hauling the generator to the cart.
Asuka shook her head letting out a frustrated sigh.
"Not complaining, idiot. Just noticing is all. She used to spend all that time stuck in her head, just like a certain boy I know, and now she's cutting our hair and talking and-" Asuka began, making a list and counting them off her fingers.
"Do you require assistance?" a calm voice called suddenly.
Asuka nearly jumped out of her skin in surprise, stumbling over in her shock as Rei appeared standing behind her.
How long had she been there? Asuka thought, panting awkwardly. She hadn't heard Rei's footsteps at all, and she felt a sense of guilt wash over her that she choose to ignore. Asuka Langley Sohryu could talk about whatever the hell she wanted to.
"Thanks Rei, I'd really appreciate it" Shinji said in-between pants.
Rei joined him on the other side of the generator, and together the two teenagers lifted the thing up and onto the cart. Asuka watching the two of them as they both took a moment to catch their breath.
Asuka frowned seeing the look the two shared, Rei giving him that unblinking but soft gaze. Shinji almost oblivious to it as he smiled up at her saying "thank you."
Weirdos Asuka thought.
It took Asuka a moment to realize that Rei and Shinji had started without her, the two pushing the cart through the snow and heading back to the apartment. The cart's wheels straining as it cut a path through the wintered streets of Tokyo-03.
She scowled and ran after them, adding her strength to theirs and pushing. Asuka and Rei on either side of Shinji as they fought through the weather.
"Rei? Why are you smiling? This is hard work" Shinji said in between pants, his face starting to turn red from the cold and physical labor. The teenagers slowly but surely pushing the cart through the snow.
Rei began to tilt her head at him, but instead turned to face him as they pushed. It was such a small thing, but it took both him and Asuka by surprise. So much so that they stopped moving.
"We are together" Rei said simply. That small curve of her lips visible for a brief moment, a smile, before she put her back into it and began to push the cart again.
Shinji and Asuka exchanged looks.
Asuka rolled her eyes as he nodded his head in agreement, smiling softly too.
"Stop smiling like a bunch of idiots and push" Asuka said, unable to stop the laughter in her own voice.
Their laughter echoing out through the empty city. The only people in all the world, the empty cold city that seemed slightly less harsh even for a moment.
The three went back to it. Couldn't have heat without the generators and they had a good trek back to the apartment.
The three of them forging a life out here. Always together and facing whatever the world through at them.
15 months after Third Impact
When they appeared the sun was barely raising.
Shinji hadn't even been awake for it.
The 15 year old boy had been sleeping, dreaming more like, of things he wished he could forget. He saw images in a rush of flashing scenes and figures he had no context for.
Mental Scars from Instrumentality he figured, night terrors that came and went as the days passed in this Post Impact World.
In his night terrors, he saw things he couldn't explain. Strange sights that haunted him, flashes of those whom had died. Thankfully the visions didn't come every night, perhaps once a month at worse, and he usually got over them after a good meal with his 'family' out here.
Instead, he woke to a hand on his shoulder. Someone shaking him as he groaned.
Shinji opened his eyes to find Rei knelt over him, frowning and with a worried expression. Her eyes watching him carefully. She was in her night clothes, having come to check on him upon waking.
"... Rei" he said slowly, groggily sitting up from his bed on the floor.
Rei sat beside him, her hand never leaving his shoulder.
"The dreams again?" Rei asked, still frowning at him in concern.
He rubbed his eyes nodding, he felt guilty now. She must have heard him tossing and turning in his sleep, moaning into the early morning.
Rei turned away avoiding his gaze.
"I am sorry" Rei said suddenly.
His room was silent, and almost pitch black except for the light from out in the hall seeping into his open door. Outside, the two of them could hear Asuka getting up.
"It's not your fault. I'm fine Rei. They come and they go" Shinji said looking down at his hands.
Images of a figure reaching out to me. Watching, always watching. Reaching for my hand... like I didn't escape Instrumentality completely. Some scars linger Shinji thought darkly.
The sound of humming, eerily beautiful in his dreams.
Rei looked back at him, worry in her eyes and Shinji smiled awkwardly. She sat beside him, keeping him company and letting him calm down and breathe easy.
Shinji didn't want anyone to worry about him. Didn't want to bother Rei or Asuka with it, they'd suffered enough thanks to his many failings. There was no need to add to their troubles.
