Fanfic / A Crown of Stars

"Pilot Ikari Shinji-san? Fräulein Pilot Asuka Langley Sohryu? I’m sorry to interrupt your rest, but this is the earliest I could arrive."

Don’t…that’s something else they told us. You don’t have to be afraid anymore. Of anything. And ‘you’re allowed to be happy now.’ Don’t miss this chance.

Shinji… […] this… isn’t going to be easy. I know… I can be hard to live with. And you… we’ve both got… a lot of problems
Asuka, both of our parents practically dumped us by the side of the road before we were four. Both of us have actually died in combat with alien monsters before we were fifteen. We outlived the end of the world, and then some. Why should anything in our lives be easy, even the good things?

After Third Impact, Shinji and Asuka's lives got increasingly worse. For five years, they were puppets of the warring warlords and military dictators fighting over the control of the post-apocalyptic world. They were kept alive only because they were the only living persons able to pilot an Evangelion, and they were forced to remain apart for three years. Although they met again, they were so physically and psychologically worn-down and emotionally wrecked than they were unable to open up. Still, they stuck together because they felt that nobody else in the world could understand their pain.

And then, right when they are being sent off into another war, after which they will be rendered obsolete and possibly executed at a dictator’s whim, a stranger comes along and makes them an offer of the "It sounds too good to be true" kind… and he brings along their future selves to convince them that they can trust him.

A Crown Of Stars is a Neon Genesis Evangelion Fix Fic by Strypgia, and authorized sequel of the Dark Fic A Throne Of Bayonets. Strypgia read "A Throne of Bayonets" and found it excellent, but he felt that Shinji and Asuka deserved a happier end. So that he got permission from the original author to try and write a sequel (which ironically is several times larger than the original fic). Reading "A Throne of Bayonets" it is not needed to understand the fic, but it is recommendable.

It is also worth mentioning that characters of another Eva fic The Way out is through make a short appearance.

It can be found in the Sufficient Velocity forums and in FF.Net. As of March 25, 2021, the fanfic has concluded, though the author is thinking about revisiting the setting of Avalon at some point.

Strypgia also wrote another highly recommendable Evangelion fic, Advice and Trust.

Do not confuse it with Crown of Stars.

Now has a Character page in desperate need of some wiki magic.

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A Crown Of Stars provides examples of the next tropes:

A-C

• Abusive Parents:
  • Shinji does not know if he will be able to forgive his father for abandoning him and using him, his sister Rei, and Asuka as tools to achieve his plans.
  • Asuka bluntly wants nothing to do with her father after he cheated on her mother and abandoned her.
  • In contrast, Misato forgave her own father after his Heroic Sacrifice.
• Action Dad: Shinji is this to his to-be-born daughter. He hates fighting, but if someone threatens Asuka and their baby, he'll jump into the fray without hesitation.
• Action Girl:
  • Asuka is a Hot-Blooded Blood Knight Ace Pilot with ten years' training, who has piloted Humongous Mecha against alien monsters, other Humongous Mecha, and entire armies.
  • In canon, Misato is a soldier and excellent strategist prone to go into Mama Bear rampages. In this fic, she is one of leaders of an army and goes into battle clad in Powered Armor.
  • All female soldiers of the Avalon Army, really. They are well-trained, experienced Super Soldiers with Psychic Powers.
• Action Mom: Ch. 67 reveals that Asuka's been pregnant with Shinji's child since before the start of the South American Campaign. And they still have quite a few battles ahead of them.
• Ace Pilot: Although she was very broken when the story starts out, Asuka was her squad's best pilot, with the greater number of kills. Ching praises her performance during the battle of the Geofront, and when she and Shinji used a barely-moving prototype mecha in Germany to fight and defeat several fully-functional MP-Evas. Later, Asuka gains a new Transforming Mecha from the Imperial Army to kick butt in.
• After the End: This story is a sequel to the post-Third Impact fic "A Throne of Bayonets". In a very Fist of the North Star fashion, the world is in ruins, scavengers inhabit the ruins and wastelands, and warlords fight over the control of what little is left. Crown picks up five years into this situation.
• A God Am I: Daniel sought to ascend to godhood to have enough power to make a positive change in his world.
• Alien Sky: The wildly different stars and constellations, plus the ringworlds shifting across the sky, communicate to Shinji and Asuka that they have arrived in a different planet, galaxy and dimension altogether.
• Aliens Speaking English: The Avaloni people don't even come from the same dimension that Shinji and Asuka were born in, but still they talk to both pilots in Japanese, German, English, Latin, or whatever they feel more comfortable using. Justified since they have pretty advanced language-teaching technology.
• All Psychology Is Freudian: Played for laughs. When Ching tells Shinji she wants to talk about his father issues and counsel him she begins their talk by paroding Freud, donning glasses, a pipe and asking him about his father with a bad German accent:
  “No, last night I think she’ll talk to you about soon, but you’ll really have to ask her. I wanted to talk to you for your own sake. I know your relationship with your father is hmm… complicated, to put it mildly? And the recognition that you’re more like him than you thought hit pretty hard yesterday, correct?”
  Shinji closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. “Yes. But I think I know what I want to do about it. And I believe Asuka can help me do so.”
  Ching nodded. “That’s good to hear, but still, I’m willing to bet you’ll benefit from talking to me about it some. And with that in mind,” Ching reached her right hand into her left cuff and pulled out a neat packet of wires that sprang out into a pair of round-rimmed glasses when she snapped her wrist. She placed them on her face and repeated the gesture with her left hand and right cuff to somehow produce a small pipe. She placed that in her mouth and blew a couple of bubbles out of it. “Zo, tell me about you fadda,” she said with a terribly faked Vienna accent.
• All Take and No Give: After the events of "A Throne of Bayonets", Asuka and Shinji were so burned-out that they were afraid of having a real relationship. Asuka had proposed to Shinji an agreement, where he would give her everything and she would not have to give anything back. She did not expect him to accept this, but Shinji did, muttering it was better than nothing. In the first chapter they meet their future selves—who have underwent so many changes they are considerably happier, more balanced, and have a real, healthy, balanced relationship—and the older Asuka (and several other characters later) denounces that "agreement" as a hollow shell of a relationship.
• All There in the Manual: Strypgia provides commentary and insight in the story, and even clarifications about the many shout-outs in this thread.
• Always Chaotic Evil: Subverted in chapter 15. After Shinji mentions that he and Asuka got forced to work for military dictators, Rayana says there are groups of purely evil people... but simultaneously she remarks that they are mercifully rare.
  “Which is why target discrimination and appropriate levels of force are integral parts of our military’s training. We know that purely evil people and groups are thankfully rare. So we exercise careful attention when it comes to meting out judgment on those who become our enemies.” Daniel swallowed a bit of his own fish. “And as for Jinnai, we’ll see to him later. Death may be a little too merciful for him.”
• Always Save the Girl:
  • This is something Shinji and his father have in common. Both of them would destroy the world for the woman they love. Several characters call Shinji out on it:
    Daniel: "And as for how serious he is, Asuka, I’d like you to keep in mind something my wife told him yesterday that Shinji didn’t like to hear very much; that he’s a lot like his father in a key way. They both have made the decision that the entire rest of the world isn’t as important to them as one particular woman and that life isn’t worth living without her."
  • Gender-Inverted and deconstructed with Rei. She does not want Shinji leaving her sight because she cares for him and wants to protect him… so she shut down the dimensional portal, cutting Shinji and Asuka’s platoon off and blocking them from contacting with the Empire. She was endangering not only their lives but also endangering everyone on the whole planet only because she was afraid of Shinji leaving and jealous of Asuka.
• All Your Base Are Belong to Us:
  • The Avalon Army invading Buenos Aires.
  • And later they seized the UN fleet.
• Alone Among the Couples: Kensuke feels alone during his unit's deployment because his best friends -Shinji and Touji- have hooked up with their Love Interests -Asuka and Hikari respectively- and even the commanders that hang around with them are in a relationship... and he remains single. Often he complains and whines he needs to get himself a girlfriend and when finally come along several girls interested in him it is hilarious because he does not know how handling the situation.
  Kensuke looked between them with a confused look before he worked it out. His mouth dropped open when he did, and he shot a look at Shinji like he was about to say something. Shinji just gave him a ‘don’t ask’ look and shook his head. He closed his mouth with a snap, and looked back and forth between Shinji, Touji, and Sergeant Bir. “Man, I have got to find me a girlfriend,” he eventually muttered.
• Alternate Self: A fact of life in Avalon is that you will inevitably run into yourself at some point (almost literally In Shinji's case), or even children you never had. Asuka and Shinji (the pair the story follows) were profoundly weirded out when they bumped into their analogues from “The Way out Is Through” universe. More so when they got a call from their daughter, who was also twice their age (it's apparently good custom to introduce yourself to your analogues and welcome them to the family, though Senior Fleet Commander Sohryu-Ikari also couldn't resist the urge to mess with their heads a little; she got it from her mom).
• A Mech by Any Other Name: Leaving out the Evas themselves, the Star Strider and Black Knight units of the Avalon Army. A Star Strider looks like a Galient/Mobile Suit/Labor hybrid. Or if Mazinger Z and a valkyrie got a child, and their offspring fused with a Autobot and grew GunBuster’s double cockpit.
• Amazon Chaser: Shinji loves Asuka for her beauty, intelligence, bravery, determination... and also for her fighting skill and prowess. Even though he hated fighting he was incredibly drawn to her when she battled an enemy.
  • In one scene he saw her twirling a gun. He thought that she was "incredibly hot".
  Everyone’s eyes swung to Asuka. Shinji kept his head mostly down, but he too turned his head enough to watch her face closely. He could see a small, tight smile on her lips, and the beat of her pulse in her throat speeding up. He knew what she was going to say already. She’d want to be in the thick of it, winning glory and praise in the heat of battle. She was a fiery, unstoppable valkyrie, dancing in blood and death like a redheaded avatar of Kali... and he trailing right along with her, drawn to her fire even more than he was pushed away by her bloodlust and his own dislike of fighting.
• Analogy Backfire: Discussed; Daniel tells Shinji that he missed the "Impenetrable Walls of Jericho" line from Asuka. He then summarizes the story surrounding said walls, and correctly guesses that Shinji missed the metaphor because he didn't have the context or ability to study Western religions, such as Christianity.
• And I Must Scream: Don Barceló’s fate. Psychic soldiers put him into a mental loop where he relived every torture, rape and murder he had ever committed - including sensory feeds- from the victim’s point of view. And there were hundreds of victims! A medical clip also prevented him from passing out and dehydrating. It was agreed leave him like that for a while and then hanging him.
• …And That Little Girl Was Me: Daniel tells Shinji and Asuka how he met and hooked up with Rayana as if it was something happened to another person.
• And Then What?: After the events of the former story Asuka was frightened to love anybody but she was also frightened to be alone and she did not want to be apart of Shinji. She and Shinji got an arrangement in lieu of a real relationship and she claimed that was all she needed, but in reality she expected and feared that it would not last long. Daniel asked her: "And then What? Will you attempt to kill yourself again?"
• Anger Born of Worry: Asuka and Shinji argue several times the time where he disappeared inside Unit 01 for one month. During those talks Shinji apologizes for getting her worried and she angrily tells him if he ever makes so stupid again there will be... consequences.
  • In chapter 26:
    Asuka’s grip on his left hand tightened and she growled, “You leave me hanging like that again, Ikari, and I get to rip your head and arms off.” Her grip relaxed again. “And don’t you dare ever vanish for a month like what happened after that, either. You made me worry, Third. And you’re sworn to watch my back from now on, until I let you go, got it?”
  • In chapter 28:
    Shinji:“And as for time apart... yeah, after the last three and a half years... I’m sorry I disappeared that month. I’d have come back sooner if I’d been able to. I didn’t know I made you worry so much.”
    Asuka:''“You start in on that philosophy crap and I’ll make you disappear again. Yes, you worried me! [...] Don’t you get killed on me, Third. You still owe me a life, and until you pay me back you’re under orders not to die. Not after you say something like you said this morning. Got it?”
• Anguished Declaration of Love: Before the Final Battle Shinji tried to talk Asuka into staying behind and safe. Asuka would have nothing of it.
  Asuka: "I love you, du verdammt baka! Live or die, you're staying right by my side! Together! You promised!"
• Anti-Air: Postdam's missile launch complex was protected from air raids by a Positron Cannon. It was mounted like an artillery piece and connected to the power grid, and it was capable of shooting down an eighty-foot-tall flying Transforming Mecha.
• Apologises a Lot: Shinji has to fight against his impulse to apologize constantly because it drives Asuka very, very mad.
  Shinji: ‘Don’t say ‘I’m sorry’, or she’ll kill me. Don’t say ‘I’m sorry’, or she’ll kill me. Don’t say ‘I’m sorry’, or she’ll kill me.’
• Arbitrary Skepticism: Asuka has come to terms with Daniel being a God-Emperor from another dimension… but seeing winged humanoids render her speechless.
  Daniel: “Boy, kids these days. You tell people you’re an emperor from beyond space and time, they just nod. You flap in on a pair of wings, and all of a sudden they forget how to talk.”
• Armor-Piercing Question:
  • In the first chapter, Asuka’s older self is trying to talk Asuka into taking up Daniel’s offer:
    Older Asuka: "You don’t have to be afraid anymore. Of anything. And ‘you’re allowed to be happy now.’ Don’t miss this chance."
    Asuka: "A month ago I took on an entire army and two Evas with nothing but a half-functioning Mass Production Unit that couldn’t produce an AT-Field and the Third Child. Afraid? I’m not afraid of anything already,"
    Older Asuka: "Right. Sleeping all right? No bad dreams? No little bad moods grabbing your attention?"
  • And in the next chapter Asuka realizes her older self is wearing a ring on her finger. She cannot believe the implications (getting married to Shinji), but then her other self Asuka shouts:
    Older Asuka: ”And try this one out, ‘me’; did he ask you? Or did you ask him?”
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: In part 8 several Avalon City cops arrested one of the Princesses of the Empire and her friends for “'borrowing' the lander, leaving the Empire underage without permission, and ditching school”.
• Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Daniel revealed Asuka that he used to be an human before ascending to godhood several hundred of millenia ago. Asuka later tells Shinji about it.
• Ascended Fanboy: Finally -finally!- Kensuke gets to pilot a mecha.
• A Simple Plan: The plan to free Shinji and Asuka’s timeline was relatively simple, even if the goal was a campaign with low to no casualties: sending a massive force to talk the locals into surrendering peacefully. And then they ran into a complication: a jealous, angry and overprotective Rei Ayanami.
• The Atoner: Gendo. After talking with Yui and realizing the weight of his crimes he wants to expiate his sins. Much later chapters reveal that he's enlisted as a private in the army sent to help Shinji and Asuka retake and rebuild their world.
• Attention Whore: Since she was four Asuka had sought other people's attention and praise as a way to validate her existence. Even after her mind and her body had been thoroughly broken and her pride shattered she still craved for acknowledgement and she was glad when she had a chance to show off.
• Audience Surrogate: Shinji and Asuka are this during their stay in Avalon, showing what it would be like visiting an alternate dimension ruled by a family of nice, benevolent gods, and where magic and sci-fi technology are a daily reality.
• Aura Vision: Daniel can see other people's auras, their colors and perceive how damaged they are. When he meets Asuka he says that her soul is "radiating pain like a city on fire".
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: After the Angel War, the Third Impact and the horrors of the next four years, Shinji and Asuka were so messed-up that they had all but given up on the possibility of having a real relationship. Still Shinji was always trying to take care of Asuka and looking at her, and Asuka dreaded the possibility of Shinji leaving her or someone forcing them to stay apart, and they were always thinking of each other.
• Bad Boss: Jinnai has all classic traits: short-tempered, irrational, paranoid, prone to execute whoever displeases him and willing to hold his troops’ families hostages in order to ensure their loyalty.
• Badass Army: The army of Empire of Avalon is vast, comprised of well-trained and highly competent Super Soldiers, many of them with Psychic Powers, and equipped with all sci-fi imaginable weaponry. They are so badass that they make known where their main bases are located in case any of their enemies want to pick a fight.
• Badass Boast: Asuka hears from Ching that the Avalon Empire makes known where its main fleet is located, even giving out coordinates and portal generator plans. Why? Because whoever wants to pick a fight with them -and is stupid enough to follow their directions with no question- is welcome to:
  Ching:"Sure do. If someone’s mad enough to want to take a swing at us, we make it easy. You’d be surprised how few are smart enough to question their ‘good fortune’ that some third party always pops up to give them the information. Then they spend incredible amounts of resources to get here, and never have much time to wonder why we give them coordinates that walk them right into our strongest defenses and a major fleet presence. It makes our enemies waste their energy, brings them within easy reach of tons of our weapons, and gives the Imperial Navy units stationed here some nice, reliably appearing live-fire exercises to play with. The mice never question why the cheese is sitting there, do they? Snap!"
• Badass Bookworm: In this story Shinji has a degree on Philosophy and Asuka another on Advanced Mathematics. Shinji's time studying Philosophy often comes up, and Asuka has been seen reading up on Mathematics.
• Badass Cape: Daniel, God-Emperor of Avalon, royal ass-kicker and real nice guy, wears a dark blue-and-red cape to match his gold-trimmed blue armor.
• Badass Creed:
  • The motto of the crew of HMS Asuka Langley Sohryu, the Red Devils:
    "I Will Fight Beyond Death"
  • The crew of the HMS Shinji Ikari have their's as well:
    "Here I Stand And Here I Remain"
  • The motto of the Clan Guards: "Morior Invictus" (I Die Unconquered)
  • The Avalonian prayer before deploying for a mission:
    "Lord and Lady with us
    To watch over us
    And stand beside us
    As we fight for the right,
    Without question or pause
    Willing to march into Hell,
    For a Heavenly cause
    Be with us this hour
    From the first brightness of the sun
    To the last dying of the light
    Until the day we all rise up
    So mote it be."
• Badass Family: Daniel and his family are the rulers of Avalon. Daniel and his wife Rayana are humans who ascended to godhood several millennia ago, and their numerous descendants are Physical Gods or humans with divine blood. All of them have reality-warping, magical and/or psychic powers, have military training and lead their army from the frontlines.
• Barbarian Hero: Invoked in chapter 33 when Asuka gloats that she will lead her army with an iron fist and one of her friends asks her if she will be going for a "blood-soaked barbarian-queen" vibe.
• Bath Suicide: In "A Throne of Bayonets" Asuka tried to commit suicide by sitting on her apartment's bathtube and slitting her wrists after learning about her mother's execution. When several of her friends discussed that episode, they were afraid that she'd attempt to bath suicide again unless they were capable of helping her.
• Battle Aura: Members of the Avaloni Imperial Family have auras, but usually they keep it hidden. When they are using their power, though, it manifests as a huge sphere of golden energy.
• Battle Couple: Shinji y Asuka. Their numerous battles together in the past are mentioned. Moreover, Asuka's new Humongous Mecha is a two-seater, allowing Shinji and Asuka sitting together in the cockpit.
  He smiled at her in the comm window. "You said it, Asuka. You finally said it."
  She blinked at him. "Said what?"
  "'I love you.'"
  Asuka stared blankly at him for a second before it sank in. Her eyes widened. "Well… scheiße…" she said eventually. "So much for talking about it tonight in more romantic surroundings. When I said 'right before a battle isn't exactly how or where I want to talk about this', I did mean it."
  Shinji's smile got bigger. "Somehow, right before a battle for our lives seems fitting for us."
• Be Careful What You Wish For:
  • When Shinji says he can not forgive his father and he can go to Hell, Daniel warns him about being careful about what he wishes for, since he can make it happen:
    “Be careful what you wish for around here, Shinji. If that’s what you want, I can make it happen. I maintain and operate my own Hell, for those truly unworthy or unwilling to seek penance and redemption. And I know of even worse places than that.”
  • Kensuke wished he had a girlfriend, right like his friends. Then he met one girl was interested in him. Then another girl came along. Then both girls argued. Then they agreed to share him. And he has absolutely no idea of how handling the situation.
• Beautiful Dreamer: Shinji and Asuka do this several times to each other while they are healing their emotional scars:
  • In chapter 7 Shinji is watching Asuka as she sleeps, feeling guilty because he knows she is hurting but he does not know how helping her.
  • In chapter 19, after hugging her as she slept, Shinji can not help to think that "She was beautiful in rest, when the nightmares didn’t seize her."
  • In chapter 24 Shinji opens her eyes, finds Asuka is holding her as she sleeps and he -wrongly- thinks it is a dream, so he spends a long while gazing at her.
    Shinji woke up, opened his eyes, and was then absolutely certain that he hadn’t done either. He could not possibly have woken up, for several reasons. Number one, that he was still alive. Number two, this was exactly like other dreams he’d had in the past, so it must be one. Number three, it had to be a dream, since the likelihood of him actually being awake, alive, and having Asuka not just in his arms but also smiling in her sleep must have been astronomical. That he was in fact holding her tightly against him and looking at the impossibly beautiful smile on her sleeping face from a few inches away, pre-dawn light giving her a surreal pale glow, was so unlikely that he must still be asleep. Q.E.D.
    Right?
    Right. Had to be. So, since this was one of the nice dreams, he might as well enjoy it. He cuddled Asuka closer and took a deep breath of the scent of her hair. Strawberry Balsam, it never failed to make him think of her. Gods, she smelled good and felt so warm. He could feel her pressed against him all the way down his body. This was a very nice dream.
  • In chapter 44 Asuka wakes up after their first time and spends a while gazing at Shinji as he sleeps.
• Becoming the Mask: Discussed in chapter 34. Asuka says she has worn so many masks during her life that she is not sure of what is her real self anymore. Daniel suggests her to choose one of them and wearing it until the mask becomes real.
  Asuka:“That’s... another thing that's hard to deal with. I keep feeling like it’s too good to be true, like I can’t deserve something that feels that good so easily. Or it’s some kind of trick. Or I get worried that he’s in love with the mask I always tried to project and not the real me.”
  Daniel:“Who, the brave, vibrant, indomitable genius he knew? He knows the real you more than anyone else. Or at least can feel the things he doesn’t fully understand are in there. He knows you have pains inside you try to hide from everyone. He wants to help you, to take away those pains, or at least bear them together. Don’t worry about what ‘Asuka’ he’s in love with. The answer is still ‘yes’. You can make yourself into that mask. Free will is the ne plus ultra in my realm. You can be who you want to be. And you have amazing will, Asuka. Just defeat your doubts and remember who you are; the girl who even death can’t stop. I didn’t choose the motto for your ship idly. The past defines you but does not determine you. Put it aside and decide who you are. Act as you would want to be. Or to put it a more vernacular way; fake it ‘til you make it.”
• Bedmate Reveal: Subverted in chapter 24. Shinji wakes up, realizes that he's sleeping beside Asuka and he's actually hugging her tightly and decides that it HAS to be a dream. So, when she opens her eyes he kisses her, gets out of the bed and leaves their bedroom. Meanwhile Asuka kept staring at the door, wondering why Shinji was lying next to her, why he had kissed her and since when he was so smooth.
• Belated Happy Ending: This story gives the main characters of "A Throne Of Bayonets" -written in 2009- and "The Way Out Is Through" -written in 2008- a happy ending.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Reinforced. Asuka and several characters repeatedly tell Shinji that if he wants his relationship with Asuka progressing he must stop being a wimp and push back when she pushes.
  Ching: So you flirted with him, kicked his ass, and then ran away? Good Lord, you are doing the kindergarten routine.
• Beneath the Mask: Asuka had worn a bunch of masks after her mother's death to protect her emotionally-damaged, insecure self. She has worn so many when she trained to become an Eva pilot, when she fought Angels, when she got turned into the plaything of dictators… that she is not sure of what her real self is anymore, and she does not know whether Shinji loves her or one of her masks. Someone else assures that Shinji knows her real self better that she thinks and she can always turn one of her masks into her real self.
• Benevolent Boss: Daniel y Rayana care for all their subjects and do their utmost to look after them and protect them.
• Berserk Button:
  • Shinji’s button is Asuka, and he is quite aware of it.
    ‘Crush…destroy…kill…all of them. They hurt her. Make them PAY.’
  • Asuka gets mad when someone tries to take Shinji away from her. After returning to their original timeline Rei presses that button constantly, sending Asuka in “apocalyptic” rages. In contrast, “people” as Winthrop, Jinnai or Barceló piss her off, but she displays cold fury towards them.
• The Berserker: If Asuka got hurt Shinji would turn very, very quickly into one. At one point of the story he realized that the mere thought of she being harmed made him wanting to kill people and burn things down.
• Beta Couple: The Alpha couple is Shinji/Asuka. One of the beta couples is Daniel/Rayana, the Happily Married God Emperors of Avalon that give much needed advice and counseling to the alpha couple. Later show up Misato/Kaji, Toji/Hikari... and two story characters -Ching and Bir- gradually get into a relationship.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Shinji is soft-spoken, calm and non-confrontational. Hurts Asuka and he will go from “I don’t want to kill anyone” to “I want to BURN him!”
• Beware the Quiet Ones: Rei was always quiet, unemotional and physically unimposing. Then she got pissed off with Asuka after a Cat Fight and destroyed a dimensional portal to prevent Shinji and Asuka from leaving their homeworld... a dimensional portal built by God-Emperor Daniel!
• Big Bad: Jinnai. In “A Throne of Bayonets” he plotted overthrowing his superior Winthrop, and achieved his goal thanks to Shinji and Asuka. However he is arrogant, paranoid, short-tempered and prone to lose control, so he is less effective than his predecessor.
• Big Brother Mentor: TJ plays this role to Shinji during the last half of the story, counselling Shinji and helping him to make a decision when he is feeling insecure and wary.
• Big Damn Heroes: In an early chapter Asuka and Daniel travel back in time to rescue or save several people, including Asuka's mother. Asuka shot the death squad was going to execute Kyoko and then retrieved her mother before returning to the present.
• Big Good: Daniel. He meets Shinji and Asuka and offers giving them back everything that was taken away from them. He brings their families and friends back, heals his physical scars, helps them to recover from their traumas and lends them a military force to save their world.
• Big "NO!": Asuka combined this trope with Rapid-Fire "No!" in chapter 5. When Asuka insists that she does not need anyone and she has an agreement, Daniel points out that it is very fragile and she fears that it will not last... And then what? She will try to kill herself again? She screamed:
  “NO! Nononononono! I...I...STOP IT!”
• Bigger Is Better in Bed: Played straight. According Asuka, Shinji's penis is nearly twice larger than Big Bad's and former Big Bad's. Moreover, the latter two abused her sexually, were pretty lousy in bed and made her feeling dirty, whereas Shinji made her feeling good, happy and special. Then again, while she was being used by her former superiors, Daniel had been bopping her in and out of that time span, replacing her with a simulacrum so she wouldn't actually be sexually assaulted by either one of them...and its secretions made them paranoid, violent, and impotent.
• Bigger on the Inside: In chapter 2 Daniel gives Asuka a pistol that does not need to be reloaded because “The magazine is a lot bigger on the inside than on the outside.”
• Bizarre Alien Biology: The Empire of Avalon spans several alternate realities. Most of its inhabitants are not baseline humans. When Shinji and Asuka arrive on Avalon they are constantly gaping, since they find all kind of aliens: winged humans, dragon people, shape-shifters, people with multiple arms, insectoids, people whose bodies seem to be covered with ink-black or blue plates... even the more human-like species have enhanced senses or physical capabilities.
• Bizarre Alien Senses: The Avaloni Imperial Tribes have especial senses: Star Borns such as Ching can feel when others are close and have aura-reading abilities, whereas Blood Borns can feel physical proximity.
• Blood Knight: Asuka is a warrior, a soldier and a Humongous Mecha Ace Pilot. Fighting is her life.
  Everyone’s eyes swung to Asuka. Shinji kept his head mostly down, but he too turned his head enough to watch her face closely. He could see a small, tight smile on her lips, and the beat of her pulse in her throat speeding up. He knew what she was going to say already. She’d want to be in the thick of it, winning glory and praise in the heat of battle. She was a fiery, unstoppable valkyrie, dancing in blood and death like a redheaded avatar of Kali... and he trailing right along with her, drawn to her fire even more than he was pushed away by her bloodlust and his own dislike of fighting.
• Blood Lust: Asuka is not so severe as other examples, but she is a warrior, and Shinji notes that she feels bloodlust when she fights.
• Break the Cutie: After the Angel War and the end of the world Shinji had to struggle to survive in the post-apocalyptic wastelands and help a semi-comatose Asuka to do the same. He became puppet of dictators, got beaten up and forcefully separated from his life’s love during three years while she was being raped by blood-thirsty monsters, got obliged to kill… when the story starts out he is very, very badly broken and he does not know whether things will get better.
• Break the Haughty: Asuka had trained hard her whole life to become the best. She was a soldier and was proud of it. Then the war came and she got beaten, humiliated, mind-raped, abandoned by her comrades and murdered. After the end of the world she was angry, jaded and semi-comatose. She got forced to be two warlords' war toy and plaything for years during which she thought she had been abandoned and betrayed again for the only person she might have loved. When the story starts out she is soul-weary and mind-broken she does not believe her life will ever get better.
• Break Them by Talking:
  • Yui had a long talk with Gendo about his actions and how he had treated their children after her death. When she explained that Asuka was to their son what she was to him, Gendo sat staring wordlessly at a wall for a hour before he starts crying.
    • Actually, the text indicates that Gendo has gone mad after this talk, so Rayana had to stop by and make him sane again, while explaining that insanity is not a feasible way of escape in Avalon.
  • Several characters do this to Shinji and Asuka -especially the latter- several times: they pointed out their flaws and their mistakes to goad them to confront their personal demons, and both pilots often reacted... badly.
• Brick Joke: In the first chapter Older Asuka informs Asuka that Daniel is a god. Asuka replies sarcastically, “So he’s going to heal the sick, raise the dead, and feed us all with a few loaves and fishes?” Her counterpart responds “As a matter of fact, yes. Though that ‘loaves and fishes’ part may have been just for you saying that”. Flash-forward to chapter 15 and they are having lunch. Asuka has been served a plate of loaves of bread and cuts of sushi. She gave Daniel a sardonic look. “Really?” And then Daniel says: “Eat all you like; the basket has as many as you want.” She snorted.
• Broken Ace: Asuka is beautiful, brave, a great fighter, an excellent pilot, a certified genius... and is inwardly broken due to deep childhood trauma, becoming a child soldier, getting beaten, mind-raped, abandoned and defiled before the Apocalypse, getting turned into a pawn in someone else's wars and a plaything after the Apocalypse...
• Broken Bird: The preface makes an excellent work describing how badly broken were Shinji and Asuka after the events of the series and "A Throne of Bayonets". To make a long story short: Their mothers died and their fathers abandoned them when they four. At the age of fourteen they were forced to fight alien monsters. Their pain, their inability to reach out to each other and the war broke them down, and then they died when the world ended. Shinji gave the humanity the possibility to return and they were reborn... into a wrecked world populated with warlords, bandits and starving masses. They were turned into the tools of bloody dictators for three years, and Asuka was turned into a plaything during that time. They went through another conflict where they got shot and nearly murdered, and at the end they stuck together because they felt that no one else in the world could understand their pain, but they were so soul-weary and broken that Asuka was afraid of loving Shinji and they had no hopes of developing a real relationship.
  • Scars Are Forever: and they had the scars to go along with it. They went through a medical check-up the second day they were in Avalon, and the doc was distressed by what she found. Both of them had signs of malnutrition, nerve damage in several areas, numerous signs of emotional and mental trauma, and assortment of old injuries and scars (particularly Asuka, who still bared the marks from her fight with the MP Eva's). In addition, Asuka was still nursing a recently healed gunshot wound to the gut, while Shinji had several broken ribs, a broken arm, and a hairline skull fracture from when Winthrop and his goons nearly beat him to death 3 years ago.
• Broken Hero: Shinji and Asuka were severely traumatized due to deep childhood trauma and being children fighting a war they did not understand. They tried to save the world but at the end they were so broken that Shinji let it die. Their lives got worse during the next years while they tried survive in a devastated world ruled by warlords, but after getting help and an improved outlook they are again fighting to save their world.
• Brother–Sister Incest: Rei cared for Shinji greatly. When Shinji, Asuka and the like returned to Earth and met Rei, she was NOT happy to learn that her brother and Asuka were together now, and she stated she would not tolerate it. And then it was Asuka the one was NOT happy.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Daniel is the God-Emperor of Avalon, an Empire which spans a chunk of The Multiverse. He is the Big Good of his realm, powerful, ancient, and ever-concerned with protect his subjects and help people in need. He is also "quirky" to say the least. It's deliberately invoked, however, since interacting with people in a friendly and lighthearted manner helps him keep in touch with humanity; that, and anytime Shinji and Asuka see him he is usually "off duty", making culture pop jokes or wearing Hawaiian shirts while sunbathing.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Misato remembered Jinnai too well. He did not:
  Misato: "Well, well, well, if it isn't Katsuhiko Jinnai. I remember you, mister Junior Vice-President of Isshinshima Heavy Industries. You've oozed your way up in the world since we met, I see."
  Jinnai: "Who the Hell are you?"
  Misato: "You tried to sell us an overpriced second-rate knock-off of the Positron Canon we were developing ourselves. Then you grabbed my ass and tried to ask me out for drinks. I might have almost broken your wrist. I know I gave you one Hell of a black eye."
  Jinnai: "Wait, Captain Katsuragi?!"
• Calling the Old Man Out: Shinji skips the talking part and straight up decks Gendo upon their reunion. Afterwords, Shinji refuses to have anything to do with his father, even though Gendo's had time to think about what he's done and is making a genuine effort to become a better person.
• The Casanova: Parodied. Shinji is remarkably smooth and confident when he thinks he is dreaming. He gets Asuka so shocked and aroused that she calls him "Shinji the Casanova".
• The Captain: Although her actual rank is Junior First Lieutenant Asuka is in charge of the army tasked with freeing her world of the bunch of dictators running it, and she is responsible for her troops and for the success of the mission.
• Captain Obvious: In chapter 48 a thug pistol-whipped one of his drunk goons across the face with his gun. The goon's answer? "You hit me,"
• Cassandra Truth: In chapter 1 future Asuka said her six-months-younger counterpart that she will tell Shinji —after kissing him- why she ran to the bathroom after their First Kiss. Asuka did not want to believe it, but many chapters later it happens. In chapter 26 Asuka remembers how she refused believing a prophecy straight of her future self.
  “Wow. And two days later, here we are. Wow... I even told myself it was going to happen, and I still couldn’t believe it.”
• Catapult Nightmare: In chapter 23 Asuka did this after a particularly horrible nightmare.
  Asuka catapulted upright in the dark of their room, a frozen scream trapped in her throat by its own paralysis. It took several seconds of frantic blinking and wiping at her eyes before she could clear enough of the tears to even see where she was. It took even longer to stop them flowing down her face and to control the gasping sobs.
• Catharsis Factor: After seeing Shinji, Asuka, their relationship and their world getting thoroughly wrecked in the original series and the preceding story, reading how they finally get help feels tremendously satisfactory.
• Can't Live with Them, Can't Live Without Them: This was Shinji and Asuka's relationship’s state at the beginning of the story: they were so damaged and traumatized that they failed to open up and make a connection; and at the same time neither of them would think of leaving because they thought that no one else in the world would be able to understand their pain, and they could not stand to be apart.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Shinji and Asuka got together after he said he loved her. However Asuka was still very confused, frightened and insecure of herself and of her feelings. So it took a while until she was ready to admit to herself and him that she needed him and loved him back.
• Character Catchhrase: Shinji has several ones: "Oh Gods Oh Gods Oh Gods Oh Gods Oh Gods Oh Gods"; "Oh Gods, please don’t let me fuck this up!"; "Don’t say ‘I’m sorry’, or she’ll kill me. Don’t say ‘I’m sorry’, or she’ll kill me. Don’t say ‘I’m sorry’, or she’ll kill me.".
• Chef of Iron: Even after being inactive for a long time, Shinji is still a good pilot. And after starting living together again after so long Asuka confirms that he is still a very good cook.
• Chekhov's Gun: In one of the first chapters Shinji and Rayana retrieved Yui's soul from Unit 01 and they left the giant robot parked in a specific spot until they figured out what doing with it. At the same time Asuka got a new shiny mecha capable to interplanetary travel. In chapter 48 Shinji and Asuka's army needed a power supply and Shinji thought of Unit 01's S2 core… that they could retrieve using Asuka's Red Whirlwind.
• Chekhov's Gunman: TJ sometimes makes offhand remarks concerning a new Recruit under his command He's introduced to Asuka, Shinji, and co. in chapter 74. Name: Private Gendo Rokubungi Huh... well THAT was unexpected.
• Cheshire Cat Grin: Jinnai grinned in a very disturbing, creepy way, and his eyes glittered feverishly as he told Asuka and Shinji he personally executed a traitor.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome:
  • Daniel and his whole family suffer from this. When Shinji and Asuka were at their lowest Daniel showed up and offered to help them and give back everything that was taken from them. At the beginnning they were hesitant but he proved that his offer was genuine and well-meaning, and they learnt that he and his family are fully committed to help as many people as possible, even visiting other timelines and dimensions... and it actually saddens him that he can not help everyone in everywhere. Later Asuka asks him why he does it and he answers: "How might I do otherwise? Seeing people in need and choosing not helping them is actively holding back from making the right right. I could never do that."
  • Maybe it is because he blames himself for their situation -since he was the one chose blowing everyone up-, but Shinji went out of his way to help strangers whose relatives had been dragged away by the secret police, even though he had nothing to win and much to lose if he was caught giving them food.
• *Click* Hello: At a point of their final confrontation, Jinnai is threatening Shinji when he notices Asuka pointing a gun at him.
  Jinnai stopped talking very quickly. Most people do when someone puts the business end of an M1911 .45 caliber pistol to the back of their head. The sharp, clear click of the hammer being cocked just served to underline the implicit threat in the cool kiss of the barrel's metal against the back of his head.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: After getting together Asuka is very, very protective and VERY possessive of Shinji. Don't try to take him away from her. It'll not end up well for you. And she does NOT appreciate Rei interfering with their relationship.
• Closed Circle: In chapter 45 Shinji and Asuka are transporting troops from Avalon to their homeworld when the portal gets shut and they are cut off and trapped in a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by warlords and bandit gangs. Their only option is fighting the dictators ruling the wastelands and ruins as trying to convince the person who blocked the dimentional gate to let them leave.
• Colonel Kilgore: Asuka loves fighting. It's what she has been trained for since she was a little child. She loves being a soldier, going to war, crushing the enemy and achieving glory. Shinji loathes fighting but even so he can not help to be drawn to her warrior spirit.
• Comes Great Responsibility: During their conversations with Shinji and Asuka, Daniel and Rayana explain to them the more powerful you are the more responsible you must be, especially if you are a god. You have great powers so you MUST use them to help people because is the right thing to do, but you have to be careful because if you interfere with their lives too much or start to punish whoever displeases you, you risk going down the slippery slope (how happened to Daniel a long time ago).
• Convenient Coma: Although Daniel rescued Asuka's mother, Kyoko was in a coma, and she wouldn't wake up until the end of the history.
• Conveniently an Orphan: As Shinji nicely and concisely put during a conversation with Asuka, their mothers died and both of their parents practically dumped them by the side of the road before they were four. Later they found out they were chosen to become pilots for that reason, but that knowledge came too late to help them to survive the war and save the humanity.
• Converse with the Unconscious: After Daniel rescues Kyoko she spends several weeks sleeping unconscious. Asuka watches over her whenever she can, and often talks to Kyoko, telling her how she is feeling or what she has done lately (as in chapter 25 when she told her mother Shinji said he loved her.
• Cooldown Hug: In one of the first chapters Asuka was having a nightmare as sleeping, and she calmed down when Shinji hugged her. That was the first of many times where Asuka was distraught and upset and Shinji embraced her to make her feel better and vice versa. In chapter 25:
  Shinji: “You were crying in your sleep again yesterday, during that nap. You do that... too much. I hate hearing it. But yesterday, when I heard you doing it again, and I’d just swore to you I’d do anything to take away your pain... I couldn’t just listen anymore. I swear I was just trying to pull you a little closer to... to... I don’t know, give you a hug in your sleep, hoping it would help. You rolled all the way over and grabbed on to me. You stopped crying, so I just stayed like that. You seemed happy.”
• Cool and Unusual Punishment:
  • When an Avaloni Princess was arrested and brought to a judge for “'borrowing' the lander, leaving the Empire underage without permission, and ditching school”, the judge punished her by throwing a book at her:
    “The police brought the casualties here, and the judge threw the book at her. She protested that it hurt, hitting her in the head like that. ‘Crime and Punishment’ isn’t a small book. The judge told her ‘Exactly. Now maybe you’ll learn not to skip class when they’re covering literary metaphors.’”
  • Gendo wants to earn the pilots and his wife’s forgiveness for his actions. Asuka suggests that he goes through everything what they endured.
    Asuka: “Ooh, there’s an evil idea… ne, Shinji, how about we forgive your dad after he gets to go through everything we had to?”
    Shinji: “What do you mean?”
    Asuka: “I mean, all the stuff we had to suffer because of him, he gets too. First he gets abandoned by everyone for ten years, then gets his arm broken and an energy spike through his right eye and out the back of his head, blown up, stabbed through the chest with two electric tentacles, shot in the chest with a terawatt laser, chewed on by a giant fish, pile-drivered headfirst into the dirt twice, blown up again, dunked into a volcano, splashed with acid, smashed from orbit, stuffed into a sensory deprivation tank for a night, choked, gets his arms and head ripped off, dissolved into LCL for a month, mind-raped, stabbed in the neck and chest, and then disemboweled by nine winged monsters with spears! Oh, and a spear through the head, too.”
    Shinji: “Sounds like a good start! […] Should we make him wear a leotard and learn a synchronized dance routine with Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki, too?”
  • Asuka tells Shinji at one point: “Third, you had better start making sense, or I’m going to lock you in a room with geek-Stooge and have him jabber about his mecha at you until your ears bleed.”
• Cool Big Sis: Misato is a mix of Parental Substitute and this to Asuka and Shinji. In chapter 70 she calls herself this. With those exact words and capitalization.
  Misato: “So I’ll be your Cool Big Sis instead.”
• Cool Starship: The HMS Asuka Langley Sohryu and the HMS Shinji Ikari.
• Crash-Into Hello: Shortly after arriving on Avalon, Shinji and Asuka learnt that in that place you will inevitably run into some of your alternate counterparts at some point... which Shinji did when he literally walked into himself when they stepped inside a clinic.
• Crazy Enough to Work: The plan to seize Buenos Aires consisted of pretending that they were preparing a rock concert to lure the enemy troops into a stadium. It worked. And it was awesome.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: After getting together Asuka is very, very possessive from Shinji. You would think that he is or seems to be less possessive… and you would be wrong. This is palpable when some guys try to worm their way next to Asuka and he scares them away with a silent glare.
• Crossover Cameo: In chapter 8, the main characters of "The Way Out is Through" make a short appearance.
• Cruel to Be Kind: Older Asuka was trying to convince Asuka that taking up Daniel's offer was the best thing for her, but her younger self still hesitated, so she resorted to give her a low blow:
  Older Asuka: "And raising the dead? Heh. Mama’s just the beginning. But if you don’t come along, you’ll never know."
  Asuka:“...you are low, nasty bitch. Alright, I’ll go.”
• Crush Blush: Sometimes when Shinji says something that Asuka finds particularly nice, touching or plainly hot, she blushes at him.
• Crystal Spires and Togas: The Empire of Avalon. Although there are not many visible togas, technology is sleek and cities are definitely shiny and monumental.
• Cue the Sun: In chapter 25 Shinji and Asuka finally open up and talk about their feelings. At the end of that chapter the Sun rose, and it is explicitly stated that it symbolized the beginning of something new.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • Chapter 55. Asuka's Red Whirlwind against a dozen of armored vehicles and some infantry units. No contest.
  • Several chapters later the Avalon forces engaged the Jinnai’s fleet. The UN army could not even put a scratch on them.
• Curse Cut Short: In chapter 49: “Gott damn it, Shinji! That wasn’t funny! I’m trying to get rid of her and you almost made me c….” Asuka coughed in embarrassment. “Ahem, lose my composure.”

