Creation began on 08-13-15
Creation ended on 09-25-15
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Sword of Destruction, Sword of Life: Joy
A/N: Things in Tokyo-3 are about to get lively.
RING-RING! The phone in the apartment rang, and Misato picked up.
"This is Katsuragi," she said. "Who is this?"
"It's me, Katsuragi," went Kaji on the other end. "I promised if I was ever to contact you again, I'd say the words I couldn't say long ago. I love you."
Tears ran down the sides of Misato's face, realizing that Kaji had managed to survive whatever had happened to him when he left her what he had thought would be his last message.
In his room, overhearing the conversation from his guardian's side, Shinji smiled as he clenched his right hand on the Tenseiga's scabbard.
-x-
The citizens of the city were out and about, reveling in the feeling of a sudden reprieve from sudden sickness and death. Children were running, women could be seen shopping for food and necessities, and men were working to move large crates and boxes. It was a day that was unlike any of the previous days in Tokyo-3, and the hospitals and clinics were being emptied of former patients, with the medical staff confused as to how these people, either sick with advanced illnesses or were recently amputated of an arm or leg, were suddenly well again.
Toji Suzuhara had arrived to pick up his sister, Sakura, whom the doctors called him about to inform him that she was well enough to go home.
The little girl, with a tomboyish appearance, short, dark hair and bluish-green eyes, smiled as her big brother arrived to come get her.
Toji was amazed by her rapid recovery, like something magical occurred almost overnight. He suspected that a certain someone had a hand in the people's sudden uptick in the activity going on in the city.
"You ready to go home?" He asked Sakura.
"Yes," she answered him. "Let's go home."
-x-
In the park, by a bench, Misato waited for Kaji to show up.
"Misato?" She heard his voice behind her, in the bushes nearby.
"Kaji," she greeted him. "I thought you were dead."
"That's what I thought, too. I found myself in a dark place, unable to see anything. Until a light shone on my face, and I found myself back in the place where I fell."
-x-
"…All medical facilities around the city were deprived of sick and injured people," Ritsuko revealed to Gendo in his office, having noticed more people out and about than normal. "Every patient, sick, dying or with an amputated limb or two, perfectly well and feeling as though they've been reprieved from whatever was ailing them. None of the medical staff could understand why this was so."
"Could it have been caused by a new type of Angel?" He suggested, there was no new treatments available to the public to cause these happenings that were seen as miracles, such as the removal of an incurable disease like AIDS or the regeneration of amputated limbs.
"No detection of any blue patterns were made known through the MAGI, and it wouldn't make any sense to why an Angel would do anything like this to people. As a whole, they view mankind as an enemy, and seek to exterminate us. Unless this is some kind of battle tactic, there's little doubt that this is the work of an Angel."
-x-
Over in the countryside, Shinji wandered around to be alone with his thoughts and his swords, deciding to get some more practice with them.
The people are so lively today, he thought, finding an open field large enough to practice his sword swings and slashes. Even the elderly were running in the park with their grandchildren.
Tying the sheaths of his swords to his belt, he stood in front of a large tree and unsheathed the Tessaiga, transforming it into its true form. He swung at the air several times, pretending that he was under attack by scores of people with the intention of taking the swords from him. What was unusual right now to him was that, with the minor exception of his experience with the Progressive Knife, Shinji knew nothing of swordsmanship or how to use a sword to its full potential, but here he was right now, using the Tessaiga as though he had been using it his entire life. It felt like it had no weight at all, but could cut through the densest of tangible barriers, feeling as though it were an actual part of him, an extension of his body.
He and the sword were harmonizing, becoming in sync with one another. Shinji could see through the memories of its previous owner…and how, with every battle, every life-threatening scenario that he was involved in, either to save lives or enhance Tessaiga, he managed to barely survive and recover within the course of a few days later. Life had been, in many ways, cruel to the previous owner, but he found a place to settle down with people that accepted him, and he continued to use his sword for benevolent reasons, never for vengeance or wealth. And it was just what Shinji wanted to do with the swords, as well, to protect the people for the sake of protecting them from the Angels without the need for the Eva.
It's going to be a good day for the people, he thought, thrusting the sword into the ground, imagining that he was driving its blade into an enemy's heart, stopping them from hurting others.
-x-
Hiding from the technological methods used by the Lilim by keeping herself on the far side of the moon, Arael, the Angel of Birds, pondered on how to go about her strategy to face the threat and rescue Adam. All she knew from the defeat of Zeruel was that something other than the mockeries of Adam and the mockery of Lilith had defeated him, and this had been a power unlike any possible to obtain by mortal hands. She suspected that it was a power that focused on the physical aspect of the children of Adam, so she would be fortunate enough to handle the situation for not being in possession of a physical body, for hers was intangible, made of light energy, giving her an advantage over those bound by physicality.
-x-
"…Say, what's so special about those lousy swords you have there, Third?" Asuka asked Shinji, as they both returned to Misato's apartment at the same time.
Shinji sighed and responded, "They were an offering from a most-reprieved citizen."
"Whatever," she told him.
"Yeah," he retorted. "Whatever. With you, it's always whatever. Can't you ever just say something nice…and mean it?"
"Not to you, stupid."
"You're impossible to deal with, Asuka."
"And you're an embarrassment."
"I'm an embarrassment? How am I an embarrassment?"
"You quit NERV! Something goes wrong with the Fourth Child's Eva, it turns into an Angel, gets defeated, and you quit later on! You're weak, emotional, a complete disgrace to the Eva program. If it were up to you, you'd probably run us all into the ground and hand the world over to the Angels."
Shinji inhaled and responded, "Yeah, I'm emotional. Yeah, I quit NERV, but it was my choice to do so, just as it's how I am to be emotional, to care for the people that could get hurt because of the Evas. If being an Eva pilot means being a killer, or being subservient…or being prideful like you are, then I'm better off away from the Eva, away from something that promises nothing when and if the Angels are all defeated. If you want to continue believing in the program, that's your decision, Asuka. But I'm content with walking away from the program. I'm content with not devoting my life to the Eva. I've had an epiphany very recently, and I've realized that there's more to life than NERV and the Eva. There's more to life than wanting my father's acceptance, which he'll never give. At least then, I might have a good chance of living to be at least twenty. I want to experience more from life than that of violence, something you seem to embrace twenty-four/seven. The only way to do so is to rid oneself of any chains of violence is to walk away."
As he walked into the apartment, the developing swordsman heard chuckling from further down the hall. It sounded like Misato, but it also sounded like a man was with her.
Asuka brushed past him and into the living room, seeing the purple-haired woman making out with an unshaven man.
"Oh, please, you two," she groaned, turning away to her room. "Get a room."
Shinji came in (after putting away his swords) and saw the pair.
"I think I even want to know," he kindly expressed to them.
Turning to go back to his room, he failed to notice that Misato had a ring on her left hand. If he had stuck around to ask her about it, he would've found out that Kaji had proposed to her.
To be continued…
A/N: Sorry this took so long. I've had too many distractions.