Unravel Chapter 25: A Man Grown, an evangelion fanfic

Hey, guys. I'm back. Been busy with life stuff.
This Chapter takes place in BOTH timelines, but only briefly in the Current Time.

To answer some questions, some things in the lore have been altered for Unravel. Some reviews mentioned the plane scene was wrong, and in a sense it is. But my version of Instrumentality is different. People still 'reform' and come back but near where they 'died'. I may cover it more in another chapter.

Anyway, a long chapter here. Use the headers if you need a break as stopping points.

Chapter 25: 'A Man Grown'

"I've seen the best and the worst of humanity. At times I've walked a middle ground between those two lines. I've done things I'm not proud of it. Done out of necessity.

Asuka was the same. She was always stronger than me. Willing to fight when I wasn't, ready to do what needs to be done. I still remember the feeling of her hand in mine. There are days I miss her, I really do.

Heh, I don't think Asuka would have liked Mari much. She probably wouldn't have saved her.

But that's the thing, other times... when I faced those decisions, between doing what was 'right' and doing what needed to be done... I tried to be better. For my daughter. I can't explain it very well. I wanted more for her. I wanted my daughter to have a world that wasn't broken, a place that still had good people. I needed to believe that... to show her by my example."

- the Broken Man

Part 1: The Here and Now

The Current Timeline
Misato's Apartment

Breaking into place, no scratch that, sneaking in was easier than Kaji thought.

Misato still hasn't changed. Busy at work... sitting at her desk catching up on useless paperwork. Trying to keep her mind busy. Poor girl wants to help Shinji but nothing she can do but wait just like everyone else, Kaji thought.

He felt bad for the boy, the last time a pilot had been absorbed into the Eva they had lost the said pilot.

In any case, Kaji didn't wear a disguise. That sometimes drew more attention to yourself, and the best way to hide was in plain sight. He simply and calmly made it to the apartment and picked the lock. For all their technology at headquarters, Nerv had gone cheap for the apartment complex, no card reader, just a simple lock.

Wearing gloves, Kaji carefully entered Shinji's room and began searching for where the boy had stowed 'them'. From his previous conversations with Misato, he'd deduced that Shinji had been handling his medicine himself.

Finding what he was looking for, Kaji pulled out a simple ziplock bag and collected what he'd sneaked in to grab.

The red pills.

The black pills.

Samples of Shinji Ikari's medicine sent from the ward and Dr. Page's office.

Kaji didn't take them all, just small amounts, enough for his partner and staff to examine.

Having gotten what he'd needed, Kaji carefully put the prescription bottles back where he found them and rearranged everything the way he'd found it. Always careful with his gloves, no fingerprints or any sign that he was there at all.

…

"I left them at the dead drop. Samples of the kid's meds. I've been investigating around Nerv what with the chaos from the reconstruction efforts. I'll have more for you next time," Kaji said into the encrypted phone.

The spy sat in his car amid a parking lot, speaking with his partner over a secure channel and taking the chance to grab a smoke.

"Understood. I'm working on my end, might have found something but it's too early to tell. There's too much surrounding Shinji Ikari for this to be a coincidence. That boy is caught up in too many threads. Be careful out there. Tensions are high with what's happened. The Eva taking another pilot into itself? Madness. Do you have any intel on the object Nerv brought in over a month ago?" his partner, the tough business like woman who he'd been assigned to, said.

Kaji paused at that, barely believing it himself. He'd had to go digging, physically sneaking around and 'borrowing' employee security cards to find out.

"They found the Spear of Longinus in the Arctic," Kaji said at last, voice flat and empty, devoid of his projected charm.

"... you're sure?" his partner asked from the other end.

"Uh-huh. I don't know where it is now or what they did with it. But somehow they found that thing, the weapon that stopped Adam from wiping us out. Years and years... and it turns up now? I don't like that, eh partner?" Kaji said holding the phone close.

"No... not at all. Could it be a weapon for the Evas? Something to stop the Angels?" his partner asked her voice calm but with an edge that told him she didn't believe it either.

Wishful thinking. Kaji thought.

"I don't think so. I'll keep you posted," Kaji said. He was pushing things already, and he needed to back to Nerv. Spy work was never easy, by its very nature it demanded layers upon layers of plans and performing operations whilst maintaining his cover as a Nerv employee.

His partner was about to respond when suddenly a loud bellowing sound interrupted. The alarm sirens going off for the first time in over a month.

An Angel had appeared. Just their luck.

"You hear that? I gotta go. I'll keep in touch. Over and out," Kaji called into the phone. He thought he heard his partner say something but the sirens drowned it all out.

She hung up first.

Kaji put his car into drive, leaving the parking lot with all the other civilians hurrying to get out and find a shelter.

Asuka, Rei, it's up to you two. Kaji thought as he drove on.

Nerv HQ

"Sync tests are canceled for today. An Angel has been sighted. Report to the launchpad," Aoba said getting to his feet. Maya did the same. Ritsuko was already there. Having been working non-stop on getting their pilot back from 01.

Asuka scowled from inside the testing plug. As if they didn't have enough to deal with.

Rei nodded and stood up heading for the exit.

Eva Team 3, Units 00 and 02, was being deployed. The only operational Evangelion Units at the time being.

"Hey wondergirl, keep your head in the game. It's only the two of us this time." Asuka called as the girls ran down the hall heading for the hangar.

"I will do my duty," was all Rei said.

Girl almost never talks anymore. Stupid Shinji had to get stuck in a time like this... ah! Forget it, everyone is counting on me, Asuka thought.

Stepping inside the hangar was... scary these days. Not that Asuka ever got scared. Not at all. With Evangelion Unit 01 standing still and silent as a statue in its launchpad.

Bolted in and imprisoned. Unmoving and unresponsive to all commands. Having absorbed its pilot after displaying an astounding sync ratio and power. Over a month and no one had been able to get Shinji back.

Teams of engineers and scientists worked in shifts trying to pull Shinji out, all their efforts had been met with failure. The Eva was almost 'alive' in a sense, but sleeping. People avoided looking at it.

Asuka pointedly ignored the Eva, pushing the feeling in her chest away, the memory of Shinji saving them before being taken, and stepped into her entry plug. She had a job to do.

Rei's eyes lingered on 01 but the girl's comm brought her back to reality. Asuka watched as the pale girl snapped out of her daze, listened carefully to her comm before heading out.

"Two Angels out there. Be careful." Misato said over the comm channel.

I always am. Was never defeated, not even by that freaking tank of an Angel last time, Asuka thought firmly.

"Launch!" Misato called.

Eva Units 00 and 02 were sent flying up to the surface in a shower of sparks.

Meanwhile...

Evangelion Unit 01's eyes twitched under the thin layers of flesh that made up its eyelids. The marvel of human engineering protected the two inside, one young and lost in dreams, the other old and tired, driving the dreams along their path.

Somewhere from within the Eva, among the void where souls lay inside, the old man with battered and weathered skin, a face framed by a mop of greying hair and with a pair of mixed colored eyes, stood.

In the Other Place, the old man was not alone.

A young boy lay unmoving, his body nothing but a pool of LCL like liquid in the real world, but here, where his soul took physical form, he lay back. The boy's eyes were distant and lost. As if Shinji was dreaming but awake at the same time. Witness to a life not his own.

The Other Shinji stood over him, directing the dream as needed.

Shinji watched and felt the Broken Man's memories and experiences just as if he was living it himself. The process was not a melding of the minds, they were each Shinji and yet they were each their own separate entities. Two that always remained two.

Other Shinji breathed out a single heavy, a nearly ancient, breath. Like his lungs were an aged and rusted bit of machinery eking out an operation. Straining from the effort.

The Broken Man took a moment to rest. This process was not easy.

"Hm. Two Angels have come." Other Shinji said thinking aloud.

...let go... need to help... thoughts from Shinji the boy.

Other Shinji closed his eyes deep in concentration.

"If it comes to it, I'll step in. But you continue. "

The Broken Man's voice was rough, bittersweet, tired and somber.

Asuka and Rei would have to handle this for now. Two Evas and two Angels. If Other was right, then those 'things' out there on the surface would be weaker than normal. He had to continue with the boy, this was more important.

Why?

Why are you showing me this? How are you here?

Thoughts from the present Shinji as he lay unable to move.

The boy lay lost in everything he had seen. This life that was not his.

"One day, you will understand. We're almost done," the Broken Man whispered to his counterpart.

He could hear the thoughts of his younger self.

It was painful to do this, to reopen his wounds and 'feel' again. To use this power, even here where it was 'safe', but Other had known that this day would come.

Shinji turned his head weakly, managing to face the Broken Man.

Their eyes met.

I don't like this... let me go. Let me go... I want to see Mari. I want to see my girlfriend. I want to see Misato and... and I want MY life back.

Please... make it stop.

Shinji thought to the Broken Man.

The Broken Man shook his head somberly, hearing the words from the boy.

"You won't be here forever, boy. We still have a job to do. But for now, you need to see... to see what we become. What the world became. What it turned people into. That's what awaits us if we fail. For all I know, it could be worse this time. But you need to see." the Broken Man told Shinji.

Other raised his hands again and Shinji froze, the dream enveloping him again gently.

A strange cloud of almost LCL like mist enveloped the boy. Slowly, what Shinji once called 'the madness' took its time and let him in carefully. Guiding him through the memory. No more nosebleeds, no headaches, here Other knew what he was doing. Allowing Shinji to process the memories slowly bit by bit. Not a rush of isolated moments.

And Shinji was lost in the Other Memories again. Lost to the world around him and even the void. The Broken Man breathed heavily again from the strain. The toll it took on him.

Nearby, a shadow was looming over both of them. Less than a memory, a fragment of something long since passed. A figure that had emerged from this place without a sound. Her very presence chilled both men to their core.

The Woman in the Dark

She watched them from afar. Face hidden by her long hair, smiling up at both Shinji(s) from the shadows. The Broken Man stood unable to banish her whilst driving Shinji's dream forward, forced to live with the pain she brought him.

The Old Man shuddered as if cold, eyes lowering somberly, as the Woman appeared behind him...

"Shinji..." she whispered, voice soft as silk.

She wrapped her arms lovingly around his chest, hugging the Broken Man from behind, trailing her hands down his chest. The Woman in the Dark traced the old wounds and faded scars hidden by his clothes, gently tugging his shirt and revealing... a long faded scar running down the side of his neck. A stab wound.

Her bare breast pressed softly against his back as she leaned her head onto his shoulder. The Woman in the Dark pressed a soft kiss to his neck, tracing the old scar.

