Creation began on 05-09-23
Creation ended on 07-31-23
Neon Genesis Evangelion
I Dream of Evangelion: Shame of Humanity's Progress
A/N: The penultimate chapter!
With the return of land taken during the flooding caused by the melting of the Antarctic more than fifteen years ago, the mega city that had been Tokyo was undergoing a massive program of reconstruction in the months following the global restoration that mysteriously brought the frozen landmasses of the Antarctic back. Because of this reconstruction, other parts of the Japanese nation had been relocating to take part in the program to rebuild the city that had once been home to the capital itself. This left Tokyo-3, the so-called fortress city meant to withstand the threat of the Angels, nothing more than a ghost town inhabited by people affiliated with NERV, operated by the MAGI for its computerized needs. Even the schools were closed, resulting in the young people tasked with leading the world into its new future to go to school outside the city.
This was what Shinji Ikari had to do when he made his decision to go back to school to resume his education, and the closest city where he could pick up where he left off when he went to Tokyo-3 to meet his father was Tokyo-2, which returned to being known as Matsumoto, its original identity. He had been fortunate that he hadn't missed that much and could continue his schooling until he graduated; the mere fact that his aunt and uncle were still obligated to make sure his general education was paid for in the absence of his parents or other custodians left him unwilling to question whatever they once thought of him.
"I heard your father went to prison," his uncle had told him upon meeting him outside the school the day he returned. "Where have you been living since you went to see him?"
"You remember the girl I was seen with when I returned from the beach?" He replied to him. "I've been staying with her. I wasn't going to live with that man, even if it was an option."
"You live with a girl old enough to be your sister? How reckless can you be?"
"You can think whatever you want of me, but it was my choice in the end, something that man couldn't accept because he didn't want me around. It didn't seem like any of you actually wanted me around, not with the way you spoke of me or my parents, who are nothing more than strangers to me. But I can live with that revelation…because I don't need to live with the reminder that this family or that the name that is Ikari…has any value left to me beyond what currently is necessary for now."
"You can't possibly think you can survive out there after you graduate, do you?" His uncle asked him. "You barely know anything."
"I know enough to know that I will not be like my parents," Shinji had revealed part of his intentions. "They chose science and politics. I just want a life and a future I can be proud of when I become old enough to not need anyone's acknowledgement to do anything I feel is right."
That had been his plan; to continue his education until he graduated from high school, upon which he had to forge his own path to his own future free from his past. Even if it meant cutting off all ties with the rest of his relatives, at least he'd be free of them to make his own choices and not be looked down upon by them. It had been the last time he ever spoke with either his uncle or aunt. That had been four months ago…and he had just walked out of the school building as the day ended for the umpteenth time.
"So, what are your plans for the rest of the day, Ikari?" A girl about his age asks him as he turns to face her, seeing her with a boy wearing a red coat.
"Just going home to see Pema and Otome," he answers as he walks down the street.
"You should consider moving closer to the city," the boy in the red coat suggests. "The commute between here and Tokyo-3 must be a strain."
"Again, I don't live in Tokyo-3. I live just outside it."
"How do you handle it, though? Living near there and commuting to Tokyo-2 just for school?"
"Because of whom I know and trust with my life waiting for me at the end of the day."
"So, that rumor about some lady friend of yours is true?" The girl asks.
"Lady friend? I don't know about any lady friend. I just know that my future includes this woman that's the love of my life."
"Is she really, like, I don't know, three years older than you?" The boy questions.
"You got a problem with that?"
"Is she really beautiful?"
"She's beautiful to me, and that's all that matters to me."
"Yeah, she's definitely beautiful."
Shinji popped open his scooter and rode down the street to the train station.
-x-
Maybe it was a habit for her, but only one that developed briefly after Shinji went back to school to finish his education. Besides, the cool air felt good on her skin when she was like this. As Otome sat beside her, Pema lay on her back on the temple floor, waiting for Shinji to return home. His school had let out over half an hour ago, so he was bound to return within another hour or so.
"Arrf!" Otome barked.
"He'll be home when he gets home," Pema tells her.
"Grr…"
Pema dozed off for a brief while after Otome growled in minor frustration over Shinji's absence. And then, she heard a door opening.
"Pema," she hears Shinji's voice as she opens her eyes to see him standing in front of her whilst Otome stood on her hind legs beside him. "This is getting to be a habit of yours."
Rising up to a sitting position, Pema clutched the bath towel hugging her body as she smiled at him; every other day or so, Pema would bathe in the hot spring and then lay on the floor until Shinji returned from school.