D-F

• Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: During a conversation with Shinji, Daniel explains Shinji his father had a good reason for leaving him alone. Not a good enough reason, mind you, but Gendo had a reason: he was afraid of Shinji and thought he would screw his son if he tried to raise him because he considered that he was an awful human being; in addition he did not want to get Shinji involved in the War (although it happened anyway), and he was actually sorry for everything. Shinji is surprised when he hears about it, but he feels his father's reason were not good enough.
• Damaged Soul: Played with. Kyoko was barely coherent and mentally sound when she returned from Instrumentality because her soul was still split into several pieces. After she got murdered again Daniel promised Asuka he could bring her mother back, even if he had to fit the pieces of her soul back together. Asuka was skeptical about it being possible or her mother coming back with no nasty aftereffects, but everything went well.
• Deadpan Snarker: Many characters are excellent at snarking. Asuka may get quite sarcastic due to her hellish past prior to the fic -fortunately she becomes less caustic and less bitter throughout the story-, but the whole Avaloni civilization loves snarking. And the Emperor is a master at it:
  Ching:“This is an Army show, sir. I’m here as a volunteer, friend, and doc, not as a naval officer. And it’s your Empire. You could put a purple-arsed baboon in command, and I’d just salute.”
  Daniel:“Duly noted; I’ll make sure your next commanding officer is an unusually colored simian, just for you,’
• Death Equals Redemption: Defied. After rescuing Gendo (long story), Yui tells him how displeased she is at him for ruining their son and (literally) everybody's else lives, she makes him realizing how badly he has screwed and she warns him that she can not forgive him unless Shinji, Rei and Asuka forgive him first. He stays for a very long while staring silently and expressionlessly at the wall, and Rayana informs him that he will not be allowed die until he has redeemed himself.
• Death Glare:
  • Trying to hit on Asuka is not a good idea when Shinji is around. His deadly glare is alarmingly similar to his father’s.
    It was still funny watching Shinji of all people imitate his father’s dead-eye stare at the guys who tried to worm their way next to me. Who’d have thought Baka-Shinji could scare anyone?
  • Of course, Asuka’s mastered the art of death-glaring. If she is glaring at you, you better run away as Touji found out.
• Death Seeker:
  • Due to the events of the preceeding story, in the beginning of the fic Asuka was so exhausted and soul-burned she genuinely believed that dying in battle in the upcoming war was the best thing she could look forward to.
  • Invoked. Before bringing him back, Daniel called Kaji a death-seeking idiot for letting himself get killed stupidly.
• Defiled Forever: Asuka was the “voluntary” sex toy of two warlords for three years. Daniel altered the past so neither of them actually ravished her, but she still sees herself as a slut that whored herself out to save her hide.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: At the start of the story, Asuka is so embittered, traumatized, burnt-out and soul-weary than Shinji has despaired of both having a romantic relationship. However they got help and psychological counseling they needed, and Shinji dared to reach out to her. Asuka gradually and steadily opened up to him, tried to get over her traumas, doubts, fears and resentment and finally fell in love with him.
• Deity of Human Origin: Daniel -this story's Big Good- is the God-Emperor of Avalon, but hundreds of millenia ago he was an human that sought -and managed- to ascend to godhood. His powers include soul manipulation, traveling through space and time and bringing people back from the dead.
• Destructo-Nookie: In chapter 50 Asuka and Shinji have a talk that devolves into an argument and a martial arts fight. Milder than other examples, they do not damage too much the furniture and the fight finishes quickly when Asuka throws Shinji onto the bed before landing onto him and kissing him. Passionate lovemaking ensued.
• Determinator:
  • Before the beginning the story Shinji had stopped hoping for he and Asuka getting together, but he never stopped wanting. His perseverance finally paid off.
  • After being told by his wife that she will not forgive him unless their children and Asuka forgive him first, Gendo is determined to earn their forgiveness, not matter what. Even if it seems all but impossible he is determined to do whatever that it takes, and he is willing endure any thing.
• Deus ex Machina: Deliberately invoked. After the events of canon and the preceding fic, Shinji and Asuka were physically burned-out and emotionally wrecked. This story's author wanted to try to give them a happy end, and he thought that it would be ironical that it would take actual divine intervention to get them to fricking talk to each other. So that Daniel appeared in front of Shinji and Asuka and offered to help them. It is more justified than other examples since Daniel serves as a plot device to start the story, rather ending it, and although he can help them, he can not automatically fix all of their troubles or changing the past, and the story focuses on Shinji and Asuka and their struggles to recover from their traumas and repair their relationship. And when the main external conflict begins, the main characters are cut off him, so that he can not bail them out.
• Devoted to You: Shinji is fully devoted to Asuka. When Ching talks to Asuka, she points out that no woman keeps his attention for longer than five seconds before he's looking at Asuka again. Throughout the story he repeatedly tells the red-haired girll that he belongs to her.
• Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: Shinji in chapter 69:
  “Keep me away from Jinnai if we ever see him again, or I think I’ll try to rip his face off,” Shinji said softly. He looked up from the battle table’s display to find everyone, Asuka included, staring at him. “I’m sorry. Did I say that out loud?”
• Did You Just Have Sex?: In chapter 44, when Daniel greets Shinji and Asuka he notes that they seem very pleased and asks if they got any sleep the last night. Shortly after Ching asks Asuka how good Shinji was. When Asuka asks if they are so obvious, Ching replies that they're practically glowing.
  Daniel: And you two seem like you passed a very pleasant night. Get any sleep?
  Asuka: (thinking) 'Oh Gott, is it written all over my face or something?'
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: In chapter 5 Asuka punches Daniel after he calls her out on her self-destructive “I don’t need anyone” attitude. He made no attempt to stop her.
• Did You Think I Can't Feel?: Winthrop and later Jinnai used Asuka as their plaything for years. They did never think their toy could resent or hate having to choose between getting virtually raped and getting shot. When she helped to overthrow Winthrop he was shocked and incredulous because he could not believe she was turning on him and his first thought was she had found a warmer bed. Later Jinnai did not hesitate on informing Shinji and Asuka that they would be useless and replaceable to him very soon, never thinking they might turn on him. And when he heard she was bedding Shinji he was actually affronted and offended because he could not believe she would rather sleeping with other person.
• Disappeared Dad: During their talks Shinji and Asuka often remember how both were abandoned by their parents when they were barely four. Although Shinji's father returned -and screwed his life further- Asuka's one disappeared from her life, and she wants nothing with him anymore. When their hosts tell her he has been rescued from her world, Asuka answers: "He’ll get all the care from me that he gave my mother and I."
  Shinji:"Asuka, both of our parents practically dumped us by the side of the road before we were four."
• Distracted by the Sexy:
  • In chapter 25 Shinji and Asuka have a serious, soul-baring talk. However she had just taken a shower and Shinji found her cleavage and her legs very distracting. He nearly got caught several times ogling her.
  • In chapter 47, holographic illusions featuring -among other things- beautiful human women are used to lure the enemy soldiers in a trap.
  • In chapter 48, Shinji is so distracted staring at Asuka's butt that he bumps against her. Later Misato uses her female charms to distract the warlord ruling the city.
• The Dog Bites Back: Jinnai, do you remember those pair of teenagers that your former boss and you tortured physically and emotionally and used like disposable weapons and tools? One of which you virtually raped for two years? They are under the protection of a whole family of gods and leading an army. And they are out for your blood.
• Dream Sequence: Shinji has several dreams where Rei appears and talks to him in this story and in the preceeding fic. In those dreams Shinji feels cold and clammy, and a thick fog surrounds him. Previously Rei showed up to ask him if he was satisfied with his life and to tell him that she cared for him. In chapter 72, though, she showed up to try to convince him to dump Asuka.
• Driven to Suicide:
  • Before the beginning of the story Asuka had tried to commit suicide several times. Daniel remarked that she would attempt to kill herself again sooner or later unless she got help.
  • Shinji also thought about killing himself several times as he was exiled in Boston.
• Dude, She's Like in a Coma: In chapter 17 Shinji bitterly remembers not only he jerked off over Asuka while she was in a coma but also he tried to kiss her in her sleep, and he asks himself what is with he and unconscious chicks.
  Shinji:You can’t even kiss her right. You tried to kiss her in her sleep when she was crying for her mother. What is with you and unconscious chicks?
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Shinji and Asuka are granted divine intervention to help them, literally, but they still will have to work to fix their troubles. Your relationship is a mess? Talk and open up to reach each other out, to try to understand and forgive each other and work on rebuilding bridges. Your world is a hellish, post-apocalyptic wasteland? You will have to fight the tyrants lording over the starving masses and help to rebuild.
• Eating the Eye Candy: Shinji is constantly staring at Asuka and thinking about how beautiful and hot she is. Another character also remarks Asuka he is always looking at her. In chapter 25:
  Shinji spared a second’s thought at how lucky he was that he found her sapphire eyes so captivating. The red bathrobe was clinging to all her curves, and the relatively loose tie up front was giving an extremely tempting glimpse of her ivory skin and cleavage, especially as she was now half reclined to start taking bites of the breakfast he’d brought in. Yes, this would probably be a bad time for his eyes to get caught diving between her slightly exposed breasts, that still had little drops of water clinging—Eyes UP, Ikari!
• Eldritch Abomination: Daniel and their family's true shapes are pretty incomprehensible and confusing to human senses.
• Elite Army: The Avalon forces deployed on Shinji and Asuka's Earth. They are barely over one hundred men and they are heavily outnumbered to fight the armies of the dictators ruling the post-apocalypse wastelands... but every man and woman is an heavily-trained elite soldier with physical enhancements or even psychic powers, and they are armed with technology way, way superior to their adversaries', up to and including powered armors and Humongous Mecha. The Big Bad not even can use his own war mechs because Shinji and Asuka are the only can pilot them.
• Emotionless Girl: Deconstructed. Due to her emotionally stunted upbringing, Rei has a hard time understanding someone one else's feelings and handling her own emotions. As a consequence of it she fails to recognize Shinji and Asuka's arguments as Belligerent Sexual Tension and Asuka's words' endearing nature, and she does not realize that her jealousy is clouding her good judgement, so that she refuses to help them right when they need her.
• The Empire: The Empire of Avalon spans a chunk of The Multiverse. Subverting the usual tropes associated with it: the Emperor is actually a cool, amicable, well-meaning guy, who genuinely tries to make well for his subjects and help people; and his army is not an evil invading force of Faceless Goons.
• Energy Weapon: The Avaloni army is equipped with beam weapons. In chapter 76, a positron cannon was used against Asuka's Humongous Mecha. It was capable of shooting down a war mecha strong enough to tank nukes.
• Entertainingly Wrong: After finding out that Misato was leading the troops captured his fleet under the orders of Shinji and Asuka, Jinnai concludes that the Nerv crew returned from Instrumentality several years ago and have spent the whole time plotting against him. It is not a illogical conclusion but it is still completely wrong because he does not know about the God-Emperor of an alternate dimension brought Shinji and Asuka's families back two months ago and lent both pilots an army to overthrow Jinnai.
• Erotic Dream: Shinji often had erotic dreams about Asuka before their reunion when he was forced to remain in Boston.
• Even the Girls Want Her: Even straight women want Empress Rayana. In chapter 16 Ching admits that she finds her hot and sexy.
• Everyone Can See It: Everyone could see that there was something between Shinji and Asuka… but Shinji and Asuka themselves. Hikari lampshades it:
  “There is something going on! I knew you two cared about each other! Everyone could see it!”
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Winthrop and Jinnai ruled the post-Third Impact world with an iron fist and used Asuka like their plaything for three years. Neither of them is capable to understand why Asuka would choose a nice, understanding and caring person like Shinji over two blood-thirsty tyrants and virtual rapists or why she would turn against them; so they tell themselves Asuka is just a traitorous slut because they can not think of another reason.
• Exact Words: Invoked. At an early chapter Shinji and Asuka felt an empathic echo of the emotions of their hosts Daniel and Rayana. Rayana promised Asuka that she would feel that way again soon (meaning she would feel happy again). In chapter 13 Asuka asks Daniel if they will hit her with that echo again, since that would satisfy the letter of her promise. Daniel replies that is not their style.
• Exotic Extended Marriage: In Avalon, getting married to several persons is completely legal and endorsed by Avaloni's divine rulers.
• Expendable Alternate Universe: Subverted. In this story Shinji and Asuka discover the existence of a whole multiverse full of alternate universes and parallel realities. Upon arriving Avalon they meet some of their alternate selves and hear about other worlds similar to theirs. However the rulers of Avalon treat all of them as an important deal.
• Expendable Clone: After Yui was brought back, Shinji and Rayana told her about Rei and how Gendo had treated her clone as an useful tool rather a daughter. Yui was very pissed off about it.
• Face Palm:
  • In chapter 35 Rayana is giving Shinji tips to understand women. She face palms during the conversation at least once when he is not getting something.
  • In chapter 69 Asuka and Shinji reveal everyone that they are expecting. Touji blankly asks "Waiting what?" His girlfriend Hikari groaned and put her hand over her face.
• Face Ship: The HMS Asuka Langley Sohryu is a moon-sized starship. It has a 1000 kilometre tall picture of Asuka painted on its hulk, wearing her plug-suit.
• Falling into the Cockpit:
  • Asuka learns to pilot Red Whirlwind in one morning thanks to Avaloni learning gear (it zapped the full basic piloting and technical course into her head).
    Shinji:“Um, Asuka, how do you know how to pilot one of these things? You didn’t this morning!”
    Asuka:“And I’ve had a whole morning to learn. Relax, Third, I know this beautiful beast inside and out. They’ve got some awesome learning gear around here. I’ve already had the full basic piloting and technical course zapped into my head.”
  • She also lampshades the trope when Shinji and she talk about Shinji’s first time piloting:
    Shinji:"Wait, I don’t know anything about how to drive one of these things!"
    Asuka:“And you didn’t know anything about how to pilot an Evangelion when you tore apart the third Angel. Since when has not knowing anything slowed you down?”
• Fan Art: Shyft has drawn fanart of the main OCs.
• Fan Sequel: Strypgia asked and got authorization of the writer of the original fic, so it is an official continuation.
• Fantasy Kitchen Sink: Let’s see: Shinji and Asuka piloted Humongous Mecha where their mothers’ souls were locked to fight giant alien monsters spawned by an ancient Eldritch Abomination. Then they met Daniel, a God-Emperor of an alternate dimension had ascended to godhood hundreds of millennia ago and ruled a chunk of The Multiverse. They travelled at their dimension called Avalon where they met his wife –a witch queen had also ascended to a higher plane of existence eons ago-. As they rested and healed in a Ring World Planet they met and befriended humans, genetically-enhanced humans, aliens, people with Psychic Powers, shape-shifters, beast-men… and later they returned to their world to free the post-apocalyptic wastelands from a bunch of bloody dictators, leading an army armed with Powered Armors, Humongous Mecha, Transforming Mecha… Regrettably they could not drive through the inter-dimensional gate the giant space-ships and jet fighters.
• Female Gaze:
  • When Shinji gets naked in front of her, Asuka spends a good while staring studiously at his equipment –and noticing his is bigger than Winthrop and Jinnai’s-.
  • Ching is very appreciative of Bir’s backside.
• Field Promotion: Due to be cut off in the middle of enemy land Asuka became the chief of the deployed Avalon troops despite being only a Junior Lieutenant.
• Fiery Redhead:
  • Asuka had lost most of her initial fire after the events of the Angel War and "A Throne of Bayonets". However she gets it back gradually throughout the story.
  • The Empress Rayana, her counterpart from another dimension…
  • In fact the whole Empire is full of them, much to Shinji's disbelief and Asuka's approval.
• Fighting for a Homeland: With the help of the Avalon Army, Shinji Asuka and the rest of characters of the Evaverse are fighting to reconquer their world from dictators and warlords.
• First Kiss: Shinji and Asuka's failed first kiss gets brought up constantly. Shinji, Asuka and other characters often discuss what could have changed if Shinji had got the hint or Asuka had expressed her desire plainly.
• Fix Fic: From the Canon and two fanfics, “A Throne of Bayonets” and “The Way out Is Through”.
• Flat "What":
  • In chapter 32:
    Daniel flinched slightly at something and put a hand to the side of his head. “Ow. Alright, before half my children jump in with suggestions, I’m going to head them off with at least one of my own; You need to stand right up, put your right hand on your hip, your left hand in the air, and start signing the ‘I’m A Little Teapot’ song while Asuka throws pies at you and I play the accordion.”
    Shinji stared at him. Asuka’s head came up off Shinji’s chest and joined in. “What,” they said flatly in stereo.
  • Chapter 74 provided a rare, non-humorous example:
    "Ching, come with me. Asuka, you should stay here," Shinji said, avoiding Asuka's eyes.
    "What." Asuka's voice was dangerously flat.
• Flying Brick: Asuka’s Red Whirlwind has flight capabilities and it is extra-strong, amazingly fast, capable to withstand the impact of several nukes, and equipped with defensive shields and an array of firearms.
• Foreign Cuss Word: Asuka often swears in German when she is pissed off. For example, after Rei has gotten her exceptionally angry:
  “Gott damn you, you snotty fucking blue-haired prig!
• For Want Of A Nail: Discussed. On several occasions Shinji and Asuka talk with Daniel, Rayana or Ching about other alternate worlds, and their hosts tell them about other timelines where their counterparts made different decissions which changed their lives completely.
• Foregone Conclusion: Kind of inevitable when this is a Fix Fic. After reading the first chapter you know that Shinji and Asuka will get over their traumas at least partially, get together, get married and Shinji will get Asuka pregnant. The interesting part is HOW they get to that point despite being so messed-up.
  • This comes into play when Asuka is arguing with her inner side in chapter 59. Her turmoil mocks her that Shinji could be dead the next day. She starts arguing... and then she realizes she knows they will not die tomorrow. She knows where they will be six months from now:
    ‘And we could both get hit by a bus tomorrow! If… wait, no, we couldn’t get hit by a bus tomorrow! Shinji won’t die tomorrow. I know in six month’s he’ll be with me because I’ve already seen it! I tell myself to walk through that portal! I know how this ends! Wonderbitch can go fuck herself! Shinji and I are going to win!’
• Forgiveness: Where begin?
  • Yui wants forgive her husband but she cannot forgive him unless he earns Shinji and Rei's forgiveness. However Shinji will not forgive his father unless Asuka forgives him. And Asuka is not feeling very forgiving to say the least.
  • So that Gendo wants to earn the pilots’ forgiveness. It sounds like a goal nearly impossible to achieve until you remember Gendo will stop at NOTHING to get his wife back.
  • Shinji blames himself for everything what Asuka endured through the Angel War and after Third Impact and letting her die. He wishes she is able to forgive him, but he does not know if he deserves it.
  • On the other hand Asuka wondered if she would ever forgive him for leaving her alone when she needed him the most… until they remembered her own actions during Instrumentality and she realized he HAD tried to reach her out despite everything:
  Asuka: “I forgive you.”
  Shinji (blinking): “What?”
  Asuka: “A betrayal for a betrayal. You betrayed me when you left me to fight alone and die… and I betrayed you when you needed me to help you the most, and you were still trying to help me. After all that you’d lost, watching Misato and me die, me yelling at you on that train-place… after all that you still asked to help me and stay with me. And I just told you ‘No’. I hurt you and you hurt me, both at the worst possible times… we’re even, Shinji. So I forgive you, for not being there at that battle… and I’m sorry for telling you ‘No’ when you were so low, but still reached out to me. You really are… for me.”
• Freudian Excuse: Gendo abandoned his son because he was just as afraid of Shinji as Shinji was of him. He did not know how dealing with other people or relating to them, and his wife’s loss broke him completely. After hearing about it Shinji did not think it was good enough of an excuse… until he realized he was just like his father.
• Freudian Slip:
  • In chapter 20 Shinji's reluctance to fight her is getting Asuka angry and frustrated, and she exclaims unwittingly: "If you wanna 'love me', Third, you better be ready! to! push! BACK!"
  • In chapter 25:
    Asuka:“I don’t know what we’re doing today, but for now you are getting a shower. I don’t care how good you smell, you still need to be clean before we go out for anything,” Asuka insisted. “I’m getting dressed.”
    Shinji:“Okay, I’ll... wait, what did you just say?”
    Asuka:“Um. Nothing,” she said quietly.
    Shinji:“You think I smell good?”
  • In chapter 44, after having to made love properly for first time, Shinji is getting anxious and Asuka thinks:
    Asuka: "Damn it, Third, don’t you backslide now, not after last night. Yesterday may have been the ‘best day of your life’, but it wasn’t that bed… I mean bad for me, either."
  • In chapter 49:
    “Gott damn it, Shinji! That wasn’t funny! I’m trying to get rid of her and you almost made me c….” Asuka coughed in embarrassment. “Ahem, lose my composure.”
• Frontline General: Asuka and Shinji are the leaders of the Avalon forces deployed in their timeline. They and the other commanding officers -Misato, Ching, Bir...- take part in all battles, always taking point. Justified, since they are a relatively small force -due to be cut off-, and Shinji and Asuka pilot one of their few Humongous Mechas... although Asuka would surely fight in the frontlines anyway, since she is a soldier and a warrior first of all.
• Fun with Acronyms: NILS, a. k. a., Neural Induction Learning System.
• Future Me Scares Me: When Shinji and Asuka met their six-months-older selves they were frightened, especially Asuka, since she was seeing herself happy, pregnant and in a loving relationship with Shinji. And she could not wrap her head around the idea that she could be happy.

