Creation began on 02-16-17
Creation ended on 10-28-17
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Evaflowne: The Change of Seasons
Aratana Hajimari, the Kingdom of New Beginnings, was a country far removed from its predecessor country, Zaibach, after Shinji was elected to be king and his victory over the dragon known as Retribution. A person from Earth would have compared it to someone's interpretation of what the original Tokyo had looked like before it was destroyed in the Second Impact, but possessed aspects from its time before and after World War Two, seen through a sort of kaleidoscope or a series of cracked mirror shards, a blend between the old and the new, but to one that actually lived within the kingdom, it was just home to them and everyone else that chose the boy that saved their lives from Retribution and was just a large city that was remade from the remains of Zaibach using the power of Evaflowne. The tallest of buildings in the total of twenty dotted the kingdom's outer region on all four sides, spaced out and in the middle in the shape of a four-sided star of an "X" of sorts when viewed from above. And at the edge of the kingdom, facing out towards the vast ocean, was the palace that the Ikari family resided in, shaped similarly to those of Japanese castles, except more spread out among the coastline, complete with an expansive garden.
The people, both regular humans and humanoid animals, dressed in either modern suits and dresses associated with the lifestyle of those of Earth, or even the primitive styles of the neighboring countries on Gaea, all seemed to have no major concerns about even the most trivial of things. The adults worked as often as they did, from either at home or at sea or on the farmlands. The children ran around, laughing or playing games. The elderly watched the birds and squirrels and so on.
Suddenly, someone from the outer region of the kingdom rang a large bell to signify that someone had arrived.
A large, purple, cybernetic dragon had emerged from the dense forest just outside the kingdom, and the people realized that Shinji and Evaflowne had finally returned home.
-x-
Shinji wasn't expecting a parade of people to worship his and Evaflowne's return. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate the significance of being adored by the people they saved from Retribution, but being admired twenty-four/seven was not for him. While many of the citizens would bring offerings to show their appreciation for his selflessness, just a simple greeting or a hug or handshake was enough for him.
"We're back," he uttered, looking at the palace in the distance. "We're home."
-x-
Sitting underneath the branches of a large, cherry blossom tree, Ummi, resting her back against the trunk, watched as the twins, Hiroko and Taki, ran across the small bridges over the ponds, one of their favorite pastimes. She had worried about her husband in the time he was gone, whether or not if he was doing fine after taking his mother back to the Mystic Moon and restoring it back to its previous state before the great calamity that maimed it. While worrying wasn't good for her in her current condition, she really just wanted to see her soulmate again because three months apart was torment enough for her.
Suddenly, she felt a mechanical hand on her left shoulder…with a very familiar touch to its palm. It was followed by the familiar scent of a man that had an artificial heart to save what was left of his original one.
"Are you okay, Ummi?" She heard Shinji's voice as she turned to face him.
"Yeah," she answered, smiling as she cried. "I'm okay now."
She hugged him as he fell onto his back with her atop him.
"I'm so glad you're back, Shinji," she cried happily. "I've missed you."
"I've missed you, too, Ummi," he responded, happy to be home. "I can't believe that three months have passed here while only a few days went by where I was. As much as I should have been excited to be back there…I felt my resentment well up after facing another Angel to save an old friend. I'm glad that I saved his life, but I was angry that he was to be abandoned by the head of a disgraceful organization that selected him to pilot one of their behemoths. I just wanted it all to end so that nobody else would have to suffer because of them."
"Were you able to do it all, then?" Ummi asked him.
"Well, I faced three Angels, stopped my father from exploiting the powers of two primordial beings by removing them from existence…and restoring the planet to its previous state by putting it back on its axis and restoring a frozen wasteland that made up the planet's extra water sources. So…I am fairly certain that the only problems the people there will face are the ones they make for themselves, not the ones of the disastrous type."
-x-
There was a lot of unrest, a lot of arrests and a lot of trials for the SEELE organization and their followers, along with those behind NERV, the United Nations and every other agency that was in bed with the desire to end the world of mankind. While most were sentenced to death for their involvement, others were just sentenced to either concurrent or consecutive life sentences for their involvement. Other individuals, namely Kozo Fuyutsuki, were given minimum prison terms in minimum security prisons while those like Ryoji Kaji got probation (which likely had something to do with the fact that Shinji's black box of information stating that being separated from Misato and whether or not they would ever get back together was up to both her and fate).
With the loss of Adam and Lilith, there was no further need for the Evas or NERV, which left Misato, Asuka and Rei basically out of a job. Not that it really mattered to Misato, who was relieved that the First Angel was truly gone for good. The remaining Evas were to be dismantled and disposed of and all the research relating to them erased so that nobody could develop their own or be harmed by their potential misuse.