Yet Rei came to him anyway.
He suspected she wanted to help but that she did not know how to, did not how to comfort him as no one had ever comforted her. In a way, he was relieved as he wouldn't have known how to react to that. She stayed with him in the dark, being beside him after his nightmares had passed.
Why is she so kind to me? I don't deserve that. I don't deserve those looks she gives me. Rei... I let you die too. I could understand Asuka's rage... but you... you are so sweet and warm Shinji thought.`
He felt his hand reaching over for hers, he didn't know how or why he did it, and a part of him thought Rei saw it but did not mind at all.
They flinched as Asuka emerged into his room, knocking on his door even as she stepped inside, her mouth open about to say something.
Asuka stopped mid-speech, blinking awkwardly at the two of them. The German girl having realized that she'd walked in on something and she didn't know how to feel about it. A mixture of guilt and nerves filled her but she pushed it aside.
"Uh. Water is acting up again. Doesn't always come out of the sink" Asuka said lamely.
Shinji rose, Rei trailing beside him, and together the three of them headed to the kitchen.
"Trouble sleeping again?" Asuka asked him as they walked.
"Don't worry about it. I'm fine" Shinji said, making a measured effort to sound calm.
...
More than year after Third Impact, and they were running into more and more problems. They'd been lucky that the water and plumbing systems had lasted as long as they did.
But now the water was failing them. The faucet divulging water only occasionally and never the steady flow they'd had months ago, but bursts that came and went.
"Something to do with the pipes maybe. Winter?" Asuka was saying as they checked the kitchen faucet. Finding it stubbornly refusing to give them a steady stream of water.
"Or perhaps the system is failing. No one has been maintaining it, and the three of us lack the skills to do so. Even if we did... the city is too big for the three of us to maintenance the entire system." Rei said.
Shinji glanced at her, it astonished him the lack of emotion in her statements in a time like these, Rei simply stating the facts based on her available information.
"That's a cheery thought. Those water bottles we found stockpiled in the Nerv warehouse are still good... for now." Asuka said shaking her head.
"But they have an expiration date and-" Shinji began.
"The cold will make some supplies last longer. But I believe- I think we should start planning for the future" Rei said. The pale skinned girl taking a breathe as she spoke, choosing to change her speech patterns in subtle ways. Her steady and slow growth.
Even Asuka smirked at that, it was a start. But the moment was short lived as the reality of their situation was starting to hit them with every passing day.
"Alright. I'm calling it. Supply run. Everyone get dressed" Asuka said, taking on the leadership role again, not that Shinji or Rei minded.
Whenever they went outside, they went together.
…
It happened purely by accident, but it was an inevitable incident nonetheless.
The three 15 year old teenagers, pulling a cart along the snow as they moved through the ruins of the empty city.
Asuka had pulled their map out, and was checking the makers they'd made for good spots.
In the year since 'returning', Shinji and Asuka, and then Rei, had survived by looting the vast materials and supplies left behind by the old world.
Shinji had been about to point out that they'd mostly cleared the area out, and they'd have to go further into the city to get anything when it happened.
"Hello!"
The sound stopped all three of them in their tracks. Shinji eyes wide, Asuka looking frantically at them as if check they'd heard it too, and Rei stopping to look bewildered and turn to scan the area.
"Hello!" the yell came again.
"Is anyone out there!"
"What happened!"
"Why is it so cold? How is there snow?"
A collection of voice shouting into the emptiness that had been their broken world for over a year. The sound cutting through the air like a roar of thunder. Some older and rough from the cold winds, others soft and younger, trembling in the cold.
"More people" Asuka whispered in disbelief.
She exchanged glances with him and Rei, the three of them staring eyes wide in the middle of the empty street.
Together, they broke into a run. Staying close even as they ran towards the sound,
"Hello! We're here!" Shinji shouted into the cold morning.
The three rounded a corner entering an unfamiliar city block, one that been filled with restaurants and clothing shops in the old world, a place of little value in the Post Impact one, and there they stumbled onto the scene.
A group of people were shivering out into the cold, wandering aimlessly through the abandoned streets, eyes wide and confused. Lost and scared they traveled together in the unconscious desire for the power in number, especially in face of the cold and world before them. Survivors whom had made it out of Third Impact.
