HOW YOU REMIND ME
by Alexei Seranov
Chapter One:
Reminiscing
SEPTEMBER 13, 2021
Twenty years. It has been twenty years to the day since the Second Impact. Twenty years since mankind's numbers were halved. Twenty years since a generation of higher beings were born. Infused with great physical and mental strength, and able to pilot the Artificial Human Evangelion. It has been six years since four of these defended the world from Fallen Angels of great power and unholy will. All have left these so called "Angel Wars" with scars, both emotional and physical. Two have "died," one is crippled, and the other became a god, if only for a short while. But to become a god, he had to endure the apocalypse... with him as the focal point.
And now, in the year Twenty-Twenty-One, Shinji Ikari is an adult. Twenty years old, the ex-pilot of Evangelion Unit One couldn't be happier that his mother's soul was freed and the abomination known as Unit One is floating towards the Andromeda Galaxy. His life has become far simpler. He is in his Senior year of college at Kyoto-2 University (Kyoto was vaporized during the Third Impact) and majoring in Music, while minoring in Art and Literature. He has matured quite a bit since the end of the world. Shinji has grown to be quite the good looking man. His young, soft feature of six years ago have hardened to an edge, but were one to look into the eyes of the Savior of the World, they would see sadness, loneliness, self-hatred and longing. Shinji Ikari was not the kind to be social, let alone be thronged by friends. So he stayed the introvert he had always been. Despite this, he was quite the average college Senior. But you will never catch a trace of stubble on his face (although it was "trendy"): Gendo Rokubungi had plenty for him... Shinji (now the only Ikari) had felt it was fitting to strip his father of his mother's name. That man had died in the Entry Plug with Yui Ikari. And his soulless corpse died in Third Impact. To make sure, Shinji started to unconsciously refuse everything and anything that would make him like that man. Gendo was a bastard, pure and simple. It is all Shinji can do to not blame himself for the death and subsequent rebirth of the world.
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MONTH UNKNOWN, 2015
But Shinji was truly lonely. Not just physically, but emotionally. He felt as if his heart had been torn away with two simple words, the first after Third Impact: "How disgusting..." Shinji had cried on that beach for god-knows how long. Asuka simply lay there, staring off into space. He had been offered a world free of pain. And he was practically given the one thing he would do anything for. Looking back, he sardonically commented that she was even gift-wrapped for him. But those words brought down any hope of ever receiving love from the "Great Asuka Langley Sohryu." She had insulted, berated, hit and tormented the young man, but it was not until those two words did Shinji give up hope of ever having her love him. But he still loves her, just as much as he did when he first began to love the Red-haired Demon. (They were fighting Angels, was it such a bad thing to love a demon?) The moment he realized how he felt was in the volcano, battling the Eighth Angel. He had risked his own life to save hers, and the beautiful smile he received for it clinched it. Shinji Ikari would love Asuka Langley until the end of time. After their rebirth, Shinji attempted to help her heal. He did everything he could to help her. But once she was fully healed, she raided the small town they had inhabited and fled, with only "I'm Sorry" and a lone tear left for Shinji. That was the first, and only time he tried to kill himself. He found some rope in the back room, and only moments before he pushed the wobbly chair away (made for Asuka, ironically enough) someone rather familiar crashed through the front door.
"Hello?! I heard crying, so I busted in! Are you okay!?" Misato Katsuragi was back. Not as a ghost. Not as a zombie. As the woman Shinji Ikari had grown to know and love, almost as his own sister... maybe even his mother... "SHINJI!!!!!!!!!" As she charged the young man, she jumped and ripped the frayed rope straight from the ceiling. After he hit the ground, Misato grabbed him and gave him the biggest bear-hug the world had ever seen. Alaskan Kodiaks looked like stuffed doll compared to Misato at the moment. "OH GOD SHINJI! YOU'RE ALIVE! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!" As she broke down into sobs, Shinji began to perk up. Maybe life-after-impact wouldn't suck all that much after all. But the hole in his heart slowly began to grow that day. Comforting Misato the best he could, Shinji led her to a bed and settled her down. Forgetting entirely about his near-brush with death, Shinji soothed Misato until she finally stopped crying. She asked the one thing Shinji wasn't sure he felt like hearing at that moment: "Have you seen Asuka?"