The Broken Man felt his arm ache, the old bullet wound tingling amid his flesh even now. Side effects from bringing his memories back. And her too... the Woman in the Dark.

"I love you" The Woman whispered.

"Stop." Other Shinji told her in barely a whisper. Eyes trembling.

The Younger Shinji lay unmoving, stuck just as Other was, both of them shuddered at her presence. The boy frozen in the dream and unaware of the woman from his visions.

The Broken Man winced as if in pain, the Woman in the Dark holding him even now.

"I'm sorry. I never loved you. You're not her. Just go..." the Broken Man pleaded. He lowered his bad hand, the one with only three fingers, and pried the Woman's hands off his chest.

The Woman did not respond.

She hummed softly against him, basking in his figure despite the cold.

"Leave me. I need to show him," Other Shinji said softly, the Woman in the Dark clinging to him despite his protest. She wouldn't let go, even in life, she stayed by his side.

The Woman didn't answer, only a remnant that haunted him even now.

"Why do you want to die?" The Woman in the Dark whispered to him.

The Broken Man stilled at her words. He felt her eyes on him, and once again she pulled herself close to him. A comforting embrace. Her skin was perfect and pristine where his was rough and scarred. Young where he was old.

"You're not her," the Broken Man whispered. He never looked back, he kept his gaze ahead unable to face the woman.

She tilted her head at him.

"Be gone," Other said gritting his teeth as if ripping off his own arm... and the Woman in the Dark vanished as if she'd never been there.

The figure broke apart and faded away in a black mist.

Other let out a heavy tired breath, feeling like he was a hundred years old. His head hung low, red eyes falling to his Younger Self.

Forgive me, Shinji. Doing this takes a toll, Other thought.

The Broken Man raised his hands upward again as if praying, and the dream continued... taking the Younger Shinji further into the memories.

Part 2: Parent

Memories of the Original Shinji
13 years after Third Impact
Haven

The grown man walked along the faded pavement. Carefully striding along, crouching as he did so, hands stretched out and guiding the little girl as he did so.

"Come on. Come on, Akane. You can do it," Shinji the father cooed to the little girl as they moved together.

Akane giggled, her tiny feet moving back and forth as her father walked her down the path. She took her first steps with a helping hand. Such a little thing, pale white skin and red eyes from her mother, and plain brown hair from her father.

"There you go," Shinji whispered to his daughter.

He held her hands as she put one foot in front of the other.

"Dadda" Akane chimed, laughing at seemingly nothing in particular. The simple life of a child and Shinji smiled sadly at it. She understood so little, about the world and its many pains and joys, and perhaps, for now, that was a good thing.

Slowly, ever so carefully, he let go of his daughter's hands, letting her walk on her own under his watchful eye.

Akane struggled, wobbling even as Shinji crouched closer, ready to catch her if she started to fall, but he was being overprotective again. Asuka always told him he had a habit of being overbearing, that one day he'd smother his daughter with attention if he wasn't careful.

"Walk," Akane mumbled to herself, putting one foot forward and then the next and the next.

Shinji laughed softly, watching and staying close, letting her walk on her own after a few days of guiding her every now and then.

"Walk," Akane laughed again.

"Yeah. You're walking, girl. I'm so proud of you," Shinji said softly, watching Akane move gingerly through the faded pavement.

She's so smart. Just like her mother, he thought.

The father guided the daughter onward, calling her by name and gesturing for her to follow. Leading her up ahead to the small pot of land set aside by the original settlers of Haven.

"Akane. Here," Shinji called, crouching low with his hand held out.

The little girl took his hand as he led her forward, led her to the small slab of stone with faded engravings.

Rei Ikari. Beloved wife. Pilot. Farmer. Mother.

"This is mom," Shinji said in barely a whisper. Faded sorrow lingered even after 14 months. He didn't think that it would ever go away, and as much as it hurt... he had to move on. Akane needed him and he'd promised himself that he would be a better father than Gendo ever was for him.

Akane looked up at him. Wide, curious red eyes gazing at him, not fully understanding but able to sense the emotions of her father.

"Mama," Akane whispered, following her father's movements and placing tiny hand atop Shinji's. Both gently stroked the grave, a pair of hands running across the faded stone.

"That's your mama. She loved you... she loved you so much," Shinji said, blinking back the tears before they started.

Akane seemed to consider that, the baby-like mind of hers not fully understanding, yet reaching out as her father did. She ran her little fingers through the stone and seemed to find something there too.

"Mama," Akane repeated again, frowning at the grave.

Shinji wished he could have stayed longer here, with his wife and his daughter, but the sun was starting to rise again. He'd have more work out in the fields, farming was equal parts boredom and work, hours of back-breaking labor, and hours of rest with nothing to do but spend time with the family.

He ruffled his daughter's hair, smiling softly as Akane seemed to understand that it was time to go. She turned away from the grave, almost like she wanted to say goodbye but lacked the words for now, and turned to him on her little legs.

"Up up" Akane laughed, the little girl taking her father's hand as he lifted her up.

He carried her by wrapping an arm around her small frame as she tugged at his shoulders. Almost hugging him as he brought her back towards their home in Haven.

…

Passing of time
Fatherhood

When Shinji was a kid... when he was young and foolish, he heard the saying that everything changes the day you become a parent. It was more of a western saying than an eastern one, but he'd grown up with that idea from old films and television.

At the time so long ago, he hadn't really understood it. Or maybe he never cared to. When you're young you don't think about life that way. Not really. Simply... things you cannot truly grasp until you're ready.

But now he was older. And he saw it.

Spending time with Akane, regardless of how tired he was from working in the fields, always making time to be there for his daughter. Teaching her how to walk and then to run, letting her dip her small feet into the river stream near the fields of Haven, guiding her as best as he could with Asuka's help.

Teaching her to read and write from the beginning. Starting with her name.

Akane. Spelled (あかね). "Ah-kah-nay." It was remarkable how quickly she'd been able to learn. Shinji was good at that, teaching her the basics.

For Asuka? ... well, there were things she knew that he just hadn't. Together, they braided Akane's long hair. Asuka used to tease him about playing 'Mr. Mom', but he didn't care. Asuka had always had a habit of teasing him, and so, of course, Akane picked up on it and joined in.

Akane Ikari was special, perhaps every child is special in their parent's eyes. As she grew, he noticed how smart she was.

The little girl who started reading by the age of three. Whom could talk to him in simple but meaningful ways as a child. At times she was distant, almost like her mother had been, confused at her own emotions and thoughts, and at other times alive and vibrant. Grasping things quickly and able to match wit with Asuka.

What Rei should have been like... the life she never got to live as a child, he thought.

As for him? He got older.

Older than Misato had ever been. Years of working in the fields made him leaner and skinny, never built like a warrior, but with bits of muscle emerging underneath his thin frame. Farm strength people called it. He saw the most of it in his hands, his hands changed. That was something he noticed a lot.

The hands of a working man, tiny little scars from field work, took shape in his palms.

Akane didn't like them.

She would run her fingers across his skin and shake her head. Disliking the rough texture than ran along his hands. Asuka had something similar, working out in the fields just as he did.

He didn't just farm at Haven, he hunted alongside Kay and the others, mixed in with housework on their shack, and his duties of parenthood. That was Shinji's life now. Asuka and he took turns going on trading missions, one always staying behind with little Akane.

The outside. Shinji didn't want Akane to see that yet. To understand just what the world was. Not all bad, but not all good either.

The places outside of Haven were a strange mixed bag. Other small settlements had appeared along the long stretches of livable land, and the other areas, the wastelands where little seemed to grow, where the scars of Third Impact lingered even after all these years... it was dangerous.

When Shinji or Asuka went on the trading missions, they went in groups with Kay. Trading rice and other goods with a few farming communities scattered about miles apart from each other.

They had to fend off looters and other threats. The world outside their little slice of life could be a dangerous place.

It was something Shinji didn't like to talk about with his daughter. But she was curious. She had seen the scar on his arm. She asked him about it once. When she was a bit older, around eight or nine years old.

18 years after Third Impact

"You were shot dad... Auntie wouldn't tell me about it... but you were. The scar on your arm," Akane told him one night.

Shinji was laying down in the backyard of their little shack, stretched out beside his daughter and gazing up at the stars across the night sky.

Such a little thing but she saw it anyway. She picked it out and realized what it was... she's so sharp. He thought.

The Father turned to look at the curious red eyes that stared at him unblinkingly. Long hair draped behind her on the grass, the little girl dressed in a simple field gown and watching him with a maturity beyond her age.

"Yes."

Shinji said the words softly.

He was dressed in his simple field clothes. Mostly clean, old dirt stains and the standard wear and tear lingering but well fitted.

Calmly, he raised his arm and rolled up the sleeve of his shirt. Revealing the small faded ring of twisted flesh, the scar from Tokyo-02. Shinji remembered running through the parking lot with Rei, god... they'd been a couple of kids in the wastelands then... barely surviving.

He remembered being shot as the scavengers chased them. Remembered Rei grabbing his hand so he wouldn't fall, the two of them making it to Asuka and the car before driving off.

Akane's eyes widened and she hesitantly ran a small finger across the scar.

It didn't hurt anymore. Not really. Sometimes it ached when he had bad dreams, but it was nothing really. Just another part of life. He'd actually been lucky, getting shot in the arm instead of somewhere vital.

"Why?" Akane asked her lips trembling at the sight.

Shinji sighed sadly, running a hand through the light stubble where his beard had once been, shaving was a pain but it needed to be done. Funny, manual labor and farm work seemed to age him quicker than normal. But even then... it was better than what was out there.

How to explain this?

His daughter was smart and curious. She wanted to know what was beyond Haven, but she just didn't understand what it had taken him, all of them really, to reach their little home. The hardships and struggles, the joys and sorrow, the wandering, the violence, and empty roads.

And the hunger, that ever-present feeling of your stomach crying out for food. The stench, the smell of moving onward for days and then weeks without bathing. The grim reality, the loss of hope that came with the aimless wandering. The sheer scale of traveling through the ruined landscapes of a nation on foot.

"... because they wanted what we, your mother and I, as well as Asuka, had. They wanted our car," Shinji told her at last.

"The car... the moving machines. We have some here. Three." Akane said slowly. Still not understanding but grimly curious.

"Yes. For a time, your mother, auntie, and I had a car. We used it to travel, to get away from the cities, and there was an incident. A fight. We ran and drove for as long as we could. But the car broke. And we had to walk the rest of the way," Shinji said.

He was careful with his words, not letting his daughter know the whole story, yet not wanting to shield the reality of their lives from her.