"Is it that bad a habit for me?" She asks him.
"Only if we had guests, which is rare, since we don't really invite anyone here. I wouldn't be able to explain this to them."
"Yes, you're right. Still, after a hot bath…the cool air does feel good on my skin."
She blinked…and the towel was replaced by her blue shorts and gray shirt from yesterday.
"Did anything happen while I was away?" Shinji asks her as she stands up.
"No," she answers him as she goes over and hugs him. "On the radio, there was an update on Osaka's reconstruction. They're doing better than Nagoya currently is, and both are expected to be thirty-five percent ahead of Tokyo's reconstruction."
"It's mostly because Tokyo is still dealing with clearing the debris that accumulated over the years of being underwater. The history of those places is great to hear about when the teachers aren't going on about the aftermath of Second Impact. I could hear about them for an hour and be impressed with the way they looked fifteen years ago."
"Really?"
Shinji took off his bookbag and took out a book that detailed places of interest across Japan. He showed her pictures of what Osaka and Nagoya looked like back in the late Twentieth Century, and Pema was impressed by their architectural marvels.
"And they're trying to recapture their greatness while rebuilding?" She asks.
"As much as possible," he explains.
"Arrf!" Otome barked as she stood up on her hind legs.
"Okay, okay, Otome," Shinji responds as he reaches into his bag and pulls out a doggy treat. "Roll over."
Otome did as Pema requested of her and rolled over for Shinji, who chuckled as he tossed her the treat, which she caught in her mouth.
"Arrf!"
"Good girl," Pema praised.
-x-
Even though it was only because they wanted to know from a distance, Misato had to consider that the Ikaris Shinji had lived with prior to coming to Tokyo-3 back when NERV had the situation with the Angels and the boy knew next to nothing about why his father wanted him there…were bordering close to harassment if they kept contacting her for information on how their nephew up and ended up in an abandoned temple with a strange girl and was able to survive without any adult supervision or access to financial resources. In fact, it was almost like they couldn't muster the courage to speak to their nephew directly about anything and needed to speak to someone close enough to be his proxy, which was herself since she was the one that met with Shinji and Pema periodically before and after Gendo was incarcerated, leaving Shinji without a guardian to represent his interests. But Misato didn't like this invasion of his privacy, something that he was adamant about when he learned his father had people following him around when he was with Pema and learned about their kiss. Even she didn't want to tease the couple about their relationship when she had to suspect that they had sex shortly after Gendo's attack on them at the museum.
"…You don't find it the least bit bizarre that a fourteen-year-old boy is living in a derelict temple with a girl three years older than him?" The uncle had asked her once. "She could be a drug dealer or a predator for all we know."
But Misato knew that the truth was beyond tolerable. And most people's beliefs were either from places of genuine concern…or out of some sense of spite…and it was likely that the Ikaris' concerns were the latter, not the former. Even if she told them what she knew about Pema's past, how her father had tried to marry her off to some lord's son she didn't even love in the slightest, resulting in her being cursed when she refused to marry him, there was no way she would be believed without proof, and Shinji and Pema deserved to be left alone if people couldn't accept their relationship for what it was. And because Pema restored the planet to its previous state due to a selfless wish of Shinji's, she owed the girl her trust to keep her dark past buried under the lies and half-truths needed to protect her current state of being and her future with Shinji.
"Their relationship is mutual," she told the uncle. "She's just a girl trying to survive in the world without being found or controlled by her father. In a way, she and Shinji are alike; they're just trying to get on with their lives without having their decisions be judged by people that don't see that they're trying to be different from those that came before them. And Shinji, he has no desire to be anything like his parents or yourselves. The sooner others accept that, the better off he'll be in the future."
A kid that had no desire to be a scientist, a politician, a paramilitary leader or even something in between, but was most likely considered a young man with no actual future if he had no understandable desire. But the Ikaris simply had to cover his schooling until he graduated out of high school and turned eighteen; whatever Shinji did after he graduated upon turning eighteen was up to him, not something they needed to concern themselves with if they didn't really care about him. And from what Misato understood, these people never tried to contact him after he came to Tokyo-3; no phone calls or emails or anything, indicating that they had put their nephew out of their minds and out of their lives.
She almost threatened to block their number if they didn't stop calling her for personal information that they should've contacted their nephew to get if their curiosity about him and Pema was that great.
