41Hello all, LATE Merry Christmas and Happy Dawning to all of you. Yes as it sounds this was supposed to be a Christmas chapter, sadly life meant that I couldn't finish this in time. Sorry but we hope you all enjoy it regardless ^^
-Maniac & WG
"Normal Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
[Ghost telepathically talking directly to their Guardian]
Also a bit of clarifying to prevent any confusion. All dialogue is in English unless otherwise specified. I'm just going to go on a limb and assume that the common language in The City is English since groups like Future War Cult and Sparrow Racing League have banners that shorten themselves to FWC and SRL and I am assuming, those banners stay the same in the game's different language versions. Other languages are still spoken (since I assume Ghosts can act as something akin to universal translators when necessary and since there are other languages written on the tower), for example Asuka's Ghost uses Japanese suffixes and so does Shinji, who also uses the term 'senpai' in regular speech.
So yeah, just assume it's English unless specified for the sake of simplicity.
Enjoy!
Chapter 3: Reunion II (Cohabitation Part 2)
Shinji closed his eyes as he sighed and placed Monte Carlo on his back as the door to the cockpit closed behind him with a hiss and a click. Opening his eyes he entered the Damsel's cockpit, the large wrap around monitor taking the place of a glass canopy displaying the beautiful star filled night sky. The sky was clear tonight, the stars in the sky glittering like a sea of diamonds in the darkness.
A small smile worked its way onto his face at the sight. He had come to find some enjoyment in fighting, that's true, he loved riding his sparrow, also true, but Shinji's favourite thing to do as a Guardian?
Flying, there was simply nothing like it.
Mari was there too of course, just like she had said, resting herself on top of the pilot's headrest. Her light was off, the small drone seemingly doing her best impression of a napping cat.
Contrary to the often cramped cockpits of 21st century jet fighters the cockpit of the Quite Content Damsel was cozy but quite roomy, the larger vessel having the room for it. The cockpit itself was a two-seater, the second seat behind the first and slightly above, in the same layout as the old VTOL gunships of his era. Unlike the aircraft of the past though there was enough room around the back seat to walk around it to get to the front seat, which all the controls were centred around. With the advanced auto-pilot software developed during the Golden Age and improved by Amanda Holliday, and the presence of Mari, the Damsel was more than capable of flying herself so the second seat was just for passengers, not a co-pilot.
Shinji reached up and put his hood down before reaching for his helmet and taking it off, the air-tight seal breaking with a hiss, revealing the face of Shinji Ikari, former Third Child of NERV, Hunter of the Vanguard. His face was young, not all that different from his face at 14. His skin was noticeably less tanned than before, a result of how much time he spent in his armour or covering his head with a hood when outdoors. His blue eyes were a bit sharper but still held mostly softness, something Mari had always worked to keep, and full of a hopeful quality they had never had before when he was an Evangelion pilot. His brown hair was slightly longer than how it used to be, a result of his own laziness more than an actual stylistic choice.
The small drone floated up off the seat as he made his way forward, flashing away his helmet and the rifle on his back.
"Thanks," he mumbled before sitting in the pilot's seat with a content sigh. He had to hand it to Mari, using some of his hard earned glimmer to upgrade the livability of the Damsel, like the quality of the seats, was probably one of the best ideas his insane Ghost had ever had.
Probably her sole sane one too.
"You're welcome Puppy, after today I think you've earned the right to relax properly."
"Not our toughest fight though. Other than the numbers they weren't so bad," he commented and closed his eyes, taking a minute to relax. "They'd stand no chance if the House of Devils attacked."
"True enough, sadly I don't think our friends are nice enough to kill each other off. Oh, by the way I sent a report about the strange Fallen activity to the Vanguard." Shinji gave a silent nod of acknowledgement and Mari internally frowned. They had been through fights with tougher enemies, even ones that came in greater numbers before but she'd never seen him look as tired as he does now. "Shinji," she used his proper name with no suffixes to convey her serious concern, "are you alright? I can fly for you if you want you know."
"Just…" he sighed and when he spoke his voice was weary and exhausted. "I'm just tired, is all. Now that I can calm down and think…mentally I'm tired, Mari. Seeing it all again…seeing Unit-02 again…" his voice cracked and he took a deep breath "…I miss her, you know?"
"I know..." she replied, her voice almost a whisper "…I understand." She really did, she wasn't quite sure, even after their time together, whether he knew how much he missed the Second Child but she did know. After all, he sometimes called her name out in his sleep…she wasn't sure if he knew that either. "Do…do you want to take a nap, Shinji?"
The young man in question couldn't help but smile at her worry, it was nice to be cared for that was for sure. "No…I just want to take a minute to just…rest. Our fresh Titan may have questions for me…if I do fall asleep though, please keep an eye on the Damsel for me."
"Sure!"
"That means no funny business Mari, no sharp turns, no rolls, loops, dives or sudden climbs."
"Mou…" he could imagine her pouting if she was human, "you never let me have any fun!"
"Our new friend isn't strapped…in…"
"Hm, fair enough." She 'nodded' in agreement, "hey Puppy I got a question. Do you have an idea who the Princess might be?"
"…"
"Puppy-kun?" she turned towards her Hunter and saw his head tilted the side, mouth slightly open, sound asleep. "Huh," she smiled in internally. "I hope you have a nice nap, you've earned it."
Silently she shut down the cockpit's canopy display and speakers.
"That was him…" Asuka murmured as she stood, her previous embarrassment forgotten, staring at the closed door in shock.
In fact she was so shocked that several minutes had passed without her noticing, worrying her Ghost.
[Asuka-san, who's him? Did you recognize the voice?] his concerned tone snapped her out of her stupor. [It's been a very long time, the odds of it being some-]
"It's him."
[…are you sure?]
"…yeah, I am." She could hear the doubt in his voice, not surprising considering how much time had passed since she was alive but…but she was sure of it.
Asuka took off her helmet, sending her long fiery looks flowing free once more as she took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself as she walked towards the door. Ghost decided it was the right time to materialize beside her, flashing her helmet away as he did so.
She stopped at the door, her heart felt like it was ready to jump out of her chest.
"Uh…are you alright Guardian?" Ghost floated into her vision and even without a face Asuka could somehow…sense his worry, not just hear it.
"I-I'm…fine…yeah, fine."
"Um…your breathing doesn't sound fine, Asuka-san."
She blinked at that and she realized he was right, she was almost hyperventilating. The redhead shook her head hard, what the fuck was she worried about? This was Shinji, the biggest softie she's ever met. She used to be an Evangelion pilot, she'd fought the Angels for fucks sake! She was the great Asuka Langley Soryu, genius Japanese-German prodigy!