G-I

• The Gadfly: Misato Sohryu-Ikari, daughter of Shinji and Asuka's analogues from Avalon. She pretended for a short while she was THEIR future daughter only to see the expressions on their faces. She admitted ruefully she likes messing with other people's heads a bit (and she thinks she got that trait from her mother).
• Gamer Chick: Asuka really likes video games. In spite of living in a devastated world, Shinji made a special effort to find rare, new video games for Asuka because he loved seeing her to smile for a change.
  Her face would sometimes relax, when they sparred in the dojo, or when they were playing one of Asuka’s favorite diversions, video games. She always seemed pleasantly surprised when Shinji would appear with more of the ridiculously rare functioning games for her systems. She always asked him why he spent so much on her toys. He never managed to say to her face that it was all worth it to see that wisp of a smile and hear her calling him ‘baka’ again in that softer voice.
• General Ripper: Colonel Jinnai, UN Secretary-General (a post which in this world merely means he is the blood-handed dictator with the biggest guns and bombs) appointed himself to that position after a successful coup against his predecessor and former boss. Before the coup he was a psychotic, scheming, abusive Jerkass who treated the female main character like his toy for two years. After the coup he became smug, arrogant, paranoid and at the same time over-confident. He killed whoever opposed to him, held his troops' families hostages in order to ensure their loyalty, and was perfectly willing to nuke his whole fleet and a chunk of Argentina when he learnt his invasion force had been seized.
• Genre Shift: A very abrupt shift. "A Throne of Bayonets" was military fiction in a post-apocalyptic setting. A Crown Of Stars adds a bunch of sci-fi tropes, featuring physical gods, intergalactic empires, dimensional and time travelling, space-ships, power armours…
• Giant Equals Invincible: A flying robot just as tall as the Statue of Liberty versus some tanks and foot troops? You can guess the result.
• Giving Someone the Pointer Finger: In chapter 74 Shinji asked Asuka staying behind as he fights to keep her safe. She stabbed him in the chest with her finger as she berated him and yelled him for wanting to leave her behind when he promised that they would be together.
• Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex: During the South American war campaign Shinji and Asuka have post-battle celebratory sex constantly.
• The Glomp:
  • In chapter 22 Misato glomped Shinji as soon as she saw him and Asuka. According the narration: "Shinji found himself tackled hard from behind by someone who began trying to squeeze the life out of him".
  • In chapter 26 Hikari glomped Asuka as hard that she threw both out of the chair and on the ground.
    “Drink orders, not very much, but the people bringing the drinks will probably be happier to hear that Shinji would fight this time. Might save some trouble anyway, if you don’t have a drink in your hand when she tackles you,” Daniel said absently, reaching down for his coconut. “Four, three, two...”
    This did not clear up Asuka’s confusion. “What are you tal—“ The tackle took her right out of the chair and into the sand beside her.
    “ASUKA!OHMIGODYOU’REALIVEYOU’REALIVEI'MSOGLADTOSEEYOU!” The blue and brunette blur that had struck her finally resolved itself into an extremely excited Hikari Horaki.
  • Used by Asuka on Shinji in chapter 46. She tackled him onto the bunk behind him.
• God-Emperor: Daniel and Rayana. They are the gods that rule the Empire of Avalon.
• God Is Good: Daniel, Rayana and their family are real nice and try to be fair and benevolent. They genuinely love their followers and would do anything for them, and they try to make things right if they mess up.
• Good Is Not Soft:
  • The people of Avalon are pretty nice and kind. Their enemies are the kind of people prone to mistake goodness and compassion for weakness and folly. Every time they have fought them, though, the Avalon folk have proved they are not pushovers.
  • This is especially applicable to their divine rulers, Daniel and Rayana. They are compassionate, kind monarchs, driven to help everyone in need and committed to protect their subjects. Threaten or hurt innocents, though, and... it is told that Daniel sometimes shows mercy, but Rayana doesn't do it. Whoever harms children finds out why she is the patron deity of Mama Bears.
• The Good King: Daniel. He is determined to be a benevolent, just ruler and he is downright committed to improve the lives of his subjects and help whoever he meets.
• Gratuitous German: Very frequent with Asuka:
  • When she showed her new war mecha to Shinji:
  “There! Meet my new baby, Der Roter Wirbelsturm!”
  • When Shinji tried talking her into staying behind as he fought, arguing that he could not stand if she died...
  "Me?! What about you? Du verflucht Idiot! Du hirnlose Ochse!"
• Gratuitous Japanese: Very frequent, too. Mainly honorifics, some stock sentences and Asuka using "baka".
  Asuka: ‘Iku wa yo, Asuka,’ she thought to herself.
• Gratuitous Latin: Several characters quote some Latin sentences every so often. The moot of Avalon Imperial Army is "Numquam Soli. Semper, Sumus Legio", which means "Never Alone. Always, We Are Legion", and each corps' motto is in Latin, too. In one point "Morior Invictus", which means "I Die Unconquered" is quoted.
• Gratuitous Spanish: Sparsely used, but during the South American liberation campaign some random characters used some Spanish words or stock sentences. Chapter 47's title is "Bienvenido A La Reina Del Plata". In chapter 48 words such like "jefe" ("chief", "boss"...) or "fiesta" ("party") are used.
• Green-Eyed Epiphany: During a conversation Asuka tells Shinji she got hurt when she caught Rei and him talking because she realized how strong her feelings towards him were and at the same time she thought she had already lost.
• Green-Eyed Monster:
  • Rei was not happy when she learnt that Shinji and Asuka were together now. She was incredibly jealous of Asuka and refused to believe the German woman cared for Shinji.
  • Jinnai was absolutely livid when he learnt that Asuka was enthusiastically having sex with Shinji in a daily basis after being a cold fish with him for two years. His jealousy was born from sheer wounded ego and possessiveness since he never cared for Asuka in the slightest.
• Green-Skinned Space Babe: Parodied and invoked using the trope's name in chapter 5. When Daniel mentions her wife, Asuka asks if she is an alien or a "green skinned space babe".
  “That’s an unusual name,” Asuka said in a low voice. “Is she from some exotic planet of your wild space empire? A green skinned space babe? It’d be the perfect capper to today’s weirdness.”
• Grew a Spine: Several characters -including Asuka- remark to Shinji several times that he needs to learn to push back and stand his ground if he wants to have a relationship with Asuka. Slowly he starts to acquire one.
• Hammerspace: The Avaloni soldiers know how creating their own pocket space. In chapter 53:
  Shinji: “Where did you get this?”
  TJ: “Holdout Pocket technique. A little spatial fold tied to your personal space, good for keeping an emergency backup weapon or something handy. I also keep cold drinks in mine. It’s not a hard trick to learn. First year Weapon Theory stuff. I could probably teach you pretty quickly if you’ve got a gun or a knife you’d like to try it on.”
• Hand on Womb: Older Asuka rubs her visibly pregnant belly while speaking to her six-months-younger counterpart at the beginning of the story.
  “A lot of things are different between Baka-Shinji and I now. Or are you going to pretend you didn’t notice?” She gestured at her belly. Her face softened as the wave became a caress. Her stare was aimed far away from Asuka now, inward.
• Happily Married: Although Asuka can hardly bring herself to believe it, her future tells her that she and Shinji will end up like this. When they showed up they smiled happily and looked absolutely inseparable.
• Hates Being Alone: At the beginning of the fic Asuka declares that she is alone and she needs nobody. Her older self swiftly replies that both know that that is a lie: She hates being alone but is too afraid and wrecked to try anymore.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Daniel explains Asuka that he fell into this a long while ago.
• Held Gaze: Used by future Asuka and Shinji at the beginning of the story and frequently for their younger selves after getting together.
• Heroic Bastard: Members of the secondary branches of the Avaloni Royal Family are known as Bastard Princes and Princesses. All of them are perfectly heroic and love to go about helping the helpless and punishing the wicked. In the Avalon Empire being a royal bastard is in fact a honor because it means that you have at the very least a smidgen of divine blood.
• Heroic Spirit: One of the ships of the Avalon space fleet is named the HMS Shinji Ikari. The motto's crew is standing their ground and keeping fighting, not matter what.
  "Here I Stand And Here I Remain"
• Hidden Heart of Gold: Asuka played the role of an obnoxious, angry, petulant girl when she was a child to drive people away because she was afraid of pain. After going through a war, being abandoned, Mind Raped, betrayed and left to die, surviving the end of the world and being turned into two warlords' sex toy she wears her masks because she is afraid of falling in love and because she thinks she is not worthy of being loved.
• The High Queen: Rayana, the Witch Queen. She is very committed to protect and counsel the Empire people, especially women and children.
• High-School Sweethearts: Shinji and Asuka met in middle school. The liked each other but due to their numerous traumas and the ongoing war they were unable to connect. After the war and the end of the world they were forcibly separated for three years. They met again but they were apparently too mind-broken to have a healthy relationship. Though they got help and after many talks, soul-searching and forgiveness they reconciled and got married.
• Hint Dropping:
  • Throughout the story several characters point Shinji out that Asuka had dropped several hints at his direction. Their explanations usually are followed by Shinji face-palming and groaning at being clueless and oblivious. Later Shinji and Asuka often wonder if their lives could have gone differently if he had got her hints or she had been more straight-forward.
  • In chapter 65:
    'I'm starting to really like the feeling of a warm body keeping me company in bed while sweat cools on my skin. Too bad Baka-Shinji didn’t catch my 'Walls of Jericho' hint. This would have made synch training a lot more fun… we could have had more days like this.'
  • During a conversation Hikari reveals Touji she liked him and had dropped several hints. He admitted that he was figuring it out and he was thinking of talking to her about it when the Bardiel accident happened and ruined his plans.
• Holding Hands: When older Shinji and Asuka came along, they were holding hands. That was one of the first clues that Shinji and Asuka got that their relationship would get better.
  They both seemed to draw strength from the constant grip.
  • After getting together they are nearly always holding hands. The gesture reassures them and makes them feeling safer and stronger.
• Hope Is Scary:
  • At the beginning of the fic Asuka had given up on the idea of becoming ever happy, having a loving relationship with someone or being loved. She was so wrecked and disillusioned and felt so unworthy and undeserving that she did not want try anymore and refused to think things could be different. And then she met her future self who was Happily Married to Shinji and pregnant with his child, and she met a bunch of people assuring she was not a bad person and she deserved to be happy… and she was incredibly frightened because she did not dare to hope.
  • On the other hand, Shinji had come to believe that an empty shell of a loveless relationship was everything what he and Asuka would have. Then he began to see signs that maybe they could have a happy end after all… and he freaked out because he was afraid of hoping in vain or ruining his chance.
  Asuka refused to meet his eyes. The naked hope in them was too much to look at. After sixteen years of keeping that pain under lock and key the things she’d talked about with Daniel had left her feelings too raw to withstand seeing that. After sixteen years of keeping it suppressed, and four years of living in nightmarish barbarity past the end of the world, hope hurt.
• Hopeless Suitor: Rei to Shinji. Even if he was not fully committed to Asuka and Rei still owned a physical body, he has already decided that she is his sister.
• Hope Spot: Shinji and Asuka had finally got the help they needed, they were talking to each other and with the assistance of powerful friends they were ready to take down Jinnai... when the dimensional gate through which they were transporting an army got blocked and they were cut off. Asuka got afraid all this was going to Hell again because their lives had been a long string of hope spots.
  • Described by Asuka in chapter 46:
    “I just know this is going to go to Hell somehow. It always does. Something good happens, and then the world shits all over us again. You and I meet, then spend years missing each other’s signals. We’re beating the Angels easily, coming together as a team, and then your asshole father springs the Dummy Plug system on us. We survive the Third Impact, then get a world of thugs, rapists, and warlords. And now we finally… talk to each other, and then this… I just know something more is going to go wrong here, because this world hates us,” Asuka said wearily into his chest.
• Hot-Blooded: After the events of canon and the preceeding story Asuka was exhausted, soul-weary, burn-out and depressed. As she gets therapy and help, though, she gradually gets her overflowing fire and passion back, now tempered with more wisdom and less rashness.
• Hot God: Rayana is a very bustier, long-haired Fiery Redhead goddess. Magic, Love, Beauty and Motherhood are some of her domains. She is so hot even straight women need a cold shower after seeing her.
• Humongous Mecha: The Evas and the Avalon Empire robots such like Asuka's Red Whirlwind and the Black Knights.
• Hyperspace Arsenal: Avaloni soldiers have a technique called “Holdout Pocket”. It is a little spatial fold tied to their personal space that they can use to store weapons –or other stuff-.
• Hypocritical Humor: Asuka hooked up with Shinji but she was still unsure about her feelings. So when her friends -like Ching- asked about it, she answered she did not know, in which point they would reply "You don't know?" as giving her incredulous stares. Later Ching started seeing Bir and when her friends asked if she loved him, she answered "I do not know". Asuka quickly replied "You don't know?" as snickering.
• I Call It "Vera": Asuka's Star Strider's name is "Red Whirlwind" ("Der Roter Wirbelsturm"); Toji's Black Knight's name is "Pride Of Osaka"; and Kensuke's Black Knight's name is "Yamato".
• Icy Blue Eyes: Asuka has ocean-blue eyes... and -at the beginning- a very harsh, cold, bitter personality due to severe, non-stop trauma.
• I Can't Believe a Guy Like You Would Notice Me: In chapter 54 Shinji expresses how absolutely devoted he is to Asuka and how he wants to become a hero for her. Asuka wonders whether it may be possible that someone like him loves her:
  Asuka: ‘He can’t be for real… this can’t be true. This couldn’t possibly happen to me…’ “Shinji, I…”
• I Didn't Mean to Turn You On: Before getting together, Asuka constantly turned Shinji on constantly and unintentionally. One of those instances happened When Shinji saw her twirling a gun after decking his father, and all what he could think of was "God, she is hot".
• I Did What I Had to Do: Discussed. Daniel discusses Shinji's actions during the Bardiel battle with him and tells Shinji that even if it was a terrible thing to do, Gendo had no option but activating the dummy plug since Shinji would not fight -he would not even lift a finger to try to rescue the pilot- and they could not let Bardiel reach Lilith, not matter what. He also examines Shinji's actions during the coup against Winthrop (refusing fighting in the middle of Berlin out of fear to hurt civilians) and pointed out that: Shinji nearly got Asuka and himself killed; and if they had not risked to accidentally kill people, plenty more people would have assuredly died if they did not stop Winthrop. Then he explains that sometimes it is regrettably necessary endangering innocent lives to save a greater number of people, and Shinji has to agree he was going to let a lot of people dye so that his conscience remained clean.
• I Gave My Word:
  • Asuka sometimes asks Shinji why he always puts up with her. Shinji always replies that every time he left her alone she went through Hell, so he promised he would never abandon her again, not matter what, and he will not go back on his word.
  • When Daniel or Rayana -the divine rulers of Avalon- make a promise you can trust that they SHALL fulfill it, even if they have to warp time and space to do so.
    Ching:"If he promised you, then it will be so, […] He may bring her forward in time whenever we return so she doesn't have to wait for you, or take you back to just before she wakes, or some other way. However they make it happen, the Lord and Lady will keep their promises to you, don't worry."
• I Hate Past Me: Averted. Shinji and Asuka's older selves poke fun at their younger selves but they don't hate them.
• The "I Love You" Stigma: Although they became a couple after Shinji's Love Confession, Asuka did not tell Shinji she loved him because she was unsure of her feelings and she was afraid of loving and getting attached to someone after years of emotional and even sexual abuse. She usually said she liked him, wanted him or even needed him, but she could not bring herself to admit outloud she loved him. Finally, in chapter 73 (two months and nearly fifty chapters after their Relationship Upgrade) she confessed -under extreme circumstances- she loved him.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: Shinji has clear-blue eyes, and he used to be an innocent, nice boy before the War, the end of the world and living in the wastelands.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy:
  • Played straight with Kaworu. When he realized Shinji and Asuka had gotten together he was delighted because Shinji was finally happy, even if it was with another person.
  • Subverted with Rei. She feels Shinji is happy now he and Asuka are patching their relationship up but due to strong jealousy she refuses to realize Asuka cares for him and interferes as much as possible.
• I Will Punish Your Friend for Your Failure: Jinnai threatens to get his soldiers families killed if they underperform in the battlefield.
• If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: When the relationship between Hikari and Touji starts to get more serious, Asuka warns Touji that she will throw him into the ocean if he hurts her:
  Asuka: "Congratulations, I guess, Hikari. Stooge, you ever make her cry and I'll throw you into the ocean from here with Red Whirlwind."
• Ignored Epiphany:
  • Daniel makes a good work explaining Shinji how many times he missed a hint that Asuka was throwing (The “Wall of Jericho” speech, the thermal expansion scene, the kiss…)
  • Jinnai was present when Asuka declared she liked neither Winthrop nor Jinnai and she accepted to be their plaything for her own protection, and Winthrop hinted that Asuka had acted to protect Shinji. However he did pay little heed to the exchange, and he got shocked -and jealous- when he heard Asuka had hooked up with Shinji.
• I Miss Mom: Shinji and Asuka decided to follow Daniel mainly because he promised he would give them their mothers back.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: Asuka uses a façade of arrogance to hide a bunch of deep-seated insecurities, neuroses and fears, an unhealthy deal of self-loathing and an utter lack of self-esteem. Although she constantly calls herself the Great Asuka Langley Sohryu in reality she thinks she is worthless and horrible.
• In Medias Res: Strypgia started out the story In Medias Res, writing a talk between Daniel and Asuka because the scene would not leave him alone, and then he wrote the scenes that came before it.
• Inner Monologue: Both Shinji and Asuka argue with themselves very often due to their many doubts and fears.
  • To serve as an example, Asuka in chapter 33:
    “I’m sorry I don’t know yet, Shinji. You ‘wanted to try with me’ to see if you could be happy? Well, I... want to... find out... um...” ’God damn it, Sohryu, if you pussy out on this, I will jump out of your skull and kill you myself!’ ‘Wait, you’re my own brain, how does that even work?’ ‘Shut up! I’ll find a way! Now keep going!’ “...what... the answer is to the question. That you asked me. Earlier.” Suddenly it was very hard to look him in the eye. ‘No! No it isn’t! I am Asuka Langley Sohryu! I am not afraid of anything! ...except maybe this. No! I am not wimping out in front of Shinji! If he can do this, I can!’ She forced her head up.
  • And Shinji in chapter 43:
    Shinji was nearly betrayed by too-deep reflexes. He broke his gaze away from her and mumbled, “I’m sorr-..”’Oh shit… aaaand I’m too buzzed to help. You’re on your own, buddy,’ his brain unhelpfully observed, a second too late. ‘Well, a fat lot of good you are, thanks,’ he thought at himself.
• In Spite of a Nail:
  • Before Daniel's arrival Shinji and Asuka were arguing about the past. Shinji wondered if they could have averted Third Impact and led happier lives if they travelled back in time with their full knowledge, but Asuka firmly believed they could not have changed a damned thing.
  • In Avalon Shinji and Asuka hear about other alternate dimensions and even find their counterparts of other world. Not matter how different, all "Evangelion" baseline timelines have one thing in common: Shinji and Asuka are together.
• Insult of Endearment: After opening up to each other Asuka starts to call Shinji “baka” in a loving way. Variant when she tells him –because she is yet not ready to tell him she loves him- she “hates” in a deeply fond, affectionate tone so that Shinji knows that she means the opposite.
  • Played straight but also deconstructed. Rei doesn’t fully get emotions yet. So that she takes what Asuka tells at face value and refuses to stop blocking the dimensional gate because she thinks that Asuka hates him.
• Interrupted Intimacy: In chapter 65, Shinji and Asuka are in the middle of sex when Ching phones Asuka to remind them that they have to return to the stage shortly (appending a "Sorry because I guess what I am interrupting" comment).
• Intoxication Ensues: In chapter 40 Shinji takes an offered drink during a party, not knowing that it was rum. Almost instantly he started to act smooth and confident instead of shy and insecure.
• Ironic Echo: In chapter 16 Asuka remembers she used to mock Misato and Kaji's relationship when she was thirteen, calling them "two depressed grown-ups licking each other's wounds", and realizes bitterly those words describe her and Shinji now.
  ‘You're just two depressed grown-ups licking each other's wounds.’ Her own ancient mockery of Misato’s erratic relationship with Kaji echoed harshly in her mind.
• It's All My Fault: When he is not blaming people like his father, Winthrop or Jinnai, Shinji blames himself for all what happened to Asuka and how messed up she was because he was not there to help her, support her and protect her.
• It's a Long Story: In chapter 27 Hikari and Touji meet Asuka and Shinji again. Since they had gone through a weird Mind Screw for unknown reasons to them, and their friends were suddenly several years older, Hikari asked what happened to them. Rayana prefaced her explanation with "It is a long story. Short version for now."
• It's Not You, It's My Enemies: In chapter 13 Asuka argues she could not have anyone close to her because Winthrop would have used them against her.
  “If I’d had anyone close to me, Winthrop would just have used them as more leverage against me.”
• It's Personal: Shinji and Asuka want to topple Jinnai because he is a blood-thirsty dictator and warlord who has taken control of the UN government and has a stockpile of nukes, but they have very important personal reasons to want to destroy him, too: after the end of the world, Jinnai and his former boss forced Shinji and Asuka to work for them. They abused them, mistreated them and turned Asuka into their plaything for four years.
• I "Uh" You, Too: Even after getting together Asuka was unsure of her feelings and frightened of loving and being hurt again, so that she tried to find ways to tell and show Shinji that she wanted to be with him without saying the "love" word -until she finally managed to spit it out-:
  Asuka: "You really are… for me."

