It's not just me you abuse. It's Rei too.
Before we begin this chapter: a brief summary of each major Evangelion character. Despite the complexity and great amounts of personality each character possesses, each character can be summed up in two words or less. Here are the two-word summaries of each character in opposing pairs and no particular order otherwise:
Mari – Safe. (Safe to be around. Safe to befriend. Just really friendly)
Asuka – Toxic. (A toxic friend. A toxic personality and a toxic view of everyone around her)
...
Kaworu - PICK ME!
Gendo – STAY AWAY!
...
Ritsuko Akagi. – RIGHT! (To the extent she can't even bring herself to kill Gendo until at the very end)
Kozo Fuyutsuki. – WRONG! (He only pretends to be a good guy. Once he succeeds, he plans to keep all the money for himself)
...
Maya Ibuki – Yes. (She's really nice)
Misato – No. (she lets Asuka give Shinji beating after beating, and went on to become the leader of a group just as bad as NERV while completely disowning Shinji after he saved the world in Evangelion 3)
...
Sakura Suzuhara – Good. (Best minor character ever in Evangelion 3)
SEELE - Bad
...
Rei – Maybe. (sometimes good, sometimes bad. Sometimes abuses Shinji, sometimes stands up for him)
...
Shinji – This one. (Like Neo, like Luke Skywalker. He is the one. One of the kindest characters in Anime, period considering what the poor guy goes through.)
Kaji – Wicked. (His loyalty to Gendo and disloyalty to his true friends ruined him)
…
And now for yet another bit of trivia:
Shinji Ikari
Race: Human
Class: Paladin. Oath of Devotion
Alignment: Neutral Good
Notes: All of his spells are healing or protective ones. No attack spells. Very high health points out of his desire to protect his friends and right his wrongs.
Rei Ayanami
Race: Halfling
Class: Rogue
Alignment: Chaotic Good (not yet fully reformed but trying very hard)
Notes: Very low strength and charisma but very high dexterity. Strongly opposes anyone who opposes Shinji.
Mari Makinami Illustrious
Race: Drow (Dark elf)
Class: Bard
Alignment: Neutral Good
Notes: Extremely great Charisma and good wisdom. Hates to see people frown or be enslaved or try to enslave others. But does believe in rules that truly benefit everyone.
Asuka Langley Soryu
Race: Elf
Class: Barbarian
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Notes: Don't let the "lawful" bit fool you, this girl doesn't care about anyone but herself. High Strength and dexterity but luckily, low health points and constitution on account of her secret insecurities.
Finding herself unable to break free of the determined grasp of "Shinji's two friends" after numerous attempts, Asuka eventually contended herself with glaring coldly at Shinji as the adrenaline in her body began to lose its potency and her head began to cool.
"Rei? Mari? Was machst du denn hier?" she asked angrily, unable to speak in anything but German on account of the confusing tirade of emotions going through her mind.
"To stop you from abusing our friend Shinji" Mari replied understanding Asuka perfectly, her time spent diligently studying at languages school not wasted in the slightest.
Disbelief in both how the oddball glasses nerd with the stupid brown hair actually understood her mother tongue to such a professional degree.
As well as how the cowardly brat she had spent her life inventing reasons to detest, had not just one but two people care enough about his well being to not only pay him a visit in his own home and do it in such fancy outfits that even to a posh girl such as herself ,must have cost a bomb.
But what made Asuka most awed was just how much courage the two girls now holding her hostage had to have had in order to stand up to the most hot tempered and feared bully in the entirety of Tokyo-3 if not the world. She had been sure up until this fateful moment of intervention, that no one wasn't afraid of the fearsome Asuka Langley Soryu. No one in Tokyo-3 at least.
Her years spent honing her intimidation skills to a shine had surely given everyone around her the message not to get on her wrong side.
But here were two uppity challengers who were not fearful of her in the slightest. And they were a glasses girl who looked more suited for a cram school full of hippies than piloting a killer robot, and a completely emotionless artificial human who had made a vow never to feel close to anyone other her creator whose faults she was completely blind toward. The two oddballs she least expected to step up in defiance, were stepping up in defiance.
Forget the gates of hell being opened, they had long since stood open for ages, and now hell was freezing over with ice rinks in place of where the molten lava was meant to be and laughing skaters with ice cream in place of the tortured souls and demons.
"Geht mir aus dem weg!" she shouted weakly through a now very sore throat; her language lobes still corrupted by confusion. Not one word he had said to her, was a lie. It was true, it was all true. And that was what made his words sting all the harder.
"NEIN!" Mari firmly responded, very briefly moving one of her hands away from Asuka's arm to adjust her glasses a little taking care to keep her remaining arm's grip all the tighter in the process.
Asuka eventually contended herself with lowering her head with a snarl as she grudgingly accepted her fate of being held in place by the two girls who loved the boy she hated.