…
And she was fucking terrified.
All kinds of scenarios blasted through her brain, lists of things she could say and his possible reactions. Her genius mind, for the first time she could remember, backfired on her as worst case scenario after worst case scenario sped through her imagination.
What if he hated her? The last months of the Angel War were a blur to her after…that one Angel but before that she remembered her treatment of him pretty damn well. For months after they met she had hurled abuse at Shinji, put him down again and again. What he done to deserve it? Nothing. He cooked for her, cleaned her home and clothes, even when hurt, even when depressed he had always done his duties with no real complaint as long as he was physically able.
If she was in his shoes Asuka would hate herself, that's for sure.
She wasn't always mean to him though. There were a few good moments between them to be sure but as she stood there in the Damsel she suddenly found it hard to remember even one.
"Um…" her Ghost turned to the door and back to her. "Are we-"
"…fuck it."
"Uh-"
"Fuck. It." She took a deep breath, she was Asuka Langley Soryu for fucks sake! She woke up in the middle of some post-apocalyptic future and what had she done? She did what she always did to solve her problems, she charged ahead! She fought some aliens she never knew existed until she saw one, kicked their asses and stole their stolen shotgun. Just like earlier she was just going to go forward…and hope for the best.
She opened the door, Ghost following behind, and walked into the cockpit. It was dark, no screens or glass canopy apparent to her, just soft lighting coming from where the floor met the walls keeping her from bumping into anything. Scanning quickly she realized Shinji was sitting on the front seat, faced away from her.
Before she could call out to him the pink Ghost from earlier floated up from behind his seat, the small little drone's green eye 'blinked' when it saw her, as if in surprise.
"Holy shit…" the Ghost…breathed out? It was hard to tell with the artificial voice filter the things seemed to share, although this one, Mari she absently remembered her Ghost telling her before, sounded a bit more human than her own. "Y-You're her…Asuka Langley Soryu, Second Child of NERV…right?"
"Y-Yeah…you recognize me?"
"I've seen pictures…holy shit."
"T-Then is…" she pointed at the occupied chair with a shaky finger, "is that…is that?"
"Shinji…" Mari 'blinked', "oh Speaker's balls-"
"Interesting phrase," her Ghost murmured.
"-I should wake him." Mari floated down and mentally cursed the fact the Traveler did not design her kind with fucking arms for her to nudge him awake with. First she decided to call out to him, "Shinji. Shinji…Puppy-kun wake up." He murmured but…nothing, figures, the one time he decided to be a heavy sleeper…
Time for Plan B. She flew forward, thumping against his face.
That woke him.
"Bwah?!" he fell off his seat and sat up, glaring at his Ghost. "Mari, what the hell?"
"Um…" Mari motioned toward the new Guardian, "I think you might know Princess…"
His eyes widened and he shot up on his feet…and what he saw made him freeze.
"A…Asuka…" he breathed out, her name feeling strange on his tongue after so many years. He felt his eyes start to water as he walked to the back of the cockpit, facing her, just an arm's length away. The Hunter could barely believe his eyes, and he prayed to whatever was out there that he wasn't hallucinating.
She was taller, more grown up than he remembered, wasn't too surprising considering the same happened to him after he was revived several years ago. Her hair was still as beautiful as he remembered, red like fire, maybe even more so, and it freely flowed past her shoulders, her neural clips gone. She was clad in simple Titan armour and he couldn't help but think it suited her, both the look of it and the Titan class' nature itself. She had always been the fiercest warrior he'd known.
What was surprising to him was her face, he hadn't known what to expect…but the storm of shock, surprise, and joy had not been it.
Asuka was no better as she stared at him, drinking him in. He was older, and much more handsome, but she could still see that soft tender nature she had always associated with him.
He sure as hell dressed a lot better than what she remembered that was for sure, he did the cape look good.
She then realized she didn't know what to say, an ocean of emotions crashing inside her. Joy of course, he was alive for fucks sake, just a few hours ago she had been afraid she'd never see his beautiful blue eyes again, never sample his cooking again…never hear that soft voice that made her feel funny again. Hell, just ten minutes ago she would have killed to hear him apologize. With that joy, there was also shock of course, Ghost told her of his death and he sounded certain, she could feel her drone's shock even now through the link they appeared to share.
Asuka being Asuka though there was one more emotion, her seeming default in times of uncertainty, her companion in life, anger. It was an odd anger, she wasn't mad at him per se, she still remembered her one sided promise that she'd give him a kiss in person once they met again and a big part of her wanted to follow through with it still. No, what she was mad about was the fact that he died. She couldn't explain it but the thought of him trying to save her, the bitch that abused him for months, only to be brutally murdered himself made her mad. It was a strange irrational anger, aimed at him for dying and fate for killing them both. It was also aimed at herself for being somewhat happy because if he didn't die trying to save her then he would have died of old age long ago, maybe out of her reach forever.
She stepped towards him and Shinji opened his mouth-
*SMACK!*
"Ow!" Shinji recoiled from the hit before gingerly putting a hand up to his stinging cheek and turning back to Asuka, "what was that for?!"
"For dying you BAKA!" she screamed, brought up her hand and-
*SMACK!*
"What was that for?!" Shinji rubbed his now red cheek. Over his years as a Hunter of the Vanguard he had felt much worse, smacked around by Cabal Phalanxes with their stupid and annoying shields, tossed around by explosions and even thrown by an Ogre once but that didn't mean her slaps didn't hurt.
"That's…that's…" Asuka trailed off as she looked at the floor, the shadows of her fringe covering her eyes and he could hear her rapid breathing, tears dripping onto the cold floor of his ship.
Shinji cringed at the sight, one heck of a hero he was, making the girl cry.
'Come on Shinji,' he thought to himself, 'didn't you tell yourself you weren't going to let her down anymore? That you would be there to support her?' The Hunter took a deep breath and walked towards Asuka. One step. Two steps…he was happy to see she hadn't slapped him aga-
*SMACK!*
"Ow!" okay maybe he spoke too soon.
"…" Asuka murmured something he couldn't hear and Shinji blinked in surprise.
"Ah…can…can you repeat that?"
She looked up at him, glaring with fire burning in her blue eyes.
"Do you know how you made me feel? HUH?!"