No children.
All young adults or else older.
Wandering through.
One of them, a man in a light grey-white jumpsuit with the Nerv logo was stumbling towards the strange sound as the three teenagers came upon them.
"Shinji? Asuka?" the man in surprise.
Shinji ran towards him shouting as all eyes turned to him, all these people having returned from ravages of Instrumentality. A crowd beginning to form as the teenagers arrived.
Asuka trailing behind him, astounded at the speed Shinji displayed in his rush to see others.
Shigeru Aoba stood watching them in the cold. One of technicians at Nerv, a part of Ritsuko's team, and one of the people who had routinely run sync test for them back during their piloting days.
"You came back... my god you came back too" Shinji panted in shock. Feeling self-conscious at the fact he was wearing a jacket whilst the others were not.
"Came back? What are you talking about?" Aoba said in confusion.
The crowd of on-lookers gathering around the two, not sure what to do in this place. A group of strangers at the end of the world gathering before the only people whom knew each other.
"Young man what's going on?" a older woman, maybe 40 said confused.
"How are we here? The military was evacuating the city and-"
"It's so cold!" another stranger said rubbing her shoulders together to keep warm.
Shinji looked between them all, seeing their terrified and lost faces, just like the one he'd had when he had first returned and he was alone.
"Aoba, don't you remember? Third Impact." Shinji said panting in the cold, frowning as he looked at the group of new arrivals. At least thirty people in total.
"What? I remember the JSSDF attacked Nerv. Misato was taking you to Unit 01. Asuka was fighting the MP Evas, and- and I saw her. There were so many of them." Aoba said. His long hair mostly unchanged since they'd last seen him.
It was remarkable, as if the man had been outside of time whilst Shinji, Asuka, and Rei had managed to survive out here.
The grown man shuddered at the memory, more out of fear than out of cold, shaking his head and continuing "I knew if they got me I'd die... but then... this."
The crowd of people parted just as Asuka pushed her way through, clearing a path for Rei as well. The two girls joining them even as the newcomers looked at them even more confused than before.
"Ah!" Aoba shouted.
The others flinched and Shinji covered his ears in pain, as the Nerv technician/scientist leaped back slamming into a wall in his haste to get away.
"Aoba, what-" Asuka began.
"Her! Rei! Rei's here to kill us!" Aoba shouted. The man staring at the bewildered Rei with absolute terror.
Rei frowned at him, opening her mouth to say something, even as the eyes of all the newcomers came on her.
Shinji could tell by the look on their faces that some had seen her before, whilst most had not.
Instrumentality... they saw visions as they were 'taken' and their souls were gathered. Lilith peered into their minds, showed people the ones they had loved as they were taken... and those whom had been alone...with no loved ones... they saw Rei Shinji thought darkly.
Asuka watched in shock as two of the newcomers broke into a run and vanished into the streets, running in fear of the pale skinned girl.
Rei watched the remaining people nervously, her blank expression taking in the sight of those who did not know her and those that did.
Asuka moved in front of her, acting a shield just as Shinji reached Aoba and grabbed him by the arms.
"That wasn't her. That... that was the Angel. It was Lilith. That wasn't Rei" Shinji said slowly.
Aoba watched Shinji nervously, still shaking at the sight of Rei.
"I remember you... you attacked me." one of the newcomers said, a young man in his twenties and wearing a faded postal worker's uniform. He stood watching Rei and had to fight the urge to run, the memories of the giggling figures that had stalked him into oblivion before he'd appeared here with the others.
"That was not me" Rei said, her eyes downcast, and unable to meet their gaze.
Shinji moved to stand beside Rei as Asuka did the same, the both of them forming a human barrier between Rei and the newcomers.
"Lilith... the Angels... all that was the Angels. Third Impact" Aoba started muttering. The scientist in him beginning to piece things together.
Asuka nodded at him, glad to have at least one person who got it.
These people didn't understand anything. With the exception of Aoba, none of them had worked for Nerv, none of them had been involved with their piloting lives or the fight against the Angels, barely a news story to them. These gathered newcomers knew nothing except that the military had been ordering them to evacuate the city as SEELE launched their attack and Instrumentality came.
They understood nothing. All except for Aoba.