Mari took a look at the bruise on Shinji's head that he had inflicted upon himself in his tirade of self-loathing. "Did Asuka do this to you?"
"No" Shinji solemnly replied, still unable to stop himself from feeling a tiny dose of sympathy for Asuka in spite of all that torment she had given him because of his niceness. "It wasn't her."
"Who did this to you?" Rei asked, concern and tranquil fury filling her usually emotionless tone.
"A MADMAN, YOUR HONOUR!" Shinji burst out, the negative feelings accumulated from a lifetime of abuse and neglect still angering him in spite of how much anger he had already released. "A DESPERATE FOOL AT THE END OF HIS PITIFUL ROPE!"
Rei and Mari did not need to ask twice to realize exactly what he meant, as cryptic as he probably intended it to sound.
"You don't mean to say, you hit yourself. Please tell me you didn't hit yourself." Mari pleadingly asked, her voice full of concern.
"Asuka would have done it if I didn't." Shinji bluntly stated dropping all hints of subtlety now that he could see that his friends knew him too well for him to bluff anything. They really were his true, true friends.
"I see." Mari eventually said, unable to think of what else to say in this moment where she could see the red-haired German still struggling weakly to tear her arm from her grasp, as nothing but a brute.
For Shinji to be punched and insulted by the hacks at NERV who didn't give a damn about anyone but themselves anyway was one thing.
For Shinji to be punched and insulted by his declared best friend and roommate and fellow pilot he repeatedly claimed to be closest to through both his words and actions, was another.
For him to be driven off the deep end enough where he did not even need anyone to initiate a beatdown before he did it to himself…
This was a new low. A new and unforgivable low.
"Mari. Go see if you can find a first aid kit somewhere. I'll keep an eye on Asuka and Shinji." Rei piped up, having listened in silence for a while.
"Copy that Nami Blue." Mari affectionately responded to the blue haired artificial human as she reluctantly released her grip on Asuka only for Rei to quickly change her formation so that her left arm gripped Asuka's left arm in place, and her right arm gripped Asuka's right arm while she stood behind Asuka.
Mari began to rummage through one cupboard after another as Rei turned her head to look Asuka straight in her eyes with a look of undiluted fury and scorn that would make Gendo in his darkest moments look like a gentle lamb in comparison.
"I should have known it was you, Asuka." Rei chastised as Asuka gritted her teeth so hard she felt they might snap under the pressure. "I should have seen the signs. I should have realized that there was a reason why Shinji seemed livelier and less depressed on days where you were recovering from an Angel attack. I should have realized after you nearly slapped me that time in the elevator, that you were not to be trusted."
Mari placed a few pots of Ramen Noodles and beer cans onto the floor as she continued to rummage deeper into one of the cupboards.
"Our reports showed a massive anomaly in our friend Shinji's mannerisms." Rei continued, her voice full of wisdom and understanding to which Asuka could only enrage herself more, unable to do anything in her restrained position or say anything on account of the tiredness in her strained vocal chords.
"Fits of depression jumping left and right, stopping and starting." Rei exclaimed, sounding more like a therapist than a therapist. She intensified her gaze into Asuka so that her sight seemed to look through her rather than at her.
"I used to think that it was because of the Angels he had to fight, but now I know it was your fault Asuka.
Your fault and Mr Ikari's. I guess I'm the idiot for not knowing this sooner."
She shook her head as she continued to keep Asuka pinned, not knowing that Shinji was now looking at the blue haired girl with a new level of admiration he hadn't before.
Artificial humans had much better body strength than normal ones and she was not at all tired, despite how small and smarmy she looked.
"You know Asuka. There was a time when I thought we could all be friends. All of us. That if I tried to treat you well that you would eventually return the favour. But, you know, I've given up trying to get along with you. Because even if I did manage to get on your good side, you would just find another reason to hate me because you want something to hate and we'd just be back here again."
Rei's voice was tired and frustrated. She had wanted to say this for a long time but never found the opportunity or courage to till today when she had her aggressor finally at her mercy if only for a little while.
She wanted Asuka to know how she felt as well before she never had another chance again, as well as demonstrating to the fortunately present Shinji once and for all, that she and Asuka were fundamentally very different people despite their shared faults, if only because she wouldn't beat Shinji up for no reason while Asuka would.
Asuka's eyes fell upon the white bag Mari had hastily placed onto the floor when she and Rei first rushed into the apartment room uninvited. She could see that inside were two sets of yukata's one white and one pale red.
"Yes. We were originally going to ask you to come with us to the festival, Asuka." Rei deduced as she saw Asuka's eyes move. "It could have been a very nice day out for you. For all of us. But you've clearly shown that you have no self-control."
"Here Shinji. This should help." Mari comfortingly said as she gave Shinji a painkiller pill and a glass of water as she applied a small amount of another fluid from a bottle onto a cloth before dabbing it gently over the bruised area.