"Wha-"
"Do you know how I felt when I saw Unit-01 the way it was?!" She stomped toward him and into his personal space making him back up until his back thumped against the wall, tears forming in her eyes again. "I thought I'd never see you again!" She looked down and, much to his surprise, hugged him desperately as if she was afraid he would disappear. Her voice dropped to a whisper… "I thought I was going to be alone again."
Asuka shivered as she cried, forgetting her promise to herself to never show weakness for a moment. She remembered seeing his Eva there in the Geofront, dead and decomposed, thinking Shinji's corpse laid within. The body of one of the only people who had shown he cared for her. The body of the boy who cooked her meals, cleaned her home and clothes, who had jumped into a volcano for her all without a word of thanks.
She clung to him tighter as she sobbed, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry…I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…"
Shinji sighed as he leaned his head back and felt the cold metal of the ship's inner hull, not knowing what she would possibly be apologizing for, as he thought about what to do. He'd matured over the years but his social skills were still sorely lacking, a result of his preference to lone wolf over working in fireteams when possible coupled with his anti-social nature.
Then an idea came to him and he gingerly, with great care as to not get slapped again, embraced the trembling and crying form of Unit-02's former pilot.
He had, for years, dreamed of the day he would return to Tokyo-3's ruins to reunite with Asuka, the one person he felt he had truly failed in his life. It was at times the only thing other than Mari's companionship that made life bearable, especially during his early days in the Vanguard when he didn't know anyone. During those years he had come up with all sorts of scenarios that could play out.
Getting slapped three times was not one of them. Still, Asuka was back and that was all that mattered.
"Sorry, Asuka."
"Gott," he heard chuckle into his shoulder, "stop apologizing…Baka."
"I do hope you're relationship with Princess is going to be a tad more gentle after this, Puppy."
Shinji glanced behind him at the passenger's seat. Asuka was there, sitting in her armour sans helmet, clearly asleep, having knocked out soon after she sat down. He couldn't blame her, she had just been revived from the dead to a veritable brand new world, straight smack dab in enemy territory to boot, only to find out he was actually alive and well. As someone who had gone through basically the same ordeal he could relate, he slept on his trip to The City too…although his seat had been a bit more embarrassing than Asuka's.
His ride then did not have a second seat in the cockpit.
Shinji then turned back to Mari, a small smile on his face, "I hope so too." He stood up and with a thought his helmet appeared in his hand again and the young man couldn't help but look at it with a bit of irritation before he sighed, "might as well get this over with…" Turning to his Ghost, "Mari you're in charge so I want you to keep an eye on Asuka for me. I'm sure you remember how rough out first day together was for me, so please just let her sleep…peacefully Mari. No funny business, I mean it."
"Oh, and where are you going?"
"Still have to clean the inside of my helmet, remember?...I might as well shower while I'm at it too."
"What an interesting day…" Mari murmured to herself as she hovered around the cockpit, watching the stars using the same cameras that normally fed the Damsel's panoramic monitor. The two Guardians were asleep now, Shinji having returned looking a bit refreshed a while ago, so she didn't really have anything to do. The Damsel was basically flying itself at this point, she was just keeping an eye out since her Guardian didn't want her doing anything fun, which was unfair in her opinion.
She was making sure she followed a safe flight path, away from any known hostile locations that may want to take few pot shots at the Damsel. The sky was clear too, no clouds or light pollution to hide the stars from her, the Damsel's current subsonic speed making her stargazing that much easier, no need to inform anyone below of their presence with a sonic boom after all.
"I have no idea how humans enjoy this shit…" she couldn't help but complain, she was so bored just staring at the sky. Luckily though she was nearing The City. "Note to self, download a game or something so I have something to do next time."
Soon enough the Damsel crossed City controlled airspace, Mari double checked the ship's identification friend-or-foe system, or IFF, to see if it was broadcasting properly.
A blip on her sensors soon made itself known, a two ship formation from the City Defense Force, and the pair sent her a challenge.
"The long night."
"Ends when the dawn comes."
"IFF and challenge confirmed, you may proceed, we will now transfer you over to City control. Welcome home." Immediately the ships on her sensors turned away, probably back to their normal patrol route.
"QCD-01," a clearly female air traffic control officer contacted her, "this is City control…"
"Puppy-kun, wake up."
Something bumped against his cheek and Shinji couldn't help but let out an annoyed groan before swatting Mari away gently and opening his eyes. He could see that he wasn't in a burning crater in the ground, which was good, at least Mari didn't wake him up due to some emergency. After a few more moments the young man finally woke up fully and he realized the sound of the Damsel's engines were absent, in fact he could hear the muffled sounds of machinery running coming from outside. Coupled with the fact that he couldn't feel the Damsel flying anymore he guessed they'd landed.
"We home, Mari?"
"Yuppers! Docked in our space and everything," she flashed back into his head. [Now we just need to wake the Princess and we can head home.]
"Right," Shinji stretched with a yawn before getting up and turning around to Asuka. The newly 'born' Guardian was just as he left her it seemed, still slumped slightly to the side and soundly asleep, Mari's loud voice having done nothing to wake her. 'Well she was always a deep sleeper. I wonder if she picked that up from her time living with Misato?'
[You don't want to wake her, do you?]
No, no he did not. "She looks so peaceful…I don't think I've ever seen her like this before…" he commented quietly, barely above a whisper.
[D'awww, you are adorable, you know that? If you showed that side more often I don't think you'll get as much flak as you do now from Cade, you know?...or it could be the reverse, Cayde is hard to read.]
"Cayde-senpai is…an odd one."
[Anyway stop wasting time ogling at your girlfriend Puppy-kun, I can tell you're tired too, let's just wake her already and head home. She can have the couch; we'll deal with getting her a place tomorrow or something. Seriously, if I didn't know better you're scared to wake her.]
'Well that's not untrue. Even during the good early days of the war Asuka was always a bit…volatile when woken up, especially when she was having a good night of sleep.' His mind flashed back to the one time she had sleep walked to his bed, when he saw her cry in her sleep. 'Nightmares must have hit her harder than I thought…' He shook his head and sighed, "well I could just carry her."
[Oh-hooo~] Shinji could practically hear Mari grinning in his head as his face heated up from her teasing tone [when did my Hunter get so bold?!]
"Oh fuck off…um…" he trailed off, not really sure what to call Asuka's Ghost. Now that he thought about it, in the several years he'd spent in the Vanguard he had never actually referred to another Ghost before. Oh sure he'd spoken to other Ghosts beside Mari but it was usually after they'd already chimed in and he would just talk to them, never having to call out to them. "Ghost-san?...uh Asuka's Ghost?"