Even though the information proved reliable, the authorities didn't have an exact punishment for Yui Ikari, whose husband was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the operation to end the world, but one thing was for certain, and that was for the woman that was legally dead to rethink her life after losing her husband, her son and her dignity. After the discovery of her involvement and how far she was willing to go in her own intentions, nobody and their children wanted to be seen near her as long as she did anything that hinted towards her previous profession or being reminded that she had, more or less, walked out on her own son, who soon turned on her and exposed her as a sort of false prophet or something.
With the information provided by Shinji's box, Rei Ayanami was not persecuted for her involvement with the Instrumentality Project, which couldn't be achieved unless she had been fused with both Adam and Lilith, and was, more or less, as human as they all were, regardless of how she came to life. Even Asuka, as much as she hated her for personal reasons, couldn't look down upon her for what wasn't in her control to begin with.
The members of the SEELE council, who would never see the light of day, even in their next life, each agreed that this was all mainly the Third Child's fault; because Gendo couldn't keep a leash on anything or anyone that needed to be kept in check, everything they sacrificed for had come undone. And as Lorenz Kiel was taken to the gas chamber for his execution, his final thoughts were of how ludicrous it had been for the careful planning of an organization that had all the necessary pieces to achieve their grand design for the world be destroyed by the life of a boy that went to another one…and then came back with an Evangelion able to turn into a dragon and perform a grand miracle.
Shinji Ikari, he thought for the final time as the cyanide gas filled the chamber. You fool.
-x-
Sleep eluded Shinji the night he returned from his three-month journey to the Mystic Moon, even when in the comforting embrace of his wife. It wasn't that he was affected with restlessness or something similar, like sleep apnea. He was just…deep in thought, which happened a few times in the last four years of his life. And whenever he was deep in thought, he did the one thing he often hated about himself, which was looking up at the ceiling of wherever he was currently.
His thoughts were of the good people everywhere, including those he thought he had stopped thinking about, like Asuka, Ayanami and Misato. He hoped the information Evaflowne provided him with would keep them safe from the fallout that was sure to come to NERV, SEELE and many other organizations being manipulated.
"You worry over everyone, Shinji," he heard Ummi say to him, whom he thought was asleep with her head on his chest, and felt her head move to meet his. "Do you want to talk about it? It might help."
She could always read him, no matter how hard he tried to hide it from her. Sometimes, she had greater insight on him than anyone else alive did.
"Don't get me wrong, I am glad to be back," he told her, looking down at her. "I just…worry that revealing everything to the world may not have the intended effect for many people that never did anything wrong to anyone."
"Your concern for other people's welfare is what makes you a good person, Shinji, not just a great king. You want for everyone to be happy, to do the least degree of harm, to see other possibilities when others don't or choose not to. Not many can or do choose to see the world the way you do. So…my question to you is…what do you want to do about the fallout aftermath?"
That was the question even he wasn't sure how to answer. Or rather, he didn't want to answer it just yet because he had been gone for a long time and was in no rush to go anywhere for the time being. He needed to be with his family.
"Let's wait a while," he suggested to Ummi.
She smiled and laid her head back down.
"How long is a while?" She asked him, willing to wait as long as he needed.
"Perhaps a year or two."
-x-
"…Asuka?" Misato spoke to the former Second Child as she looked out at the city from the hill sight where she brought Shinji after the Third Angel attack. "What brings you here?"
"This is where you brought Shinji after the first attack," the redhead expressed. "I guess I'm trying to wrap my head around whatever he thought about when he first saw the city. But it's hard due to him being older and… I still can't believe what he did to everyone. He…he changed everything with his exposing of all these hidden truths."
"You think he was wrong?"
"No, I… I'm not sure what to think of his actions right now. He revealed things I didn't know about…and probably would've been better off not knowing about. To think that he disappears for a while after the Twelfth Angel was defeated, presumed dead, then returns after it's revealed he ended up in another universe where he saves these people from a dragon that periodically attacked them and ends up…with someone and has a family…and is a king of his own country because they chose him…and he gets maimed and has an arm and one of his organs replaced with prosthetic ones… What do you do about what he's done? How do you really react to everything he's changed? And he up and leaves again when he takes his father down."
"You move on. That's about all we can do. And Asuka, the reason I'm here right now…is because we tried those crystals Shinji left us to use on the Evas. Your mother has been brought back…and she's asking to see you."
