Chapter 8: Mari's Mansion

Several years earlier:
"Look at all the damage you caused to the city Shinji" Major Misato Katsuragi declared angrily, her face twisted into a disdainful sneer as she looked a shocked Shinji ferociously in the eye. "You very nearly caused another impact and you know full well how dangerous that can be."

"But I was just doing what you told me to." Shinji nervously piped. "I didn't know that killing that Angel would cause such a massive explosion that…"

He was cut off mid-sentence as an impatiently watching Asuka menacingly raised a balled fist.

"Silence when your superior officer is speaking, stupid" She snarled, her fist still raised as Misato continued to lecture the hero of what had been one of NERV's biggest battles in the past decade against the most terrifying creature Tokyo-3 had seen in a century.

Asuka and Rei had both been knocked unconscious by the godlike behemoth minutes into the fight and it was only through sheer refusal to admit defeat that Shinji had ended the monster's life by powering his EVA up to its overdrive state. The result was a dead angel, and half destroyed Tokyo 3 which claimed a steep number of casualties that even years into the future, anyone could only ballpark a guess at.

Shinji had expected as he watched the huge explosion caused by the Angel as it died that he would be given a major chewing out from his overbearing father the chief of NERV.
Instead it was his beloved mother figure Misato who he thought he could trust grilling him for something he thought that at least she of all people would understand.

"It's over Shinji." Misato angrily sputtered continuing to glare him down. "Your career in NERV is as good as over. The world is as good as over. Tokyo 3 will never be able to recover from what you've just done to it with your reckless antics."

"You're such an idiot." Asuka added.

It was at this moment that a usually calm and collected pacifist finally lost his patience. He had followed every last order to the letter and they still weren't even remotely grateful for how he had single-handedly saved their sorry asses. He could withstand scolding from every stranger he didn't know. He could take the verbal smackdowns handed to him by his terrible father.

But Misato was supposed to be his guardian and his best friend who he could depend on to understand him.

He looked back at his Major teeth clenched in righteous fury.

"NOTHING IS OVER!" he shouted furiously at the top of his lungs causing the usually stoic purple haired woman to stagger back slightly in great shock.

"Nothing. You just don't turn it off. It wasn't my war. I didn't ask you, you asked me. I only did what I had to do to win. But someone wouldn't let us win. All those maggots in NERV. Protesting me, spitting. Calling me names like baby killer and other vile crap. Who are they to protest me!?
Who are they!? Unless they've been me and been there and know what the hell they're yelling about!"

He was shaking now and sweaty as he continued to look back at Misato and Asuka who by now were regarding their roommate and fellow NERV operative with gaping jaws of disbelief.

He knew that Asuka would give him a big punch later for this vehement outburst. He knew that Misato would refuse to talk to him or look at him for many days.
But from the fear in his Major's usually empty eyes, he knew she'd have to be brainless to take any sort of disciplinary action against him for this completely justified speech against the injustice he'd endured for far too long to keep inside.

But it had all been worth it. For a few seconds that day, he had gotten his two irresponsible roommates off their self-righteous high horses and shown them the truth of how badly they were messing up. It wouldn't last but he was still glad to have these precious seconds where for a change, Misato and Asuka were the ones cowering before him rather than the other way around.

Sure enough, he was let off with a minor warning from his father and was able to continue actively serving for the next several miserable years of his miserable existence despite his infractions.
As much as he hated being a NERV pilot, he knew it was the only thing he had going for him.

…

A few minutes later the exquisite train finally came to a stop in a much smaller station. It was in the outskirts of Tokyo 3.
The landscape here looked nothing like the inner-city to Shinji as he once again followed Mari past the bowing suit and onto the platform. It was as if he had entered a whole new world.

The air here felt so much cleaner. The sky so much brighter. And the buildings seemed so much less dirty and well-maintained than the crummy apartments and filthy high-rises Shinji had grown accustomed to in his life. And unlike inner Tokyo 3, there were plenty of open pavilions where the masterful architects who had designed this beautiful place had the foresight to leave devoid of structures and provide plenty of space. A few healthy trees lined some of them.

He felt a great sense of freedom as he continued along the platform unable to fathom how perfect this part of the city looked in comparison to the place that he'd called his home for the past several years.
He really wished he'd have the chance to explore it more as he went through another set of ticket barriers and out of the station onto a very stately looking street graced with plenty of lovely looking shops each with a flashing sign more fancy than the previous one.