"Y...y...yea..." And now it was Shinji's turn. The true enormity of what he had planned fell upon him like a ton of bricks. He had tried to kill himself. A few moments later and Misato would have found a dead or dying Shinji Ikari. So he cried. He cried longer and harder than he had at the beach. Longer and harder than when he knew Asuka, Misato and everyone else he knew and loved died. He was at fault, and he simply lay there and cried until he collapsed, forgetting Misato was even there. Tomorrow would be another day... how he rued that fact...
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SEPTEMBER 13, 2021
As Shinji Ikari was rudely awakened from his none-to-pleasant daydream by the last bell of the day, he pondered where his life would go from here. His skill with the cello practically assured him a role in a symphonic orchestra of his choice (that and the fact he saved the world), and he could go wherever he wanted from here. But there was only one dream Shinji had. And it was impossible; at least that's what Ikari thought to himself. As he walked home to his apartment, which he shared with his adopted mother and father, he gave more thought to an idea he had come upon. For the last few weeks, all he could think of was her. She dominated everything in his mind. Shinji felt that the only way to solve the problem was to get to the heart of it... he was going to call Asuka. He knew Misato would have the answer, so that was his plan... How he hoped she wouldn't laugh at him or just hang up. But his mind was set. Ikaris have a tendency to become so single-minded they ignore everything else. And this is how Shinji would be. "Mom! Dad! I'm home!" As Shinji Ikari walked through the front door, he felt like he truly was home. He met the smiling faces of Misato and Ryouji Kaji with a smile of his own. They had adopted him in Twenty-Sixteen, shortly after Kaji had returned from the "Sea of Souls," as it came to be known after the large majority of people returned, and allowed him to keep his mother's name, knowing it meant a lot to him. Of course, now he is Shinji Kaji Ikari. But he chooses to leave out his new family name. He has enough troubles of his own. Between college, being hounded by people who believe he is some kind of messiah (or a blasphemer, or whatever), and trying to be happy without the one thing that will make him so, Shinji is a very tired man. "How are you two today? And how's my little sister doing?" With a wink and a nod towards Misato's stomach, Shinji is given a playful bop on the head.
"She's fine. The question is why are you home so late today? New girlfriend?" With a wink of her own, and a squeeze from her husband, she smiled at Shinji. After a few mumbled statements and turning a healthy crimson, Shinji just turns his eyes towards the area of the house where Asuka's room would be if they were in their old apartment. Seeing this, Misato's smile evaporates. She wants Shinji to be happy, but knows Asuka is the key to that. Sadly, she only knows a few things about her whereabouts. The melancholy look on his face and the faraway gaze prove exactly what she thinks to be true. Feeling she shouldn't mention it, she returns to her cooking, which has become rather good thanks to lessons from Shinji. However, Kaji was never one to let a problem drop, and proved he was _still_ the bane of Misato's existence.
"It's about her, isn't it...? Look Shinji, you have two options about this... I've said both before. This is the last time. You're a grown man now. Make your own decisions. Keep going and forget her, or go find her. Either way, I don't care. But you are going to do what you feel is right if I have to throw you out the goddamned house. Got it?" Kaji said all of this with the very serious parental tone and visage that he saved for situations involving life-changing activities, and the one thing no parent wishes to hear: "I think I got her pregnant..."
"Okay dad... but I think I've made up my mind. I'll be in my room." As Shinji turned to walk to his room, Misato turns around and smiles at his back.
"Page 125, third column. You're doing the right thing Shinji-kun..." The young man keeps walking, and slowly shuts the door behind him. Misato knew he understood her. He was her young man now. She would make him happy through any means... even if they involved losing him...
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AUTHOR'S NOTES/ DISCLAIMER:
New story, I know. But nothing can keep my attention for long. Anyway, don't worry. NDE Chapter 5 is in the works, as is HTE Chapter 1. I hope you guys like this. If anything, it'll give me some experience on the subject of WAFFy stuff. Anyway, enjoy this and whatever the hell else I put out... OR ELSE... Uhh... Mike will mug you... I think... whatever, just go busy yourselves with something other than my incessant rambling. –Alexei