I'm starting to get why Shinji decided not to go back to them, she thought as she downed her fifth can of beer for the evening. I thought his father was a piece of work, but it seems like all of his relatives are pieces of work that only have negativity towards him. Meeting Pema may have very well saved his life from that family of resentment-dwellers.
Still, Shinji was only fourteen, and had four more years to go before he was officially free from what remained of his relatives and able to go his own way. The only good thing about his current situation was his relationship with Pema.
-x-
This was another habit Pema had during the time the country was rebuilding, but one she had with Shinji. Watching the progress of the rebuilding efforts of other cities that used to stand before Second Impact occurred, and seeing the people that had to live elsewhere within Japan due to the loss of their original homes come back now that much of the original space had been restored and was being reclaimed to rebuild. There was something about it that was calming to the couple, although the one con that existed in this habit was Pema turning into the Servant Beast of the Djinn due to the presence of potential danger Shinji was around, only mitigated by staying in the shadows and out of sight atop roofs and scaffoldings. First, they went to where Tokyo had stood proudly as the nation's capital city, then Osaka, and ending their nightly wandering with a brief visit of Sapporo.
"It's so remarkable," Pema tells Shinji as they sat atop a scaffolding of an unfinished building, enjoying a pair of bentos they had prepared for the nightly wandering. "Reclamation of lost land and establishing what once stood or replacing it with something new. There is beauty in their progress. And, quite personally, the smell of their progress is quite surprising."
"The smog emissions from their construction vehicles?" Shinji asks her; her ability to see the positive in these details didn't cease to impress him. "Japan has had these actions that resulted from the aftermath of World War Two where they were trying to rebuild their economy and built all these factories that created pollution."
"Nobody ever said that the aftermath of a war would be simple and clean. After every struggle where life is altered, people have to rebuild and readjust. The disgust of any post-war society is a loss of familiar faces and treasured memories and feelings. But the greatest disgust in any war is the drive of those that make a conscious decision to instigate war with someone else. These alone can shame humanity's progress."
"Yeah. I hope we never see a war for a long time."
"Same here, Shinji, same here. Still, you gotta admire the smell of the smog fumes a little."
"Yeah. They are a little good."
-x-
It was a total surprise for NERV when one of their Evas had activated briefly on their own. Of course, because NERV's Japan branch only had two Evas, that meant Unit-01 was the one that surprised the personnel; with Unit-02 transferred back to Germany alongside Asuka, this left the paramilitary branch where this nightmare had initially started with just its first two Evas. And then, there was the result of the Eva's brief reactivation that had some people stunned, including Fuyutsuki, who recognized the issue. A woman, somewhere in between her late-twenties or early-thirties, with pageboy hair, was found unconscious outside Unit-01.
It was anyone's guess as to why or even how this was so, but Fuyutsuki could only guess why himself, that it might've had something to do with the way things ended and how things were before they ended.
"Just who is she?" Misato asks because she only saw a disturbing resemblance to Rei in this woman as she lay in the trauma ward.
"Your guess is as good as mine," said a male nurse to her as he finished his examination of the woman. "We tried running her prints, but they're not in the national database. Same with hair and dental records. Either she doesn't officially exist…or someone erased her records."
Fuyutsuki pondered how to get around this and how anything was going to be resolved with the Ikari family now that one of its members had returned from what was best described as a purgatorial existence. But then he realized that it was unlikely that the Ikaris would ever be whole because of how things ended between several of its members. One in particular who severed most of their ties with the family and name due to poor-developed relationships. Even if they did setup a meeting between them all, there was no way of there being a pleasant reunion.
One's in jail, one's in a self-imposed exile of sorts with a friend, the rest are distant and one just returned from a damned state, he thought as he tried to make sense of this all.
In the room, the unconscious woman was wondering why and how what she had believed would happen hadn't and what did happen was different from what she had believed in. All of this…along with the perception of a young man living inside a derelict temple with a girl…who was cursed to live with a monster.
This is not the bright future for all of humanity that I wanted to show him, she thought as she continued to lay in bed.
-x-
Shinji and Pema returned to the temple and found Otome sitting on their futon sheets; she must've woken up some time ago and waited for them to return. The cursed girl returned to her human form and knelt down as Otome ran over to her and hopped into her arms.
"And how's my little girl?" Pema asks the dog as she licks her cheeks.
Shinji smiles as he goes over to the fireplace to open a water bottle and fill a kettle for tea. He didn't fear the future so long as he had these two. Before he came to Tokyo-3, he didn't have anyone of any significance until he met Pema at the beach, and he was grateful that he did. Even if he had to live isolated from the rest of the country, he would be fine with that fate so long as he had these two in his life.