Little did he know as Mari continued to lead him through a maze of paths that soon his wish would soon be granted and that he would soon have all the time in the world to explore to his heart's content.

Nothing could impress me now, he thought to himself. These buildings are the finest I'll ever get to see.

He was wrong. Dead wrong.

For before the two EVA pilots stood a lovely field. Devoid of buildings and landmarks and lovely in its emptiness with only grass and flowers to decorate the ground.
A marble path stretched along the field connecting the concrete pavement of the city with the courtyard of a large mansion with shining golden gates and fine granite walls surrounding it.

Two intricately carved Seraph Angels, the kind from the happy bible stories stood on either side of the gates. Each one with large wings, pleasant grins and welcoming arms pointed at the gates they kept guard over.
The masonry of this structure put even NERV's headquarters to shame. It tore the breath from Shinji's lungs and he felt light headed and dizzy even to look in the mansion's direction.

He had surely died and gone to heaven. This was surely the gate to heaven and Mari was surely his guardian angel sent to escort him here as reward for the terrible lifetime he'd endured trying to please ungrateful jerks who never once appreciated him.
This time, he had to pinch himself.

"And here we are at my house." Mari announced, snapping Shinji from his euphoria induced trance.
"Do you like it?"

"I, I love it." Shinji managed to reply through his euphoric confusion. "It's a nice house".

"I'm very grateful you say that Shinji. We'll go in and then I'll tell you the reason why I needed you here. I couldn't tell you in front of the other people from NERV. I'm afraid Shinji, that we can't trust them, and I'll explain why."

Had any other person on planet Earth said the same thing in the same tone of voice, Shinji would have immediately turned tail to run as quickly as his legs would carry him.
While he did not like or trust NERV either after the terrible mistreatment he'd received over his years as part of it, he did grimly acknowledge that it was the only organisation keeping mankind safe with it's EVA's that it alone had the expertise and resources to access.

And though he didn't want to be a part of NERV, he did want to protect humanity and his friends. Especially Rei Ayanami, the one girl who'd shown him any compassion before Mari came on the scene.

Shinji took another look at the brown-haired English woman who was now unlocking the golden gate with a sparkly golden key.

He saw a teammate who had been more sympathetic to him than even Rei had been.
A chess master who would have made a better leader than Major Misato and General Gendo combined.
And if such a thing were possible, he saw a true evangelist with more kindness than both Juvia Lockhart and Lucy Heartfilla put together.

His two favourite film characters from his favourite childhood films couldn't match the niceness and compassion Mari had shown him in the few hours they'd spent together. And unlike Juvia and Lucy, Mari was completely real while Juvia and Lucy were but figments of his troubled mind he constructed to keep himself from insanity.

Shinji knew that from the second this meeting begun his decision had already been made. To back out now was to do both himself and the world a great disservice and to truly become the cowardly chicken everyone labelled him as.
He would put every bit of his trust in Mari, trusting her more than he trusted himself.

He would find the answer to his question of why NERV couldn't be trusted soon anyway. Not that this news came as a surprise to him but to hear it from an outside perspective would be important. It was time to finally find the truth. And it didn't matter where he heard it from.

"That would be fine with me, Mari." Shinji stated as he followed her into the grand white fortress behind the golden gates which looked straight out of a fairy tail.
He had seen a fancy train today along with a fancy neighbourhood. A fancy guildhall was next.
Was his luck today ever going to run out?

The grand oak doors of the house were unlocked long before Mari and Shinji had crossed the courtyard which was surprisingly plain for an abode so fair. A nice stone fountain did find itself in the middle of the yard but though it was still in good condition, Shinji could tell it had not been used in a very long time.

A younger girl stood awaiting the pair at the doorway, her hand held out in a very formal manner and her welcoming expression cordial but focused. It was clear she had been greeting important aristocrats her whole life, titans of the world with more influence than even the chief of NERV himself. Her uncannily polished manner nearly made Shinji blush with embarrassment. Was this the treatment he would start receiving in his dad's place if by some stroke of luck, he one day took over NERV?

"Welcome, Mr Ikari Sir. Welcome to the Makinami Mansion." The girl intoned, dropping a slight curtsey.
Her odd choice of apparel, a classic white Sailor Outfit tinged with the same brown as her pale brown hair along with a very hot brown Miniskirt made her smooth gestures even more striking.