Asuka hadn't been ready to hear that. It had been a whole month now since these revelations were made, and NERV's disbandment had caused several uproars that included several complaints based on the exploitation of children as expendable soldiers (and it was mainly due to the fact that Toji's life was considered forfeit because of Commander Ikari). To know that her own mother was brought back to life after so many years inside the Eva, Asuka wasn't sure how to react. Was she supposed to be happy about it…or angry?
"If you don't want to face her right now, I can tell her you're indisposed for the time being," said Misato to her, trying to spare the feelings of the two.
"No," she responded. "I got a lot to ask her about."
Misato had seen the crystals work on Unit-02's core and what was left of Unit-03's core, returning to life Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu and Mrs. Suzuhara, the latter of whom was disgusted with what nearly befell her children because of Gendo. She was convinced that wherever it was that Shinji ended up, it was a blend between science and magic if he was able to have Evaflowne do what it could do and he himself survive with few pieces of his body less than intact. There was no other way of explaining all that had happened. One of the things she was grateful to Shinji, however, was the degree of closure she got from the revelation his box gave on how her father was used as a pawn in the instigation of Second Impact and how SEELE had manipulated his passion for scientific discovery to achieve their own ends.
A weak man, her old man might've been when he was alive, selfish, absent and completely unprepared and unfit for parenthood…but a victim, all the same. There was still hatred in her heart for his abandonment and neglect, but it wasn't all that much, anymore.
"Do you think he'll come back someday?" Asuka asked her, referring to Shinji.
"I honestly don't know," she responded; it seemed unlikely that Shinji would ever return to this world, since he did have people waiting for his return elsewhere, but part of Misato did have hope in seeing the former Third Child someday in the future. "Maybe."
-x-
A one-year minimum sentence at a prison for those like Kozo Fuyutsuki was considered a cakewalk for them, since it would go by fairly quickly…and there was no risk of riots or convicts killing convicts. But what the former sub-commander really hated was the lack of technological requirements for the prison he was in.
Hard to believe that their son brought down everything, thought Fuyutsuki as he sat at the small desk in his prison cell, looking at the daily newspaper detailing everything the media was dealing with out there still. But he didn't want to be the person tasked with deciding everyone's fate or have us face impending doom…or allow those responsible to get away unpunished. So he gave us a different choice that we didn't choose. I don't know what is better now: The return of autumn…or the approaching winter? Still, Japan is best when it has seasons, so I should really thank Shinji for all that he's done. Everyone left can move on without fear of the end of the world or be prevented from knowing what was kept from them for fifteen years. Evaflowne, the Dragon of Angels. Truly a grand miracle.
-x-
One Year Later
When they set aside their petty differences and made new bonds, people actually got a lot done within a year. Places that were believed to be uninhabitable because of Second Impact were being rebuilt and repopulated. Even places that were thought to be impossible to reclaim before it Second Impact even happened were being taken back, such as areas that had been decimated due to nuclear fallout. There was no degree of trying to prove one's superiority or wanting to move up in the world, just people of various races, ethnicities, cultures and locations working to rebuild the world they lived in.
Within months, the nation of Japan was heavy into further reconstruction and evaluation of buildings that could still be salvaged or had to be demolished and rebuilt, including the reclaimed coastal lands.
Everything seemed to be running as smoothly as possible for people…until…
FLASH! A light shot from the sky onto the ground where Tokyo Tower was being rebuilt…and a large, purple dragon flew out into the air, surprising everyone present.
They had heard the rumors about this thing, but they didn't think they'd see it. Not a single person thought that this…Evaflowne would return after being gone for over a year. Even as it flew away from the city.
-x-
"…Should we shoot it out of the sky?" A woman asked her superiors as the Air Force was trying to track Evaflowne.
"No," one of the men behind her answered. "We don't have the authority to launch a strike on this Evaflowne. Has it attempted communication with anyone?"
"No, sir," answered one of the men trying to keep track of it, "but I have a guess on where it's going right now."
"Where?" A woman demanded.
"It looks like Tokyo-3."
"Why would it go there?"
"Any heat signatures?" Another of the superiors asked; the new technology they came into allowed their newer satellites to pick up heat signatures from even a moving aircraft over thirty-thousand feet high.
"It looks like Evaflowne has…five heat signatures, sir," another woman revealed.
"Contact Major Katsuragi."
-x-
"What?!" A thirty-year-old Misato gasped, jumping up from her desk at home. "Are you sure? Evaflowne has returned and is coming to Tokyo-3?"
The purple-haired woman couldn't believe that it had been over a year since Shinji disappeared as a young teen in an Angel attack, returned a man weeks after…and left after ending things…only to return again. She never thought she'd see Shinji again, and if she did, he'd probably be a little older than he'd been the last time she saw him.