But Misato? Kaji? Ritsuko? Where are they? Why didn't they come back? Shinji thought darkly. Breathing heavily as he and Asuka stood beside Rei, the three of them together always.
"Come on, we'll explain the best we can. But all of you need jackets. Winter is here now" Asuka said suddenly.
The words were so strange to the newcomers, such a foreign concept. After over a decade of eternal summer, and now Japan had winter. They wouldn't have believed it had not been for the cold.
Nerv apartment block
Getting the newcomers settled in was no easy task.
They all had questions, and they understood so little of the Evas, Nerv, SEELE, the Angels, and the Third Impact.
Many adults had trouble believing Shinji, Asuka, and Rei had survived for as long as they had on their own. They were relieved to get inside where it was warm, but Misato's apartment had no where near the room for all of them.
And... Shinji, Asuka, and Rei had a kind of 'ownership' of the place by now. They didn't want to share it, so they'd selfishly clung to it. Helping the new survivors find places in the remaining apartments.
So many people... it was unnerving given all this time.
About 30 or so, all of them generally adults. From that nice poster worker, to simple office workers, a nurse a bit older than Misato had been, a group of construction workers, and that old lady whom had lived blocks and blocks away in government housing. The elderly woman had wanted to return home, but Shinji and Asuka had explained that her home was gone.
Nothing but ashes after the JSSDF's assult on Nerv and the rise of Lilith, that most out of the outer city was rubble where nothing seemed to grow. A wash of grey and cold, utterly lifeless... near the site where Shinji had found Asuka.
The poor old woman hadn't taken it well... no one had taken it well that they were the only people on the entire planet. That their loved ones were gone. It was a lot to throw at them, but Shinji had been the one to do it.
Each person's terrified expression, pained frown, sorrowfully eyes, lost look in the eye, and cough was another stab to the gut for Shinji. All this because of his choice...
Aoba was more understanding.
"15 months... damn" Aoba muttered under his breathe.
He stood outside in the hall with Shinji and Asuka, catching up on all that had happened. Rei waited inside, a lot of the people were scared of her. Hell, Aoba was scared of her no matter how many times Shinji told him not to be.
"We have a problem" Shinji said speaking to the older man, and struggling over the fact that all the adults couldn't wrap their heads around the fact that he and the girls had survived for all this time.
"The water isn't working anymore. System is breaking. Maybe the pipes are freezing or something, but we just don't know" Asuka said her arms crossed.
Aoba shook his head, taking a whiff of a cigarette in a way that reminded them of Ritsuko. The man had found a pack in another apartment, as Shinji and the others had never bothering looking for such things.
"How have you been getting water?" Aoba aske, running a hand through his hair.
Shinji exchanged a look with Asuka.
"We've been finding water bottles but we're getting close to expiration dates on those things" Asuka admitted darkly.
"Might still be a 'safe' for a while. Just not as fresh. We're gonna have to think of something." Aoba said.
Yeah... we are... there are so many people now. Before it was only the three of us Shinji thought somberly.
…
"Things started to change after that. With more people back in the world... we had to start making a community again. It was hard at times. Just feeding everyone was a nightmare. From three to three hundred. That's a lot of food and water needed. I stayed with my 'family' through it all. No matter what the adults said, we stayed together. " - the broken man.
...
21 months after Third Impact
The Arrivals didn't stop after that.
People started to come back, returning to the Post Impact World in small droves. More and more people everyday.
Lost and confused, not understanding what had happened. As if ripped out of time and into the here and now. Some remembering the image of the Rei(s) chasing them down before their soul had been gathered.
Many were afraid of Rei. Many did not know who she was. Close to three hundred people by the twenty first month.
A fraction of what had been the city population before, but people nonetheless.
The water system stopped working for a time. But some of the adults that came back were engineers, plumbers, and city workers. Around forty or so out of three hundred, those special few with the skills to fix and mend what was left of the broken infrastructure.
Working with what they had, the adults managed to rig up the system to get some of the water running but it was never the same.
More and more, Shinji, Asuka, and Rei found themselves surviving under the rule of a new society being birthed in the Post Impact World. The adults in charge and trying to forge a life for their new community.
It was a vastly different pace for them.
...
16 year old Shinji Ikari walked through the streets with the others, a team of ten people out scavenging for more supplies. All of them wearing makeshift jackets that had been sewed and stitched together, each of them carrying a bag and a list of things to look for.