"I know it's strange to think of it like this, but out there... it's rough. People manage to eek out a living but it's not easy. A lot of days with an empty stomach. And people get desperate. They want... they want to take things. To survive. Auntie and I saw that, along with your mother. The world can be a harsh place, but it can also be good. Haven is good. We're good people, us right here, right now." Shinji told her seriously.

Akane listened to his every word. He could see her trying to imagine her father when he was younger, wandering out there on the road to Haven. A frown emerged on her face, and he knew she was struggling to fully grasp it.

She had never known the struggles he had, and he was truly grateful for that.

"Come on, we don't need to talk about that. The past is the past. We have a home here, Akane, I have you and you have me. I'm so happy for that. You've no idea," Shinji said.

He reached a hand over to rest on her shoulder affectionately.

Akane seemed to consider that, hearing the story of her parents and Auntie's road to Haven, getting a glimpse into the world via her father's tale. Thinking it over, she glanced back to their little shack. It wasn't much from what she understood of the old stories from before, but it was all she'd ever known.

"You don't have to do that. Listen, it's okay to just be a kid once and awhile. You gotta enjoy that, I wish I had," Shinji told her again softly.

Akane rested her head on his hand. Humming softly, a habit she'd inherited from her mother, and listening to her dad. Allowing herself to stop analyzing things and just be a kid, she liked it. She wished the other adults were like her father.

They lay there out in the backyard, staring at the stars and Akane could almost imagine the stars were looking back. Vast and endless, the stars ever outside their reach and mysterious.

Shinji watched the night sky above and wondered if Eva Unit 01 was up there... if his Eva was still floating through the darkness... if... if his mother was still drifting and directionless among the expanse.

Mom... you have a granddaughter now. Do you watch me from up there? Us? All that time you were there watching over me at Nerv. Inside my Eva, helping me fight the Angels. Then... then after... You never told me why you left... you just left... he thought.

Shinji stopped that train of thought. There was no point on dwelling on it, he was with his daughter now and he couldn't whine about his missing mother anymore.

"I used to do this when I was younger," he said suddenly.

Akane glanced up at him.

"Hey, look there. That cluster of stars, the 'before people' used to call that Orion. I learned about it when I was a kid. Back when we had these things called schools, it was one of the only things I liked to learn about. The stars." Shinji added softly. He was smiling in spite of it all. Managing to keep going even in all this mess, living out in Haven.

Akane laughed saying "a hundred years ago?"

Shinji rolled his eyes.

Asuka, what have you done to my daughter? You've turned her against me?! Ah! Figures. Auntie Asuka just has to tease the boring old man, Shinji thought with a teasing smirk.

"Hey, I'm not that old," Shinji mockingly protested, but his eyes gave him away. He wasn't mad, not really, he was getting older and Akane had learned to poke fun at him just like Asuka did. A little game between them that brought a twinkle back into his eyes.

"You're not a fossil," Akane giggled again.

I'm 32, not 80. Jeez, kids making me feel like an old man, he thought with a small shake of the head.

"Not yet anyway. Better not tell Auntie that joke. She's not as nice as me," Shinji said.

Akane laughed again, and he could imagine Asuka's red face and twitch of the eyebrow at the thought of being called 'old'. Akane liked Asuka, but she knew not to poke a dragon in the eye.

Akane took her father's hand again, and Shinji sat up pulling the girl with him as he rose to his feet.

"It's getting dark. Let's get back inside," he said walking with the girl following after him, led gently by the wrist.

Shinji ran his free hand through her long brown hair, ruffling it even as she giggled playfully trying to shrug him off but never able to.

Outside of Haven
Settlement far along the roads

Asuka stayed behind with the car. She watched as the others went about and traded with the people in this little town about a half dozen or so miles away from Haven.

She was 32 years old now. Dressed in a tattered brown duster coat, a simple field shirt, a pair of old jeans, and with her gun holstered on her belt.

Asuka was a bit taller than Shinji now, still lean but now with bits of farm strength lining her muscles that had broadened her shoulders. Not the feminine athletic body she'd have wanted in the old world, but that was a time long since past. She had rougher skin that made her sad at times, she was still beautiful but with a torn edge. The world around them having worn her down over the years, even the farm work at Haven had taken its toll.

Her hands were like Shinji's. Rough with tiny little scars from manual labor and field work.

Getting older. Humph, never thought it'd be like this. Asuka thought, letting the feelings fade as she paced around the settlement out here.

The place was small, less than half of what Haven was, but the people living here were able to process and refine some basic medicines and even gas for the car. Trading was more than just exchanging goods, it was a sign of humanity that lingered after the end of the world. A kind of reassuring presence that remained everyone that not everything was broken. There was a slice of life to be had out here and not just the violence that broke out in the wastelands.

Or at least that's what Shinji used to say. The two of them took turns going with Kay and the others on the trading missions. More than anything else the missions were about keeping up communication and a semblance of society.

Is that... it is. Akane is gonna love this, Asuka thought suddenly. She spotted something odd among a trader's modest worn table.

"That thing? Eh, they're not worth that much," the local man said. He was a bit older than Kay even, almost in his fifties, dressed in ragged worn clothes that hung loosely on him.

"I'll take it, alright. It's for my niece" Asuka said reaching for her own bag. She bartered out small amounts of rice for the piece of jewelry.

The things I do for you girl... you're lucky I like you, Asuka thought with a small smirk.

Once their trading was done, she followed Kay and the others as they headed back with their supplies. Finding their spots in the three cars Haven had managed to keep running. The first was the one Kay had used to buy his way into the community after the Fall of Tokyo-03, and the other two were ones that the Mayor and a group of farmers had gotten working again.

The cars weren't much to look at. Just working pieces of rusted metal with crates attached to the top for extra storage.

Together they drove off. Asuka kept an eye out for looters or an ambush, Kay did the same as another farmer from Haven drove the car.

Strangely enough, no incidents.

Part 3: Homestead

Haven

When Shinji dreamed... they weren't really dreams. Not anymore. Once, his dreams had been more like faded memories of a better time. Memories of his wife, and Asuka walking side by side with him their arms linked, as they went fishing in the stream.

But now... his dreams were like wounds.

Scars in his mind that may have healed, but left him changed. The dreams were like his mind was bleeding out bit by bit, cracks along his psyche that caused tremors, like tiny earthquakes relieving pressure off of a fault. They left him tossing and turning in his sleep, grunting, and lost... haunted.

He saw things... saw flashes of the world dying the day he failed. Saw the people that died that day and beyond. Misato's dying moments before getting him to the Eva, Ritsuko being shot, Aoba cowering in fear, and so many others. He saw the people being taken by Instrumentality. Saw the scarred and battered world. All of it his fault.

His mind's eye showed him, a lone figure drifting amid a sea of black. The figure stumbled underneath the water, wounded and weary, strange dark masses visible nearby. Incompletely somehow, unable to act. The figure struggled against the currents, crying out in silent agony.

Shinji Ikari awoke with blood on his face. Shadows had emerged under his eyes, and his arm ached, the arm that had been shot so many years ago.

Breathing out heavy slow breaths, he got up and went to the faded bathroom mirror. He cleaned his face and eyed his reflection in the rusted and cracked glass.

Another nosebleed. Years now and these things come back every few months. Ah... when will it stop? Shinji thought, feeling tired and much older than he really was.

Before, when he'd had Rei, the dreams had stopped. He had been calm, at peace, ... with her. Now, she was gone and had been for almost nine years.

32 years old. I'm older now than Misato ever was... Shinji thought.

Moments like that he felt his age. Another night with little sleep, it was nothing to get all worked up about. Just another facet of life these days.

"Daddy! Daddy, they're coming back!" Akane's voice came calling from down the hall of their little shack.

"I'll be right there. Don't go running off on your own!" Shinji called back.

"Ah, okay," Akane called back in an annoyed groan.

Kids, always ready to go running off on their own, he thought

Shinji took one last look in the mirror, rubbed his bloodshot eyes again, and took off in search of a coat.

…

"We're back" Kay called, the middle-aged former soldier called, mixed American-Japanese accent always catching the guards attention.

It was early in the morning, maybe 6 a.m. or so, and the daylight was just starting to creep its way over the mountains surrounding Haven.

Asuka watched the makeshift gate to Haven opened, and they drove in, each car going in after the other in a straight line. The only way they could all fit through the entrance on the old road.

This was the only road into Haven anymore, everything else had been blocked off.

Asuka sat with the cracked and dented window open, letting the cool village air take her again. Home, who would have thought a farming settlement in the mountains would be where she ended up?

Not so bad, though. Better than most, she thought as they drove on.

The townspeople met them as always. They gathered around the parked cars as Kay and the mayor started handing out some basic goods and taking others to the town storage. About a third of Haven gathered there.

Makio, the town doctor, and his wife were there taking stock of the medicine. Asuka waved at them once before moving on.

She spotted Shinji and his daughter walking over, hand in hand, Akane bobbing along, the girl a bundle of energy, while Shinji smiled politely at his fellow neighbors walking slower.

"Just go. The boys and I can take it from here," Kay called, the older man glancing back at her and her 'family'.

"Auntie!" Akane called as Shinji gently released her hand, letting her jog forward to greet Asuka.

"Hey there, big girl, the old man giving you trouble?" Asuka said reaching down to give Akane a one-handed hug. One which Akane returned gleefully, the child wrapping her arms around her auntie.

"No. He's not a fossil. Not yet. That's what I told him," Akane said, speaking firmly and simply as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

Asuka raised an eyebrow at that, and Shinji just shrugged.

Getting witty again. I'm not sure if she gets that from her mother or from me. Definitely not her father. Hmm, I like it, Asuka thought running a hand through the little girl's hair.

"Any trouble out there on the roads?" Shinji said in greeting. The grown man, clean shaven, moved past the crowd so they could talk.

"No. Really strange... last time when it was your turn did you have any?" Asuka said, growing serious for a moment.

"... no. Even Kay said it was weird. No looters or ambushes, not even a runner coming for the cars. I thought we were just lucky at the time," Shinji said crossing his arms, thinking intently.

Akane looked between her father and her auntie, frowning at an unspoken second conversation happening that she couldn't follow.

I don't like it... Asuka thought.

Maybe we really were lucky the last few times. But that doesn't feel right. Shinji's expression seemed to say.

Asuka looked at her 'brother' for lack of a better word, up and down, taking in the shadows under his eyes and tired demeanor.

Nightmares again, huh? Nosebleed and headaches. That's not good, Shinji... She thought.

Shinji shook his head, no doubt knowing what she was thinking. They had gotten good at these 'unspoken' conversations over the years, even if Akane didn't particularly like them.