A small flash of light beside Asuka's head revealed the little drone, the plain white shell making the veteran pair a bit nostalgic of their own early adventures. "Yes Hunter?"
"Um, well I can't carry Asuka with all that armour so could you…"
"…Oh! Yes, of course. Thank you for being so considerate." In a soft flash of light the heavy armour plates that protected Asuka disappeared, leaving the armoured body suit underneath. It was somewhat form fitting, but still thick and padded, with some malleable armour plates to provide excellent protection.
It was far better than the plugsuits had been, those left almost nothing to the imagination.
Shinji couldn't help but compare it to the body suit that he wore, it was considerably more bulky than his. The Hunter's suit of synth leather had some ballistic padding but no armour plates built into it of any kind.
He hoped her suit wasn't too heavy, he didn't want to waste her Ghost's effort to try and make this easier…well that and he did not want to wake her up to get slapped a fourth time but he wasn't exactly the biggest Guardian either. It also didn't help that Hunter armour didn't give a big boost to arm strength, that was a Titan thing.
Shinji bent down to lift her up in a princess carry…and was surprised to find her lighter than he thought she would be with all the gear on. Oh she wasn't light, Titans were fucking heavy, but it was doable. He doubted he would be able to carry her with the denser materials of better Titan armour though.
"Alright," he grunted and adjusted his hold on her, "let's go home."
"Ngghh…" Asuka groaned as she stirred awake. As she opened her eyes she was surprised that instead of being greeted to the sight of the Damsel's steel gray hull what she saw was a clean white ceiling.
The next thing she realized was that she was in a bed, a very soft bed, and covered in a warm blanket. For a moment she wanted nothing more than to sink into the mattress, surrender herself into the warmth and comfort that surrounded her.
Then she finally remembered what had happened at the ruins of Tokyo-3. The aliens, the dead Evas, the fighting and Shinji was alive.
She looked beside her and realised the bed was big, more than enough for two people. It was empty aside from her though, which made her wonder, where was Shinji? While she wasn't exactly comfortable with the idea of him sleeping beside her, having him so close, she also didn't want to kick him off his own bed.
Damn feelings for being complicated.
Sitting up she finally had a good look around of where exactly she was. It was an apartment bathed in soft morning light, filtering through the blinds and a large panoramic window. It had an open layout with no real dividing walls or clear rooms and big too, a bit less than twice the size of Misato's apartment back at Tokyo-3. It was well organized and clean, not surprising if this was Shinji's place like she guessed it was.
Shinji seemed to have divided it up into four main sections. First was the 'bedroom' where she was, in one of the corners with the large bed but little else, just various hampers for dirty laundry and a night stand with a lamp beside the bed. She also noticed there was also a pair of closets built into recessed into the wall, and the door to the bathroom was nearby, open just a tiny bit, as well as another door she wasn't sure the purpose of. Not too far away was something of a…work space she guessed. Near the corner was some kind of computer desk set up with what she recognized was a printer and…another machine that looked similar but she couldn't tell what it was. On a long table against the wall were a few weapons in various states of disassembly, while a beefy metal sliding door was not too far away.
Scattered throughout the apartment, mounted onto the walls, were glass display cases with lighting shining down from above. Some held guns and various pieces of gear while others were still empty.
On the other side of the apartment, near the entrance was the 'living room'. It had a huge monitor on the wall, with a pair of dark leather couches. A small smile worked up on her face as she noticed several machines set up under the monitor, Asuka hoped they were was some futuristic consoles or something, if not she was for sure going to get some, she had a lot of games to catch up on. In the corner of the space was a beautiful black grand piano with a cello stood up on the corner nearby. She wasn't too surprised on the latter but the piano did surprise her.
When did Shinji pick that skill up? 'Or maybe there wasn't space for one at Misato's place…'
Wouldn't surprise her if that was the case, Shinji had never been one to talk about himself unless asked. Even then she sometimes felt like having him talk about himself, especially in their early days together, it was like pulling teeth.
Another surprise was what was set up by the widow. It was a Christmas tree of all things, fully decorated with tinsel, ornaments, and lights that emitted a soft beautiful glow of blues, reds, greens and yellows. Topping the tree off was a star on top, while the bottom of the tree had a noticeable lack of presents.
Well at least she finally has an idea on what time of the year she was revived at.
The last corner of the apartment just screamed 'Shinji lives here' to her though, so much so that she couldn't help but laugh when she saw it. It was a large, very clean, very well kitted out kitchen space with a sliding door leading to what seemed to be a balcony close by. The kitchen has a large fridge, separate freezer, stove, wall mounted oven and various other kitchen gadgets gleamed like polished silver in the light and…were those granite counter tops? Even the island, which had a few stools set up nearby so she assumed it also doubled as a dining table, had what looked like a granite top.
'Well…Shinji's dream finally comes true, huh?' Still as happy as she was for him…where the hell was he?
"Ghost, you there?" she called out and her robotic companion flashed into the physical world in front of her.
"Good morning Guardian, I am always at your side."
"Yeah good morning," boy it still felt strange to talk to a robot, even more so that she was greeting the little drone. A bit of guilt hit her as she remembered she rarely did so to Shinji, and he was human '...one more thing to improve on.' Still, she shook it off for the moment. "Ghost where's Shinji?"
"Ah, Hunter Shinji went out to run an errand earlier. He was scarce with the details, but he did mention buying groceries."
"I see…" Asuka then looked down…and blushed as she realized two things. One: she was now dressed in a shirt and shorts that were obviously for a male body. Two: She did not remember dressing herself. Third: They smelled like Shinji…her blush deepened as she remembered how she knew that, the times she-'OKAY! That stops there…' She took a moment, calmed her heart and waited for her face to cool before she spoke. "Okay Ghost, correct me if I'm wrong…Shinji carried me here."
"Correct."
"Right…d-did he…who changed me?"
"Mari did, his Ghost. Hunter Shinji was very adamant that you were given privacy, he even took me outside to wait."
"…oh." She couldn't help but sigh in relief. Her…feelings for Shinji being as confusing to her as they are right now, having him change her was something she was not ready for. Not in any way. "That's good…might as well get cleaned up and wait for him I guess."
After a quick trip into the bathroom to shower and freshen up, although sadly she had no panties or any other clothes to change into, she was now sitting at the island/table at the kitchen area of the apartment. The lights were now on and a nice warm cup of coffee was lovingly held in her hands as her Ghost hovered around nearby, humming a piece of classical music she vaguely recognized from somewhere to himself…or was it itself?