The community having put together a few teams of people to get what they needed, and sending people out to find fertilizer and seeds for plants.
Winter hadn't faded... and no one could say why. All this time, and still the cold never faded. But they had to start getting food another way, the left overs of a Broken World wouldn't last forever. So they were planing to make a green house and start planting.
Asuka and Rei walked beside him, Rei wearing a baseball cap over her head and covering her hair, keeping her head lowered when out with them. People were still afraid of her, and so Shinji and Asuka kept close. Always together in the face of whatever came their way.
Upon returning to the community, Shinji carried bags of fertilizer alongside his family and the scavenging team. The lot of them entering the 'settlement' for lack of a better word, and bringing their finds with them. Passing the other adults as they returned.
The adults gave him strange looks, the boy whom claimed had seen the Third Impact up close. The boy who lived with two girls, the apartment all to themselves. Probably the youngest people in the entire planet.
"Ignore them" Asuka whispered to Rei as they walked back into 'town', the collection of apartments, huts, and housing that the survivors had made over the months. A few glancing at them as they passed.
Shinji and their team deposited their gathered supplies, then went there separate ways. A kind older woman thanked him as he left with the girls, sometimes they treated him like. Beaming up at him because he was one of the youngest people on the planet.
Shinji tried not to let it bother him. Asuka only shook her head, and Rei blended in with them trying to keep a low profile.
...
"Damn Shinji, you're getting taller" Aoba said in greeting. The man stopping to speak with them as he and the girls passed through the halls of the re-settled Nerv apartment complex.
"Took him long enough" Asuka said.
It was true, all three of them had grown taller. Asuka being the tallest by a few centimeters, Rei and Shinji being eerily the same height.
Asuka had let her hair down in the last few months, tying it back in a pony tail while they were out scavenging and letting it down when back here. Rei had kept her hair short, tucking it inside her cap and choosing to keep a low profile as many were afraid of her.
Shinji had mostly stayed the same, growing taller, and the world around them making him thinner as food became harder and harder to come by. Rei and Asuka had told him once that he was starting to grow the outline of stubble, but he didn't think so.
"Can't stay a kid forever" Shinji said softly, glancing back at Asuka before turning back to Aoba.
They were all trying to keep the mood light, they had enough problems to deal with. And with most of the earth's population being total strangers until a few months ago, it was nice to see the familiar faces again.
"Everything alright out there?" Aoba asked, leaning against the wall. Aoba's faded Nerv jacket being a welcoming sight, someone who understood things better than most
The man gestured outside, to the areas they'd been sent to scavenge. .
We're running out of stores to keep looting from. Stockpiling it in makeshift refrigerators is a good idea but it won't last forever. The adults are always ordering us around. And now we're trying to farm inside a city? Well... who knows Shinji thought feeling a sense of dread at the thought of the future.
Instead of voicing his thoughts, Shinji simply said "we found food."
…
Their 'home' was still Misato's apartment, and being back was a relief.
Rei sighing as she took off her cap, letting her noticeably blue-white hair out. The pale skinned girl taking her jacket off and stretching , glad to be back. It was the little things with her that showed her growth in all this time. The small sighs she would make when she was tired, her soft smile when they came home.
Shinji closed the door behind them and locked it.
They started getting ready for dinner, the three of them having fallen into a rhythm of life despite everything. Shinji heading for the kitchen whilst Asuka grabbed plates for them and Rei cleared the table.
Life was hard, and the future was uncertain at best. But they were together, and maybe they could curve out a glimmer of happiness in that.
Shinji is now 16 years old.
As I said, Other's story has highs and lows. This was more focused on Rei, and the growing 'family' between our three pilots. The world forcing them to grow closer, Shinji's shared pains with Rei, Asuka being the one whom made them have fun.
The chapter's ending is a big shift from the previous parts, but I wanted to show a glimpse of how things start to change as time goes by and more people come back from Instrumentality. In the first chapter of Unravel, the Broken Man mentions that other people came back too.
Next chapter will be another time jump, showing the societies that develop in the Post Impact World and Shinji, Rei, and Asuka's place in it as well their relationships. These chapters are very different from anything I've ever written and I hope it's not too far 'out there' for readers.
Thanks for Reading and please Review!