Her high brown boots had probably been the final accessory which put her on the front cover of every known fashion magazine. Shinji would be seeing her in his dreams, and she hadn't even introduced herself to him as Mari had yet.

"Um thank you." was the only reply he could muster. As much as he liked the genuine kindness the two girls, he had only just met today were showing him, he wasn't sure he could take much more of the aristocratic treatment. "And please, just call me Shinji."

"Please come in Shinji. You must be tired from the journey. And you must be hungry by now as well."

The one question haunting Shinji's otherwise euphoric mind as he heard those words.
Was this incredibly adorable Sailor outfit toting girl a mind reading psychic?

Years of salary cut after salary cut from his superior's in NERV combined with Asuka's increasingly insatiable appetite for the finest delicacies' money could buy left Shinji very little money for himself.
He had walked hungry plenty of days in his life by now including today.
Sometimes because he didn't even have the money to buy any food for himself, mostly because by the time he'd finished serving Asuka and Misato's meals he had no energy left for his own.

The growling in his stomach had gotten louder and louder throughout the day and though he didn't want to admit it out of fear of seeming rude to his new friend Mari, he felt as if he might keel over in weakness any moment now.

Third child and third pilot of NERV Shinji Ikari. A famous military leader with a body as thin as that of the unluckiest beggar. The perfect illustration for a poster begging the world to feed the poor refugees from a drought filled desert of a corrupt and totalitarian third world country.

"We've prepared a very special meal for you." She stated without waiting for him to speak. "Please head to the dining room to your left."

Shinji would have once again thanked this incredibly polite maid for her hospitality to the humble lowlife he considered himself, but another terrible throe of pain in his tummy struck him and he merely nodded gratefully as he walked holding his drooping head as highly as he could into the room she had suggested for him.

An unbelievable apparition that would amaze even the heaven's themselves met the starving urchin's trembling eyes which did everything in their power to convince him that this was just an illusion.

A sight that made the tears of pure bliss that had been building in his ducts the moment he met Mari finally flood down his cheeks in a seemingly unstopping cascade which he could not dam up however hard he tried.

Never once in his entire life had the premiere pilot of NERV seen so many lovely platters of food loaded onto a single massive table which would have made even the mightiest of EVA's seem insignificant. It was as if this magnificent banquet which held more dishes than he could shake a stick at was made to feed the entirety of Tokyo 3.

The familiar scent of fried noodles mixed with seafood and marinated beef filled his nostrils. It was just one of many great smells contesting for his attention in a sea of countless others however.

The gateau in the corner even had the words "Happy Early Birthday Shinji. Love from Sakura and Mari" written in cherry flavoured icing.

And there was a pizza. Double peperoni, double meatballs and double olives cooked in basil oil and seasoned with extra hot chilli sauce. His three favourite toppings in one. No disgusting anchovies or mushrooms which he couldn't stand.
It conjured up the image of an Italian plumber with a moustache and a red hat and overalls stomping Goomba after Goomba and Koopa after Koopa.

"It's a me" Shinji could not stop himself from whispering, ridiculous as that sounded.

And there was the fried Tofu.
And over there, the German Sausage "the bratwurst" which once again Asuka never let him have a bite of.
The lovely meat and cheese pie Shinji knew to be "A four cheese Lasagne" which would have kept even Garfield satisfied for a month.
And Pork buns? How did Mari get hold of a Chinese national dish from here in Japan?

He could go on and on trying to name as many of these mouth-watering treats but his famine snapped him back to attention.

"Eat up Shinji" Mari encouraged, looking at the happily weeping Shinji like he was Superman himself "This meal was prepared specially for you as our way of saying thank you for all the good things you've done. Your amazing skills as a pilot have not gone unnoticed. Your heroic efforts weren't wasted."

Without bothering to reply, Shinji immediately grabbed the shiny silver spoon and fork set neatly before him on the table and begun to dig away at the ambrosial treasure hoard before him.
His joyful tantrum had more than expressed his thanks for yet another act of kindness given to the loathsome idiot that he was cursed to be labelled as until the day he died.

He chomped away at one dish while chewing at another. He slurped from this bowl while gulping mouthful after mouthful from that one.
It was just like the team of mercenaries in Fairy tail would do after a job well done vanquishing a great evil. And the usually reserved and disciplined Wendy Marvell got the most drunk of them all.