"Thanks" he gratefully replied as he gratefully complied.
"If it was just me who you were mean towards, I'd leave it alone." Rei seriously remarked. "But now I can clearly see it's not just me who you're not friendly with. And I know Shinji might have asked you this before, but now I'm going to ask because I genuinely want to know. What did I ever do to make you have a grudge against me? Not Shinji. Against me? I hardly even interact with you and most of the time, I don't even say two words to you when we go past each other."
"Your hair is stupid." Asuka barked, unable to find a better insult at this moment on account of the soreness in her pinned arms and the embarrassment at being locked into submission by a shrimp runt who just happened to be the commander's favourite.
"So if I change it, will you like me more?" Rei dryly asked, trying without success not to sound sarcastic "Do you want me to grow it out longer and then dye it red like yours?"
"The ugly way you dress, ticks me off." Asuka spat before Rei had even finished her sentence.
"I can go into town tomorrow and buy a yellow dress and red heels." Rei responded, taking less time to formulate her answer than the previous time. "And then you'll like me more?"
"You suck at piloting. You're a terrible pilot."
Rei grinned inwardly. This was actually quite fun in a twisted sort of way.
"Then next time an Angel attacks, I'll be in the frontline while you stay in the back so that I get most of the work done. I'll show you I don't need your help to be just as good as you at beating the Angels."
"Well, um well." Asuka was running out of insult ammunition. She only hoped Rei was running out of rebuttal firepower too. " The way you talk. It's annoying. You're annoying."
Little did poor Asuka know that Rei was only just getting started with her retorts. Rei Ayanami, the sassy queen of retorts and counter arguments. She had been beaten once before by Shinji of all people, but now Asuka was going to lose to her strong suit of arguing a second time in one day. No, this couldn't be happening. Being beaten at her own game in both piloting and now arguing.
Asuka groaned.
She had challenged the wrong EVA pilot to an Angel battle, and now she had challenged the wrong arguer.
"There are voice modification devices in NERV that can modify my voice to sound exactly like yours. They can even let me copy your accent. And if you want, I can study German too. I'm sure I'll get it quickly. Even quicker if you teach me."
Shinji could not help but simper silently a little at how pathetic Asuka was making herself look with her constant attempts to undermine Rei which only ended up undermining herself.
And here she went again. After she had already tried and failed many times to not look more pathetic.
"Well then you'd be even more unbearable than you already are." Asuka concluded, trying to end this unwinnable battle of wills as quickly as she could before she disgraced herself further in front of her baka. "No one would take you seriously and everyone would hate you even more than they already do"
"But according to what you say to me, then I'd be perfect" Rei nonchalantly stated. "And ever better. Then you could take the day off and let me do all the piloting. Take a break and relax yourself."
"You would most certainly not be perfect." Asuka mockingly exclaimed, trying to mask her embarrassment with rage.
Rei finally released her hold onto Asuka, and quickly stepped back until she was right next to Shinji and Mari still with her sights locked firmly onto Asuka lest the latter try to spring a surprise ambush in her weakened state.
She grinned a grin that crowed victory more loudly than any words ever could.
"Are you saying you're not perfect, Asuka?" Rei jokingly inquired, her first smile in what seemed like forever warming Shinji's heart so warmly he felt it might burn up.
"Because it sounds like that's exactly what you just said."
"What?" Asuka looked shocked as she held back a blush. "N, no. I never said that. I" The words snagged on her tongue.
"Well alright then. If you say so." Rei knew better than to press further and corner Asuka and instead changed the subject, still smiling as Shinji's heart seemed to catch fire, of which she duly took note.
"What do you want then Asuka? Do you want money? I have a lot of money in my account I don't even know what to do with. Or what do you want?"
"Rei. What are you doing? Asuka needs to be punished for her actions." Mari asked as she finished putting the last touches to Shinji's bandage on his head.
Rei looked at Mari "I'm trying to show her that just as Shinji is a kind and caring soul with a good heart, so am I. I'm nice too and all of you need to know that. I'm different now. I've changed. Shinji showed me how to be a better person."
She turned back at Asuka just as she was preparing to pounce for a surprise attack, only stopping when Rei's eyes had locked with hers again.
"I'm a reasonable person Asuka (unlike you). Just tell me what you want from me. Anything you can think up, I can make possible. So please, I'm being serious. Name your price."
"Get out of my sight!" Asuka promptly ordered, pointing at the door. "Get out. All of you get out."
To everyone's great surprise, Rei simply took a polite bow, complete calmness and serenity in her expression.
"Wow" Mari muttered under her breath.
"Whoa" Shinji said to himself.
"If that is what pleases you, Asuka. Then of course. Me, Mari and Shinji were planning to head out in a moment anyway. And as for when the festival is over, Mari has her own house. We can go to it when we're done and you'll never need to see any of us ever again.