Asuka took an appreciative sip of her drink. "Mmmm…" she let out a small happy sigh, "it looks like my insistence that elite Eva pilots should only drink the best coffee stuck. I have to say this is some good stuff."
"Times like this I wish Ghosts could drink…" Asuka blinked and looked up to see her little drone staring at her cup…if she dare say it, with longing? The future was weird.
Speaking of her Ghost… "hey Ghost there are a lot of Guardians, right? Not just me and Shinji."
"Hm? Correct, there are a few hundred registered active Guardians as-of-date."
"And all of them have Ghosts too."
"Correct, though most are like I am. Mari is…a unique case."
'Thank Gott for that…' she'd put up with the annoying little pink drone for Shinji's sake but she would be tempted to shoot them if there was more than one Ghost as annoying as her. Asuka still remembered Mari laughing at her in the Damsel's cargo bay. Speaking of unique ghosts though… "hey Ghost, I have another question. Do all Guardians call their Ghosts just Ghost? Is Mari unique in that she goes around with a name?"
"Well most Ghosts don't have names of their own but a few Guardians name theirs, they are the minority however. As for Mari…well from what I've heard from other Ghosts she insisted she be referred as such, and wasn't named by Ikari-san. In that regard she is unique."
Asuka nodded and hummed to herself as she thought "…do you have anything you want to go by, Ghost?"
"Pardon, Guardian?"
"Well, I would personally find it confusing to have to say 'Ghost' and have someone a different Ghost float up to me. Besides," she grinned, "you're not just any Ghost. You're now the Ghost of the great Asuka Langley-Soryu!" Leaning forward she rested on her shoulders, lifting up her cup. "I don't do 'like everyone else', and I sure as hell won't have you run around with such a generic name. So, have anything in mind?"
"I'll be proud to be called whatever name you so choose, Asuka-san."
"Hmm," leaning back she took another sip "…how about…Epsilon?"
"I like it…does it have a meaning?"
"No, not really. I just think it sounds cool and techy," she shrugged. "If you want something touchy-feely and squishy then go to Shinji." Well that was assuming he hadn't changed too much. 'Really is weird just coming back to life thousands of years in the future, just doesn't feel like any time has passed since 2015. It's like I time traveled.'
The door behind her clicked and she looked over her shoulder to see Shinji walk in, plastic bags in hand with the pink form of Mari floating right over his shoulder. He was obviously dressed in civilian clothes now, black jeans, grey boots and a red pullover sweater with the hood pulled over his head.
"You know, I approve of the red sweater. Happy to see that your wardrobe has improved."
Shinji closed the door with his foot, which automatically locked with a click, and was about to open his mouth-
"Oh man!" Mari chimed in and flew at Asuka, making the redhead flinch back, and stopped right in her face. "You have no idea how hard it was to break him out of his old style, Princess. It took me exactly-"
"Mari," Shinji chimed in as he walked over to the kitchen, having taken off his boots and lowered his hood, "I don't think Asuka needs to know how much time you used to 'better' me, down to the last second."
"Hmph, humans, no appreciation for precision."
"Anyway," Shinji opened the fridge and started to put away the groceries and as he spoke Asuka couldn't help but be surprised at the normality of the present. She knew the world had changed, that he and she had changed but aside from the different setting, clothes and ages this wasn't all that different from what Shinji used to do when he bought groceries for the Katsuragi apartment. "Mari bugged me for about a year to change how I dressed when she noticed that all the clothes I bought were the same."
"And boring, don't forget boring."
"…Yes…that, thank you Mari-"
"Welcooome Puppy!"
Shinji sighed and shook his head silently and she had to admit she had to empathize with him, Mari drove her nuts the moment they met, Shinji had been stuck with her for longer and had the little drone living in his head. "Eventually I gave in."
"Well," Asuka took another sip of her coffee, "I'm glad you listened, especially if you dressed like how you used to with that damn white school uniform…that's all you wore when you first came back, wasn't it?"
"…I can neither confirm nor deny that." Asuka sighed, "I had things to do! I was very busy in those early months."
She couldn't help but snicker, a small smile worming its way to her face. She had missed this during their early days, a bit of bickering and arguing, their words holding no actual bite. "Oh boy. Well I'm glad you listened to someone else, you were surprisingly stubborn back then."
"…why is everyone picking on me this morning?" she heard him mumble before turning around to her, fridge still open. "You haven't had breakfast yet, right?" She shook her head in the negative and he smiled, a fire seemingly lit in his eyes. "Then I'll cook you something."
With that said he turned around and started to go through the fridge, muttering to himself all the while. Asuka had to admit the thought of a meal cooked by him sounded wonderful after the whirlwind of yesterday. Just as she thought that an image of the past flashed in her mind, of seeing him watch her eat his meals and waiting for approval, waiting for words as simple as a fucking 'good job' that never really came.
Deciding it was as good time as any to start changing herself she spoke up.
"I think that sounds great, Shinji…" she flushed a bit and swallowed, everything was so much easier in her head, and waited for his response.
"Uh…t-tha…" he took a deep breath and she imagined him being as flustered as she was. "Um…I'll be making pfannkuchen…so uh," she couldn't help but blink at that, when did he cook German food? Not that she was complaining of course but it did surprise her, just like his perfect pronunciation. "I…uh, I'll try not to disappoint you, Asuka."
He didn't, he really didn't. Hell it was one of the best fucking things she ever had and she made sure to tell him such.
He blushed like a tomato, it was adorable.
That thought then made her blush, that wasn't so adorable.
All in all it was one of her best mornings ever.
"…and that goes over the basics of the three races that make up the Vanguard, The City and humanity as a whole," Asuka's Ghost, Epsilon, explained. "Baseline humans, such as yourself, the robotic Exo and the Awoken. Any questions?"
"Yeah I have a few…"
Shinji smiled as he tuned Asuka out. He was currently working away in the kitchen, carefully chopping up an onion on the island so it didn't sting his eyes.
Mari floated in front of him and was about to land on the granite counter like a huge pink metallic fly but he lazily swatted her away with half a chopped onion. "Hey! What was that for, Puppy?"
"No landing on top of the countertops once I've cleaned them for use, Mari. It's unsanitary-and yes, I can practically see you opening your mouth, I am calling you dirty. You Ghosts don't like to bathe."
"We're sensitive to water! Do you want a lady to rust?"
"Your shell is made of a composite ceramic shell reinforced with polymer plastics and I know for sure your core can't rust," he listed off blandly. It was a common enough argument, he cleaned Mari often with things like wet sterile wipes but she refused to take a proper wet bath. 'I have a cat, no legs but she's basically a cat. An insane cat.'