He was Gray Fullbuster trying to beat Natsu in a drinking contest as he chugged down glass after glass of beverages not caring to discover their contents.

He was Naruto Uzumaki celebrating after finally being crowned Hokage after too long as he slammed down a conveniently placed bowl of superhot extra chilli Ramen, breathing out a hellish blast of flames from his mouth after he finished.

The fire hit a corner of the purple tablecloth very nearly igniting it as the ever-prepared butler Sakura Suzuhara threw a tub of extra flammable cooking oil onto the viciously burning cloth extinguishing it instantaneously.

"Nice shot Sakura" Mari proudly cheered.

The Tokyo fire department had lost out on a great business opportunity by not hiring her.

And then he transformed into Usagi Tsukino also known as the cry baby meatball head Sailor Moon as he concluded his first decent meal in a lifetime with a gigantic tub of mango flavoured ice cream.
Which he poured onto the Schwarzwalde gateau even Asuka had never gotten lucky enough to taste, and poured the crudely mixed desserts down his gullet before swallowing in one breath.

He would have quite the time bragging about this to Asuka. For once in his life he finally held the bragging rights.

"How badly you must have been mistreated in your life, Shinji" Mari thought to herself as she watched him patiently and respectfully from a nearby chair.
"I always knew NERV to be greedy and corrupt but this, this is just unacceptable. Oh Shinji. If it means seeing you this happy again, I promise you that you can have this meal every day from now on."

"And I'll be more than happy to make each one of those meals more amazing and delicious than the previous one." Sakura thought, sitting on another chair looking as proud as if she'd cured Cancer.
"I'll read every single cookbook ever written and I'll go to the ends of the Earth to smuggle the ingredients. You deserve it Shinji, even if my brother thinks you're nothing but a monster he told me to stay away from"

"Please don't listen to him Shinji" Sakura silently sobbed as she finished that last thought. "Toji's not been himself since mom died. He doesn't know what he's talking about but I do. In fact, Shinji, don't listen to anyone from NERV unless we say you can."

The two girls waited for Shinji to finally finish eating in polite silence. It was the least anyone could do for the hero who had single-handedly prevented the destruction of the world countless times.

Eventually the boy put down the last bowl on the table and announced with great gravity that he had finished.
The table which was full of food when he had come in had been emptied to the last crumb, but his hunger had finally been appeased.

"My compliments to the chef" he humbly declared before turning back to the still silently watching Mari.

"Sorry about my lack of manners" he apologized hoping he hadn't offended her with his feeding frenzy induced by years of starvation and mistreatment which had finally boiled over today. "I was really hungry and couldn't control myself. Please forgive me."

"Don't be sorry. We're just glad you enjoyed the meal." Mari happily barked.

"Yeah… Well what was it you wanted to talk to me about, Mari."

Mari's goofy smile quickly became taciturn and serious and the colour seemed to flood from her rosy cheeks.
"We'll discuss this in the living room. It's a long story."

"Of course". Though he was still stuffed from the feast, he knew that he needed to hear this as soon as possible.

The two NERV pilots walked out of the now very messy dining room hand in hand, a mutual sign of trust and respect that very few citizens in the chaos of the post impact wasteland still performed.
"Get everything cleaned up Sakura and start the bath for Shinji." Mari ordered as they went.

"Hai! Right away". Sakura replied, bringing her hand up to her forehead in a military style salute that Shinji wasn't sure whether to find funny, endearing, dark and serious or all three.

A few moments later, the duo sat facing each other on expensive leather couches in a brightly illuminated room whose brown walls were lined with paintings in all kinds of different styles.

It was Mari who spoke first as Shinji held his tongue facing her with wide open eyes and his undivided attention that completely disregarded every aspect of the lavishly decorated gallery of a room he now found himself in.

"What I'm about to tell you is going to sound completely ridiculous. I know that. And I also know you probably have no reason to trust me seeing as you've just met me.
But please, understand that I care about you Shinji. Nothing matters to me if it means you can't be happy Shinji. So please, try to take everything I say with at least the benefit of the doubt."

"I trust you Mari." Shinji proudly insisted in a powerful voice filled with conviction not typical of a self-hating introvert who had never had much human contact outside of being mocked. "Right now, I trust you more than any other person on this Earth including myself. I've seen a lot of not normal things in my life Mari, more than I'd care to admit. Nothing you say, I won't at least try to believe."