J-L

• Kangaroo Court: In the preceeding fic blood-thirsty dictator Winthrop got shot in a basement without due process. When the Avalon army invaded South America in order to depose the warlords and tyrants tearing the continent apart they declared that all dictators that they apprehended would face fair trials... but previously they had captured Don Barceló, a bloody criminal and rapist that had terrorized Buenos Aires and they had chosen his punishment on their own. And the Army's leaders -Asuka and Shinji- would love to kill Jinnai with their bare hands.
• Kick the Dog: When Jinnai finds out that Asuka is sleeping with Shinji he threatens with selling her into slavery out of spite because his erstwhile not-quite-willing plaything had found someone she loved and bedded enthusiastically.
• Kid Hero All Grown-Up: The story happens several after the Angel War. Shinji and Asuka are now in their early twenties.
• The Kid with the Remote Control: Shinji and Asuka could control their giant robots because their mothers were locked inside them. After Third Impact they were aware of it, but since their Evas were destroyed or stranded in space that knowledge came too late to be useful. However they were the only people could move an Evangelion, so that the dictators ruling the post-apocalyptic ravaged world kept them alive because they had an use for both mind-broken teenagers.
• The Good Kingdom: In this story Shinji and Asuka travel to the Empire of Avalon, a state that spans a chunk of The Multiverse, ruled by a -real nice- family of gods. King Daniel and Queen Rayana are benevolent, well-meaning and pretty amicable, and they genuinely try to help people and made good for their subjects. It is also mentioned several times that Avalon has many enemies that are constantly threatening its borders.
• Lack of Empathy: In the proper series nothing was as important to Gendo as Yui. As long as he managed to save her he did not care for the pain his actions and behaviour caused on people like his children or the girl his son loved. It bit him in the arse later when Yui returned, expressed how disgusted she was at his actions, and said she could not forgive him unless he earned their children's forgiveness first.
• Laser Blade: Avaloni Rangers’ plasma-edged blades.
• Latex Space Suit: Shinji and Asuka wore skintight suits called plugsuits to pilot her Evas. When they ride their newest mecha they wear a different sintight uniform.
• Leg Focus: Asuka's legs are often Shinji's focus. In chapter 25, while they are having a serious -and, for once, civil- talk, Shinji has to force himself to not spend the whole time ogling to her legs:
  Asuka was waiting for him. Wrapped in a blood-red bathrobe and towel, she was curled up in the bed like a ruby cat, slender fingers tapping gently together as she watched him like a hawk as he carried the tray in. Good gods, she looked hot. Her oh gods long, smooth legs peeking out from the edge of the robe were—‘FOCUS, Ikari!’ He saw her eyebrow rise when she spotted the rose.
• Let's Wait a While: Discussed. Asuka and her best friend Hikari talk about Asuka's love life, who has just recently hooked up with Shinji after several years of Belligerent Sexual Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension, misunderstandings and a long forced separation. Shinji and Asuka started to have sex shortly after getting together, and Hikari -who has just hooked up with her high-school crush but has not had sex yet- is seeking advice about giving the next step or waiting a while, so she asks Asuka what she would have done when they were thirteen. Asuka replies what knowing what she knows now, she would not have waited.
• Lighter and Softer: It is lighter and softer than canon and the preceeding fic. Shinji and Asuka are at last given the help, council and healing time they desperately needed, and a chance to recover their families and make their world right.
• Liquid Courage: During a ball, Shinji and Asuka had to dance. Since Shinji was terrified, Daniel offered him a drink, stating that he put a Charm of Courage on it. Shinji downed it, and he felt braver. Several minutes later he found out that Daniel had given him a glass of rum.
  Misato: Ah, …sir? Just what the Hell did you give him?
  Daniel: Exactly what I said, Lieutenant Katsuragi; there was indeed a Charm of Courage on that glass.
  Misato: Wow. That’s what a little courage can do?
  Daniel: Of course. In about five minutes the Charm will wear off. Right about then the rest of that ‘liquid courage’ will kick in.
  Misato: You didn’t…
  Daniel: Well, I had to put the Charm on something. The 100 proof Nenya Argentum Grande rum in the glass was the perfect carrier.
• Living Emotional Crutch: Shinji and Asuka are this for each other. Even before starting to open up, Asuka felt that Shinji was the only person in the world could relate to her –and vice versa-, and they could not bear the thought of being apart again. When they were together they supported, reassured and kept each other grounded and emotionally stable.
  • Deconstructed when Asuka tells Shinji it is not good or healthy depending too much or completely on other person and giving too much of oneself until there is nothing left. Reconstructed when Shinji replies he will lean on her to become strong enough to stand up for himself AND stand beside her.
• Logic Bomb: One of the officers of the army is particularly rigid, uptight and enthusiastic. Amused, Daniel asks him: "“Sergeant, if I ordered you to relax, would the paradox make you spontaneously combust?”"
• Lonely Together: Asuka and Shinji were in this situation at the very beginning of the story. They were drawn to each other since they were teens but they had been unable to open up and reach out to each other back then. After several years surviving in a post-apocalyptic world and being two dictators' plaything Asuka was so torn and soul-weary that she did not dare to love anybody (and she thought she was not worthy of being loved by anyone). However they stuck together because they were kindred spirits and thought nobody else in the world could understand their pain. However their relationship was very fragile and they expected and feared that it would eventually collapse. From that point the fic narrates how they and their relationship get gradually better.
• Loners Are Freaks: After surviving the war and the end of the world in the series, Shinji and Asuka were too soul-weary and emotionally and psychologically damaged to relate to other people. No one wanted to talk to or approach them except to attack them or use them. Later, when they were members of a fleet was being dispatched to fight another war, they insolated themselves and the ship crew gave them a wide berth, not wanting to be caught up in their troubles.
• Love at First Sight: In chapter 35 Shinji ponders that he has been in love with Asuka since the day they met. Several chapters later Asuka declares that he is his and Shinji answers that he has always been.
• Love Confession:
  • In chapter 25 -properly named "The Only Question That Ever Matters" after a long talk where Asuka opens up and talks to Shinji about her feelings of inadequacy, loneliness, self-hatred and abandonment... her lack of self-esteem, her doubts and her fears she dares to ask him what he feels for her:
    Asuka:“And you are still looking at me, Shinji. So no more running away. I’ve finally found the courage to ask; Shinji Ikari, do... [...] Do you... love me?”
    Shinji:“Yes.”
    Asuka:“S-say it. P-please...I need to hear you say it.”
    Shinji:“.....I love you, Asuka Langley Sohryu,”
    Asuka:“.....why?”
    Shinji:“What?”
    Asuka:“Why? I didn’t have to tell you all those horrible things about me. I did most of them to you. How can you still bear to look at me? I’ve hurt you in every way I could to keep you away. How can you still love me?”
    Shinji:"Because just being around you makes me feel more alive. Because you’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. Because when I see you smile, the whole world glows. Because when I kiss you I feel like I’m on fire. Because when I held you I didn’t care about anything else. Because I can’t imagine a world without you. Because... [...] Because when you are happy, it makes me feel the same. When you cry, I cry. When you hurt, I hurt."
  • And in chapter 74, when Shinji is trying to talk her into staying behind while he fights, Asuka gets angry and confesses in turn.
    "Me?! What about you? Du verflucht Idiot! Du hirnlose Ochse!" She pressed right up in his face, stabbing him in the chest with her fingers. "You don't get to do this. Not to me. Not again. You owe me a life, Ikari! You promised! So I'm claiming this one! I have just as much right here to risk my life as you do, and I'll be damned before I let you run off and maybe get killed without me! You go where I go and vice versa, remember? And what the Hell am I supposed to do if you die?!" Her vision was blurring and she could feel her cheeks were wet. It didn't matter. She was still able to punch him in the chest. "I love you, du verdammt baka! Live or die, you're staying right by my side! Together! You promised!"
• Love Epiphany: Asuka realizes that she loves Shinji when he wants her staying behind as he sorties because he does not want her dying. She replies -without thinking- she loves him so what she is supposed to do if he dies. Later Shinji reminds her that she had said and she blushes.
• Love Hurts: Shinji and Asuka have hurt each other… and still love each other.
  • Asuka does not want to love someone because she is deadly frightened of getting hurt again. Daniel tells her that’s tantamount to refusing eating because you are frightened of getting poisoned.
• Love Makes You Dumb: In later chapters Shinji and Asuka developed a rather "enthusiastic" relationship; probably making up for years of Belligerent Sexual Tension. However, they get so wrapped up in their passion that they forgot a few things like using birth control, or that Asuka's future self had been pregnant when they met. The inevitable finally occurs in chapter 67, and both agree that they should have seen this coming.
  Asuka: (Now what, Sohryu? I’m so fucking smart, now what do I do? I’ve been bragging to myself about beating fear and deciding my own fate for weeks now. I think fate just punched back.)
• Love Makes You Evil: Shinji loves Asuka so much he -someone who hates killing even in self defense- would kill with his bare hands, crush or burn alive whoever hurt her, and he would "burn Heaven down for her". It disturbs him severely when he realizes that he would become a monster if something happened to Asuka. So that he tells her he would do anything for her, even becoming a monster, and he trusts her to hold him back.
• Lovely Angels: During the military campaign to overthrow the warlords ruling the post-Third Impact world Asuka bonded with several of her female comrades like Ching or Misato. They fought effectively in tandem during several battles.
• Love Redeems: Gendo committed all kind of crimes to get his wife back. Now she is back, and she's told him that if he wants her to forgive him, he must earn Shinji's forgiveness. So he's now giving his all to be a decent person and make amends to his son for abandoning him and abusing him.
• Love Revelation Epiphany:
  • Intending to help them to fix their relationship, Daniel talked Asuka about how much she meant to Shinji and how much he had done for her, and he revealed Shinji that Asuka constantly dropped hints that she liked him, but he missed them all.
  • In chapter 27 Asuka asks Hikari if she has already confessed Touji... in front of Touji. Both teenagers passed out.
• Love Triangle: Shinji and Asuka love each other and are finally starting out a relationship. However Rei likes Shinji and she refuses to believe Asuka can open up to Shinji or care about him like she does because she is jealous. On the other hand Asuka does not appreciate Rei meddling with their relationship now they are finally getting their act together.
• Luminescent Blush: After opening up and reaching out to each other Shinji and Asuka often blush when they are talking or someone comments on their relationship.
  • In chapter 66 Asuka blushes brightly as a friend of hers is making insinuations about what she and Shinji did the last night. Simultaneously, Hikari blushes due to the topic of the conversation.
    Asuka was glad the drinks she’d already had which gave her fair skin a good flush. It gave her some cover for the blush that now tried to set her cheeks on fire.
  • And in another chapter:
    Shinji was glad she couldn’t see him blush with her head tucked under his chin.

M-O

• Macross Missile Massacre: Jinnai tries to this tactic to destroy Shinji, Asuka and their army, bombarding them with waves of missiles fitted with N2 warheads.
• Magical Land: The Empire of Avalon. It is a kingdom spans several galaxies and even a chunk of The Multiverse, ruled by a couple of deities, inhabited by many humanoid and non-humanoid races and where technology and magic coexist. The story begins when Daniel, God-Emperor of Avalon invites Shinji and Asuka to visit his world, and takes them to Avalon through a magical Portal Door.
• Make an Example of Them: Jinnai tells Shinji and Asuka he shot a general was planning to depose him so that no one else thinks of trying a coup d'etat.
• Making Love in All the Wrong Places: In chapter 64 Shinji and Asuka played several music pieces in front of a multitude. Asuka dragged Shinji straight after into one of the stadium's rooms to have sex while the concert went on. She also said she nearly had him right there and then on stage.
• Male Gaze: Shinji is constantly looking at Asuka (incidentally she demands that he does so).
  • In chapter 48, Shinji is so distracted staring at Asuka's butt that he bumps against her.
    Asuka:“Ow! Watch it, Third!”
    Shinji:“I’m sorr-“
    Asuka:“I bet I could fling you off this spot hard enough to hit the roof of that truck, Third Child. What gives?”
    Shinji:“Um… I wasn’t watching where I was going?”
    Asuka:“….you were staring at my ass again, weren’t you?”
    Shinji:“………yes?”
    Asuka(smirking wickedly):“Good.
• Mama Bear:
  • Rayana is the patron deity of the Mamas Bear (one of her titles is Lady of Mothers’ Fury). Protecting children is one of her priorities. She disses Shinji and Asuka’s fathers for not taking care of their offspring properly, and unlike her husband, she thinks that Shinji should not forgive Gendo.
  • And then you have Yui “I’ll eat you for hurting my baby!" Ikari herself. She can forgive a lot of Gendo’s actions… but she will not forgive his abuse of Shinji and mistreatment of Rei unless they forgive him.
• Mandatory Motherhood: Shinji and Asuka didn't plan on having children, but when Shinji got her pregnant, they decided to become parents.
• Marry Them All: In chapter 8, the main characters meet an alternate Shinji with a very convoluted past: in short, he thought Asuka died; fell in love with another girl and was about to get married when she got murdered; met Asuka again; got killed... and then a bunch of Avaloni imperial troopers showed up in that dimension. Shinji and his fiancée were brought back to life and the two of them, together with Asuka, were transported to Avalon to get rest and healing. When Daniel saw Shinji was conflicted over being reunited with the two women he loved, he mentioned that his country's laws allow someone to have several spouses as long as they agree to "share".
• Marshmallow Hell: In chapter 22 Misato meets Shinji again. Promptly she tackles him and hugs him, so enthusiastically that she nearly suffocates him. Shinji barely notes that he was saved from Marshmallow Hell only because he had grown a bit since the last time that she saw him.
  Shinji found himself tackled hard from behind by someone who began trying to squeeze the life out of him. Or possibly suffocate him; he was spun around long enough for the attacker to renew the attack-hug from his front, and he was saved from marshmallow Hell only by the few inches he’d grown since he’d last been grabbed by someone this endowed.
• Mecha Show: You have Humongous Mecha... and Transforming Mecha, space-ships, war ships, jet fighters, tanks, power armors...
• Meet the In-Laws: After Daniel brought them and their families to the Second Chances shelter, Hikari and Misato took advantage of the moment to introduce their respective significant others to their parents.
• Mercy Kill: In chapter 8 Shinji and Asuka find an alternate Shinji who had been tortured to the point he was dying, forcing Asuka (who had gone to rescue him) to give him a swift death (and then he got better. Long story).
  "We got to Shinji, but he was, was..." Tears began to drip onto their joined hands. "...dying. We gave him mercy... He died in my arms. Don’t let yours go."
• Mildly Military: Played with. When they are off-duty, the soldiers and even commanding officers of the Avalon army are pretty laid-back and often enjoy quipping or poking fun at each other. When they are on-duty or attending an official ceremony, though, they are downright serious and professional.
• Military Science Fiction: The two main characters become leaders of a pan-dimensional army armed with sci-fi weaponry.
• Mind Rape: Asuka was mind-raped during the Angel War by Arael. Shinji several times remembers how she was screaming and pleading for his help and he resents his father for not let him save her.
• Mindlink Mates: Asuka's Red Whirlwind is a two-seater vehicle with a control interface that allows telepathic communication between the two pilots. Shinji and Asuka find "interesting" uses for the telepathic mind-link.
• Mind Screw: When Rayana tries to explain to Touji and Hikari the mindscrew was the original series, Hikari's reaction was muttering her explanations made no sense and asking: "What?"
  Asuka:“Let me guess, your first clear memory in a long while is waking up underwater on a beach, with these two waiting for you? Preceded by a bunch of really strange dreams, memories that don’t feel like yours, and weird perspectives on things in your head?”
  Hikari:“And then they brought us here said you’d be here in a little while to explain things. Are we really on another world?”
  Asuka:“That’s going to take a bit of explaining. Ah... [...] A little help?”
  Rayana:“Short version for now; The Angels were trying to get at their father-progenitor creature, ADAM, which was hidden under NERV HQ. If they could do that, it would trigger the Third Impact, wipe out all human life on Earth, and make the Angel that did it into a god, for all practical purposes. A group calling itself SEELE controlled the UN and figured out the Angels’ nature and intent well before the Second Impact, which SEELE in fact caused, because they knew that if all the Angels were killed, they could hijack the process and make themselves gods instead. Gendo Ikari screwed everybody when he did it himself to have a chance to reunite with Shinji’s mother, Yui. When he set off the Third Impact it collapsed all human souls into one single mass-consciousness. Ayanami-san, who was in fact a half-Angel clone of Shinji’s mother, refused him the control he intended and gave control of the Third Impact to Shinji here. He eventually decided that all of humanity living as one giant blob of souls with no ego borders was not the way to go and told Ayanami-san to make it possible for everyone to return to their bodies and seek happiness. Shinji and Asuka were the first to return, and over the last four years more people have also incarnated, but about two-thirds of the population is still in the Ring of Souls around Earth. People pulled out of that, such as yourselves, return to bodies that match your last mental self-image. So Suzuhara-san gets his arm and leg back intact, and you both haven’t aged at all. Asuka and Shinji came out four years ago, so they really are a bit older than you now. Oh, and yes, you really are on another world. Welcome to Avalon. Take off your shoes and stay awhile. [...] Good enough for the moment?”
  Hikari:“....That made no sense. What?”
• Missing Mom:
  • Shinji and Asuka lost their mothers when they were barely four. When Daniel tells both pilots he can bring them back and promises to do so, they agree to trust him and go with him.
  • Misato's mother passed away twenty years earlier before the beginning of the story, when she was a teenager. When she was told her mother had returned too, she demanded to go to see her right away.
  • Hikari's mother was also missing due to SEELE. When she got her back, she barely could believe it.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Given everything what Shinji and Asuka endured at the hands of Jinnai and his ex-boss, it is not a wonder that they switched sides instantly when someone made them an offer.
• Mood-Swinger: During her first day in Avalon Asuka’s mood is changing constantly from bitter and weary to smirking and bubbling to angry to serious. Shinji notes that her moods are changing very quickly and he does not know how adapting.
• Morality Chain:
  • Shinji has realized he is just like his father and he would also burn the world for the woman he loves. So that he asks Asuka keeping him from becoming a monster.
  • Shortly before Asuka has wished punishing a bloody dictator and rapist with extreme prejudice, but she held back because she thought that Shinji would have a trouble with it.
• Morning Sickness: In chapter 66 Asuka’s stomach has been bothering her off and on for a few days. She thinks nothing of it until she hears a character telling to another: “It’s not right, you being so chipper and bushy-tailed every morning. Sickness, that’s what it is. I think you’re…” And she blanches when she thinks about her stomach aches, realizes that Shinji and she have been screwing up like bunnies every night for nearly two months without protection –the thought of using it never entered their minds- and she cannot remember when her last period was. She dashes towards the nearest toilet to vomit.
• The Multiverse: Throughout the history Asuka and Shinji travel between dimensions several times and meet several of their other-worldly counterparts. Daniel rules a chunk of the multiverse. He has seen and visited many alternate realities.
  Ching: “Infinite universes, almost anything happens. Doctor Faustus happened somewhere, The Iliad happened somewhere, and Evangelion happened somewhere. Your world was a darker story of what might have come next.”
• Must Make Amends: Shinji is determined to not leave Asuka alone again because he abandoned her several times in the past right when she needed him, and she got butchered and later raped. He also joins the military campaign to overthrow the warlords ruling his post-apocalyptic world even though he hates to kill because he caused the end of the world, and he thinks this is his chance to make things right.
• My Eyes Are Up Here: During a conversation with Rayana Shinji can not help to be distracted by her breasts. After a few exchanges Rayana remarks "I’m up here, Shinji", prompting him to look up to her face.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Gendo’s reaction when he learns that Asuka means to his son so much as Yui means to him. It is right then when he realizes how badly he has screwed everyone’s lives.
• Mystical Pregnancy: Although Shinji and Asuka conceived a child in the usual fashion, due the circumstances surrounding the event (they conceiving their baby on Their First Time while they were staying in a Magic Land and under the favour of its divine rulers) the child would be special. Unlike other examples of this trope, the female character is not diminished or turned into a mere superpowered-baby-making machine because Asuka's pregnancy is a very secondary subplot starts late in the story, and the plot and character development does not revolve around it.
  Asuka: “How far along am I? Can you tell?”
  Ching: “From the size of the embryo, about seven weeks. And there’s certain signs… Lord and Lady, I wish we had a cleric who could confirm this for me! There’s certain signs that… [...] The night of the Ball. Oh my…”
  Asuka: “What? What’s that ‘oh my’ for?”
  Ching: “Nothing bad, don’t worry. But if my guess is right and you two did this the night of the Ball, well… a child conceived on Avalon, its parents personally blessed by the Lord and Lady, and on your first time together? That child is going to be showered in fortune and blessings, favored by the gods, filled with special power and grace.”
• Naginatas Are Feminine: Rayana brandishes a naginata in a piece of fanart.
• Never Be Hurt Again: Asuka does not want to let herself to fall in love because she does not want to be hurt again. Daniel warns her that attitude will get her hurt anyway.
• Never My Fault: Jinnai expected to be betrayed. But the thought that he would be betrayed because he is a manipulative, psychotic jerkass, a Bad Boss and a borderline rapist never ever crosses his mind. No, no, it has to be because Asuka is a traitorous slut. There cannot be another reason.
• No One Gets Left Behind:
  • This is one of the rules of the Avalon Imperial Army: they never abandon a comrade. Their motto is "Numquam Soli. Semper, Sumus Legio", which means in Latin "Never Alone. Always, We Are Legion".
  • In chapter 75 Misato does not manage to finding Kensuke after a bomb went off near from him. Asuka tells her keeping looking because they don't leave anyone alone.
    Asuka:"You should have two minutes before the next salvo arrives. Misato, any sign of Aida?"
    Misato:"Nothing. No beacon, no comms, nothing at all. We can't even locate a wreck."
    Asuka:"Keep looking. We don't leave anyone on the battlefield alone. Never alone."
    Misato:"Roger. We'll find him."
• No Social Skills:
  • Shinji and Asuka never got any social skills, but their capability to interact with other people got even worse in the post-apocalyptic world. They were nearly completely withdrawn and insolated when Daniel met them.
  • Later they use this to their advantage as they are plotting against their former boss: they remain locked into their cabin and order the ship crew to not bother them. Since the crew knows they are not sociable people, they leave them alone and never suspect anything.
  • Rei's nonexistent social skills later pose a problem because she believes Asuka hates Shinji, so she refuses to help when they need her assistance or at least her non-interference. Shinji guesses that she still has a hard time understanding other people's emotions, even after Instrumentality.
• Not Good with Rejection: When Jinnai found out that Asuka and Shinji were together he did not take it quite well. In fact he called her a slut -among other "nice" epithets-, threatened with telling Shinji secrets she would not want him knowing and declared he would sell her into sex slavery after she outlived her usefulness. His tantrum was even more out of place when you consider she had been nothing but his "voluntary" plaything and she had been very clear about never liking him and servicing him only because the alternative was a bullet in her head.
• Now, Let Me Carry You: When the crew returns to retake their world Misato insists on taking riskier front-line roles in operations; such as subduing Don Barceló and leading the assault on the UN Fleet command ship. Her argument is that as one of the few natives in the crew with actually military experience, she's the best person for the job especially since Rei cut off their reinforcements from Avalon. Though is seems the real reason she putting herself in danger is so her former charges won't have to anymore.
• Noodle Incident: There are plenty of them in this fic. The Avaloni folk often hint many anecdotes but they don’t elaborate upon them.
  • In chapter 40 during a ball Shinji and Asuka are talking to a combat medic that mentions offhandedly that she had "a bout of lycanthropy" and got shot by a silver bullet, among other things. Asuka inwardly thought: "And what the fuck was that about lycanthropy? These people are weird!"
• "Not So Different" Remark: Rayana pointed out to Shinji that he and his father are more alike than he would want to admit: both were willing to end up the world for a woman. Eventually Shinji has to admit regretfully that it's true.
  He’d do anything to protect her and keep her from harm. Anything. There could be no sin in that cause. He’d destroy anyone or anything he had to, to keep the one he loved beyond all others safe.
  Just like his father.
  ‘I don’t want to be like him! No no no no no no no!’
• Not What I Signed on For: Discussed. Daniel appeared in Shinji and Asuka's tent and offered helping them with their troubles if they went with him to his realm. They took up his offer, but upon arriving Avalon Asuka believes she is going to be forced to undergo therapy, and she remarks that is not why she agreed to come along. She is reassured that no one will force her to anything.
• Nuke 'em: Jinnai’s reaction to the taking of his fleet is trying to turn Buenos Aires and a chunk of Argentina into a smoking crater.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Misato used this tactic in chapter 48. She pretended to be a defenceless, harmless woman to lure the warlord that ruled Buenos Aires into a trap.
• Oblivious to Love: A lot of the troubles Shinji and Asuka faced in the past and many of their traumas are rooted in their inability to realize each other's feelings, believing she hated him/he was not interested in her, and missing all hints stating otherwise. Late in the history, Asuka wonders whether their lives might have been different if he would have noticed her hints or she would have been more sincere and less prideful.
• Oblivious to Hints: At the beginning of the story Shinji finally finds out that Asuka had been constantly dropping hints, and he missed every one. Several characters also inform Asuka that Shinji had not responded any of her hints because he was oblivous and not because he was uninterested.
• Official Couple: Shinji and Asuka.
• Official Kiss: In chapter 24 Shinji wakes up, sees Asuka sleeping beside him, thinks he is still dreaming, and when she opens her eyes he kisses her. Shortly after he realized that was not a dream while Asuka was wondering what the hell had just happened. That kiss drove both to have a long, serious talk about their feelings for first time in years after which they got together officially.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: After the conquest of Buenos Aires, most of the campaign of liberation of South America happened off-screen.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • In chapter 45 an unknown force has sealed the portal shut and Shinji and Asuka's army has been cut off in enemy territory, turning Asuka into leader de facto until relieved. Asuka's reaction?:
    Asuka: “Scheiße!”
  • Asuka has a big one at the end of ch. 66 when she realizes the probable cause behind her recent stomach problems (see above).
  • Right before they hit the the UN fleet, Misato voices her opinion on how they'll react:
  “The fleet's going to have a nice long couple of minutes to appreciate just how screwed they are.”
• One-Man Army: Shinji and Asuka. Three years before the first chapter Asuka had taken on an army and nine Evangelions, and almost won. One month before the start of the story Shinji and Asuka took on an entire army and two Evas with nothing but a half-functioning Mass-Production giant robot that couldn’t produce an AT-Field. Ching praises Asuka for her battle against the nine MP-Evas and declares that if she had a better mecha Asuka would be capable to tear through ninety. During the second half of the story Shinji and Asuka frequently take on whole batallions and a fleet riding a single mecha.
• One Thing Led to Another: Shinji and Asuka took a shower together a short while after their Love Confession. They were going to wash each other's backs and they weren't planning on having sex, but then they started kissing, and eventually Shinji was pinning Asuka against the bath wall while they humped each other.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Shinji manages to surprise Asuka several times:
  • In chapter 24 Asuka wakes up and finds Shinji hugging her. Shinji (believing he is dreaming) calls her beautiful, says that he’ll make her breakfast in bed and wash her back when she is in the shower, kisses her, winks at her and leaves. She remained stunned for several minutes:
    Asuka kept staring at the door he’d left through for a long time. “What the fuck just happened?” she finally asked the empty room.
  • In chapter 49 Asuka is very, very, very angry. Shinji decides to try to placate her (even if he has never manages to calm her down when she is exploding)… and he manages to tell the exact right thing for once.
    Asuka: "Pretty smooth, Baka-Shinji. Who are you and what having you done with the Third Child?"
  • In chapter 54 they have to decide the punishment of a bloody dictator, mass murderer and rapist that their army has apprehended. Asuka thinks that Shinji will want to be merciful because he hates to kill… and then he told that he wanted to kill him because he was like the people that hurt Asuka. She got shocked and puzzled:
    Shinji: “We… when we were talking about Don Barceló, and what to do with him? And you said he was like the ones who hurt you? When you said that, I… I wanted to burn him.”
    Asuka: “That is… not very like you, Shinji,”
• Original Character: Daniel, Rayana, Ching… the Avaloni people are characters of an original universe created by the author. Realizing they could steal the spotlight unless he was careful, Strypgia kept the point of view on Shinji and Asuka and the focus on their Character Development and their relationship’s mending and progress.
• Orphan's Ordeal: The prologue describes how Shinji and Asuka had led tough lives after their mothers' deaths. Their fathers abandoned them, a shady organization forced them to fight a war against alien monsters, they died, outlived the end of the world and had to survive in a wrecked, desolated world inhabited by warlords, thugs and rapists...
• Other Me Annoys Me: Asuka found her older self quite irritating. Subverted with her counterpart of the “The Way out Is Through” universe. That timeline’s Asuka merely unsettled her… a lot.
• Our Souls Are Different: In this setting, souls have different colours or sizes depending on the nature or power of the owner. They may be removed from a body and placed into another, split or mended. A person may transfer part of his or her soul into another person’s to heal it (Daniel’s soul has many scars due to this). If someone loses a portion of her or his soul (like Asuka’s mother), she can keep functioning but the trauma may drive her crazy.
• Outside-Context Problem: The Avalon army is this to Jinnai and the other warlords ruling the post-apocalyptic world. Jinnai is a military dictator, prepared to deal with other warlords armed with conventional weaponry... and then Shinji and Asuka, two of his subordinates/mistreated puppets, disappear and reappear backed by an army of other dimension armed with several Humongous Mecha and Transforming Mecha, Powered Armors... Has it been mentioned a good number of their soldiers have Psychic Powers?

