Three lone figures walked through the crimson red desert, a land that possibly used to be lush with vegetation and filled with human civilization, but now little more then a wasteland brought to ruin by a decade-and-a-half of world war. The only thing that really stood were derelict old telephone poles with downed wires that stood lopsided out of the ground. The sky was blue as clouds sparsely appeared. The temperature was temperature, odd for what the surrounding environment was.
Aska Shikinami was pulling an unresponsive Shinji Ikari along by the hand. Ever since he was forcibly removed from his ejected cockpit of the Synthetic Mechanized Combat Aircraft, designated as Unit-13, Aska was forced pull him by the hand, and other times carry him by piggyback. It this kind of situation that she saw as humiliating and beneath her. In her mind; she was left watching over some mindless drone that was a creepy exact clone of Shinji's disappeared younger cousin, and the boy himself accused of sending the entire world in to apocalyptic war. But this was the catch, in her mind, the boy was acting like a child, sometimes quietly sniffling or sobbing at losing his copilot in the ensuing battle Kaworu Nagisa, and bringing about what he beloved was the near-end of the world. His copilot was the only person Shinji truly saw as a friend when he was recovered from stasis.
Eventually all three of them arrived at a shoreline where they would be picked up by the IAV Miracle, the submarine and ground affect vehicle commanded by Colonel Misato Katsuragi. The ocean they stood at was as red as the sand, stretching out for miles until a faint blue line could be seen, the real blue ocean, unadulterated. The sun was beginning to set at this point as the horizon became a bright peach orange, flanking the setting sun, as it faded in to a light blue, then a dark blue, with the faint white-dotted stars slowly becoming visible. The sight itself was beautiful and peaceful, but that was not what was going on in Shinji Ikari's mind.
He sat back against a rock, unmoving, the life drained from his now dull blue irises. He was retreating in to himself, reliving every gore-filled, emotionally painful, mentally taxing memory over the past 20 years of his life in a trance, traumatized from the loss of his friend and the ensuing result. He relived the moments of his life of his father, Gendo's coldness towards himself, his mother Yui, and cousin Rei. He relived the on edege, and sometimes horror filled moments where his father and confederate Keel Lorenz would use his friends as expendable test subjects for new technologies without their consent or say. Some of those experiments led to the deaths or severe injuries of some of his closest friends. He relived the moments where he became a commander, one who led ruthless campaigns against NERV. He saw himself in third person shooting those who surrendered or begged for their lives, he saw the dropping of weapons of mass destruction on cities of NERV's ownership, innocent civilians killed in a rising dome of fire. He continued to relive every atrocity he committed in the 10 years of the war he fought against NERV. He relived the coldness he faced from Misato and Aska after meeting them for the first time in 15 years. They saw him as some kind of monster with unnatural powers. Something to be caged like a wild animal that can't be domesticated. Suddenly his trance was broken was broken when a strong grip and a familiar berating voice started to fill his head.
Shikinami was grabbing Shinji by the skull, forcing his eyes towards her one good one.
"Listen to me you brat," the Captain berated, "all you've done ever since you were rescued was act like a baby. You do nothing but feel sorry for yourself and expect that I'm gonna pamper you and make you feel better. I don't care how or what you're feeling. My job is to get us back alive weather you like it or not so we can clean up the mess you started. You understand!?"
As she finished berating him, the Captain could see the fear and intimidation is his eyes as tears begun to slowly roll down. All she saw now was the face of a frightened boy, nothing else.
"Look, sitting on your ass and feeling sorry for you're self will do nothing." Shikinami calmly explained, releasing her grip on Shinji's, crouching down to his level, softening her voice. "You're going to have to answer for what you did, and you will have to take responsibility for what you did. For now though, help set up camp so we can make it through the night, understood?"
"U-understood Captian Shikinami." Shinji timidly replied.
With that he got up, and helped set up the tent with Aska while Rei's clone started the fire.
He may have been spared her wrath in this moment, he knew that it would be no different aboard the IAV Miracle. He would still be taken prisoner, have another DSS Chocker placed on his neck, locked alone in a cell, and face trial where he would be sentenced to death or live the rest of his life in prison, alone. At this point, he didn't care what his fate was. From what he saw evidence-wise, to the fact that everyone he considered family or friend hated him or was most likely dead, he had nothing to keep him moving forward.
Epic of Evangelion
The IAV Miracle anchored a kilometre off shore as several grey-coated LARC-V amphibious vehicles sped through the water before rolling on to the crimson red beach. In one of the vehicles was the black-clad WGS security guards flanking Colonel Katsuragi in her signature red naval jacket, cap, and visors.
The appearance made her look unapproachable, even to her own men, it showed her coldness well in this time of conflict. Standing beside her was an energetic Mari Makinami, waving at her co-pilot, bidding her an enthusiastic hello, though this was much ignored by Captain Shikinami herself.
Aska was standing at attention, tightly holding Shinji's hand, while the clone of Rei Ayanami stood attentively. Shinji himself had his head lowered, his bangs covering his eyes. Knowing his former teacher, personal mentor, and a surrogate mother now close by, he couldn't face her, he had no courage to. After what he believed he did to ruin her life, starting Third Impact, she had every right to hate him.
