[Pronounced: Truu Regend, a bit of fun-making of the Engrish accent.]
SOULWELL, the designation of nexuses of those who had given into Complementation and become nothing more than a culturally considered death trap.
In the two years after Third Impact, Mankind slowly began to free itself of the Unification and return to join their new Adam and Eve. Though the truth of the matter was, it was more like Adam and Eve-
And Lilith.
Shinji, driven insane by his loneliness, could hardly recognize what was real until Asuka's murmured word broke him from his fugue. Asuka, wounded and bitter from a situation she couldn't begin to understand, didn't even try to make it easy on the boy.
So when Rei was the first one to return from the primordial goo, both were surprised though only Shinji remotely understood -why-he was so surprised. Rei just smiled quietly, and the three became the guardians of the new Paradise.
A month passed, with humankind trickling back to life when suddenly a resurgence occurred. Thousands of people walked free from the oceans and began to try to live and thrive despite despair and tragedy.
One of them was Misato, fuming while dragging along an apologetic Kaji and a bewildered looking Ritsuko. Shinji had cried his eyes out to see the woman again while Asuka and Rei stood aside from his pain. One being the analogue of the Mother of All Humanity, and unable to assist in his emotional torment. The other was the new Eve, who still hated the boy despite her love.
Things became far more rapid after that, people began returning en mass and an empty world for only the three of them soon became an Earth filled with people again.
Man would survive.
Shinji, now on the verge of his seventeenth birthday, has known for quite some time what the true purpose of the SOULWELLs are. They are a font of power for the new Gods. Rei's own angelic powers were supplied quite helpfully by her own nature, whereas despite the contamination from his EVA and it's S2 Shinji was still relatively human.
Relatively, that is, until Shinji begins absorbing the SOULWELLs.
----------------------------------------------
"Shinji, what are you doing?"
"Whatever it takes, Rei."
----------------------------------------------
"Asuka, just imagine it! You and me and Rei, we can be together forever! We don't have to be afraid, to talk or think or feel! We can be whoever we want to be, we can be -ourselves- and-"
"Why would I want to be with the two of you?"
-------------------------------------------------
"Shinji this is wrong!"
"WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE THIS, MISATO?! YOU GOT YOUR PERFECT LITTLE LIFE BACK! Go back to it!"
-------------------------------------------------
"The truth is," Rei said softly, holding her elbow in a gesture that spoke at how ill at ease she was, "Shinji hasn't been coming home."
Misato blinked, before grabbing Rei suddenly by the shoulders and making her share eye-contact, "Where has he been going, then, Rei? What's Shinji doing?!"
The whisper was damning, so soft even with their faces together Misato could hardly hear, "Becoming God."
--------------------------------------------------
Shinji was once a believer in the worth of others. He liked to fancy himself a man for equality.
But the truth was, he didn't believe in it. Because of his own sense of self-worthlessness he had never believed in Equality or Justice. So as he grew up from the scared child who'd rejected Complementation, he became misanthropic.
Rei was his only friend, the only one who returned his love. So in his loneliness, he endured until he could endure no more. When Asuka broke his heart, Shinji's fragile grasp of reality and his emotional state had failed utterly.
Shinji didn't want to live, when the world had consumed itself at his wishes, but now he wanted to destroy. He'd become the Berserker.
He became God, feeding off the souls of those who only existed as part of the Collective.
-----------------------------------------
"All... All I wanted was to not be alone." The boy who became Legend spoke softly, kneeling and shaking utterly with the effort of remaining upright. "I just wanted your love. I didn't care if it was friendly, romantic... I just wanted it. WHY, ASUKA?! IS THIS WHAT I HAVE TO DO TO BE GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU!? DESTROY THE WHOLE WORLD?! Then, when it's just the two of us again, will you love me like you did?!"
Asuka couldn't say anything in the face of his tear-stained visage. She just didn't know -what- to say.
---------------------------------------------
As Shinji's eyes bled dark red and his hair grew long and snow white, screaming with all the rage that'd built in his heart since he was but a child something changed.
They embraced him, and his heart ached. Ached so much he couldn't keep screaming. So he slumped into their arms.
The new God was weak.
---------------------------------------------
Despite herself, Rei was selfish. No matter how everyone else might agree that the girl was about the most selfless being to ever exist, the new Mother of All Humanity was as selfish as all Goddesses are wont to be. Her love for Shinji was selfless, but her desire to be with him was not so much. Despite what they shared, Rei was an immortal being and Shinji would eventually die.
That was why Rei turned a blind eye to his journeys to find the Wells. Because if Asuka would reject Shinji, as would Mankind, then Rei would make a world for herself and Shinji. Even if he killed everyone who stepped out of the Wells, Rei would forgive him.
Because her love was selfless, but her desires were selfish. Rei would make a world for herself and Shinji, and their children if Asuka didn't want to join their Garden of Eden.
Rei wouldn't care either way, because she'd have what she wanted.
----------------------------------------------------
Asuka was the most human of the three pilots. With a missing eye, a barely functioning left arm, and a body covered in scars she was the perfect analogue for the horrors of war. She was ugly, or at least she thought herself so. She was ugly on the inside and on the outside, karmic justice at it's finest for the redhead. So she'd come to accept her love for Shinji in place of everything else over their time alone and with Rei.
But when life began to seem less bleak, and Ritsuko helped her become functional in her arm again with synthetic grafts Asuka became colder.
Because Shinji was in love with her too, and Asuka couldn't accept that. So she pushed him away, became more spiteful and frigid almost like before Impact. No matter how her heart ached when she couldn't share her feelings and desires with the boy.