P-R

• Panicky Expectant Father: In chapter 68 Asuka told Shinji that she was pregnant. He was on the brink of freaking out, but since he could see that she was upset he held it back until he had reassured her. And THEN he started out to freak out and shake.
  Shinji froze as still as she was. “You’re…” It came out as a strangled gasp. He reminded himself to breathe again. A couple of deep breaths gave him the ability to try again. “You’re right. We did see this already. We should have expected it.” His shocked expression shifted to a faintly happy one. “At least this means we’re going to be rescued sometime in the next four months.”
  Asuka gave him a dour look that would have hit harder if she hadn’t still been shaking so much. “You’re taking this awfully lightly, Third Child.”
  He laughed weakly. “Oh, I'm holding on by a thread. I want to run around the room screaming right now, I’m not sure if in joy or terror. But you obviously do not. I can freak out later if I need to. You need me, and that’s more important. I promised. I’ve got your back for everything, including this.”
• Papa Wolf: Daniel mentions that in timelines where Yui did not die Gendo is an actually scarily overprotective father.
• Parental Abandonment: Shinji and Asuka's fathers dumped them by the side of the road shortly after their mothers' deaths before they were four. Fifteen years later they are still traumatized about it. In chapter 33 Daniel and Rayana talk about their fathers' behaviour, concluding Asuka's was the worst of the lot.
  “Considering he may have been the worst dad out of your whole group, we’ve left your father alone for now, Asuka,” Daniel said. “Let us know what you want done later.”
  “And when the group includes Ikari Gendo, that’s saying something,” Rayana said. “Gendo was at least a bad man trying to do good, just really badly. Pieter Langley had no such excuse. I mean, cheating on your mom in the next room with the doctor? Being married to her by your mother’s funeral? Abandoning you after that? Say the word, and I’ll smite the piss out of him.”
  ‘Oh yes, my wonderful and supportive father, who ditched Mama before she was even gone, and me before she was two weeks in the ground. He can rot in Hell in the cell next to Shinji’s father. They can swap ‘cheating on your child’s mother’ tips.’ “He can stay wherever the Hell he is now. He’ll get all the care from me that he gave my mother and I,” she said rather bitterly.
• Parental Neglect: During a conversation with Asuka Misato admits she failed her and Shinji. She was their guardian and the only mother figure they had, but she neglected them during the war right when they needed her the most, and as a result their trauma got worse until they broke down.
• Parental Substitute: Misato was Shinji and Asuka's guardian and caretaker during the Angel War, at the end of the which she got killed. During the story Daniel brought her back, and she dedicated herself to fight to rebuild the post-Third Impact world as a way to atone for neglecting her wards during the War. During a conversation with Asuka she admits she was the closest thing they had to a parent, she screwed, and she is afwully sorry about it.
• Parents in Distress: Asuka rescued her mother Kyoko right when she was about to be executed by a death squad. She shot at them all before picking Kyoko up and hightailing it.
• Pass the Popcorn: In chapter 33, while Asuka is sparring verbally with Misato and Hikari, Daniel and Rayana picked a bowl of popcorn and munched on it as they watched the fun.
  “Ladies, please! Wait!” Daniel interrupted. He reached behind the couch he and Rayana were sitting on and retrieved a large bowl of popcorn. He placed it in his lap and Rayana took a handful. “Alright, continue.”
• Pervert Revenge Mode:
  • Asuka leaned behind Shinji and wrapped her left arm around him to show him an image on her wristband, accidentally embracing him and pressing her front-side against him. Shinji crossed his legs quickly, but she saw it and she smacked him on the back of his head.
  • Touji drooled over Rayana when he saw her, setting off Hikari’s revengeful wrath.
• Physical God: Daniel and Rayana are the God Emperors of Avalon (Big Good of the story, but not the heroes). They always wear a humanoid shape and they are inmortal, very ancient, can manipulate souls and travel through time, space and dimensions, have some level of reality-warping and omniscience, and Rayana's speciality is magic. They also are pretty cool "people".
• Planet Spaceship: The HMS Asuka Langley Sohryu is a moon-sized space-ship.
• Please, Don't Leave Me: Asuka asked Shinji making her another promise: Never leaving her.
  Asuka: “Can you promise me you’ll always be there, Shinji? Promise me you’ll never leave me again?”
• Poor Communication Kills:
  • Shinji and Asuka's inability to open up to each other without miscommunication or misunderstandings was cause of most of their troubles before and after the end of the world. They often wonder what could have happened if they had managed to understand each other.
  • The Avalonian army was trapped in Earth and cut off because Rei couldn't -or didn't want to- understand that Shinji and Asuka were together now and they were getting along well. Several people tried to explain the situation to her, but Rei refused to buckle and stop blocking the dimensional door.
• Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: Emperor Daniel cites The Last Starfighter. To his disappointment, neither Shinji nor Asuka know what he is talking about.
  Daniel: Greetings, Starfighter! You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the Frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan Armada! Are you ready to begin?
  Shinji/Asuka: What?
  Daniel: (sighing) Never saw that one either? Kids these days, no classical education, I swear…
• Porn with Plot: Strypgia kept the sex scenes deliberately few and little explicit because the point of them was showing that their relationship had progressed to the point where they could have a non-unhealthy life sex.
• Portal Cut: When the Avalon army is transporting troops from their homeworld to the "Evangelion" Earth through a dimensional portal, Rei collapses the gate right when an Humongous Mecha was stepping through, cutting it in two.
  There was simultaneously a tremendous CRACK and rumble like thunder in the air over their heads and seconds later a chunk of shallow-curved metal the size of a garage door slammed to the earth near them, every line on the inside of the slice glowing orange-red with heat. Asuka didn’t jump too badly at the impact; it was too much like things she’d seen before involving chunks of Angel or buildings in her past battles. But she knew instantly something was very much not right. That was the front two meters of the Black Knight that had been coming through the portal. ‘Where is the rest of it?!’
• Portal Door: Several portal doors leading to other dimensions show up as soon as the first chapter when Daniel opens one inside Shinji and Asuka's tent to pick them up and take them to Avalon. During their stay in Avalon, both teenagers found out that magic and technology capable to create or build inter-dimensional gates or time doors are commomnplace. Also, bad things happen when a portal collapses, leaving the main characters cut off and stuck on other dimension.
  Asuka’s rest did not last long undisturbed. Shinji was just rising from replacing his cello in its padded trunk when the sun rose in their tent.
  Shinji whirled around. “What?” He blinked his eyes repeatedly against the sudden blaze of gold. A perfect seven-foot circle of seeming daylight stood on the far side of the tent, filling the tent with noontime brightness. Shading his eyes with his hand allowed Shinji a slightly better look at it. Almost too bright to look at directly, it seemed for all the world like a floodlit pool stood on its side. Shinji had only a moment to stare in confusion when the light dimmed as a man stepped out of it. This did not diminish his puzzlement.
  “Pilot Ikari Shinji-san?” The man inquired in Japanese.
  “Third, what’s th—-” Asuka blinked awake in her suddenly brightly lit sleeping bag, then bolted upright. “Who the hell are you?! What is that?”
  “Fräulein Pilot Asuka Langley Sohryu? I’m sorry to interrupt your rest, but this is the earliest I could arrive.” Shinji still could hardly see the backlit figure, just a caped silhouette. The figure noted his squint. “Ah, my apologies for the brightness of the portal. Rather a large energy differential between here and home. Let me get that.” He snapped his fingers and the glowing mini-sun shrank to a point and vanished. The near-daylight illumination dropped to just the solitary camp lantern hanging at the tent’s entryway.
• Posthumous Character: Winthrop. He got executed before the beginning of the history, but his monstrous actions have got a lasting, severe effect upon the characters and their world, and throughout the story the characters are trying to repair and fix what he damaged and broke.
• Powered Armor: Used by the Imperial Army. They are named Heinlein Mk 161 infantry combat suits after Robert A. Heinlein.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Asuka gets one in chapter 55 that doubles as a Shout-Out:
  Asuka: “EVERYONE IN FRONT OF ME BETTER SURRENDER IN THE NEXT THIRTY SECONDS, OR I’M GOING TO BLOW A NEW CRATER IN THIS LITTLE PLANET.”
• Pre-Climax Climax: Asuka and Shinji partied and slept together before the Final Battle in order to not have any regrets.
• Precision F-Strike: At the height of chapter 75, Shinji is fighting to save his world, has got family and friends back, he and Asuka have gotten together, they are going to be parents and Asuka has FINALLY said him that she loves him right before a battle. Faced with the possibility of getting killed in action, he says:
  Shinji: "To Hell with dying. I'm going to live!"
• Pregnant Badass: Asuka was pregnant as she fought during the war to free her world from the blood-thirsty dictators ruling it. Justified because she was a mecha pilot.
• Pretentious Latin Motto: The moot of Avalon Imperial Army is "Numquam Soli. Semper, Sumus Legio", which means "Never Alone. Always, We Are Legion". The motto of Clan Guards is "Morior Invictus", meaning "I Die Unconquered" (and is taken from "O Fortuna!" from Carmina Burana).
• The Promise:
  • Shinji promises Asuka that he will NEVER abandon her, not matter what.
    Shinji: “I... even if it had been futile, I should have tried. I can’t abandon you like that again, Asuka. So I won’t. Ever.”
    Asuka: “Do you swear, Third? […] You’ve got my back, no matter what?”
    Shinji: “Y-yes. I swear. No matter what.”
  • And later she asked him to make her another promise: Never leave her.
    Asuka: “Can you promise me you’ll always be there, Shinji? Promise me you’ll never leave me again?”
• Psychic Powers: A lot of Avaloni folk are at the very least telepaths, empaths or mirage casters. Several divisions of the Army are formed exclusively by psychic soldiers.
• Psycho Supporter: Former Big Bad Winthrop was a psychopath, a rapist and a blood-thirsty dictator. His Dragon with an Agenda -and current Big Bad- Jinnai was a paranoid, megalomaniac, power-thirsty, rapist, raving lunatic. And after replacing his former boss he got worse.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Asuka to Shinji in chapter 20:
  "If you wanna 'love me', Third, you better be ready! to! push! BACK!”
• Pungeon Master: Daniel loves doing this, to the point that his wife and even his subjects warn newcomers of this: "Provoke the Lord of Puns at your own peril."
• Punished for Sympathy: Before the beginning of the story Shinji had been giving money to homeless, starving people that the secret police deemed as "possible subversives and rebels" And Asuka criticized him for it, since she was frightened that the police secret would haul him and her away, too. Nevertheless she later admitted that Shinji was doing the right thing.
• Quit Your Whining:
  • In chapter 44 Shinji is starting to get angsty after Their First Time but Asuka stops him telling they are past the point of complaining and getting frightened.
  • In chapter 50 Shinji and Asuka are arguing about their failure on reaching each other out. When Asuka asks him why he never told anything Shinji retorts asking why she never did say anything either and muttering he was nothing. Asuka cuts him off telling her lover is not "nothing" and she hates seeing him behaving like a self-pitying whiner.
• Rage Breaking Point: After the Third Impact Shinji and Asuka became the tools of the dictators running their world. Asuka was turned into a plaything for years, specifically. Shinji knew what the woman he loved was being hurt daily but he hated to kill and he was powerless to stop it, so he repressed his rage for several years. Then he heard one of them badmouthing her and threatening her and he wanted to kill him with his bare hands.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: Avalon’s Royal Family are Physical Gods with all it entails, and all of them undergo military training because they are duty-bound to protect their subjects.
• Rape as Drama: In "A Throne of Bayonets" Asuka went to Winthrop for "protection". He used her like his sex toy for one year before getting tired of her and passing her on Jinnay. Although Asuka technically "chose" becoming their sex slave, it was virtually rape. Daniel could not prevent it from happening, but he swapped Asuka for a dummy every time they slept with her. Asuka still feels the weight of her choices but at least she is freed from the remembrance and the feeling of getting ravished and she can choose to giving herself whoever she wants freely.
• Rapid-Fire "No!": Asuka combined this trope with Big "NO!" in chapter 5. When Asuka insists that she does not need anyone and she has an agreement, Daniel points out that it is very fragile and she fears that it will not last... And then what? She will try to kill herself again?
  She hadn’t cried, not even the day they buried her Mama. She would not cry now. She would not. ‘Don’t take him away. I don’t want to be alone. I don’t want to be alone.’ “I don’t... ...need anyone. My arrangement-“
  “Is a hollow shell, that you both fear and expect to collapse at some point. Then what? Water again? Or this time the barrel of a gun in your mouth?” Daniel said quietly, his words hitting Asuka harder than if he’d been shouting them. “Or a twist of hemp like your mother, feet in the air?”
  “NO! Nononononono! I...I...STOP IT!”
• Really 700 Years Old: All people Shinji and Asuka meet in the Empire of Avalon are at least several hundreds of years old, but neither of them seems older than forty. Ching is 432. Daniel, the God-Emperor of Avalon is 452,388 years old and it is due to his protection that aging is not an issue in the empire. When Asuka tells Shinji about it in chapter 40, he has a very hard time coming to terms with their longevity.
  Shinji: “Asuka, I want to ask you a question.”
  Asuka: “So spit it out, Third.”
  Shinji: “Well, you said I didn’t want to know.”
  Asuka: (thinking) ‘Oh, that. Well, better now than some comically awkward future moment.’ (aloud) “Try not to freak out. Ching told me yesterday that she was envious of me, for meeting you when we were so young. She said she’s ‘waited centuries’ and not been lucky enough to have met anyone that…feels for her the way you do for me.”
  Shinji: “Centuries? How old is she?”
  Asuka: “Four hundred thirty-two. She’ll be four thirty-three in five months,”
  Shinji: “She’s four hundred thirty-two and she’s a Lieutenant?”
  Asuka: “She did say she had a few decades of practice as a psychiatrist before she joined up. But see why they don’t mind years between ranks?”
  Shinji: “And Lord Verfico is a Senior Marshal… how long would that take?”
  Asuka: “A long damn time is my guess. Given what Ching told me next about Daniel’s age, I can make a fair guess as to Lord Verfico’s.”
  Shinji: “Do I want to know? (sighing) You did warn me. Alright, hit me.”
  [Asuka grinned, and punched him in the shoulder.]
  Shinji: “Ow! Hey!”
  Asuka: “Oh, don’t be a baby, Third. (grinning and kissing him) You just gave me a straight line, and I had to use it. It took your mind off the strangeness of their crazy long lives, didn’t it? Alright, Lord Verfico is probably at least four hundred thousand years old, given that Ching said Daniel is 452,388 years old if my math is right, which of course it is.”
  Shinji: “Gleep,”
• Reassigned to Antarctica: Invoked in chapter 2 when Ching makes such a terrible quip that Daniel jokes that kind of puns will get her exiled to Antarctica.
  Ching: (while serving drinks) Of course, Your Majesty. It’s an honor to serve.
  Daniel: And puns like that will get you promoted and possibly exiled to Antarctica.
• Recursive Fanfiction: Authorized sequel to "A Throne Of Bayonets".
• Red Is Heroic: Asuka wears red nearly always. Often she is seen wearing a scarlet dress, her old and new mechas are red, her bathrobe is red... after seeing her wrapped in a red bathrobe and towel, Shinji compared her with a "ruby cat".
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Avalon's army commanders Ching and Bir. Ching is the Red Oni -enthusiastic, mirthful and passionate- and he is the Blue Oni -calm, serious and somewhat staid-. They are also a Battle Couple.
• Reformed, but Rejected: After a long talk with his wife and Rayana, Gendo sincerely wants to turn a new leaf and make amends. However neither Shinji nor Asuka are willing to forgive him easily.
• Relationship Upgrade: In chapter 24 after considerable soul-searching and getting plenty psychological counsel, Shinji and Asuka have a very serious talk. Shinji confesses his feelings and they agree to try and to have a real relationship even if Asuka has not come to terms with her own feelings yet.
• Ring World Planet: Several artificial worlds of the Empire of Avalon are built like this. Shinji and Asuka see several of them as soon as they step through the dimensional portal.
• Roaring Rampage of Rescue: Winthrop turned Asuka into his plaything and flew with her to Germany, forcing Shinji to remain in Boston especifically because he wanted to avoid the teenager went berserker and tried to rescue her.
• Romantic False Lead: After the Third Impact, thinking Shinji could not protect her or would let her down again, Asuka briefly dated Hans, a subordinate of Winthrop. When his boss sent him away she "voluntarily" went to Winthrop for protection. She spent over a year as his toy before he tired of her and gave her to Jinnai. She spent two years with him before meeting Shinji again. After many, many ordeals and shared pain she and Shinji started to reconcile and try to have a real relationship. Hilariously Jinnai got mad when he found out, claiming he had been dumped by a slut despite of Asuka being nothing but her toy and her telling plainly she never liked him and she serviced him and his former commander because they would put a bullet in her head if she did not "behave".
• Romantic Runner-Up: Rei to Shinji. She is not a bad person and she cares about him, but Shinji loves Asuka, not her. Unfortunately she is too jealous to realize and understand Asuka loves Shinji back, and her jealousy is creating troubles right when they need her help.
• Royal Bastard: Members of the secondary branches of the Avaloni Royal Family are known as Bastard Princes and Princesses. In the Avalon Empire, being a royal bastard is, in fact, an honor because it means that you have at the very least a smidgen of divine blood.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: The whole Imperial family is utterly and whole-heartedly devoted to improve the lives of the subjects of the Imperium and other alternate realities. Likewise, even if you are royalty, you start from the bottom and you HAVE to earn your position.