"How long until he arrives?" She asked the caller, and was informed that in less than half an hour, Tokyo-3 would be visited by Evaflowne all over again. "Oh…"
She hung up and called Asuka in Germany; after NERV was disbanded and the Eva research was terminated indefinitely, the redhead and her revived mother had returned to Germany to try and rebuild their relationship and family lives. It would probably be a good thing for Asuka to know that Shinji had returned from where he had ended up. But what confused Misato was the fact that Evaflowne possessed five heat signatures in it, meaning that there were at least five people being transported by Evaflowne…and she looked over at a copied picture taken from the previous year. It was of the picture Shinji had with him when he was here, of himself with his wife and two children, his reason for coming back here and then returning to this Gaea.
But why has he come back? She wondered.
-x-
Evaflowne had reached Tokyo-3 and landed right against the hillside where, as Unit-01, fought the Fourth Angel.
"Grr," he growled, laying down as his rider and passengers vacated his back.
Shinji, slightly older and sporting what looked like a more-regular arm where his prosthetic one once resided, inhaled and looked at the city. His wife, Ummi, stepping foot onto the grass of this alien environment that seemed similar to where she grew up, looked at the tall skyscrapers as she kept a tight-but-protective hold on the defenseless bundle in her arms.
"The air feels different here," she told him. "It feels damp."
"Did you really live here once upon a time, Daddy?" Their daughter, Hiroko, asked as she and her brother climbed down Evaflowne's left hind leg.
"Yes, Hiroko," said Shinji to her, looking at the buildings that hadn't changed much since he was away. "A very long time ago."
Taki ran over to Ummi and took notice of the brownish leaves on the trees.
"It looks like the city's experiencing the fall season," he told them.
That's something Shinji also noticed…and it put a small smile on his face to see that Japan was under the thrall of seasonal change like before his time. He looked at Evaflowne and raised his right hand against his side.
"Shinji, dearest," Ummi expressed in realization, "how can you be sure anyone you knew is still living in this place? We don't even have reservations."
Even if they were a royal family back on Gaea, here, they were no different from a regular, nuclear family. And Shinji was the only person who people know existed for fourteen years; his wife and children were complete nonentities without a claim to anything.
"I'll be honest," he responded. "I have no guarantee that anyone I knew is here. I'm not even sure how much time past since the last time I was here. Just gotta go for broke."
"But, Daddy, you always do that," expressed Taki to his father.
"Now, Taki, you know that isn't accurate," Ummi told her eldest son. "Your father just takes risks that he feels are necessary. He's not wrong for any choice that he makes."
"Is that a car, Daddy?" Hiroko asked, pointing to a blue vehicle that was moving along the base of the hill, stopping on the road.
"Yes, sweetie," Shinji told his daughter, looking at the car…and mentally swearing that he had seen that particular car many times before.
It stopped and a person got out of the car. It was a woman Shinji hadn't seen since he was last here to take down the men and women that were going to tear the rest of the world up to achieve their own goals. Another person got out of the car…and Shinji almost didn't recognize the girl because her blue hair was so long.
-x-
Asuka couldn't believe that she was grabbing a few days worth of clothes to catch a flight to Japan, just to see Shinji and find out why he decided to come back after a whole year.
It's not like he has any reason to care about what happens to us, anymore, she thought, zipping up her suitcase and stepping out her room. I mean, when we thought he was dead, he ended up elsewhere…where he's a king of his own country…and married…with a family of his own. Why would he want to come back?
"You don't think that he would be back here unless he had a hidden reason, do you?" Her mother asked her. "Based on his previous background and who his parents are, it wouldn't be considered an agenda if he was just here for a visit to see how things have changed since he was last here. If he had an agenda, it was to prevent the end of the world…and he did just that. No desire for a political position, no demands for a reward, not even a last request for something."
"But why visit?"
"To see all of you? People go various lengths of time without seeing other people and make the choice to wonder how they're doing or not."
Asuka sighed and then walked out of their house; with the revival of her mother and her father doing a fifteen-to-life prison sentence for his child neglect and affair with her doctor, Asuka and Kyoko were well-off.
-x-
It was the first time either had seen his wife and children…and it was the first time he had seen one of them with waist-length hair instead of the same style as his mother's.
"You're back," said Misato to Shinji, seeing that he had a different prosthetic arm this time.
"Misato," he greeted her as he bowed his head to her and then at Rei. "Ayanami?"
"Actually, it's been Katsuragi for the last six months," the albino revealed, which surprised Shinji. "It is good to see you again, Ikari-Kun."