SOULWELL, the designation of nexuses of those who had given into Complementation and become nothing more than a culturally considered death trap.
In the two years after Third Impact, Mankind slowly began to free itself of the Unification and return to join their new Adam and Eve. Though the truth of the matter was, it was more like Adam and Eve-
And Lilith.
Shinji, driven insane by his loneliness, could hardly recognize what was real until Asuka's murmured word broke him from his fugue. Asuka, wounded and bitter from a situation she couldn't begin to understand, didn't even try to make it easy on the boy.
So when Rei was the first one to return from the primordial goo, both were surprised though only Shinji remotely understood -why-he was so surprised. Rei just smiled quietly, and the three became the guardians of the new Paradise.
A month passed, with humankind trickling back to life when suddenly a resurgence occurred. Thousands of people walked free from the oceans and began to try to live and thrive despite despair and tragedy.
One of them was Misato, fuming while dragging along an apologetic Kaji and a bewildered looking Ritsuko. Shinji had cried his eyes out to see the woman again while Asuka and Rei stood aside from his pain. One being the analogue of the Mother of All Humanity, and unable to assist in his emotional torment. The other was the new Eve, who still hated the boy despite her love.
Things became far more rapid after that, people began returning en mass and an empty world for only the three of them soon became an Earth filled with people again.
Man would survive.
Shinji, now on the verge of his seventeenth birthday, has known for quite some time what the true purpose of the SOULWELLs are. They are a font of power for the new Gods. Rei's own angelic powers were supplied quite helpfully by her own nature, whereas despite the contamination from his EVA and it's S2 Shinji was still relatively human.
Relatively, that is, until Shinji begins absorbing the SOULWELLs.
----------------------------------------------
"Shinji, what are you doing?"
"Whatever it takes, Rei."
----------------------------------------------
"Asuka, just imagine it! You and me and Rei, we can be together forever! We don't have to be afraid, to talk or think or feel! We can be whoever we want to be, we can be -ourselves- and-"
"Why would I want to be with the two of you?"
-------------------------------------------------
"Shinji this is wrong!"
"WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE THIS, MISATO?! YOU GOT YOUR PERFECT LITTLE LIFE BACK! Go back to it!"
-------------------------------------------------
"The truth is," Rei said softly, holding her elbow in a gesture that spoke at how ill at ease she was, "Shinji hasn't been coming home."
Misato blinked, before grabbing Rei suddenly by the shoulders and making her share eye-contact, "Where has he been going, then, Rei? What's Shinji doing?!"
The whisper was damning, so soft even with their faces together Misato could hardly hear, "Becoming God."
--------------------------------------------------
Shinji was once a believer in the worth of others. He liked to fancy himself a man for equality.
But the truth was, he didn't believe in it. Because of his own sense of self-worthlessness he had never believed in Equality or Justice. So as he grew up from the scared child who'd rejected Complementation, he became misanthropic.
Rei was his only friend, the only one who returned his love. So in his loneliness, he endured until he could endure no more. When Asuka broke his heart, Shinji's fragile grasp of reality and his emotional state had failed utterly.
Shinji didn't want to live, when the world had consumed itself at his wishes, but now he wanted to destroy. He'd become the Berserker.
He became God, feeding off the souls of those who only existed as part of the Collective.
-----------------------------------------
"All... All I wanted was to not be alone." The boy who became Legend spoke softly, kneeling and shaking utterly with the effort of remaining upright. "I just wanted your love. I didn't care if it was friendly, romantic... I just wanted it. WHY, ASUKA?! IS THIS WHAT I HAVE TO DO TO BE GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU!? DESTROY THE WHOLE WORLD?! Then, when it's just the two of us again, will you love me like you did?!"
Asuka couldn't say anything in the face of his tear-stained visage. She just didn't know -what- to say.
---------------------------------------------
As Shinji's eyes bled dark red and his hair grew long and snow white, screaming with all the rage that'd built in his heart since he was but a child something changed.
They embraced him, and his heart ached. Ached so much he couldn't keep screaming. So he slumped into their arms.
The new God was weak.
---------------------------------------------
Despite herself, Rei was selfish. No matter how everyone else might agree that the girl was about the most selfless being to ever exist, the new Mother of All Humanity was as selfish as all Goddesses are wont to be. Her love for Shinji was selfless, but her desire to be with him was not so much. Despite what they shared, Rei was an immortal being and Shinji would eventually die.
That was why Rei turned a blind eye to his journeys to find the Wells. Because if Asuka would reject Shinji, as would Mankind, then Rei would make a world for herself and Shinji. Even if he killed everyone who stepped out of the Wells, Rei would forgive him.
Because her love was selfless, but her desires were selfish. Rei would make a world for herself and Shinji, and their children if Asuka didn't want to join their Garden of Eden.
Rei wouldn't care either way, because she'd have what she wanted.
----------------------------------------------------
Asuka was the most human of the three pilots. With a missing eye, a barely functioning left arm, and a body covered in scars she was the perfect analogue for the horrors of war. She was ugly, or at least she thought herself so. She was ugly on the inside and on the outside, karmic justice at it's finest for the redhead. So she'd come to accept her love for Shinji in place of everything else over their time alone and with Rei.
But when life began to seem less bleak, and Ritsuko helped her become functional in her arm again with synthetic grafts Asuka became colder.
Because Shinji was in love with her too, and Asuka couldn't accept that. So she pushed him away, became more spiteful and frigid almost like before Impact. No matter how her heart ached when she couldn't share her feelings and desires with the boy.