The man shifted his eyes back, towards their shack in Haven, gesturing for them to walk. He clearly didn't want to talk about it.

You can't keep doing that, you know? Rei would have been better at this, she would have gotten you to open up, Asuka thought.

Before little Akane could ask what was going on, Shinji changed the subject. Patting Asuka on the arm, he said, "I'm glad you're back. Still gotta fix that fence."

Fine. We can talk later when Akane isn't listening in. Asuka thought. She let the matter drop, and played along for Shinji's sake.

"Pfft. You're the man now, that's your job," Asuka said teasingly.

She had to admit, Shinji would probably always be a bit scrawny but working in the fields and the farm had given him that farm-strength. Never built like an athlete, but with an underline of muscle that was noticeable.

"You're stronger than me. I already finished half the job, and whatever happened to the 'I can do anything you can but better' attitude, eh Asuka?" Shinji countered dryly.

Asuka shook her head, and glanced down at Akane saying "see, the old man is too smart for his own good."

"Because it works," Akane said grinning up at her auntie.

Yeah... damn boy knows it works, Asuka thought.

"Come on, I'll make us breakfast back home. You tired? Hungry?" Shinji said.

"Haven't slept since yesterday, need food and sleep now. Oh, and before I forget, Akane I got you something" Asuka said.

Shinji raised an eyebrow, pleasantly surprised, and Akane tilted her head up at her.

Asuka rummaged around in her duster coat pockets, before pulling out a simple piece of faded jewelry. A necklace, nothing special, 'fake' gold that was a little worn out but still caught the eye.

Where the heck did you find that? Shinji thought smiling softly as his daughter took it slowly, eyes wide.

"Pretty," Akane said eyes wide as she ran her hands along the small jewelry. Asuka reached down to help her put it on.

Thank you, Asuka. Shinji thought, watching his daughter cradle the necklace in her hand, holding the rare and precious thing even as they walked.

He put a hand on Akane's shoulder and the three left the town square.

After making them all breakfast, and letting Asuka get a few hours sleep, Shinji found himself out near the fields with some of the others. They grew their crops just outside their front yard, well... collective yard was a better term.

He kept mostly to himself, chopping some wood for the broken fence, and keeping an ear out for Akane as she played nearby.

"Ah," he panted, raising the ax and bringing it down on the wood. It was a simple repetitive action, but one that helped him clear his mind.

He carved out good solid stumps for the fence posts that needed to be replaced. That was one of the benefits of living in-between a series of mountainous terrain with forests, there was a steady supply of wood.

Distantly, he heard Akane playing with the other kids from the neighbors. Kids, actual kids, such a rare thing in this world. Even in Haven, there were only about twenty or so kids, and different ages, the youngest being around Akane's age whilst others like Ichiro who were almost twenty.

Shinji could hear Akane showing off her new necklace to her friends, two other girls that were a bit older than her. Every now and then, he glanced up from his ax to check up on her.

"You could have waited, you know that right?" a voice called after.

He turned to see Asuka striding sleepily towards him, having slept for a few hours, and watching him closely.

"You were asleep. I didn't mind, not really," Shinji said with a shrug. He'd almost finished mending the fence by now, carefully replacing what fence posts that had started to break. Last winter had messed up a lot of the wood here, something to do with the rainwater freezing inside the cracks and expanding.

Asuka watched him finish up the last one, studying him as he worked. He hammered in the new fence post and added in the wire to connect it to the chain of adjacent posts around the patch of crops.

Never would have thought he'd be the handyman, still surprised by that. Asuka thought with a small shake of her head.

"So what was all that about wanting help earlier?" Asuka called out once Shinji had finished.

He chuckled softly at her, "I was only playing. Just take the break. You were tired."

"Says the man who looks like he's gonna fall over any second," Asuka said gesturing at the shadows under his eyes.

Shinji didn't meet her gaze, he leaned on the fence railing and just watched the kids playing some silly game out in the fields. Asuka saw they were playing a version of tag or something, apparently, Akane was scary good at it, the little girl could disappear among the crops and pop-up to 'tag' another kid before laughing it off.

"I'm fine," Shinji said breaking the silence.

"You're not. You haven't been since... not since Rei. I know it's hard alright. I miss her too," Asuka said, her eyes falling at the mention of her.

Shinji still wouldn't look at her, but Asuka saw him run a finger along his wedding ring. Nearly seven years after her death and the poor man still wore the ring every day.

"... yeah," Shinji said in barely a whisper, eyes distant.

Oh great, now I've reopened old wounds. Gah, was never good at this crap. Asuka thought feeling angry at herself but Shinji patted her on the arm.

You're fine, stop beating yourself over it, Shinji seemed to say without ever speaking to her

That was the thing about Shinji over the years. Asuka had noticed that after Rei... he was distant at times. Not cold, not like... nothing like Gendo... but 'apart' from everything and everyone except for Akane. In the world but not of it. Shinji almost never smiled unless for his daughter these days. At times, he grew very quiet and this cloud of... of silence lingered until it passed.

"If it keeps coming back, go see Makio. He wouldn't judge, everyone knows we came all the way from Tokyo-03. We saw things out there in the wastelands, people... people understand," Asuka said hesitatingly.

When Shinji didn't respond, Asuka sighed adding "stop being a wimp and see the doctor. Akane and I will drag you there if we have to."

Shinji only took it in stride, turning to her with an amused look.

"Glad to know you care. I was starting to worry you only stayed for the food," he said softly.

"Pfft. You wish your food was that good," Asuka muttered. You know I care about you, you freaking idiot.

She signed and joined him at the fence, leaning on the railing and watching the kids play. The two of them watched over these kids and their game, the sun starting to set as they did so. It was... 'calm' that was the only word Asuka could use to describe it.

"Thanks for the necklace," Shinji said suddenly.

"Akane's cute. Thought it would look good on her," Asuka answered.

"She missed you while you were gone. Or maybe she just missed the two of you ganging up on me with the 'old man' thing," Shinji said lightly.

"I'll just bet she does. Don't take it too hard, she misses you when it's your turn to go." Asuka said smirking back at him. She wasn't Akane's mother, and Asuka knew that, but she loved that little girl like she was her own.

"She doesn't like it when I leave... last time she didn't even see off. Just stayed in her room until I had to go. I... I just don't know if I-" Shinji began.

Asuka punched him in the arm.

"Ah! What was that for?!" Shinji said startled as he almost slipped off the fence.

"You're a good dad, alright. Stop second guessing yourself... she's a kid. You're doing great, damn Shinji... don't you remember how overbearing the adults could be? How much it annoyed you as a kid?" Asuka said.

Shinji stared at her silently.

"Jeez, I wish my dad had cared as much you do," Asuka muttered turning away and feeling a bit embarrassed at that.

Shinji thought about that for a moment, watching his daughter play with the older kids.

He reclaimed his spot, leaning on the wooden fence beside Asuka.

"I never really had parents, Asuka," Shinji said suddenly. Eyes lost, bittersweet yet with a touch of warmth reserved only for his daughter.

He felt Asuka's gaze on him, her frown, her uncertain eyes on him as he looked away.

"You know what Gendo was like. At a certain point I just never saw him anymore. Not until the day I piloted Unit 01. He was a bastard. Maybe he always was. And mom... Yui... well I thought she died. I was wrong. Years and years, and she was hiding in the Eva." Shinji said slowly, still not looking at Asuka.

Mom just left... she left me twice... He thought with a pang in his chest. Before pushing it away and looking towards his daughter, his old pains and hangups didn't matter anymore. He was a father.

Akane was laughing softly, playing around with the other kids. Something so simple, children allowed to be young and foolish.

Shinji had very few memories of his parents together. Maybe... one. A moment where the two of them had been in the kitchen. Yui had been making supper whilst Gendo read his newspaper. How strange. Yui had been smarter than Gendo. Shinji remembered how his father had had no interest in his small son playing alone nearby, and he could distantly remember Yui humming to herself.

He remembered his mother's supposed 'death' and the years after, his own father abandoning him and teacher caring for him on a payroll until he became an Eva pilot.

Everything that happened after that, the Angels, the battles, Third Impact, this broken world and all it's turmoil and dangers before Haven.

"I don't want Akane to be like me. I want her to have what I never did," Shinji whispered, more to himself than the still listening Asuka. To have what her mother never had, he thought silently.

Asuka seemed to consider that, thinking intently. She saw his point, she really did.

"I get it. I do, Shinji. It's just... You really have to be serious all damned day, don't you?" Asuka said with a tired sigh.

Shinji breathed a soft laugh, calling it a chuckle would be generous.

"Afraid so. Maybe I really am getting old," Shinji said with a shrug. His shoulders ached from manual labor.

"Me too Shinji, me too," Asuka said softly. She glanced at her own hands and saw tiny little scars from fieldwork, the same ones that Shinji had. The dirt that bit into the edge of her fingernails, those little black smudges that never truly went away, the life of a farmer and hunter.

"My folks weren't all that great either, but my dad loved me. I know he wasn't perfect, took me a long time to accept that... and... mom... well... you know." Asuka shifting uncomfortably.

"Your mother loved you too. Even in the state she was in... even with half her soul trapped inside Unit-02. During the Impact, I heard her. She called out for you. She was pleading for you not to die. At that moment, whatever part of her that was left, would have given anything to keep you safe. No matter what she became in the end, split apart, a broken mind or soul, an incomplete person... it didn't matter. She loved you," Shinji said.

Asuka stared at him, feeling her eyes grow watery before rubbing them softly. She wasn't that little girl anymore but she felt it. Somehow, Shinji was right.

She wasn't good at this emotional crap like he was. It was strange to think of this man standing before her when she could still remember that awkward boy she'd met so long ago.

"Shinji... thank you," Asuka said with a genuine heartfelt breath of air.

He turned to her saying "nothing to thank me for. But if you want... maybe when you sneak out to meet your boyfriend you could be a little quieter. I think Akane is starting to notice."

Asuka blinked at him saying "you know about that?"

"I can hear you leave the shack at night. Nothing wrong with it, just... there's things Akane's too young to know about it," Shinji said simply.

"Humph, excuse me for having a life. It's nothing serious yet, just another guy out here. Sorry if I woke you," Asuka said slightly flushed at the whole thing.

Shinji waved off the apology. They were both adults, there was nothing to get worked up over. In a way, Shinji was glad Asuka was seeing someone even if it was causal.

"You know... you don't have to be cooped up by yourself. There's a woman or two who would say yes, some ladies like the single dad thing," Asuka continued teasingly.

I don't want anyone else. He thought somberly.

"Playing matchmaker? Never thought you were the type, I have my 'sister' and my daughter. Don't need any more women in my life," Shinji said getting to his feet and stretching.