I'm fairly certain the commander will not mind either, since he's been getting increasingly displeased with how badly you are injuring his premiere pilot that he needs to keep the Angels at bay more than any of us, as well as how irresponsible Major Misato has been behaving of late. But are you certain this is all you really want from me, the nice and altruistic friend that wants only to make you happy?"
"I WANT NOTHING FROM YOU!"
"As you command. Asuka."
"Rei is right Asuka" Shinji added as he took the white Yukata that Mari passed him and headed to a room closer to the door to get changed. "I'm going to leave now, and never come back. I'm going to ask to be put into a different class in school and the only times you will have to endure my presence will be in NERV, and even then I will do what I can to stay out of your sight. You'll never have to see me again, Asuka. Now you can be all by yourself."
Asuka began to crack a smile but a rumble in her stomach brought it right back to a scowl.
"But wait. Who's going to cook my meals. Who's going to clean my room? Shinji come back." By the time she had made it to the room by the doorway, Shinji had already thrown off his jeans, shirt and slippers to replace it with the white Yukata and sandals he would be wearing for the rest of the evening.
"Someone who isn't your worst enemy Shinji Ikari" he bluntly replied, not looking back at her but at the door Mari and Rei were now standing next him by.
"Because if that's what you really think of me, then I'm truly sorry. I will leave and let you be happy and content with your life."
He opened the door as Asuka continued to get madder and madder.
"Embrace a new life, Asuka. A life devoid of the trouble, misery and torture that Shinji Ikari was unfortunate to give you despite his best efforts to keep you satisfied. Let each and every day be another day in paradise for you from now on." His voice was completely sincere.
And still with his back turned to her, he began to exit the apartment as Asuka leapt at him with a completely insane look in her burning eyes.
Rei simply stood in front of Shinji and Mari and grabbed Asuka's outstretched hand before throwing her opponent over her shoulder, taking care to aim the trajectory of Asuka's fall so that it targeted a soft and fluffy sofa to the left so as not to injure her in any way.
"Farewell, my friend. As you kindly requested, we will leave you in peace from now on and never trouble you again." Rei politely bade as she took a light curtsey before she followed Shinji and Mari into the corridor which would lead them to the stairs.
Long awaited freedom awaited them outside.
"I'm sorry it took me so long to do this, Shinji." Rei repentantly stated as the three friends walked downstairs.
"Don't be. I knew you would one day Rei. I had absolute faith in you." Shinji replied, no hint of anger or resentment in his relaxed and ecstatic intonation.
"I find Gendo's lack of faith in you, disturbing." Mari finished as they finally got to the front door and pulled it open to allow the hot and relaxing summer breeze to caress their faces.
A sea of stars shone in the sky, more vibrant than any the three of them had ever seen before.
No loud noises of alarm or terror. No stiff and cold men in suits rushing around looking important for the sake of looking important.
The three pilots begged to dream and differ from the hollow lies.
The ending of this glorious day was the dawning of the rest of their lives together.
So here we are. Chapter 3 somehow. Props to the readers who pointed out that even if the Angels were destroyed, more would take their place. Well, that's not really too different from what's already happening in the world now. Countries constantly keep making better weapons to stay in control and if the entire world worked together, they could just keep improving their arsenal even as the Angels got stronger and more numerous until eventually, an even better weapon than the EVA was found.
Like say… Jet Alone. Which Gendo sabotaged being the selfish idiot he was.
Either way, the world will get more done if they work together than if they work alone. They might at least be able to keep the Angels at bay for longer. Even in the show, the pilots do have some downtime and don't have to fight twenty-four seven, enough to have a few hobbies so with better technology it can be improved further.
Shinji has been stated multiple times to be the best pilot. Multiple times. It is therefore all but outright stated that if he had intervened during the End of Evangelion, the world would be safe and SEELE would have had a Disney villain death.
The moral I take from Evangelion, me personally is that if you treat a nice and friendly guy badly enough, Karma will eventually come back to bite you in the most painful way possible.
Yui released Shinji from instrumentality because she loved him and from what we know about it, Instrumentality is a state of constant and unending agony and eternal torment. So of course, people are going to battle to avoid it. If it wasn't so bad, no one would fight it.
And of course, there's no denying that SEELE are terrible people who are willing to open fire on innocents. Can you really believe anything they say therefore?
All that was needed was for one guy to treat Shinji with some common human decency. And humanity couldn't even do that.
I have watched Evangelion. And I can conclude that Shinji does most of the fighting and wins most of the victories. But until next time, thank you all for being such awesome and amazing people for reading and reviewing and I greatly and sincerely appreciate each of your inputs.
And if you have a different opinion, that's completely fine, I welcome it. I just wanted to entertain you a little is all.