As Misato jumped off the amphibious vehicle and on to the red sand, flanked by her two guards, she approached Shinji, taking off her visors, now standing right in front of him.
"Good work Captain Shikinami." the Colonel turned to her. "Now that you're back, you're to immediately report to Dr. Akagi for examination due to being in the L-Barrier for a prolonged period of time."
"Yes Colonel Katsuragi." the young captain replied as she let go of Shinji, leaving him alone with the Colonel.
"Shinji Ikari, you've put many lives in danger because of you're actions, do you have anything to say for yourself?" the Colonel questioned.
"I'm sorry." the boy muttered as tears slowly rolled down his eyes. "I'm truly sorry... for everything."
Misato was taken aback by his response, she was conflicted. The closest person she once considered family after the passing of her father and mother were genuinely regretful. 15 years of war because of what she beloved as his unintentional doing however was just to much to come to terms with.
"Very well." she replied, regaining her composure. "We are placing you under arrest for mass manslaughter, environmental destruction, and incitement of war between rival powers. You will be held aboard the IAV Miracle until our arrive in New York City, in which you will be given over to the International Tribunal to be sentenced. Men, fit him with a DSS Chocker and escort him to Specialized Holding and Monitoring Cell 1. The same goes for the clone of Rei Ayanami, except put her in a separate cell and have her interrogated for information of NERV."
With that he, along with the Rei Ayanami clone, were fitted with new DSS Chokers and handcuffed by the guards. Both were then led away to a separate vehicle and sprinted away towards the IAV Miracle. Aska looked back as she saw Shinji and the clone being led away. She could honestly care less for the clone since all it did was live to follow orders, a pretty pitiful existence in her opinion. For Shinji however, she pitied him, she saw him as he was led away by the guards, silent, broken, and with no dignity in the end.
But in her mind, she knew that Shinji brought this fate upon himself, and he had to answer for it, and at least that's what many actually believed about him.
Epic of Evangelion
Shinji sat at the bottom of his cell's bed, wearing a jumpsuit just like those worn by the crew of WILLE, but this time it was orange, without the white vest, with "SHINJI IKARI - BM-03" printed in large black letters on the back. His cell was walled with white panels as he sat on a silver metallic floor. There was a stainless steel sink under a rectangular mirror with a toilet of the same material beside it, all three in the back-right corner of the cell. Shinji himself just listened to the music that played from his cassette player that he held in his hands between his thighs while his headphones were in his ears.
He sat there, just listening to the music that played, one song after another, but he had retreated in to himself yet again. Every voice telling him how they didn't want him since he emerged from stasis just a week earlier, or just how much of an immature child he was, or the images of the apocalyptic dessert he saw after arriving at NERV, it all replayed in his head over and over again. He didn't know how long he even sat like this, minutes seemed to pass like hours, he didn't even know what time of day it was. The only times he ever did move was to eat the food that was brought to him in his cell, to take care of his private business, or just to sleep whenever his body felt like it.
Nobody even spoke or visited him in his cell. He had some hope that Captain Shikinami would visit him, but he knew that it would probably never happen given what she said she thought of him when he was retrieved from stasis.
While a small part of him yearned to at least speak with someone he considered a friend, a good part of him figured this was what he deserved, to live in perpetual solitude, or eternally face the abyss in the afterlife, as punishment.
Very quickly, his hope began to shrink. His depression and self-loathing would ultimately consume his thinking, and with that decision, he beloved he had no life, no future ahead of him.
Epic of Evangelion
"Aside from the bare essential actions of the human body, he's barley moved in over a week!" Ritsuko stated watching the security and health monitors inside her medical office and lab aboard the IAV Miracle. "What's worse is that his mental vitals are starting to give out one by one, Colonel Katsuragi we need to intervene if we are going to bring him to New York City alive."
Misato was listening, but her main focus was the boy on the screen. It made her feel conflicted inside. He was once her best student, and a surrogate son to her, and now he was one of their sworn enemies, though not by choice, albeit an informed one. To what she knew, he brought hell to an already fragile world. He nearly brought about another apocalypse. But it still pained a part of her to see him like this, without dignity, without purpose, without anyone there for him, but his self-hatred and those of others.
"No..." Misato bluntly stated. "We'll make make the situation worse if we do that."
With that Misato left the room, but not before Ritsuko shot back.
"Colonel Katsuragi, we can't afford..."
"That's an order Lt. Col. Akagi!" Misato yelled before leaving the room.
Epic of Evangelion
Shinji felt incredibly weak. He had very little energy to move even a few feet. Bags were starting to form under his eyes, as his deep blue irises became lifeless, and his skin was flushed of colour. He started to eat less and less as his time in the cell moved on. His hands were at his sides as he sat against the front of his bed on the floor. He had no idea nor cared how long he was in the cell. To him, time in this area didn't seem relevant at all, that is until the fact he would be sentenced in New York City.
He slipped in and out of consciousness multiple times, either because he was tired or because he was malnourished. All his mind did now kept on reliving every horrid, emotionally crippling experience to happen to in the past 15 years.
His body was slowly starting to give out as the bones and joints were beginning to show under his skin. His heart began to beat harder and harder just to keep his blood flowing. He knew it would only be a short amount of time before his body gave out entirely, and his soul would move on from his body.