"Oh haha, bite me. I can be nice when I want to," Asuka said laughing at the old joke.

Shinji raised his voice, striding over to the fields, and called out "hey kids, it's getting dark! Get back inside before your parents come looking!"

There was an audible groan from the kids playing outside, but Shinji held firm waving them over.

Akane came striding over still wearing the necklace her Auntie had gotten her. Behind her, Ichiro Inoue, now almost 20, was herding the younger kids back to Haven. Makio, Ichiro's father and the town doctor, emerged onto the scene about to call the kids back only to find that Shinji had already done it.

The town doctor laughed, nodded respectfully at his son for helping the other youngsters back to their homes.

"Thanks!" Makio called waving over at Shinji and Asuka, the two of them waved back. Akane joining in before meeting up with her father.

Shinji taking her hand again, young soft skin brushing against the rough and aged flesh of the adult, and together they headed back inside.

Asuka rolled her eyes at 'parent Shinji' taking charge but she smirked all the same.

Dead of night
Haven

Asuka rose from her bed, listening carefully, and slowly putting on a pair of trousers and a shirt. Carefully, she opened her door and traveled down the hall of their little shack, listening carefully as she poked her head outside the door.

There's something going on... she thought.

Pushing the door open further, Asuka briefly stepped outside scanning the dark and staring out into the crop fields. She didn't think most people would have heard it, but she'd had trouble sleeping and started to hear the soft crunching sound of boots on branches. People walking in the fields without knowing the familiar paths through.

There!

Asuka spotted a figure moving under the night sky, seeming to pull corn and other corps from their fields. Their hard earned and maintained food was being stolen.

She gritted her teeth and slowly went back inside.

…

"Uh... what..." Shinji slurred waking up quickly as Asuka entered his room. The woman was already dressed and carrying one of Haven's hunting rifles, the ones they kept locked in the back on Kay's orders.

"We're being robbed. Someone is stealing our crops. Get Kay and the others," Asuka whispered to him.

"You're sure?" Shinji whispered back getting to his feet in only his night clothes.

Asuka nodded, hefting the rifle up and heading out again.

Shinji's eyes widened and he hurried after her. He whispered her name but she kept moving, a determined look on her face somehow visible in the dark.

"Asuka. I- hey. Don't go out there alone. We have to-" Shinji whispered to her.

"They're not getting away without our food. We farmed this land, it's up to us to protect it. Where did they even come from?" Asuka whispered back.

The two of them were already at the door when Asuka smirked at him, just like she used to when she was a pilot, saying, "this is what we do. I got this."

Shinji was about to respond when she pushed the front door open and silently started jogging up towards the fields. The same ones where Akane and the kids from earlier had been playing in.

Can't let her go alone. Shinji thought, putting a hand on the door and about to run after Asuka in the dark... when a sound stopped him.

"... Dad?"

Shinji turned to see Akane emerging from her room, sleepily eyed and tired, she looked up at him wondering what was going on.

"Akane. Stay inside, okay. Daddy has to go but I'll be right back," Shinji said quietly.

He knelt down putting his arms around her.

"Dad you're scaring me," Akane whispered to him.

That was the thing about kids. They might not understand everything but they could still 'feel' the tension in the air. They knew when something was wrong by watching their parents.

"Don't be scared. If you hear anything, go out through the back and call for help. Alright, get Kay. You remember Kay? He's the sheriff," Shinji said patting her on the shoulder doing his best to reassure her. Inside he was just as worried as she was.

"... okay," Akane whispered back as he reluctantly let his daughter go.

Shinji closed the door behind him and went after Asuka out in the fields.

Stay inside Akane... please just stay inside, He thought.

He felt vulnerable and exposed running through the dark like this. He stayed as quiet as he could, and then he came upon what Asuka had seen.

A lone figure in the dark moving through the crops, plucking the food free and stuffing it into a bag. And more figures out there under the cover of night.

Thieves stealing their crops at night.

Should have brought the ax... something... anything, Shinji thought.

BANG

A gunshot came rang out in the dark and the silence. The air seemed to still... the wind breezing past the crops as someone shouted and a figure fell to the ground.

"That's our food," Shinji heard Asuka saying coldly as she emerged onto a scene up ahead. She was scanning the fields as she moved, checking for other looters as she cornered the one she'd shot.

The commotion was starting to wake people. The gunshot was close enough that their neighbors must have heard, Shinji prayed that Akane listened and went out back to get Kay.

Asuka turned to glance his way, nodding to let him know that she saw him, before turning back to the slain thief.

She reloaded quickly, kept the rifle raised and moved carefully through the crops examining the man she had killed.

"Where did he-" Asuka began.

BANG

She was cut short by the sound of a gun going off.

The world stopped for a second. Shinji's eyes widen and he stopped breathing, his heart paused, one moment Asuka was standing with the rifle raised, inspecting the dead thief, and the next she was stumbling back... falling over as the air left her lungs.

Asuka, his 'sister', and the woman he'd spent so much of his life with, one of the family he had left in all the world. The woman who had been there for him after Rei had died, the woman who had helped him raise his daughter.

Shinji snapped out of it, it wasn't safe. A second looter was in the fields... another thief... another attacker. And they had a gun...

Asuka pulled the trigger on the rifle as she fell, aiming in the general direction of her shooter, the old Eva training kicking even as she bled out.

"Gah!" someone nearby screamed as their arm was grazed by the rifle.

The rifle slipped from Asuka's grasp and she fell to the ground like a dead leaf. Her went eyes wide as she lay on the ground.

Shinji shouted and ran forward.

The second looter stepped out from his hiding place in the fields, looming over Asuka and cursing at the blood running down his arm. The man raised the handgun aiming for Asuka's head.

Asuka glared up defiantly at him, wincing in pain... blood beginning to weep from her chest.

Shinji tackled the man.

"Ah!" the man cried out in surprise, having been so focused on Asuka that he hadn't noticed Shinji at all.

Crops were trampled over as the two men grappled out in the fields. Shinji punched the man's ribs and shoved him back.

The man raised the gun and Shinji put his hand over the barrel pushing it aside.

Then the trigger was pulled and Shinji screamed.

BANG.

The gun went off inside his grasp.

"Ahhhhhh!"

It felt like his hand was on fire. A splash of blood came flying out in the dark, his muscles cried out in agony and Shinji gritted his teeth.

He punched the man in the face, hard.

The gun fell from both their grasps and Shinji stumbled back wobbling on his feet as the thief did the same.

Shinji looked down at his hand in the dark, tears in his eyes, at the mangled sight that met his gaze.

The twisted and mangled flesh that had once been his hand and fingers.

Asuka... Asuka...he thought even as he witnessed his deformed hand bleeding heavily.

"Help! Help! Kay!" a voice called off distantly.

Akane's voice, she was somewhere far back away from all this. Safe for the moment and shouting for help, calling out to the neighbors even as they stirred from the gunshots.

The second looter was reaching for the handgun, kneeling down to scoop it off the ground, instead, Shinji ran forward kneeing him in the stomach.

The man groaned before bringing his fist to Shinji's side.

They fought, grappling with each other amid the crops, Shinji screaming as the attacker yanked on his wounded and bleeding hand.

...

Asuka moaned on the ground, clutching her chest and nearly weeping from the pain and blood. She cursed and rolled herself over. It felt like she weighed a hundred pounds more, she was so cold, numb and going into shock. She had been hit, but she was a soldier and she wasn't out just yet.

"Ah!" she screamed reaching a single bloody hand over and once again grabbing the hunting rifle. She cried out as she pulled the bolt handle back, and whimpered as the spent cartridge case was ejected.

The old round casing fell to the ground with a soft thud.

Asuka hissed, gritting her teeth, as she loaded another cartridge into the barrel chamber.

The hunting rifle's breech closed tight as she locked the bolt against the receiver.

...

Shinji surprised his attacker, punching him with his bad hand. The impact made him wince as he felt what was left of his fingers spasm in agony.

BANG

Shinji blinked in shock, only half his mind realizing what had happened... Asuka had pulled the trigger on the rifle. Somehow, she had reloaded and fired aiming from the ground and shooting the second thief in the leg.

The round broke through the thief's ankle... and it exploded in a flash of blood, bone, and tissue. The man screamed as he fell to the ground with Shinji on top of him.

He pinned the thief to the dirt floor and beat his face in, Shinji shouted out in pain and anger. His fists turned red and raw, a mixture of blood and bruises, against the man's face.

Asuka... Asuka his friend, his sister, his family shot and hurt on the ground whilst this... this monster of man came to steal their food. Shinji brought his fists to the man's face, again and again, not caring that his right hand was bleeding and possibly missing fingers...

Nearby

"Auntie and dad went running off- and- and- the gunshots," Akane stammered. The little girl was panicking and struggling to get the story straight.

"Okay, okay, leave it to Kay and the others. You did the right thing coming here sweaty. Just stay here with me where it's safe," Kioko Inoue, the wife of the town doctor, said calmly.

After alerting what people she could, Akane had run off to the doctor's house and told the story again. Makio and his son had run out with the others after hearing the commotion.

"It's alright. Everything will be okay. My husband is rounding the others up to, just stay here," Kioko said holding Akane's hands as the little girl looked frightened.

Kay came running through the fields, rifle in hand, former JSSDF training kicking in as he took point with the others following behind.

The Sheriff of Haven led a band of hunters and concerned farmers out to set things right. They were making a lot of noise but it couldn't be helped, better to be strong with numbers than weak and spread out.

He came across the scene, Asuka laying on the ground in a pile of her own blood beside one of their hunting rifles, the body of a dead thief nearby, and Shinji... beating the life out of another thief. He had pinned the man down as he brought his fists to the man's face.

"Shinji! We got this! Makio needs your help!" Kay ordered reaching over and pulling Shinji off of the beaten and bloody, but still living, thief.

"I... Asuka was shot... and my daughter she-" Shinji stammered, clearly in shock. A few of the other farmers, concerned and armed neighbors, reached out to steady him.

"Akane is safe. She's with Kioko. Leave this to us," Kay said.

The sheriff gestured to the hunters behind him to keep a look out for any other surprises in the dark. The men obeyed raising their rifles and crouching down in cover scanning for any other attackers.

It wasn't just Kay and the hunters who come, it was their neighbors. Only the men, coming to help after hearing the gunshots and Akane's cries for help.

Shinji ignored the crowd of people as he stumbled back, nearly falling to where Asuka lay. He knelt down to find her breathing hard and looking up at him.

"Ahhh... hehe... saved your ass one last time... eh, stupid Shinji?" Asuka said through bloodstained teeth.