They were at the base of the hill where the twins examined the Renault, fascinated by its shape and texture.
"Is this thing like a Guymelef?" Hiroko asked them.
"It doesn't look like it can support a Drag-Energist, sis," Taki told her.
"Their first time seeing a car?" Misato asked Shinji.
"Yes," he answered. "We don't have cars back home. Horses and monorails."
"If they see something new, they ask about it out of curiosity," added Ummi, sitting against the wall beside the hill. "You can't blame children for having a natural curiosity about many things or people that they see. 'Mommy, why is the sky blue?', 'Daddy, why do people get older?', 'Why are the sun and moon called the sun and moon?' If you have a question based on curiosity, then a person, parent or guardian should have the restraint and acceptance to answer the question being asked to the best of their ability…without lying or withholding secrets."
"Boy or girl?" Misato asked, curious at the bundle she was holding.
"Boy," she answered. "This is Seikatsu ("Life")."
The baby looked like a newborn, though he was a year old; he was one of the rare few on Gaea that aged a little slower than other babies did, but would grow out of it in another four years. In a strange way, he looked like a younger version of his father.
"So precious," went Rei.
-x-
Asuka was fortunate that the airports weren't closed after Evaflowne returned with Shinji, but a nine-ten-hour flight was enough to make her want to scream at how slow the plane was moving. Sometimes, she wondered why NERV had bothered to build their primary branch in Japan and one of their lesser branches in Germany. She hoped that, despite his brief time the previous year, Shinji would be around a little longer, to see how his miracle had affected the world that was once his home.
He doesn't even know that he might've restored habitats that were heavily condemned by radiation for years, she thought.
-x-
Ummi was impressed by much of the impacts made by her husband's actions with Evaflowne in this world. While the majority of the Tokyo-3 population had left to other cities and towns salvaged from the ocean around the country, including former classmates of his, it was to be expected, as not many people would want to live in a place that had been used to attract dangerous creatures on purpose. But people were now living better lives, free from the fear of the end of the world. And some of the people that did stay in the city mainly did so because they didn't have anywhere else to go and were trying to turn it into a place where one could live without the fear of death.
"…Is that a new prosthetic, Shinji?" She heard Misato asked him, looking at his arm.
"Yes, it is," he answered. "More work in streamlining the shape and function of artificial limbs."
"It looks nice."
"Thank you. So…you really adopted Rei?"
"Yeah. The revelation of her past exploitation…along with the life sentence that your father got for what he intended to do, Rei didn't really have anyone to look after her. And Kaji and myself wasn't going to happen again. Surprised?"
"That you and Kaji aren't together? No. That you're a mother? Very."
"You being a parent surprised me, and you have three kids."
Then Ummi noticed that Rei Katsuragi was staring at her as she was nursing Seikatsu.
"Yes?" She asked her.
"Are you…happy?" Rei asked her.
"I'm very happy. Are you?"
"I am happy to see Ikari-Kun again. He has changed many things."
"He's a man of great change."
"You're very pretty," went Taki to Rei.
"You're the second person he's ever said that to," said Hiroko to her about her brother. "He only ever said that to our mother."
"Thank you," Rei responded.
-x-
As the plane set foot on the ground, Asuka couldn't wait to get off and see Shinji. At least she was hoping he would still be around before he disappeared again. She took out her phone and called Misato's number, hoping she could keep Shinji from leaving until she showed up, just to talk with him.
-x-
"…Still hard to believe," Shinji expressed in Misato's apartment, looking at the different pictures of cities, towns and countries that were heavy in redevelopment after he'd been gone for a whole year.
"When people set aside their differences, they are able to get things done," Rei explained to him, sitting at the table across from him and Ummi. "What do people over…there do?"
"Agricultural development," Ummi revealed, "fishing, medical research, simple things."
"Simple…living?"
"Yeah…since people live good lives."
"And…your family is considered royalty?"
Shinji looked up at her…and then down the hallway to where Hiroko and Taki were looking at Pen-Pen, as they've never seen a penguin before.
"That's…what the people call us when I was appointed the status of king of Aratana Hiragana," he told her.
"That is…amazing."
"Shinji," went Misato, holding up her cell phone in her left hand. "I just got off the phone with Asuka, and she wants to know if you're going to be around when she shows up. Are you?"
Shinji nodded that he would be here to see Asuka; despite whatever animosity she might've still had towards him, he didn't mind seeing her again. In a way, it would've been a good thing to see her again.
To be continued…
A/N: Everything that has a beginning will often always have an ending to it.