"Hmph…anyway, what's with the smile?"
He nodded his head to the side where Asuka sat on the couch of his 'living room', where her Ghost was currently going over some information. It was all what he had considered the essential basics and recommended Epsilon teach her now, instead of having her be surprised by everything like he was. It was simple things: different friendly races, basics about the different enemy factions and species', the workings of the economy, that kind of stuff. She was still dressed in his clothes, he assumed she'd like to choose her own so he didn't buy her anything, but she did at least have some underwear on since Mari had bought some when they went out.
He consciously made the decision to tell Mari to buy it all on her own without him. That was the last thing he needed. Guardians didn't age physically and he was stuck as a teen, which means he's constantly under attack by his hormones.
"Doesn't it make you a little nostalgic Mari? Doesn't it remind you of our first few days together?"
"Hahaha…yeah," she 'blinked' and glanced slightly up at the ceiling, reminiscing herself. She remembered those days well, she was so ecstatic back then. After hundreds of years of searching she had finally found her Guardian. "We had some...issues but you were so adorable back then, you were so shy, even worse than now. Hey! Remember when you first met Zavala? HA! You squeaked at him!"
"He's very big!" honestly he thought it was unfair of her to make fun of him. Zavala was huge, a blue tower of muscle covered in silver armour. "And why do you always have to remember the embarrassing stuff?"
"Shinji?" he heard Asuka ask him.
"I'm fine! Mari's just being annoying again," he replied.
'Anyway it should've cooled off a bit…' he put down the onion and knife and washed his hand before going over to the kitchen counter. There, near the stove, was a plate of hand made takoyaki.
Takoyaki was a Japanese snack food, bite sized balls of batter filled with pieces of octopus and cooked golden brown. This batch was freshly made, his hot cast iron takoyaki pan still cooling down on his stove top, but he had decided to let it cool just a tad so it wouldn't burn anyone. Picking one up he popped one in his mouth… 'Mmmm, perfect.'
Putting on the finishing touches he grabbed a bottle of brown takoyaki sauce and brushed the little morsels liberally. That done he grabbed some Japanese mayonnaise, which was more savory than normal mayonnaise and had a nice rich yellow colour instead of pale white, and poured some on in a criss-cross pattern for presentation. To top it all off he sprinkled some aonori flakes, dried seaweed. Normally it was also topped with katsuobushi, or bonito flakes but…he grabbed a bag of it and handed it to Mari who flashed it away as well as the small container of toothpicks beside it.
He thought it would be fun to add that in front of Asuka. As someone who had also been revived from the dead he knew that the years between death and rebirth just weren't felt, how could they be? When Mari first woke him, standing on the corpse of Unit-01, his most recent memories had been of the attack on NERV, the JSSDF killing everyone, leaving bodies and destruction in their wake.
Asuka would be no different so he wanted to keep her happy, it was why he made a breakfast from her home country. His efforts to keep those bad memories away seemed to have worked to him and he would try to keep her that way.
Picking up the plate he made a quick count, slightly more than three dozen, should be enough for the both of them. If he made too much then…well, he wasn't going to complain about left overs, he'd gladly finish what's left.
"Hey Asuka," he walked to the fridge to grab a drink, "how about you take a break and have a snack?"
"Oh, uh sure."
"Is cola ok? It's all I have."
"Yeah that's fine," he closed the door and started to walk over to the couch where he could see the six legged form of a Fallen Walker, or 'spider tank' as some liked to call it, on his large wall mounted display.
"Those things are tough," he couldn't help but comment. "They're some of the last things you want to run into on a foot patrol."
She craned her neck to look over at him and he could see the surprise there which made sense, considering he had basically admitted to fighting a tank on foot. "You fought those things?"
"Oh yeah, they're the Fallen's heavy artillery. They actually had one at the Geofront, it's why we had you meet up with us so far away from where your Ghost revived you. That cannon packs a punch and I didn't want to risk the Damsel."
Going around the couch he placed the plate on the table in front of her and he could easily see her curiosity. "Is that…takoyaki?"
"Yup," he nodded as he took a seat right beside her and handed her a can of cold cola. "Have you had it before?"Asuka shook her head. "Well I hope you like it then…it's um, a favourite of mine." Mari floated over and flashed the toothpicks and bag of katsuobushi onto the table. Opening it he sprinkled on the thin brown flakes and as they landed on the warm takoyaki they danced, like magic, like they were alive. A small smile grew on his face the sight, glancing at Asuka he saw that there was a small amused smile on her face too. It wasn't an amazed gasp, or a smile of wonder but it was a smile, and that was enough for him. "Go ahead."
Leaning back into the sofa Asuka let out a satisfied sigh. Shinji and her had just divided up the takoyaki so they each had half, which apparently surprised him if his face was any indication. What can she say though? Yesterday took a lot out of her, thinking Shinji had died, running for her life, fighting, more running for her life, and then their emotional reunion. Some comfort food hit the spot just right.
The fact that Mari had stared at the two of them munching away with what Asuka suspected was envy, or it did seem that way in her head anyway, made it that much better.
"Hey Shinji," she craned her head over the back of the sofa, to see Shinji walking away with a dirty plate, two empty cans piled on top.
"Hm?" he hummed as he walked into the kitchen and out of her sight.
"Are you sure this is all really ok?"
"…is what ok?"
"This, just sitting here and relaxing, eating snacks and having Epsilon lecture me. I mean don't we have…I dunoe, things to do, asses to kick?" she couldn't help but ask before quickly adding on, "not that I'm complaining."
"Well…" his voiced echoed out as she heard the sink turn on, "we could just have jumped straight into being a Guardian but…" His voice trailed off and when it returned it sounded distinctly embarrassed, "let's just say I did that and ended up kind of…uh…e-embarrassing myself."
"…Ok I have to ask, what happened?"
"C-Can we not talk about it?"
"Fine," she made a mental note to bug him later anyway, it sounded like there was a fun story behind it all. Maybe Mari would spill something?
"You know you're taking this a lot better than I thought you would Asuka-n-not that I didn't think you'd take it well!"
She frowned at his stuttering, she knew why he seemed so nervous with that last statement and she would be lying if she said she didn't feel a small spike of anger at his seeming doubt of her strength but…it was a tired anger. What if this was their last day together? The world was dangerous, now more than ever. If her last words to him…if her last words to him hurt him…she didn't want to think about it.
After a while she spoke up, hoping she hadn't blanked out for too long. "What do you mean?"