Shinji looked her over with wide concerned eyes, panting out and breathing hard at his own blood loss, his hand screaming at him even now. He put pressure on Asuka's chest, feeling her blood coat his good hand as he did so.

Asuka winced harshly at that. Four bullets to the chest...

"Ahhhhh! So this is it, huh?! A stupid farm out in the mountains? Gah! After all this... oh... Shinji I... I did not want... I-" Asuka started mumbling. Her voice slurred as she tried to speak.

"Don't talk. Save your strength... just... someone, help!" Shinji called out to the stunned neighbors, his voice raw and harsh with emotions.

Two of the gathered neighbors knelt down with Shinji and Asuka. The men gasping in shock at the wounded woman, no one sure what to do.

...

Kay tied the surviving and beaten thief up, then lifted the prisoner over his shoulder, and began organizing a lookout party to check on everyone.

"Those two weren't the only ones. I overheard a few things on the way here. Keep an eye out, be careful," Kay told the gathered hunters and farmers.

...

Makio, the town doctor, came pushing through the crowd of people. He found the wounded Shinji and Asuka and ordered what men could be spared to help.

"Get her up gently. We have to take her back to my house. Someone start grabbing towels!" Makio said checking Asuka's pulse.

Shinji held onto Asuka's hand the whole time, his good hand nested in hers. His bad one ached from the bullet that had torn through his flesh, screaming and screaming to him in agony but he ignored it.

"Asuka... Asuka, hold on. Makio's here. You're gonna pull through this," he said to her again and again. He pleaded with her to stay, to hold on a little longer. To be there with him.

There were so many things he wanted to say. But all he could do was plead.

"Don't leave me..." he whispered, his voice hiccuping.

Asuka only looked at him with fading eyes, almost tearful, as she weakly squeezed his good hand one last time... her fingers trailing gently against his.

Years and years later, he would still remember the feeling of her hand in his.

Part 4: Goodbye

That same night

He sat there in Makio's home, the doctor treating Asuka whilst Akane waited beside him. Kioko bandaged his mangled and deformed hand whilst her husband did what he could for the woman who'd been shot.

Akane was crying beside him. The little girl stared at her father's missing fingers, her Auntie lying in the other room.

Shinji ran his good hand through her hair softly, whispering that everything would be okay. He said those words again and again... he thought if he said them enough that he'd even believe them.

An hour later Makio left the makeshift operating room, head hung low and delivered the bad news.

Asuka was dead.

Just like that... no warning or reason. A life was taken in the middle of the night over crops.

Not just any life... but Asuka. The greatest of all the Eva pilots, the most skilled and fiery, the proudest and the strongest of the three. She had fought and killed the Angels, and in this cold cruel world, she was killed by a stranger.

Akane cried into his shoulder for the whole night. Shinji let her, resting his head over her's gently and holding his daughter close. His bandaged hand cool and calm thanks to the painkillers, but still twinging out in pain.

He just felt numb. It wasn't fair. Asuka was gone. The last piece of his old life. He thought he'd been over this before, but it was like opening a fresh wound all over again.

After Third Impact, he had been alone. Alone for more than a week in the barren and cold wasteland that stretched from Tokyo-03 to Tokyo-02 and beyond. He had sat there in the rubble, a 14-year-old traumatized boy, on the verge of a mental breakdown for days... the corpses of the Mass Production Evas looming over him. He had made grave markers for Misato and the others.

Then Asuka had come back too. He hadn't been alone anymore, and she'd been hurt from her fight with the MP Evas. Asuka had been angry at him for what he'd done in the hospital room so long ago...

Shinji had spent 135 days alone with Asuka in their old city. Her hating him every step of the way even as he cared for her and her wounds. And slowly... day by day... truth by truth... that hatred had faded... and they'd formed a bond. Almost like he had with Rei. But different. A different form of love and affection, not romantic but just as strong.

Asuka had been the last piece of the old times. Misato, Ritsuko, Kaji, and so many others... they'd never come back. Aoba had come back only to die again in the end, their old city had fallen, and the three Eva pilots had traveled for years out among the roads and wastelands of Post Impact Japan before finding Haven.

Now he was the last. The last... the...

The realization sunk in and Shinji felt himself sink deeper into the abyss.

Shinji Ikari, the Last Eva Pilot.

He closed his eyes and ran his hand reassuringly through his daughter's hair. He cried too, weeping softly and quietly before wiping the tears away. He had to be strong for his daughter and so he was, he let her grieve even as he grew silent.

Goodbye... Asuka.

Shinji ended up losing two fingers.

The handgun had blown them partially off, mangling his flesh and tearing apart the bones. The bullet had left bits of skin hanging on by a thread. Ultimately, Makio had had to amputate for risk of infection. Cutting off what remained of his pinky and ring fingers.

He'd been 'lucky' that he hadn't been wearing his wedding ring that night. He couldn't stand the thought of losing it… especially now.

Shinji spent the next few days in a daze and numb sense. Akane winced every time Makio changed his bandages and she saw what remained of his right hand, the three fingers and ugly scars, the stumps, at the end of his knuckles.

He was numb to it all. Occasional twinges of pain from his non-existent fingers made him wince, phantom pains from his missing flesh, but some wounds cut deeper than anything physical.

Tensions were high after the attack. There had indeed been more thieves, a lot of them actually. Hard to say exactly but maybe two dozen. Loads of their crops had been stolen, taken from the farmlands after all the work they'd put into growing them. Rumor had it that Kay acting as Haven's sheriff was interrogating the prisoner Shinji and Asuka had captured.

There was a militia being formed by decree of the mayor and Kay, no one opposed it. And every night there were patrols through the fields, and people checking up on each other in the middle of the night in their homes and shacks to make sure everyone was okay.

There were other incidents.

More nights where looters and thieves sneaked into Haven and stole food, medicine, and other goods. Kay and the other hunters/militia defended their lands but it was a lot of ground to cover. Mostly, Shinji stayed inside with his daughter at night.

Even still, amid all the crisis, Asuka was given a funeral. Damned straight, Shinji would have done it all by himself if he'd had too but no. People helped each other in Haven.

The funeral was nothing special. Just a small ceremony at the plot of land set aside by the original settlers, the graves.

Asuka was buried beside Rei. Her tombstone to the left of her.

People said a few words. Shinji had had his words but he kept them private, too lost in his thoughts and unwilling to 'bleed' in public so to say.

Akane took it hard. She had known the loss of her mother, but she had never truly felt it. Akane had almost no memories of Rei, but she'd had plenty of Auntie Asuka. It was her first real experience with death and just like her father, it left her numb and distant.

After the ceremony, father and daughter stood looking over the grave.

"Asuka's gone," Akane said suddenly.

The lonely little girl watched the grave glumly. The tombstone beside her mother's, the simple yet oddly beautiful engravings.

Shinji stilled, glanced down at his daughter beside him. The wind blew again, sending his ragged and dirt stained clothes rippling softly with the breeze.

That face... just like me. When I thought mom had died. I had no one. Gendo... Gendo just left me alone and told me to stop crying, he thought somberly.

His fingers were hurting again.

His missing fingers. Like he could feel them curling softly alongside the remaining flesh, a phantom pain that came and went.

"She died," Shinji said, the words came out soft and bittersweet.

He rested his good hand on Akane's shoulder. It surprised him how much those words hurt. Another pain he'd carry for all his days.

Akane closed her eyes as if in pain, letting her father hold her gently.

"Hey, hey come on. Look at me. It'd be okay," Shinji said, calmly turning and putting both his hands on Akane's shoulders.

The young girl opened her watery eyes, tears still lingering amid the red, and looked up at him as he knelt for her.

"I know it hurts. It hurts so much... like a piece of you is gone. That it's not fair. No warning... no... anything. But that's the way the world is, girl. It can be hard. Auntie Asuka knew that. Just like your mother did. Just like I do." Shinji said, shedding his own sorrow so he could be strong for Akane.

"I miss her... I miss my aunt," Akane croaked, brown hair blowing in the wind as her tears were held back. She held the necklace Asuka had gotten her tight, close to her heart.

"I miss her too. Oh, Akane... everything Asuka and I went through. I will miss her till the end of my days," Shinji said, gently wiping the tears from her eyes.

Akane nodded her understanding, eyes still pink and bloodshot from crying.

"Everybody dies sometime, kiddo," Shinji said sadly, bittersweet in his comfort. Death was never easy to explain or comfort. He hadn't had anyone for him, so he'd be damned sure Akane had him.

"Even you?" Akane asked her lips trembling as she did so.

Shinji felt his heart crack at that... the fear and haunting sorrow in her eyes, the tremble in her lips, the shaking of her hands. A child who comes to truly understand death, to see the mortality of her parents.

He brought his bad hand up, gently cupping her face.

Akane hiccuped and ran her fingers along his, wincing as she felt his missing fingers. The scars from his fight with Asuka's murderer.

"Death is a part of life. I'm gonna die. You're gonna die, years and years from now when you're old and I'm gone. It's not fair, but... we have to keep going. Your mother taught me that. Because maybe it's not how we die but how we live that's important." Shinji told her.

He comforted her the way no parent ever had for him. A father always wants more for their children than what they had.

"Sounds like something mom would have said," Akane said smiling through her tears.

Shinji smiled back at her, being strong for her.

"Yeah. Your mom was so much smarter than me. Wise, and kind too. She had a hard life. Harder than mine, even. And she was happy despite it all," Shinji said his own voice trembling.

"It's just hard... I- why does it have to hurt so much dad? Mom... and now Auntie?!" Akane asked him, wrapping her arms around her father in a hug. She gasped out in small hushed breaths as she cried.

"No one ever said that life was easy. That it was fair. I wish I could make it better. That I could bring them back... but I can't. I wish that I could give you a better world. For you to never know this pain, these hardships. I would give anything so you'd never have to feel alone again. But I can't, Akane. It hurts me so much to tell you that," he said. And he meant it... he'd give anything to give her a better life.

He held his daughter close and grimly looked ahead to see Kay the town sheriff standing off in the distance, giving them their space and waiting patiently.

Akane smiled up at him, tears beginning to fade as he held her in a father's embrace.

Kay had found out where the looters were from and how they were sneaking in at night. Interrogating the prisoner, Kay had discovered that the group was camped out somewhere in the forest lining the mountains. Apparently, the looters had climbed the mountainous terrain from the other side, having learned the hard way that all the roads to Haven were blocked, then traveled all the way around the mountain to hide in the woods before sneaking down at night. Kay knew where they were camped, old recon training kicking in, having found traces of their camp in the woods.