"Then trust me, when I tell you that all of your loved ones are in terrible danger right now. That Asuka, Rei, Misato and all of the people you hold dear are all walking right into a trap. And trust me when I say that your father Gendo is misusing his power in the worst way possible to bring about the end of the world as we know it." Not one word out of Mari's lips had any sort of triviality to it. It was probably this factor that prevented Shinji from laughing out loud at these far-fetched accusations.

His father was a mean man. In other news, water was wet.

Asuka, Rei and Misato as NERV agents were in danger, in a job where danger had to be your middle name to qualify. In other news, sand was sandy.

But a trap? And the end of the world?

"NERV and SEELE are in cahoots and your father wants to give in to SEELE's demands completely." Mari continued, keeping her voice soft but serious.
"HE wants the human instrumentality program to succeed so he can bring your mother Yui back to life. But what even he doesn't know is that SEELE have no intention of holding up their part of the bargain. They're playing him for a fool and he's trying to play us for fools as well. "

"Wait, WHAT?" Shinji sputtered, unable to keep the tension that had been rising within him since the mention of his mother's maiden name. He had always known that a big part of his father and by extension his own brooding came from the death of who he could only assume from the little he heard about her to be the perfect wife and the greatest woman any son could ask for.

But if what Mari was trying to tell him was true, then that man had crossed a line you simply did not cross. And SEELE?

"Your father wants to kill everyone including you because he can't get over the fact your mother sacrificed herself to protect the world so you could have a shot at a happy life" Mari summarized for him bluntly.

"Um, well. How can you know all this? How do you know my mother?" Shinji had always had an inkling that he and Mari were connected in some meaningful way. He had brushed it off as his foolish mind playing tricks on him. But she knew his mother's name. That couldn't be pure coincidence.

"That's not important right now. We can discuss that later. But for now, all you need to know is that I owe my life to your mother. She saved me. Losing her, was like losing my own mother twice. Without her, I would not be here to have this conversation with you right now Shinji."

This person owed that person their life. And that one owed the other person their life. Blood debts. The deepest emotional connection any two people could have with each other. Blood of the covenant was thicker than water of the womb.

"What about SEELE? Who are SEELE?" Shinji asked next, realizing this was the more important question right now. He had heard this name mentioned a few times while he was waiting outside his father's office for another scolding, but it had always been in a quiet and muffled voice as if it didn't want to be heard.

"I could go on and on about them, but the one thing you need to know Shinji is that they're a group of crazies with bad news bears written all over them. You let them win, and you can kiss your friends and family goodbye. You die, I die, we all die, bye bye."

"Um… I see."

"It's not too late Shinji. We can still set everything back right again. We can stop SEELE and save your friends. But you have to trust me. You have to believe in me."

"There must be some way out of here!" Shinji suddenly cried clenching his fists, the heroic words of a true legend slipping from his mouth without passing through his brain.

It was then that a ghost of a smile crossed Mari's stern and serious grimace as time itself seemed to come to a stop. Shinji's words had awakened the beginning new era of genuine hope.

She bounded to her feet and placed her hand on Shinji's shoulder. He welcomed her touch. He was not afraid of her the way he was afraid of Asuka, Misato and even Rei. She would not betray him the way he feared everyone else would.

"Said the Joker to the thief. Shinji. Said the Joker to the thief".

And the end of another chapter as Shinji continues to find more happiness still. It's about time that poor guy got some respect for all the good he's done.
I feel that Evangelion 3.0 did not do justice for the character of Mari whatsoever. She approved of all the mean things Asuka did to Shinji when in the previous movie, she seemed genuinely regretful for all the atrocities she and the other NERV pilots were committing and was one of the few characters to give any supportive words to Shinji to get his fighting spirit back.

They really should have toned the mean-spiritedness in that one down a lot. I'm beginning to think the End of Evangelion handled things better since not every character was a selfish jerk in that one and Asuka actually had the courtesy not to punch Shinji in the face and Misato actually gave Shinji some motherly love.

Ironic how Anno wrote better when he was mentally unstable. But then we wouldn't have Mari.

Props to StraightedgeEpyon and Fictionelement777 for reviewing by the way. Really love you guys for all your kind input.