S-U

• Sacred First Kiss: Several characters explain Shinji what exactly went wrong when Asuka and he kissed for first time and how his inaction and obliviousness -as well as her pride and her fear to express her feelings openly- ruined their First Kiss and hurt Asuka so much that she ran to the bathroom to cry because she believed he did not care about her.
• Samus Is a Girl: The UN fleet captain got shocked when Misato removed her helmet’s faceplate and revealed that she was a woman:
  He blinked in surprise to see the smiling woman revealed by the now transparent helmet.
• Sanity Slippage: Word of God is that Jinnai's become much more paranoid (and a big time megalomaniac) since he overthrew Winthrop because he realizes that the same thing could happen again; only this time with his head on the chopping black.
• Security Cling: When the dimensional portal was destroyed, cutting Shinji, Asuka and the Avalon troops off and leaving them all trapped in the post-apocalypse Evangelion Earth, Asuka clung to Shinji tightly because she was terrified that the universe was about to mess them up and ruin their lives again.
  Shinji had just enough time to turn around before he was nearly tackled onto the bunk by a flying Eva Pilot. Asuka wrapped her arms around him and clung fiercely tight. “Wha-?” Shinji blurted in surprise.
  “I just know this is going to go to Hell somehow. It always does. Something good happens, and then the world shits all over us again. You and I meet, then spend years missing each other’s signals. We’re beating the Angels easily, coming together as a team, and then your asshole father springs the Dummy Plug system on us. We survive the Third Impact, then get a world of thugs, rapists, and warlords. And now we finally… talk to each other, and then this… I just know something more is going to go wrong here, because this world hates us,” Asuka said wearily into his chest.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Daniel travels back and forward in time bringing Shinji and Asuka along with him to fix the mistakes of the past.
• Sexual Karma: Asuka was two dictators' plaything for three years and they always made her feeling filthy and shameful. When she and Shinji got together and started to have sex he made her feeling wonderful, beloved and special; and she could not get enough of him. Sex scenes between they are depicted tender rather than titillating.
• Shapeshifting: Major General of the Red Sir Connor O’Farrell nó O’Brien -introduced in chapter 40- is a dragon can transform into humanoid.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Female and male example. Hikari usually wears plain, ordinary clothes and her hair is braided in Girlish Pigtails; her boyfriend Touji also dresses very plainly. In chapter 40 both dress for a party and Toji looks good, whereas Hikari looks stunning.
  The Eva Pilots’ former classmates joined the group. Asuka blinked in surprise. Suzuhara was wearing a dark green Imperial Army cadet’s uniform just like Shinji, but had just a single row of three ribbons on his. ‘A Purple Heart, 2015 Angel War Campaign ribbon, and the Eva Pilot’s Badge. Well, I guess he gets all three from his one technical mission,’ Asuka noted. But it was her friend Hikari who was the stunner. Her habitual pig-tails and student uniform look was gone, replaced with an elegant black cheongsam with a dragon coiled around her body picked out in silver embroidery, and her hair was now styled into a slightly longer than shoulder length cut with a fringe above her eyes, set off by thin lighter brown highlights throughout. “Wow, Hikari. You look good. And Suzuhara almost looks like a civilized person worthy of hanging out with you, instead of an overgrown monkey in a track suit.”
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: At the beginning of the story Asuka denied Shinji was her boyfriend and vice versa. One of the reasons is they did not know where they stood with each other and the only thing they were certain about is they did not want to remain apart. Other of the reasons is they were in denial. Later they got together -after a fashion- but Asuka was unsure about her own feelings for a while, so she denied it until her doubts disappeared.
  • In chapter 30:
    Ching:“No, I didn’t peek in the window and see you making out with your boyfriend,”
    Asuka:“He is not my boyfriend! I mean... we haven’t talked about it… I don’t know.”
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: When the story begins, Shinji and Asuka have gone through a war against giant aliens (in which they got constantly hurt, mind-raped and actually died), the end of the world, living in a post-apocalyptic world ruled by warlords, being forced to work for dictators... they have endured so much misery, pain and trauma after long years of conflict that when the story begins they are barely functional. They are bitter, jaded and soul-weary and not looking forward to the future. And they are not even nineteen.
• Shiny-Looking Spaceships: Avalon’s space-ships are impeccably shiny and pristine.
• Shipper on Deck: A good number of characters ship Shinji and Asuka together.
  • Their Avaloni allies and friends (including the freaking God Emperors of the place) spent a bunch of chapters encouraging them to get over their fears and traumas and trying to get together.
  • The returned members of the Evangelion cast (Misato, Kaji, Hikaru, Touji...) were happy to see them together.
  • When they met Rei and Kaworu the latter smiled when he saw Shinji and Asuka holding hands. The former... not so much.
• Shipping Torpedo: On the other hand Rei does NOT like seeing her brother and Asuka together due to a mix of jealousy, envy and over-protectiveness.
• Ship Tease: Although Asuka and Shinji were apparently too damaged to have a relationship, there were plenty hints that Shinji loved her, Asuka was falling for him (despite claiming otherwise), and they would get together (seeing their future selves married and expecting a baby in the first chapter was a big hint, indeed). For example, in an early scene Asuka claims she does not need anyone and she is better off alone... but as soon as Daniel suggests to take Shinji away if that is what she wants, she muses she does not want Shinji leaving.
• Shooting Superman:
  • In chapter 55 several tanks shot at Asuka's Red Whilrwind. It did nothing. So what did they do? You guessed it, shooting again (although the half of the soldiers was smart enough to flee or surrender).
  • Averted when Misato and her troops seized the UN fleet. A soldier shot at her, and when everybody saw the bullet bouncing harmlessly off her Powered Armor they surrendered.
• Shower of Angst: After getting kissed by Shinji Asuka feels confused, frightened and needed, so she decides to have a shower in order to trying to clear her mind.
• Shower of Love: Shortly after getting together, Shinji and Asuka took a shower together. They intended to wash each other backs' as a way of testing the boundaries of their new relationship, but one thing led to another, and they ended humping each other right away.
• Shrinking Violet: Parodied. When Hikari and Touji fainted, Daniel said: “Well, let’s get these two shrinking violets inside”.
• "Shut Up" Kiss: In chapter 50, after an argument and a martial fight, Asuka tells Shinji shutting up and kissing her:
  Asuka:“And that goes double for my lover, Shin-chan. You think you’ve got the guts to fight me, you go right ahead and try. By all means, push back. Now shut up and kiss me.”
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Rather falling in love with any of the dictators or thugs ravaging the post-Third Impact world Asuka fell for Shinji, who for all his faults was selfless, kind, thoughtful and sincerely cared for her.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: In chapter 50 Asuka and Shinji did the Kouji/Sayaka routine. First they talked. Then they argued. Then they fought physically. Then they kissed. Then they made love.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: The pendulum swung hard back and forth here. “A Throne of Bayonets” -the previous story- was as cynical as it gets. The After the End world was a nightmarish place inhabited by starving masses scavenging the ruins and ruled by blood-thirsty dictators. Shinji and Asuka were turned into war tools and Asuka was two dictators' sex slave for three years. Although they finally met again and were determined to stick together they were so burn-out than having a real relationship seemed impossible. The present story is fairly idealistic, though: Shinji and Asuka meet a powerful ally who is determined to set things right for them. They finally have help, start to repair their relationship, and prepare to other war, this time with a cause is actually worth fighting for, an army at their back and gods on their side.
• Sorry to Interrupt: In chapter 65, Ching called Asuka while she and Shinji were "busy" to remind them that they had to return to work again. She prefaced her warning with a "I'm sorry to have to interrupt" comment:
  “I’m really sorry to have to do this, as I can make a pretty good guess what I’m interrupting, but you two are due overhead in 15 minutes,”
• Soul Power: Avalon’s Royal Family has soul manipulation powers: they can remove them from a body, talk to them, heal them, mend them, split them…
• Sour Outside, Sad Inside: Surviving in a post-apocalyptic world had aggravated Asuka’s mental scars. Outwardly she was harsher, angrier and more jaded; inwardly she was utterly broken, depressed and self-loathing.
• Space Marine: Avalon’s Empire Army has a Space Marines division, dedicated to perform the usual tasks of a Marine division. It is pointed out there is friendly rivalry between them and the other army corps. In the second half of the history one of them -Corporal Vasraith- has a prominent role.
• Space Navy: The Avalon Empire Army has one.
• Space Whale: Referenced in chapter 57 when it is said a star-ship looks like a whale.
• Speaking Simlish: Avaloni is the official idiom of the Empire. Some few words are used by the characters.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Defied. The Avalon characters are Original Characters of an original universe created by Strypgia. When he decided crossing it over with the Evangelion universe, Strypgia realized that they might steal the spotlight, so that he restricted the point of view to Shinji and Asuka and other Evangelion characters, and he kept the story firmly focused on Shinji and Asuka learning to overcome their traumas, repairing their relationship and saving their world.
  Strypgia: "The introduction of Avalon is a product of how this story began as a 'I'm just writing to kill time for my own amusement' project. So it was an opportunity to take out an OU I'd been knocking around in my head and play with the bits. But to keep it from overwhelming things, I restricted it to only using Asuka or Shinji as POV characters except for very rare, brief spots, I think just 5 others in the whole thing, for only a page or two each. And two of those are other NERV survivors. Come to think of it, we only have an Avaloni character as POV once, and that's back on Eva-Earth."
• Squee: In chapter 27 Hikari does this after guessing that Shinji and Asuka are together after a fashion. Overwhelmed Asuka thinks this is the first time she had heard someone 'squee'
  She let out a string of ecstatic noises. It was the first time in her life Asuka had actually heard someone ‘squee’.
• Standard Female Grab Area: Subverted in chapter 48. A warlord grabbed Misato's upper arm and she looked helpless and unable to wrench herself free, but in reality it was part of her plan.
• Standard Human Spaceship: Avalon Empire space-ships are shiny, grey and blocky.
• Standard Sci-Fi Fleet: Avalon’s space fleet has huge, moon-sized bases, space carriers and tinier jet fighters and mechas.
• Stationary Wings: Avaloni people are winged humanoid aliens. When they fly, their wings only flap during the take-off and the landing.
• Stay in the Kitchen: In part 74 Shinji tries to convince Asuka into stay behind as he fights because he is frightened of her dying. Asuka takes it as good and readily as you would expect.
• Stress Vomit: Shinji in chapter 52 vomits when he finally realizes he is just like his father: he would destroy anything and anyone that threatened or harmed the woman that he loves.
• Stupid Sexy Flanders: During a talk with Asuka, Ching tells she is straight, but she needs an ice water bucket when she sees sexy, busty, Fiery Redhead Rayana.
• Supernaturally Young Parent: During the first chapters, Shinji and Asuka find their counterparts of several alternate universes... and the daughter of one of their alternate selves, Misato Ikari. They are nineteen, she is over fifty, and she has children older than them.
• Survival Mantra: Shinji replaces his "I mustn't run away" chant for another one: "Don’t say ‘I’m sorry’, or she’ll kill me"
• Taking You with Me: In chapter 57 Bir explains Shinji and Asuka that the first time troops of the Avalon army were cut off a whole regiment performed a kamikaze raid and sacrificed themselves to destroy to the enemy and save the people they were protecting.
• Talking in Bed: After arriving on Avalon, Shinji and Asuka have many talks in bed, discussing their latest experiences in that new world or analyzing evertyhing what went wrong between them in the past.
• Talking to Themself: Asuka does this a lot, especially after she and Shinji got together. Her self-loathing constantly berates her, calling her an useless and worthless whore that does not deserve Shinji and worse things. After a while, in chapter 59 she seemed finally to defeat her inward darkness after a long inner argument.
• Tears of Joy: Asuka sheds them in chapter 25 while she tells her mother that Shinji has said he loves her.
  She paid no further attention to the tears dripping off her smile as she told her mother everything; he felt warm, he looked at her, he kept her nightmares at bay, he swore to her, he loved her, he loved her, he loved her...
• Technical Virgin: Asuka was Winthrop and Jinnai’s “voluntary” sex toy for three years. Daniel did not want her bearing that burden, so that he replaced her with a dummy every time they were going to ravage her. Hence, she has got sex hundreds of times and she is still a virgin. She still feels defiled, though.
• Tempting Fate:
  • Lampshaded by Asuka in chapter 25:
    Shinji: “This place gets weirder every time I turn around. Witch Queens, people with wings, people back from the dead, at least three copies of us running around, and a bartender that looked like a dragon. I’d ask ‘what’s next?’, but I bet that would count as tempting fate around here.”
  • And in chapter 55 Asuka complains about her debut battle being too easy to Shinji's horror:
    Shinji: “Oh, now you’ve done it. Next time it will be Godzilla because you said that. I know how these movies work,”
  • And in chapter 67, after gloating about making her own fate for several weeks, Asuka finds out that she got pregnant:
    Asuka: ‘Now what, Sohryu? I’m so fucking smart, now what do I do? I’ve been bragging to myself about beating fear and deciding my own fate for weeks now. I think fate just punched back.’
• Test Kiss: Long before the beginning of the story Asuka wanted to kiss Shinji to find out what kissing was like, but their attempt went awry due to their psychoses and insecurities. It is brought up in the first chapter, and several times Shinji, Asuka and other characters talk about the kiss, arguing what went wrong and how things could have gone differently.
• That's No Moon: In chapter 16 Asuka found out that one of the moons orbiting the planet in reality was a humongous space-ship:
   Daniel had taken their rescuee off to the clinic, and Ching had told her she’d made arrangements to give her a ride in the trainer variant of her usual battle mecha. Asuka had asked where, and Ching had pointed at the faintly visible glow of one of the half-moons overhead. That was no moon, it turned out. It was a ship, part of the Imperial Navy squadron in orbit. A ship big enough to have looked like a smooth bronze-colored moon from the ground.
• That Was Not a Dream:
  • In chapter 6 Asuka asks Shinji if this is a dream. Shinji replies that it is not.
  • In chapter 24 Shinji wakes up, sees a smiling Asuka sleeping in his arms and deduces he must be dreaming. When she opens her eyes he greets her warmly, tells he is going to make her breakfast in bed and maybe he will wash her back when she is showering, kisses her and leaves with a wink. Shortly after he realizes it was NOT a dream. And he freaks out.
  • In chapter 37 Shinji and Asuka are showering together and Shinji asks: “I’m not dreaming, am I?”
  • In chapter 44 Asuka wakes up and wonders why she has dreamed of an all-night sex-marathon with Shinji… and then she realizes that was not a dream.
• Their First Time: When Asuka and Shinji tried to make love for first time -in the previous story- it was a mess because they were heavily traumatized and Asuka had been virtually and constantly raped for three years. Shinji realized he was hurting her and he refused to go on. In chapter 43, after considerable soul-searching, healing and counseling and spending a while opening up and reaching out each other Asuka asks him if he can promise her he will never leave her. They talk for a while, baring their souls, and Shinji promises, assuring her that he loves her and he is hers. Then they make love.
• There Are No Therapists: Subverted. When Shinji and Asuka arrive on Avalon, they meet Ching, who is actually a trained therapist. But she won't act as one unless one of them ask her to.
• These Hands Have Killed: Being forced to kill Kaworu deeply affected and shocked Shinji. For a long time he refused to kill, even in self-defense.
• Thinking Out Loud: In chapter 30 Asuka is arguing with herself about her fears, doubts, trauma... At the beginning she is dwelling on it silently, but at a point she starts to speak her thoughts outloud.
• Thousand-Yard Stare: Shinji recounts that one time Asuka allowed him to have sex with her, she was more akin to a mannequin, and that when he saw this look in her eyes, it completely killed what little mood there was.
• Three-Way Sex: Discussed. During a sex ed talk, Rayana mentions Shinji and Asuka that in some alternate timelines they had a very happy three-ways relationship with Rei. However Asuka declares she does not intend to share.
  Rayana:“You’ve got a true innocent here, Asuka. Careful breaking him in. Hmm, would you like some of my helpful pamphlets?”
  Asuka:“Wait, there are way too many legs in that picture...”
  Rayana:“Just the right number for three people,”
  Asuka:“...Three?”
  Rayana:“I wanted to be prepared for any questions you might have. After all, there was that one worldline where you, Shinji, and Rei-chan were in a very enthusiastic threesome, [...] You spent most nights together playing ‘who can wear out Shinji first?’ Shinji never got much sleep, but never seemed to complain.”
• Time Abyss:
  • Daniel is 452,388 years old.
  • His wife Rayana is slightly younger... Ten or twenty thousand years younger.
    Asuka’s brain was still refusing to process that number. He was 452,388 years old?! Stone tools weren’t that old! Fire wasn’t that old!
• Time Crash: Invoked. Shinji and Asuka's hosts are able to time travel, but they try to make careful use of it because causing a time paradox and making the fabric of reality collapse is a very real risk.
• Time Skip: Chapter 66 features two time-skips. The beginning of the chapter happens two weeks after the end of the former chapter. And the second scene happens five weeks after the first one.
• Time Travel: Daniel and his family use it… a lot.
• Time-Travel Tense Trouble: It is liable to show up whenever Daniel or his wife use time-travel.
  • In the first chapter Shinji and Asuka are visited by their future selves.
    Shinji: “You were right, this is really strange from the other side,”
    Daniel: “You get used to it, Shinji. And technically, I will be right. I haven’t said that yet. This is six months in my past, too.”
  • Amusingly, Avaloni has verbal tenses for discussing time-travelling:
    Ching: “20th Century German can’t handle discussing time loops very well. Avaloni has tenses for that, if you get a chance to learn it.”
• Timey-Wimey Ball: Tries to avert this. Daniel and Rayana explain Shinji and Asuka that they technically can stop Second Impact and other tragedies... but then Shinji and Asuka would be completely different people, ergo their fixes would be meaningless. So both gods use time-travel to undo the consequences of those tragedies.
• Took a Level in Badass: Shinji and Asuka after getting much needed pshychological counseling and a brand-new Humongous Mecha. They go from two wretches barely capable to fight for their lives to commanders of an army.
• Took a Level in Cheerfulness:
  • After going through a war, the end of the world and surviving in a wrecked world, Asuka was mentally broken, exhausted, bitter and angry with everyone and everything. When she arrived on Avalon people cared about her offered counseling and helped her to set several things right, and Asuka's mood improved considerably. When Shinji saw her again after several hours he was shocked because she was acting more like the bold, cheerful girl she was when he met her.
  • Shinji, too. Hooking up with his life's love, getting his mother, family and friends back and fighting for a worthy cause -for once- cheered him up tremendously.
• Took a Level in Idealism: After dying, going through Instrumentality, surviving for four years in a post-apocalyptic war-torn world and being turned into the plaything of two warlords Asuka had become more broken, more bitter and more cynical, seeing herself like a failure and a worthless whore nobody cared about. Then she met people wanted to help her and told her she was not horrible or useless, she was not alone, she did not need to be scared, she deserved being loved and things would get better. After a while she started to believe them and started healing.
• Took a Level in Kindness: After arriving on Avalon, getting therapy and counselling, Asuka -who had previously been a mass of rage, cynicism and bitterness due to be psychologically broken- starts being nicer as she gradually gets over her worst issues and learns she can trust other people (specially Shinji).
• Transforming Mecha: Asuka’s Red Whirlwind has two modes: humanoid and jet fighter.
• Translator Microbes: NILS (Neural Induction Learning System) is a device capable to pop a language –or another kind of knowledge- into the brain with a little magnetic induction on the right neurones. It has limitations, though: it only works with sufficiently well mapped knowledge sets and species neural sets, and you need learning a language the old-fashioned way if you want to truly understand it.
• Trapped Behind Enemy Lines: In chapter 45 Asuka and Shinji's military force was being transported through a portal when it got shut down. The two of them, their friends and a little fraction of what was supposed to be a huge military force were cut off in the middle of enemy territory with no way to return or ask for reinforcements. Everybody decided to fight despite the odds and fulfill their mission.
• Trapped in Another World: Inverted with Shinji and Asuka. They had been travelling between two different universes when the portal got shut down while they were in their native homeworld, trapping them in there. Played straight with the Avaloni soldiers that got trapped in the Evaverse.
• Trespassing to Talk: In the first chapter Daniel shows up in the Shinji and Asuka’s cabin at the night as they resting in order to make his offer.
• Troperiffic: This story is a fanfic featuring physical gods, inter-galactic empires, spaceships, time travelling, dimensional portals… and it is a continuation of a military thriller fanfic of a Super Robot Genre show. Oh, and it is also a Romance story. It would be easier and shorter to list tropes that this story does NOT use.
• Troubled Fetal Position: In chapter 25 Asuka waited for Shinji curled up in the bed while she was in considerable emotional turmoil over the nature and the hypothetical future of their relationship.
• True Companions: The Avaloni troops left stranded on Earth quickly became this: Shinji, Asuka, Hikari, Touji, Kensuke, Misato, Kaji, Ching, Bir, TJ… develop this kind of comradeship during the battles.
• Try to Fit That on a Business Card: Daniel and Rayana, the divine -and very ancient- rulers of Avalon, have a very long list of titles. They sometimes enjoy enumerating them to newcomers only to see the looks on their faces:
  Daniel: “Sir Daniel Joseph O’Brien, Knight of the Crown, Ranger Prime of the Imperial Rangers, Clan Lord of the O’Briens, King of Primastra, Lord of Ten Billion Suns, Ruler of the Shining Realm, His Most Cosmic Majesty, Emperor of Avalon. I am the government here. Welcome to my place. Can I get you anything?”
  Rayana: “Pardon my husband’s exploitation of his myriad titles for amusement value. He likes messing with people like that sometimes. I’m Dame Rayana Kylise Hart-O’Brien, Knight Commander of the Centre for Covert Multi-Dimensional Operations, Avalon Imperial University Mistress of Musical Arcanum, Imperial Sorceress Supreme, Grand Duchess of Narya, Lady of Mothers’ Fury, Her Most Mystic Majesty, Witch Queen of Avalon. Would you like something to drink?”
  Daniel: “Good to have you home, love. So hard to pull off that routine properly without you.”
• Tsundere: After what she had endured in canon and the prior story Asuka had become more jaded, more embittered and more frightened than never to trust people, open up and become vulnerable. She was so burnt-out that she did not want to love anyone because she was too broken up inside and hurt to let anyone in and she didn't even feel worth it. Thanks to time, therapy, and support she got better and she and Shinji got together, but she still had a hard time to express her feelings openly.
• Unbroken Vigil: Daniel managed to rescue and mend Kyoko's soul and bonded it with her body. However Kyoko needed several weeks sleeping as her body and soul healed until she was ready to wake up. While she was comatose Asuka remained by her side constantly, and a priestess took her place when Asuka had to leave her and Shinji's cabin.
• Underestimating Badassery: Although he was a paranoid, Jinnai never took Shinji and Asuka -the only people could pilot an Evangelion and the reason he had been capable to overthrow his predecessor- seriously. He thought he would have an alternative would render them obsolete very soon and they were only two broken kids could not threaten him. He was very, very wrong.
• Undying Loyalty: Shinji refuses leaving Asuka alone because he did it in the past and the consequences were horrible. She tried to commit suicide, she got torn into pieces and eaten alive, she was raped by monsters... so that he promised that he would always get her back and would never leave her side.
  • In chapter 54, after an episode of strong self-doubt Shinji declares Asuka he loves her, he is completely devoted to her, he would do anything for her and he is hers for as long as she wants her. Asuka feels utterly overwhelmed because she thinks she does not deserve that level of loyalty.
• United Nations Is a Superpower: In the post-TI world, the UN is the only major political power left. However it's devolved into a military dictatorship led by a warlord who has got ahold of a large number of nukes.
• Unkempt Beauty: Shinji always thought that Asuka looked beautiful -and/or hot- not matter what (although in the chapter 21 she had a makeover and his legs quit on him).
• Unreliable Narrator: In chapter 49 a character is being filled in on the history of the Angel War and the post-Impact world. However Misato had some creative interpretations of the events. Asuka suggests him that he ignores everything Misato said.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: Between Shinji and Asuka prior to get together. They wanted each other very badly, but they were too scared and soul-wearied to try.
• Unsuspectingly Soused: In chapter 40 Shinji had a drink, not knowing that it was rum. Then he had another glass. Then he had another. And then a third one. It was then when Asuka mentioned she never would have figured him for a rum guy. Shinji got shocked, prompting her to tell "Are you seriously telling me you did not know it was alcohol?" That was when he realized he was feeling fuzzy and floaty and his head was buzzing.
• Unusual Euphemism: Ching to Sergeant Bir: "I’ve seen you checking out my ‘thrusters’, Top."
• Unwanted Harem: Kensuke spent several weeks complaining about being single and envying his two best friends -Shinji and Touji- because they had hooked up with someone else. Then two girls came along and started to chase after him, and he is completely terrified of them.