So this is what we've become. Defending our home from looters, going out to take care of them once and for all, Shinji thought coldly. Still clutching his daughter close.

Akane knew Kay was waiting for her father. She looked up at him pleadingly.

"I don't want you to go... I want you to stay here with me. Dad, please... you're hurt," Akane pleaded silently.

He looked down at his mangled hand. It wasn't fully healed but it was functional. Three working fingers was enough to pull a trigger. Part of him wanted to stay with Akane, to leave it to Kay and the newly formed militia. Another part wanted revenge for Asuka, and a small part of him knew he had to go... he was a part of Haven now.

"I know, girl. I know. But I have to go. This is our home and we have to make it safe," Shinji answered sweetly.

Akane let out heavy breath after heavy breath, before taking a step back and exhaling hard, drying her tears for good. Her hands never leaving his bad one. Ten fingers interlocking with three.

"Be safe," Akane said managing a smile that reminded him of Rei so much.

"I will be. I'm coming back. I promise. And I always keep my promises remember?" Shinji said.

"Pinky swear," Akane said holding up a hand. Like she used to do when she was just a little girl.

"Pinky swear," Shinji said taking her pinky with his.

Nearby, Kay stood along the path leading to the plot of land for their graves. Respectfully keeping his distance and giving the family their space.

But Shinji knew it was time to go, and with one last ruffle of her hair, he let his daughter go. Then he walked off to join Kay and re-group with the others.

Akane watched her father the entire time.

Part 5: Militia

The woods
Somewhere along the mountainous terrain surrounding Haven

"No one goes off playing hero. I'm a soldier but you all are militia, stick to the plan. Don't get too spread out and if it comes to it, retreat and head back." Kay told the gathered team of hunters and farmer, Haven's militia sent out.

A larger force was defending Haven whilst they went on the attack.

Shinji gripped Aoba's old handgun tightly with his good hand. All these years and he still kept that gun, a memento from the man who'd given his life for Shinji and his family. He couldn't use a rifle in his state, but he could still shoot with his left hand. Shinji may not have been JSSDF like Kay, but he'd been a pilot, had fought the Angels and some of that experience helped him here and now.

"We hit them hard and fast. Break up their camp, send them running. Don't wander off, stay with the militia." Kay told the group of men.

In his mind's eye, Shinji could imagine Asuka standing there beside him, hunting rifle in hand, ready to go out and do what needed to be done, always strong. Always the soldier at heart... and now she was gone.

He shook it off and followed Kay, the dozen or so men moving quietly through the woods.

The assault

When they came across the looters and their camp, Shinji was surprised to see women among them. Only four out of maybe twenty-five or so were women. Mostly adults, and it startled him. That women were part of this, a part of the violence that had taken place.

The looters sat there in their ragged clothes, eating the stolen crops, gathered around a meager campfire. They were wearing clothes that belonged to the farmers at Haven, drinking out of bottles that had once been inside their community storage. Everything was stolen.

Kay raised a hand, the signal for them to stay behind the treeline even as he slowly crept forward. None of them had been noticed yet, hiding behind the trees even as the looters camped out without a care in the world. Thinking themselves smart for keeping the fire small, for hiding out in the woods. For taking such drastic measures to get around Haven's main gate and past the blocked roads into town.

When the gunshot rang out, it took a moment for the looters to realize what was happening. And by then, Kay had already fired again and again. Three shots, three kills, military precision.

Shinji and the others ran out, spreading out but never too far, using the trees as cover as they ran through the 'battlefield'. The looters had weapons too. Handguns that were taken or stolen from elsewhere.

BANG

A farmer running beside Shinji gasped and fell to the ground with a hole in his neck.

Shinji fired his handgun in short bursts to the general direction of the looters, taking cover behind a tree even as another shot came whizzing past his head. It left his ear ringing but no matter.

Images flashed through his mind, and suddenly he was 14-years-old again... 14 and an Eva pilot. He remembered being sent out to kill the Angels, Asuka and Rei by his side, a rifle in his Eva's hand. He remembered it, running through Tokyo-03 and its defensive structures, coordinating with the other pilots... his family.

Shinji snapped out of it, going back to the here and now. He stayed under cover before slowly poking his head out to take a look.

Kay kept a reasonable distance, circling through the area and seeming to disappear among the trees and forest, rifle going off occasionally.

The looters were scrambling, they'd only had a few weapons it seemed. They panicked, breaking up and scattered even as Kay and the others started picking them off.

Shinji leaped from his cover and spotted a grown man in his thirties lifting a rifle towards him... a hunting rifle from Haven... how much had these people stolen from them?!

Shinji was quicker. He shot the man before the rifle could go off.

"Gah!" the thief cried as he dropped the rifle. Shinji shot him twice more, before running forward and taking cover again.

He reloaded calmly, it had been a while since he'd been in combat but some reflexes linger in your blood regardless of time.

The camp was in ruins, the men and women scattering as Kay and the Haven militia made short work of them. They had been outnumbered, but the surprise and weapons gave them the edge.

BANG

Gunfire flared from both directions. Haven's militia vs the breaking group of looters caught unaware.

Shinji grunted as he was tackled by another looter, a man roughly his own age. The two of them were sent stumbling back and slamming into a tree trunk. His back throbbed as he collided into the hardened wood, but the attacker was on him and Shinji had to act.

He tried to raise the handgun again, but the man grabbed his wrist slamming him further into the tree trunk, forcing the gun away. Shinji grunted in pain as his attacker brought a knee into his chest.

The blow knocked the wind out of him.

Shinji used his bad hand, reached forward, and jabbed a single finger into the man's eye.

"Ah!" the man cried as Shinji got the handgun free, centered the barrel in the man's chest, and fired twice.

BANG

Shinji slipped free of the dying man's grasp, panting as he stumbled forward looking for more cover.

Always get to cover. Move through the battlefield carefully, never wander. Cover to cover. Be smart, Kay's instructions drilled into militia over and over again.

Through the haze of chaos unfolding around him, he saw Haven's militia moving the way he did, running from cover to cover, nearly half of the looters dead whilst the survivors ran in all directions.

Kay was there, trained soldier moving through the place with JSSDF efficiency, firing his rifle, breaking up the camp and leading the militia.

"Shinji to your right!" someone called.

He turned in time and reacted more than he thought. He saw a figure running at him with a knife in hand, the blade rusted and brown, but sharp nonetheless, and Shinji shot them...

"Ceasefire! They're gone. No chasing, that's enough for today." Kay called suddenly. The man was reloading his rifle and carefully scanning the area. Two hunters following his lead.

Shinji stood panting, his eyes wide in shock, hands shaking at the sight before his eyes... the attacker he had shot and killed.

The figure that had run after him with the knife.

It was a boy. Just a kid... barely a teenager at best. Maybe 12 years old? Not much older than Akane even... he... he had killed this boy.

He almost dropped Aoba's gun, a bitter taste raising in his throat. Turning, he looked around seeing the bodies of the looters inside their camp. Those men and women who had stolen food, medicine, clothes, and even weapons from Haven and who knows where else. Dead.

It left him numb and cold. He hated them for what they did to Asuka. He hated himself for having to kill a kid... even one who had tried to kill him... how could a parent ever do that another child?

...

Kay was ordering them to regroup, apparently, they'd lost two men and three others were hurt. Haven's militia moved through the looter's camp carefully. Shinji stiff and silent, watching the bodies.

In the end, he followed along, eyes lost and something in him breaking that day...

The camp was destroyed. Taken down, what goods were still viable taken back to Haven. Less than half of the looters remaining and scattered, lost somewhere along the mountainous terrain that was unfamiliar to them. Driven from Haven by force.

When Shinji returned home there was no joy in his eyes. So he'd killed some looters and thieves, so what? Asuka was still dead. Nothing changed for him. His fingers were still gone.

Haven was safer for now, but they were still cautious. The militia still checked up on things at night, taking shifts, swapping nights, and the children never stayed out once night fell. Not anymore.

Akane had hugged him when he'd come back. Running to meet him along with the other townspeople, and though he'd reassured her, she'd seen the change in his eyes once again. That distant look Auntie Asuka had told her about it.

…

"Dad... are you hurt?" Akane asked him next morning.

Shinji had been sitting on the porch of his little shack. Silently watching the fields again, the fields were Asuka had first spotted the band of looters... and the fields where she had been shot.

"I'm fine," Shinji answered, colder than he'd meant to.

Akane frowned at him, silent and worried as she approached still in her morning clothes.

"Is it your hand again? Does it hurt?" Akane said speaking softly and innocently. She took a seat beside him on the porch, her small frame edging closer and closer to him.

He glanced down at his bad hand. Sometimes he could almost feel the missing fingers, the occasional twinge of pain.

"No. I'm sorry Akane, just have a lot on my mind," Shinji said wrapping an arm around his daughter and holding her close. Akane didn't resist, ever since the attack, she had been a bit clingy but he didn't mind.

Akane hummed softly, sitting there on the porch with him, it reminded him so much of her mother.

He wondered what Rei would have made of all this. What... what this broken world had made them all into. That boy he had killed, that boy must have had a mother and father just like Akane. This wasn't right... in his worst nightmares, he could imagine Akane in the camp... Akane the kid holding that rusted and battered knife... Akane the kid that got shot by a grown man. Faceless and featureless... a brutal reality in the world left behind by the Impact.

It's easy to forget what it's like out there. My family and I won the lottery by making it into Haven. All the violence we saw on the way here... that city in the distance with smoke looming over... another failed attempt to survive out in the wastelands... and then those men who attacked us... god that was almost ten years ago. But I remember it, all the same, Shinji thought.

He thought about that a lot lately. Everything that had happened. This was his life now. It was almost impossible for him to remember that lonely little boy he'd been a lifetime ago.

Do you know about this, mom? Did you ever think this would happen? If you had... would you have stayed? Would you have helped us? Shinji wondered to himself.

He gazed up at the stars in the night sky with Akane at his side.

The stars seemed indifferent to the world below, cold and uncaring, infinitely far away from the earth and the people still living on it.

Part 6: Humanity

Shinji wished that the raid on the looter's camp had been the end of it. But it wasn't, the Haven militia had stopped two more attempts at night. The surviving and wounded looters still trying to get food and medicine before learning the hard way that it would never happen again.

The militia was sent on patrols now. Never going alone, and only scanning the area for suspicious looking things or signs of another camp. Kay had gone alone on another trading mission, moving very quickly on his own, and came back with more ammo. Most of it 'homemade' so to say. Carved metal with gunpowder poured in, not the most elegant solution but it worked.

People asked Shinji again if he was okay to patrol. If his hand still gave him trouble, but Shinji always shook his head saying he'd do his part.