"Well…when I was first brought back I was…a-a bit of a mess…" he cleared his throat, "anyway let's just say the present…shocked me back then. Aliens, living robots, technology I've never thought of, space magic…it was a lot to take in all at once you know?" There was a pause that let her drink in what he had said, and honestly it made her feel lucky that she had not been brought back alone. She cringed as she realized something. Shinji had always been a meek kid, shy and quiet. He would've been worse off than her. "So yeah…"
"Hmm…I see. No offense taken Shinji…" she licked her lips, what else more could she say? She didn't have experience making people feel better, no real expirience comforting someone. Eventually she decided to just go forward and Asuka took a deep breath, "don't sweat it. I get what you mean…ok?"
"Yeah…
"Um anyway, I think it all hasn't sunk in yet."
"What do you mean?"
"Well it was…all so sudden you know?" she waved her hand in front of her face. "I got brought back, thought you were dead and BAM! Straight into it all and now I'm busy trying to get everything Epsilon's saying and thinking about the immediate future, getting ready for this Guardian thing. That last bit should take long though, I am me." She couldn't help but chuckle, "check back in a few days though Shinji…Hm, speaking of which, what about you?"
"Uhhh," came the response, "what about me?"
'Ah Shinji, always so eloquent,' she couldn't help but me amused. "I meant don't you have Guardian stuff to do today, Dummkopf."
"...what happened to Baka?"
"Well since you seem to understand German now I thought I might call you something German. I'm still testing how it sounds though."
"Ok...Well I've talked to the Vanguard, made my report and stuff but…well they didn't really mind if I took a day off. I uh, have a bit of a workaholic reputation. I think they're happy I'm resting, and helping a new Guardian get settled is a good reason to take a day off, right? OH! Um, are you up to go out later?"
"When?"
"Um…an hour or two from now?"
"Sure," she shrugged as she heard Shinji shut off the faucet and walk over so she turned to him, raising a brow in curiosity. "What are we doing?"
"Well we need to get you a place to stay."
She froze, no. No, no, no, no, no. Images flashed in her mind of a scared and lonely little girl, sleeping alone, crying herself to sleep.
"Asuka?"
Memories surfaced of nightmares, of flashes of pain and suffering, of running down the halls high on her appointment as a pilot…only to find the body of her Mama. No, she didn't want to go back to those lonely days, after Misato left Germany and before Kaji was her guardian, when her life was at its loneliest, at its darkest, where those that looked after her never cared.
"Asuka!" she jerked and blink to find Shinji kneeling in front of her, his hands on her shoulders, a frown of worry on his lips and concern in his eyes. Concern for her. "Are you alright? Y-You just…froze. We don't have to go out today if you're not feeling well."
She shook her head in the negative and looked down, hiding her eyes from his.
"I…I…" she whispered, almost too soft to hear. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, calming herself down, feeling pathetic for her borderline breakdown. Finding her centre she schooled her features and looked up, her fiery blue eyes locking onto his steel blue. She needed to know why he asked that. "I'm fine Shinji. I just…d-don't you…" her faced heated despite the situation, "don't you want to live together? L-Like the old days?"
Something flashed in his eyes she didn't recognize and he looked away from her, licking his lips. "I…I do…Asuka I do but…I know you don't want to." He said, sounding so certain. There were tears in his eyes now and Asuka had never seen him look so…so vulnerable, so fragile. "You always complained about living together, remember? About how you never had privacy or space…It's okay...I'm used to being alone now."
Asuka swallowed, her throat dry like the desert, guilt punching her in the gut as she saw how much he had taken her words to heart. Seeing him so…so…so sure of it and all and so resigned, accepting what she knew he didn't want just so she could be happy…
It was heart breaking.
Her body moved before she could think, wrapping her arms around him in a gentle embrace, her tears falling once more.
"A-Asuka?!" she heard him shout out. "W-What's wrong?"
"Shut up Baka…" she embraced him tighter, "how can you just say that? How can you just accept being alone?"
"I'm use-"
"Shut up! God damnit…that's not right…that's not right." She nuzzled into his soft brown hair "…I'm staying Shinji."
"Bu-"
"Gott verdammt just shut up! I'm staying and that's final…" she chuckled, the sound coming out with a sob. "It's obvious someone has to look out for a dummkopf like you."
"Asuka…" he breathed out and wrapped his arms around her waist, his tears soaking her shirt. "Thank you...thank you...thank you so much" he embraced her tighter, like he was afraid that if he let go she would disappear like a cruel dream. "I...I missed you so much Asuka."
"Shh...I'm right here," she ran a hand through his hair to try and calm him down, pulling out every ounce of compassion she had as she whispered reassurances at him. It was hard for her to be gentle, having spend most of her life trying to be strong, being angry...but as he seemingly broke down from years of who knows what...Asuka knew she had to try.
She stayed like that for several minutes, the young man she saw tear through Fallen like a super hero just the day before sobbing into her chest.
As Asuka pulled over another of Shinji's indoor shirts, ignoring who it smelt like, her mind wandered back to his breakdown. It was totally different to what he had seemed to have grown into. Everything from his shooting and fighting skill, his mastery over his powers of Light, and his shy but happy behaviour gave her the impression that Shinji had become a confident and content but shy young warrior. She hadn't really picked up on anything that gave her any indication he had issues until...his breakdown today.
She sighed, then again she really shouldn't assume she had him all figured out. According to Mari he had been a Guardian for several years now. What had those years been like? How had he lived before her arrival? He lived alone, or at least he had been living alone recently. The apartment's layout and organization was vert...well Shinji. She hadn't seen any signs of anyone else living with him and from the comment that he 'lone wolfed' earlier today then she was reasonably confident that was the case. Other than that she had almost nothing. He was 'a mess' he said in his early days but for how long was he 'a mess'? What did that mean?
Simply put she didn't know enough. It also didn't help that she had no clue what happened to him between her last clear memory of him, Shinji sitting in his Eva during her last Angel battle, and his death.
So many questions...Asuka shook her head violently, her fiery mane flying as she cleared her head. Brooding and worrying had to wait. After he calmed down Shinji had said that she could go and get her Guardian career started tomorrow, if she was ready.
Of course she was ready! So she had to make sure she was in good shape and focused for tomorrow. After she was settled...then she'd try to find answers.
As she walked out of the bathroom she had to admit she felt surprisingly…lighter after her and Shinji's second tearfest in just as many days, her concerns for him aside. Who knew crying could feel so good?