Pema looked over at him and smiled back.
-x-
With the restoration programs happening across the country as well as the rest of the world, the prison personnel across Japan saw an increase of convicts whose trials were pending or suspended due to prison overcrowding issues. While some were likely to consider releasing a handful of inmates simply to aid in the reconstruction efforts, this was not the case for Gendo, who was listed among those with serious offenses and deemed flight risks. Because of his harassment and assault on several people in an attempt to harm his son and his friend, he was not permitted to leave the prison he was sentenced to serve his sentence. Even if he showed good behavior while incarcerated, the danger he could've posed was too great a risk to let him out for even one day. But Gendo, listening to the radio broadcasts on the daily news of the reconstruction projects that Japan was undertaking, found everyone's attempts to rebuild a waste of time and resources, only to be reminded that he was no longer in charge of anyone and had no authority to run his mouth with complaints.
"I heard your request for work release was denied again," he heard another inmate say to him. "That makes it three times now?"
"Four," Gendo replied.
"I honestly don't know why you bother. How long you in for, anyway? Ten years? Eight?"
"Twenty."
"What'd you do, kidnap someone?"
"No, he tried to harm his son's lady friend right in front of him at a museum," spoke up another inmate. "What, did he reject you in favor of a pretty face that offered him companionship?"
But even if Gendo did say what he knew about Pema not being who she seemed, it would be viewed as a falsehood tale. Nothing more than a fantasy that stemmed from his own dislike of the girl that latched onto his son before he arrived to Tokyo-3 and refused to cooperate with him.
"If he attacked his kid's friend simply out of spite," a third inmate expresses, "it's no wonder he hasn't received a visit from him since he got here. Few people want to be reminded that their parents are locked up for their crimes."
In the months that passed since the planetary reversion that restored the South Pole and allowed people to reclaim their coastal areas with the return of the seasons, Gendo had been among the majority of men that received any other visitors since the start of the reconstruction projects. He even suspected that most put the mere thought of his son out of their minds after NERV was retasked with recreating lost species of flora since he offered no service beyond his original purpose, which he stubbornly refused to commit to. Even in solitaire, the gossip and news never got old; some of the inmates always had something to say and knew more than Gendo did.
-x-
The next morning, Shinji woke up upon hearing his phone's alarm clock going off and quickly dressed in his uniform before eating breakfast whilst Pema still slumbered.
Or so he thought.
Pema, upon hearing the same alarm, woke up and looked at him from under their sheets and sighs at how he managed to get up this early despite having slept for just six hours. But then was reminded that because they live in a temple outside of Tokyo-3 and Shinji needed to catch a train to get to Tokyo-2 where his school was, she had to smile at his commitment to pursue his education until he graduated and was free to pursue his own goals.
"You be sure to have a good day, Shinji," she tells him as she removes the blanket from over her head to see him before he leaves out the temple.
"You, too, Pema," he responds as he grabs his bag from off the floor and opens the door to go. "We should head to the botanical gardens later when I come back. Or you and Otome should go and I'll catch up with you. Don't be cooped up in here all day. Go outside and have fun."
"Yeah. I love you, Shinji."
"I love you, too, Pema."
It seemed like an old ritual of those in a relationship and were living together, but Shinji and Pema were used to it because they were committed to each other to be together for the long run. And they were still in the live-in couple's stage; a four-year-long waiting period to marry didn't seem like a long time for most, but four years was long enough to get to know people more than the first few months these two had together when they first met. As Shinji closed behind him, Pema groans as Otome crawled up from under the blanket and put her front paws on her head.
"Arrf!" She barked.
"Alright, Otome," Pema gives in and gets up. "Where's that book on the botanical gardens of this country? Some of the impressive ones are further away."
-x-
"…And…that's about everything," Fuyutsuki tells Yui once she had recovered enough for a conversation. "Everything changed shortly after your son arrived with his friend."
"She is not who she seems," Yui claims in response. "She may have Shinji's interests at heart, but her involvement with him has ruined everything."
"If we all knew the truth, some would disagree with you on this. It's been over four months now since the restoration of the Antarctic and people reclaiming their coastal areas. How could she have anything to do with all that has happened?"