It was on one of the patrols when he stumbled upon her.

Shinji had been walking along the rough terrain that edged towards the outskirts of Haven. No real roads there, but empty fields that they just didn't have enough manpower to farm, the place wasn't really part of Haven. Just a plot of land that no one worked, but it was close enough to investigate.

He carried a hunting rifle now, his bad hand had healed enough for him to use it moderately well. Kay was somewhere nearby, scouting out the treeline, the place where the steep forest terrain began to overlap with the land down here at the outskirts.

Shinji spotted dried blood on the ground.

Kneeling, he noticed a trail. A trail of blood. Not fresh but not entirely 'old' either. Thin and noncontinuous, more like a wound that kept weeping blood drop by drop. He considered calling out to Kay for help, but Shinji didn't spot any other tracks and so he followed it by himself. Deciding that if it went too far he'd double back for reinforcements.

...

At the end of the blood trail, Shinji stumbled upon a woman lying on the plot of unused land. She was a bit older than him.

The woman was lying down, face up, having collapsed some time ago. Weak and barely breathing, blood stained her shirt. She was staring up at the sky with feeble distant eyes, unable to get up from her wounds.

He shouldered the rifle, keeping his good hand on the handgun holstered on his belt, and knelt down beside the strange woman. Shinji looked her over, checking her wounds.

She was stabbed... bleeding and near death, he thought.

The woman blinked and looked up at him, she was terrified. She knew she was dying, he could see it in her eyes. He knew that look because he'd had it before too.

The woman gaped at him, weak, bleeding, and barely able to move after all this time. Dressed in blood-stained rags and dirt stained hair. She was in bad shape, must have been running from something or someone.

What if she was part of the looters that raided Haven? Part of the group that had killed Asuka? What if... what if she was the mother of that boy he'd killed?

Kay would have shot her. Would have put an end to it right then and there.

But parts of Shinji were conflicted. Years from now, what if this woman was Akane? Huh? He didn't know this woman's story. He couldn't.

Is that what we are now? Killing each other just like that. Over food or the suspicion of theft? Are we all truly that broken? He pondered.

Shinji didn't like it. He didn't want Akane to live in a world that was broken, a world without good people. What if it was her lying there wounded and dying? Would someone have helped her?

"Ahhh... no-" the girl wheezed, weakly trying to speak with him. Trying to plead for her life. She raised a trembling hand, dried blood covering her fingers, and tried to wave.

Please no... please... don't... the woman seemed to say. Trying to plead with him. Begging him with her eyes to just let her go. To leave her be. She looked at him as if he was death itself, and Shinji didn't like it.

There are still good people, he thought fiercely.

Shinji refused to let the world break him, refused to lose his humanity. He clung to it, to that thought.

Carefully, he picked the girl up. Shinji scooped her into his arms even as she trembled, she was afraid of him. In their world, she had every right to be.

"Don't be scared. I've got you," he told her as he started to carry her. He knew he could barter for some bandages and medicine back in town. Makio would know what to do.

The woman stared at him with wide eyes, at this kind stranger who stopped to help her.

She couldn't understand why? Why had this man helped her?

Kay was not pleased.

"Who the hell is that?" the sheriff said. The man gripped the rifle tight, staring down the injured woman in Shinji's arms.

"Someone who needs help," was all Shinji said. The woman was barely conscious even as he carried her.

Kay looked the girl over, checking the bloodstains, and tilted his head.

"Stabbed. Maybe a day or two ago. Probably infected. Shinji, we don't know who this woman is. Why are you trying to help her?" Kay asked.

The former soldier didn't budge even as Shinji tried to move forward.

"... I'm just tired of the violence. She's hurt and we can help her, maybe that's enough." Shinji said somberly. His voice dry and worn out.

Kay considered that for a moment, shouldering his rifle.

"If you do this, she will be your responsibility. She dies, you bury her. She lives, you'll question her or I will," Kay said sternly.

Shinji eyed the man.

I was JSSDF. I get people to talk. I don't like it any more than you do, but that's the world we live in. Kay's expression seemed to say. The words went unspoken between them.

Shinji nodded. And Kay gestured for him to follow.

The two men returned to Haven as fast as they could.

…

Getting the wounded girl to doctor Makio wasn't easy. She stirred sometimes, dropping in and out of consciousness, trying to talk at times but her throat was raw and dry. Her voice was rough and barely a whisper.

She had a fever of some kind too. And her forehead was warm to the touch.

It caused a small fuss. The mayor glanced at them but said nothing as a few of the other farmers crossed their arms. Not completely hostile, just unsure.

Akane ran up to him asking what was going on.

Shinji told her what he could just as Makio stepped out of the crowd of onlookers, grim expression planted on his face. Another tough day for the town doctor.

Haven

True to his word, Kay wanted Shinji to take responsibility for the woman. He visited every now and then, and Shinji and Akane were kind enough to feed the man. But the former soldier was more interested in staring the woman down. Acting as a kind of guard whenever he came.

According to Makio, the woman was underweight. She had apparently been living off scraps for some time, and she had been stabbed twice, the wounds were infected and showing the very first stages of festering. Another few hours and she might have been too far gone.

Shinji had had to barter for some of the medicine the woman needed. It wasn't a big deal, just more runs for the trading missions. The mayor was more understanding of why Shinji did what he did than he would have expected.

…

Sometimes, the woman would wake up in a daze. Shinji did his part to help Makio, following the doctor's instructions and getting the man personally if needed. He looked after the woman. Bandaging her wounds the way Makio and his wife had taught him.

He fed her by spoon, putting a wet rag to her forehead to help with the fever.

When she was better and she could talk more, he put her at ease. He let her know that they were caring for her as best they could.

She was still scared. Not of him, just... just the world... even as she healed and her fever went down.

"Everything's going to be alright. Hey, what's your name?" Shinji asked her one day when she was awake. He'd been helping her eat, now that she was strong enough to move a bit, able to sit up slightly.

The woman looked up at him with unsteady eyes. There was a quiet strength in there, he could see it, but she was also hurt and lost. Lost just like so many others these days.

Weakly, she answered him.

"... Mari"

"Mari huh? I'm Shinji."

He held out his hand.

After a moment of hesitation, Mari reached out and shook his hand weakly.

The door creaked open behind him, and Shinji turned to see little Akane stepping inside carrying another blanket for their 'guest'.

"And this is my daughter, Akane," Shinji said offering a small smile.

"Hello," Akane said, draping the blanket over the resting Mari. The little girl looked over the woman with a curious gaze, before returning to her father's side, clutching her necklace close.

"When you're a bit healthier we need to talk. Nothing serious, just some basic questions. Need to know what happened to you out there." Shinji said.

Mari nodded slowly. Still confused and in awe of this man and his daughter. The people who had helped her without cause or reward in mind.

Shinji got to his feet, leaving Mari the food and the spoon, and took his daughter's hand.

"Just take it easy for now. Rest." Shinji said before turning to leave with Akane.

Mari watched them go. Eating what food she could before curling into herself under the blanket and trying to get some sleep.

Part 7: Epilogue

The Current Timeline

Eva Unit 01 lay still and motionless within its launchpad. The Other Shinji haven't needed to step in after all.

All around the hangar, Nerv teams were working. Up in the command center, Ritsuko and Misato were taking charge. The two women worked the comms and read the data analyzed by the Magi supercomputers.

Above on the surface of Tokyo-03, the city had gone into its defensive mode. The buildings had descended into the safety of the bunkers below, the defensive structures raised.

...

Asuka kept the AT Field up.

She gritted her teeth as her Eva held its own against the strange Angel glaring at her. The Beast roared as it clawed uselessly at the shield.

Now! Asuka thought. She pushed forward and slammed her AT Field into the face of the Angel, bringing the monster down.

Eva Unit 02 raised the pallet rifle, the gigantic machine gun, and emptied the clip into the Angel's faceplate. The rounds broke the armored skin at point-blank range and revealed the luminous Angel tissue beneath. The core lay exposed.

Asuka raised the Eva's boot and brought it down on the Angel core.

SPLAT

She and her Eva crushed the red sphere with a sickening splash of Angel blood. Putting an end to the fight once and for all.

"One down," she called into the comm.

"Good job, be careful. Rei needs backup," Misato answered back into the comm.

Asuka turned and found the wondergirl locked in combat against the remaining Angel, the strange beast virtually identical to the one Asuka had killed.

She raised the rifle, reloaded, and began firing in a slow steady burst. She aimed for the Angel's legs, at this range they couldn't tear apart the armor but they didn't need to.

The remaining Angel stumbled, the monstrous figure stood like a hairless gorilla armored in scales, bulging with enormous muscle, faceplate ghost white and menacing. Rei raised up her own AT Field and battled the Beast back using all the Eva's weight in the blow.

The Angel went flying back, and Asuka and Rei came running after it their prog knives raised. Together, they stabbed the beast through its faceplate, crushing the Angel core beneath and killing it.

Eva Team Three. Not so bad after all. We get the job done. Asuka thought, allowing herself a small smirk now that the threat was dealt with.

Misato was congratulating them over the comm, but it just wasn't the same without stupid Shinji. She could hear it in Misato's voice, she still worried over the boy. The victory felt hollow for their captain.

"I do not like this," Rei said on the comm suddenly. Her voice was stiff and nervous, a rare thing for the calm and detached soldier.

Asuka turned her Eva to look at her. Surprised more than anything. The pale skinned girl hardly said a word these days, spending most of her time at school, sync tests at Nerv, or else staring at the launchpad where Shinji was trapped inside Unit 01.

"What?" Asuka asked.

"... these Angels. I have seen them before. The Beast Angel. Shinji and I killed one months ago. And today, they are the same. Down to the color. Copies. Duplicate Angels. It is unnerving," Rei said eerily thoughtful on the comm.

Asuka felt a chill run down her spine. She glanced at her Eva's displays and saw that Rei was right. During the fight, she hadn't had time to think about it, but now she saw it.

These Angels were exactly the same. The same height, structure, weapons, and even the same face-plates. And apparently Shinji and Rei had seen this Angel once before... months and months ago before Asuka had arrived in Tokyo-03. The Beast Angel.

What the hell is going on? Asuka thought.

Hope the timelines switching wasn't confusing. Multiple threads in this chapter.
As for Asuka... I know some readers will be mad about that but it's about the world they lived in. The fact that even she could be killed like that. I wanted that sense of unfairness and bitterness over her death. The greatest Eva pilot killed in a shooting. And the effect it had on Original Shinji.

What did you think of Akane? She's smart for her age, but she's still a child.
Next chapter, Other Mari.