…She didn't plan to do it all the time though, she was still Asuka and opening up still…didn't feel quite right but considering the circumstances...she was fine with it.
She glanced at the kitchen where Shinji was washing his hand, getting ready to get an early start on their dinner. His face had a small smile but it was the brightest she'd ever seen on him, it was so…not quite carefree but the closest thing to it the redhead had seen on her fellow former pilot. Seeing that smile…well, as weird as it felt, it was worth it.
Mari floated over to her.
Thus ending her stellar mood.
"Hey Princess," an eye twitched at that.
'Remember Asuka, Shinji obviously loves the pink demon. Shooting her with your shotgun would upset him.' Gott she hated that damn nickname. "What is it?" she asked, trying hard not to grit her teeth.
"If you're sticking around with Puppy-kun does that mean we're forming a fireteam?"
"…a what now?"
"Oh," it was Shinji who chimed in, "um I can answer that. Guardians, when working in groups, form fireteams of up to three Guardians. Sometimes fireteams are temporary, formed for a particular mission or operation, and sometimes they're permanently formed by Guardians who like to work together. The permanent teams of less than three can take on a temporary member if their numbers are lacking."
"I see…don't you have one though Shinji?"
"Um-"
"Ha!" Mari cut him off, "you know how shy he is right? I mean-"
"Hey!"
"He'll join up for an op but that's it," the 'wings' of her shell made a shuffle up and down, like a weird and annoyingly adorable shrug. "So how about it?"
Asuka grinned, "I'm game, you're game right Shinji?"
He blushed, "o-of course."
"Good," Asuka nodded, relieved that they didn't break out in tears again. Walking over to the counter she took a seat as Epsilon flashed into the world, floating over to the living room, probably to prepare a new lecture. Mari went off after him, nagging her poor Ghost. "…finally, the Pinkie is gone."
Shinji chuckled, "sorry about Mari. She means well, I think she likes you though."
Asuka rolled her eyes as she turned to him, her words dripping with sarcasm. "Wow, I am so grateful."
He smiled, obviously not offended. "She does tend to annoy people, I know. I try to keep her on a leash but…well, she's like a cat, not reasonable like Pen-Pen, and not very fond of listening to people."
"…She's your Ghost though, Epsilon listens to everything I say."
"She's unique. By the way are you sure you want to stay here-not that I want you to leave!" he quickly reassured her. "I mean that…do you want to get a different apartment? I mean I liked not having walls since it made walking around easier but there's not a lot of privacy."
"Yeah, I've heard about her uniqueness," she couldn't help but mutter. Taking a moment she thought about the no walls issue. For changing she and Shinji could just use the bathroom like she had, and boy did she feel warm and funny at the thought of seeing Shinji change, so that was no issue. Giving him credit she had to agree it was sort of nice to not worry about walking around walls, and if anything it did give the place a nice open feel.
Then memories flashed again, of all the times she had locked herself in her room to brew in her angst, in her frustration, in her anger, as she shut the world away. How many problems could've been solved or avoided, how happy would she had been if instead of hiding like coward she just…talked to him?
No, she liked the open floor plan better.
"It's fine. I don't mind and I like how open it feels, besides you're already all moved in." Okay, she was too proud and embarrassed to admit the truth, sue her. 'One step at a time Asuka.' She glanced down at what he was doing, seeing him peeling some carrots. "Making something fancy for dinner? I can't remember you ever starting dinner this early before."
He raised a brow at her, she had no clue why, but seemed to shrug whatever it was off. "Well I thought we'd celebrate tonight so I'm making a bit of a feast."
She was about to open her mouth to ask why they would be celebrating before she froze, her face warming as blood rushed. What else would he be celebrating about other than her revival? It was obvious enough he missed her from his earlier words…her face went from pink to red. Luckily Shinji was too busy to notice so she had time to take a few minutes to calm herself down.
After a few minutes of awkward, for Asuka (she doubted Shinji felt the same considering how he tended to get into his little zone when cooking), she coughed and spoke up. "S-So…what are you making…um, will you take a request?"
He shrugged, still obviously concentrating, his voice obviously distracted. "Sure. I had a plan but I haven't really done anything but some really basic prep."
She thought back of the happier days at the Katsuragi apartment dinner table, Shinji, Misato and herself eating together. Shinji made almost nothing but Japanese meals back then and she had always complained at the lack of variety but…she couldn't lie to herself. He had never made anything bad, even on his worse days he put care into everything he made.
Before she knew it his cooking, Japanese cooking, had become something she had come to love. Her mind flashed back to the month he spent trapped in Unit-01, and how she had sometimes snuck off after school to buy Japanese take-out. It wasn't the same but…if she closed her eyes it let her remember what his cooking was like.
"C-Can we have…Japanese?"
He looked up at her and she looked up and away, she couldn't help but find the ceiling interesting. It was so clean.
She heard him chuckle, "if that's what you want…Princess."
Asuka froze and her face lit on fire, 'w-when did Shinji get so…so cheeky?!'
It was official, Mari was a terrible influence on her Baka.
That meal was great though, Pinkie's envy just made it all the better.
Chapter 4: Christmas Adventure (WELCOME TO THE VANGUARD)
AN
Well again, sorry this is so late. Anyway not much to say I guess since I've apologized already.
Um not much to this chapter plot wise I think, no big battle, just a lot of WAFF and some bonding between the two. Honestly this chapter wasn't meant to be so dramatic at first, it was initially all light fluff, some slice of life stuff but…well it didn't feel right so I hope you guys liked it.
The series had a always been intended to be a bit lighter than Eva tends to be. I mean Destiny is big on hope. The end of what was canon NGE played out differently in this timeline. Shinji actually does come to fight the MP Evas and Third Impact never happens, allowing humanity to find the Traveller in the future and eventually enter its Golden Age. Yes Shinji was still too late and he ultimately died but they both come back to life in the end. The story was always meant to be a more light adventure, focusing on sweet moments and action.
On the other hand it just didn't feel right for what happened in the scene to not happen, that he wouldn't break down so badly after not seeing her for YEARS and he had spent all that time genuinely convinced that what she had said to him had been true, that for her to be happy he had to be alone.
To those wondering why Asuka took everything in stride, or seems to be, it's just like she said. I always felt that Asuka is very much a 'doer' type person, she's kind of single minded sometimes. She finds a target and she locks on it, and right now she's concentrating on getting up to speed, adjusting to her new life and reality and not being a burden on Shinji or causing him trouble.
Next chapter we meet the cast at the Tower and Asuka starts her first proper day as a Titan-class Guardian of the Vanguard!