V-Z

• Villainous Demotivator: Jinnai constantly threatens his subordinates with getting them or their families executed if they underperform or act in a way that is less than perfectly loyal to him. After learning that Asuka and Shinji got together (the former of whom he had used like a toy for two years) he warned her that he had shot a traitor, raised a still smoking gun as citing "'Ultima ratio regnum', mm, Sohryu?", and shortly after he exploded and declared he would sell her into slavery for not pleasing him.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend:
  • Do NOT hurt Asuka unless you fancy the idea of Shinji going berserker on your posterior:
    He’d been hesitant. He didn’t like causing pain in anyone. That Don Barceló apparently richly deserved it made it more complicated, but it was still hard to watch. He’d been torn on how to treat him…until Asuka spoke. ‘’Raped hundreds of times for years on end… I am just fine with hurting people like the ones who hurt me‘’…And so am I. Asuka just wants to hang him? I want him to bleed. I want everyone who hurt her to burn!’ There hadn’t even been any thought process to it. As soon as she’d said that, the fierce, burning desire to just get in Eva Unit-01, power it up, and use it to crush every person who’d ever hurt Asuka had flashed through him like lightning.
    ‘Crush…destroy…kill…all of them. They hurt her. Make them PAY.’
  • Asuka does not appreciate people hurting Shinji either. And she has way less restrain than him.
• Virgin Tension: Asuka was Winthrop and Jinnai's plaything for years. Daniel rewrote the past so she never had actual sex and was free to give her virginity and herself to someone she cared for. It's repeatedly stated afterwards that she was now pure "again".
• Wall Bang Her: After their love confession, Shinji and Asuka took a shower together. They didn't plan on having sex, but one thing led to another, and eventually Shinji was pinning Asuka against the bath wall while they humped each other.
• Wave-Motion Gun: The Positron Cannon that protected Postdam's missile launch complex was a massive ray cannon. It was capable of blasting an eighty-meter-tall Transforming Mecha.
• "Well Done, Dad!" Guy: Surprisingly, Gendo Ikari becomes this to Shinji when he is forced to face how badly he messed his son's life up, and he is told that his wife will not take him back unless or until he earns Shinji's forgiveness.
• Well, Excuse Me, Princess!: Asuka often expresses annoyance and dissatisfaction with Shinji behaving like a wimpy pushover who will not stand up for himself, will not push back when pushed and apologises for anything when she knows he can be better than that. Shinji iis not a good snarker and usually he ignores or lets her criticisms go, but sometimes he will retort.
  • Chapter 50 provides an example of this. Asuka complains about his lack of self-esteem and declares that she will turn him into a hero, and Shinji scowls: “So do I have no said on it?”
  • Chapter 21 provides an example of Asuka playing her part:
    Asuka:“We travel to another world, hopscotch all over space and time, raise the dead, rocket around in the hottest mecha in the universe, and still all you say is ‘I’m sorry.’ I despair of improving you, Third. Am I going have to throw you in the lagoon like I said earlier?”
• Will Not Tell a Lie: In order to earn his trust, Daniel promises Shinji and Asuka that he will not lie to them. Older Asuka confirmed that he had not broken his promise so far.
• Will They or Won't They?: At the beginning of the story, Shinji and Asuka are so emotionally burnt-out that they believe they can't possibly have a relationship. After over twenty chapters of therapy, talking and being gently coached by their friends, they open up to each other and Shinji says he loves her. Fifty chapter later, Asuka manages at last to say she loves him back.
• Winged Humanoid: The Avalon Imperial Family has wings and built them into the genome of the Homo Avalonis species. The wings retreat into the back when they are not folded in a way reminiscent of the Baam-Seijin of Daimos.
• Wham Line:
  • In chapter 74:
    TJ: << "Private Rokubungi, front and center!">>
• Wham Episode: In chapter 73 and 74 Shinji, Asuka and their comrades seized the enemy fleet... and then Jinnai declared he could set off the MP-Eva's core that they had hijacked and he had a pile of missiles he was going to nuke them with. The MP-Eva exploded, maybe killing Kensuke. TJ blocked most of blast, but the strain menaced with killing him. Gendo revealed he had been going with them all along and got into Unit 01 to protect the city where they were standing. Asuka said Shinji outloud that she loved him, and both sortied to shoot dozens of missiles down as they flew across the Atlantic to stop Jinnai.
• What Does She See in Him?: As stated in chapter 55, a while ago Asuka asked Hikari what she saw in Touji. Hikari replied that it was his compassion.
  Hikari:''"A while back, Asuka asked me what I saw in you. I told her it was your compassion."'
• What Happened to the Mouse?: In chapter 8 Shinji and Asuka find counterparts of another universe. After that chapter they were not seen or mentioned again.
• What If?: What if after Third Impact Shinji and Asuka's lives got worse but they got help at last from a very unexpected source?
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Asuka and Ching discuss about it in chapter 20:
  Ching smiled. “I’m active duty Navy. I’ve got a whole set of combat implants and nanoware boosters. On top of that, you’reHomo Sapiens, I’m Homo Avalonis. It not really a fair contest. Even without my military gear, I could outrun cheetahs without much trouble.”
  “You’re not even human? No fair. And I was already tired, too.”
  Ching gave her a sharp look. “’If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?’ I’m human, Asuka, I’m just not Homo Sapiens. Mere species is neither the measure nor definition of humanity here. Human is as human does. There are plenty of people on this planet alone who don’t have even a single codon of Homo Sapiens DNA in them, but are very human. And you know damn well there are plenty of people walking around on your world that are one hundred percent Homo Sapiens that are not human in the least. Be careful, some might take what you said as rather an insult.”
  Asuka was a bit taken aback by Ching’s sharp tone. “Sorry.”
• What's Up, King Dude?: When they are not on duty, Daniel and Rayana are very informal and approachable.
  • In chapter 26 Asuka and Shinji find them sunbathing nonchalantly:
  The coast of their island’s shore curved around and brought them back towards their own cabin’s end. They’d sighted a few other cabins along the way, but saw no other people or signs of activity until they reached a point near the next cabin up the island from Ching’s. Under a wide sunshade two beach chairs were occupied by figures that grew more familiar, but puzzling as they walked closer.
  Asuka tilted her head and tried to reconcile what she was seeing with what she knew. The blonde hair and red beard were the same, but it was still hard to believe that the man in the first chair with the aviator sunglasses, white and red short-sleeved tropical shirt, and ratty shorts was their usually armored and caped host. Just as normal yet thereby odd was the Witch Queen next to him, now in a colorful sarong and backless swimsuit.
  Daniel raised a coconut and paper umbrella drink at them as they drew near. “G’day, howdy-do, and hiya, kids. Having a good morning?” He nodded at their still joined hands. “Or are you still sort of feeling your way into things?” he asked in jaunty Japanese.
• When She Smiles: Before being rescued by Daniel, Shinji made a special effort to find new video games for Asuka because he loved seeing her to smile for a change.
  He never managed to say to her face that it was all worth it to see that wisp of a smile and hear her calling him 'baka' again in that softer voice.
• The World as Myth: As speaking to Ching, Asuka gets baffled by the idea that she may be a fictional character in other universes. Ching merely shrugs it off as "The Multiverse is infinite so anything can and does happen".
  Ching: Infinite universes, almost anything happens. 'Doctor Faustus' happened somewhere, 'The Illiad' happened somewhere, and 'Evangelion' happened somewhere. Your world was a darker story of what might have come next.
  Asuka: (skeptically) I'm...a story?
  Ching: (shrugging) In infinite universes, everyone's story is written down somewhere. Ours may be somewhere too. You're not fictional, Asuka. No more than anyone else is. Don't worry about it too much.
  Asuka: But I know Thomas Mann wrote 'Doctor Faustus'. If that isn't fictional, how do I know I'm..." She trailed off in bafflement.
  Ching: (shrugging again) Questions like that keep the Philosophy and Theology Research Departments over at Avalon Imperial University going all night.
• Year Outside, Hour Inside: Due to being out of their dimension, Shinji and Asuka spend several days in Avalon and go back to their timeline the same night that they left.
• You Are in Command Now: In chapter 45 Asuka and Shinji's platoon was cut off. The direct consequence was Asuka was in command until relieved.
• You Are Not Alone: After having been pushed beyond her limite Asuka is convinced that nobody could love her, nobody can understand her, nobody can help her with her troubles and she is alone. However, in the first chapter she meets her future counterpart, and her older self tells her she is not alone and she does not need facing her inner demons alone:
  Asuka:"It’s not half as bad as you think, to face it, once you know you are not alone."
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Several characters tell this to Asuka since she thinks she is horrible, worthless and nobody can ever love her.
  • In chapter 16 Ching gives this speech to Asuka right before showing her a moon-sized space-ship named after her to prove that she is loved:
    "Deep down, the worst part of your heart hates yourself. The loss of your mother hit you when you weren’t even four, and deep inside you concluded that if your mother doesn’t want you, you must be a terrible person not deserving of love. You hate yourself for being unlovable, and you keep everyone away from your heart because you are utterly convinced that if anyone knew the ‘real you’ they’d agree you’re as repulsive as you’re convinced you are and leave you. You hate yourself for betraying yourself by giving up, both for wanting to die with your mother but still living. You hate yourself for failing as a Pilot, letting Shinji and even Ayanami surpass you towards the end of the war. You hate yourself for ever having gone to Winthrop, selling out another piece of your soul to keep on living. You hate yourself so much it made me weep last night, Asuka. Sweet Lord and Lady, I wish you’d let me or someone hug you."
    Asuka gave her only a frigid silence in return. Her glare through the comm window could have melted steel.
    “You have to forgive yourself, Asuka. You are not unlovable. You are brilliant, strong, fierce, you fought with your friends against terrible odds to protect your whole world...You’re a hero, Asuka.” Ching said sincerely. She worked at the mecha’s controls for a moment. Asuka maintained her silence. “You’re not unlovable. And I'm going to show you proof.” Ching paused for a second, then highlighted something on the screen. The ship they’d launched from was swelling as they rapidly vectored towards it.
  • And in chapter 25 she hears it from Shinji:
    “I rejected you. Even at that price. The whole of humanity’s survival wasn’t enough to overcome my pride.” Asuka’s voice was as dry as ash. “I’d rather see everyone lost than unbend enough to help even someone as low as you. ...so why are you still here? I’m terrible. I sold myself to Winthrop rather than talk to you. Why... why are you still looking at me? I’ve never given you anything. Your whole life would be better without me. Why do you keep coming back? Why are you still looking at me?” When Shinji raised his head again, it was her this time that couldn’t meet his gaze. He could see her starting to shake. “I’m filthy. I call you stupid and yell at you for trying to protect people. I hurt you without even thinking. Why did you hold me? Why did you call me beautiful? Why did you... kiss me?” Her eyes snapped back to his. “Tell me why,” she said, her voice barely audible.
    “You... you're not terrible, Asuka. I called you beautiful because... because you are. I spent I don’t know how long after I woke up just staring at your smile, because it was the most wonderful thing I’ve seen in years. I held you because I felt more... happy, more alive when I did it than any other time in my life. I kissed you because...” He closed his eyes to pen in the tears that threatened to escape. ‘Because I’ve wanted to for years. Because I dream about it all the time. Because a world without you lacks any other meaning for me. Because I think I love you. Say something, Ikari!’ “Because I thought I was dreaming a good dream, and I wanted to make you happy. I know I was awake now...and I would still do it again.”
• You Can't Fight Fate: Discussed and defied. During a conversation Shinji asks Asuka if she has ever wondered what would happen if they had the chance to travel back in time and avert all what had gone wrong with their lives, including Third Impact. Asuka automatically replies that they would be incapable to avert the end of the world, not matter what. Shortly after they met Asuka's future self who told Asuka that they CAN fix things and if her younger self thinks otherwise is because she is so thoroughly broken and burned-out that she is afraid to try to.
• You Didn't Ask: In chapter 64 Shinji is going to play his cello in front of a crowd. He is supposed to have a partner playing the violin but he does not know who that person is. When Asuka shows up he is surprised and asks why she never told him she played violin. Asuka has a long answer and a short one. The short answer is he never asked.
  Shinji(whispering):"Why didn’t you ever tell me you could play the violin?! And why did you disappear all afternoon? We could have been rehearsing!"
  Asuka(smirking):"You never asked, Baka-Shinji."
• You Do NOT Want To Know: When Lord Verfico mentions that it takes a decade or two to get promoted, Shinji asks how old he is. Asuka -who aready knows people in Avalon live hundreds of even thousands of years- says he does not want to know. A short while later Shinji asks anyway, and when she tells him, he agrees he did not want to know.
  Verfico: “Mmm, a decade or two, if you’re in a very active unit, or if you’re a hot-shot hero like you two were. I’ve seen your records, you two would have made rank quickly given what your war was like.”
  Shinji: “A decade or two? But… that’s… How old are you?”
  Asuka: “Don’t ask, Third. You don’t want to know.”
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Jinnai declared that Asuka and Shinji would be useless to him after the dummy plug system was ready and he would sell Asuka into sex slavery.
• You Just Had to Say It: When Shinji and Asuka test their brand-new Transforming Mecha, Asuka complains about winning too easily. Shinji muttered that she'd just tempted fate.
  Asuka: I just wanted my new debut battle to be a bit more flashy than hopping around Berlin on one leg or getting pile-drivered headfirst into the dirt by Israfel. This was too easy.
  Shinji: Oh, now you’ve done it. Next time it will be Godzilla because you said that. I know how these movies work.
• You Need to Get Laid: In chapter 43 Shinji and Asuka finally make love. the next morning everyone realize it due to how glowingly happy look and behave:
  Ching: “Well, His Majesty knows because it happened on Avalon, and therefore he knows about it. And what he said and your reactions made it easy for me to figure it out. Congratulations, by the way. You both look so damn happy I’m envious all over again. You two both needed last night, I think. You’re practically glowing, and giving off a cloud of very specific pheromones so powerful I’m practically getting a contact high from standing downwind of you. Every Imperial here is going to be able to tell because of things like that. There’s also the hundred subtle cues of posture, facial expression, and body language that tell say, trained psychiatrists, for example, that things between you two are different from yesterday.”
• You Shall Not Pass!: Declared in the Final Battle for Gendo of all people. The Big Bad is trying to annihilate them by bombarding them with dozens of missiles. Shinji and Asuka must fly across the Atlantic Ocean to destroy all missiles and the launch complex. Meanwhile Gendo spreads the Unit-01 energy barrier around the city they are protecting and swears he will hold the shield and defend the city.

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"If you wanna 'love me', Third, you better be ready! to! push! BACK!”

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