"The first time that Shinji was in the Eva, I saw his past. I saw how he met this Pema…and she isn't normal. Maybe she was once upon a time, but she's hardly normal now. The second time Shinji was in the Eva, he learned a little more about her. She was once betrothed to a lord's son by her own father…only she declined to marry him because she didn't love him, so the lord cursed her. She became a host to this creature you've seen that interfered with NERV's objective and has been the reason why he didn't come back, no matter what you tried."
"With all due respect, Yui, your husband wasn't very cooperative with him when he attempted to negotiate with NERV after the second time he was forced to pilot the Eva. I was surprised that his demands were quite reasonable; I would have expected him to want money or a private apartment, but he didn't want any of that. He just wanted to continue living with Pema at the temple they turned into their home without any unnecessary surveillance or supervision. Those were his demands in exchange for him piloting of his own volition. But Gendo wouldn't have any of that and even showed a photo of the two together, which drove a deeper wedge into the situation that was not going to be resolved afterward."
"And you just let him walk away with that girl?"
"He trusts her more than he's willing to trust anyone else here, which wasn't much at all. After that, I told him everything about what was going on."
"You told him…everything?"
"He had a right to know why he was sought after to begin with…and had a right to choose whether or not to let the truth break him. He chose not to let it break him…or he had Pema to help him get over it. Either way, he moved on from where he was to where he is."
"Which is?"
"He didn't go back to his aunt and uncle's. After NERV was through with the business with the Angels and the planetary restoration, he chose to continue living with Pema at the temple. Their relationship is… Whatever their relationship status is in the eyes of others, it is clear that they are in love, despite the age difference between them."
"She's older than he is by a lot. Over a dozen millennia. She just hasn't aged since the day she was cursed."
"And Shinji knows all of this?"
"He must know everything about her. Probably views her as a genie or something similar, because he made a wish before they met."
"Would that be a terrible thing if he did? If he made a wish and she's the result of that wish, she must be the only person he has in his life right now that has no intention of leaving him for whatever reasons they may have. And as of late, Misato Katsuragi, the one assigned to bring him to NERV the day the Third Angel attacked, has been viewed as an unofficial source of information relating to the pair, though it has become inconvenient for her."
"Why?"
"Instead of your relatives trying to speak with Shinji, they contact Katsuragi. It's like they can't face him directly so they turn to her for whatever information they can get. Although, this likely stems from their distance from him and his lack of dependence upon them; their only purpose in his present situation is covering his schooling until he graduates high school."
"So, nobody has seen where he lives with her?"
"I went there once. The temple is…it has a sense of home to the two. They even have a dog with them. Katsuragi has been over there more than thrice. If she knows more than she says, she's probably developed a sense of respect towards the two."
"Or she could be keeping the girl's secret out of fear if she's seen the creature she's bound to."
Somehow, Fuyutsuki got the feeling that Yui was terrified of Pema due to the girl's connection to Shinji…and would rather them not be together, despite that seeming impossible if the two were committed to each other.
"Maybe you should meet the girl," he suggests to her; if what he learned from Misato was any indication that the young pair was inseparable, then they were in no position to question or challenge the relationship if it was that stable. "Shinji will likely be at school in Tokyo-2 by now, so Pema will likely still be at the temple, assuming that she hasn't gone anywhere for the day."
Oh, if only he knew that Yui had a personal fear of Pema because of her curse and how she feared that she might try to hurt Shinji if crossed. A personal fear…and a personal distrust towards her due to her advance age, her unusual appearance…and her very attachment towards her son.
"I wish to know everything there is to know about you, Shinji," she recalls the memory of her son's conversation with the girl shortly after meeting her that day he released her from her bottle. "No matter how large or small, I want to know about you."
It was the first time Shinji recalled someone wanting to actually know about him, to really know about him, not caring who his parents were…and it bothered Yui to see that Shinji had become attached to this girl he just met. This girl…who could've promised him great wealth, a magnificent palace and such…but instead only desired her as a companion, a friend, despite her lack of knowledge of being in a world not her own.
To be continued…
A/N: I originally intended to put a scene where Pema and Otome go to the botanical gardens on Hokkaido, but decided against it because I couldn't figure out a way to work it into the chapter. And the return of Yui was a surprise for myself due to her lack of involvement within the story, but it was bound to happen, eventually. Still, the main focus was Shinji and Pema, who are just trying to get through their lives with the least amount of difficulty from other people, and the rest of the world is rebuilding in their attempts to recreate their fallen towns and cities and lost flora and fauna. Not sure how the last chapter will be, but I refuse to end it on a sour note; I'm a sucker for happy conclusions because they work.