A brief and fleeting moment of peace. (Pic by optimisticprincessallpaca
)
)You Are (Not) At Fault is a Neon Genesis Evangelion Continuation fanfiction written by MisterHalt, author of Read The Fine Print.
The Third Impact has come to pass. Humanity is gradually getting back on their feet and rebuilding their civilization. However, the return of an old enemy threatens to wipe out the last remnants of mankind for good.
In this situation, Misato Katsuragi is the only who can lead a reorganized Nerv to fight another wave of Eldritch Abominations. Meanwhile, Shinji Ikari has withdrawn so far into himself that Asuka Langley Sohryu is the only thing still anchoring him to reality.
It can be read in FF.Net, Archive of Our Own and SufficientVelocity. The original draft can be read in this link.
Compare with other Continuation fics like The Second Try or Ghosts of Evangelion.
Tropes:
- Achey Scars: Subverted. Asuka's right arm, which was split in half, is constantly hurting. Asuka expects to see an ugly scar going from her elbow to her fingers when she removes the bandages, and she’s shocked when she finds her skin perfectly smooth.
- After the End: The story begins after the Third Impact has ravaged the world. The first chapters focus on the main characters surviving and scavenging for supplies among the empty ruins after returning to the physical world.
- Apologises a Lot: Many things have changed since the Third Impact, but Shinji's constant apologizing still gets on Asuka's nerves. It doesn’t help it’s rubbing off on Rei, too.Asuka: "Shiesse, sorry Shinji!"
Shinji: "And... you keep telling me not to... apologise."
Asuka: "Enough of the sass from you, Third! I'm tired and sore!"
Shinji: "Sorry..."
Asuka: "What did I just say?!" - Awesome, but Impractical: Plugsuits can look cool, but Asuka and Shinji feel bothered about their lack of basic features, like pockets or cold insulation, or the fact that they need to remove the whole suit whenever they need to go to the bathroom.
- Babies Ever After: In the final scene, Misato hints she is pregnant with Kaji's child.
- Bear Hug: When Misato finds Asuka, she right away tackles the younger girl and lifts her into a spine-crushing hug.
- Big Red Button: Lampshaded when Asuka sarcastically notes the Third Impact happened because Rei, in her infinite wisdom, handed the big red button for the end of the world to an isolated and borderline-suicidal kid.
- Big "WHAT?!": Misato shouts a deafening "WHAT?!" when she finds out that Shinji was the one who initiated Third Impact. Asuka admits that she had the same response.
- Bridal Carry: When Shinji finds Asuka asleep on the beach as it starts to rain, he carries her in his arms to a service station where she can have shelter from the rain.
- Broken Pedestal: After the Third Impact, Shinji considers how Unit-01 did not lift one finger as Asuka was being torn into pieces, and decides his mother was just manipulating him to fulfill her dreams of godhood.
- Coming of Age Story: Shinji and Asuka getting over their childhood traumas and becoming mature adults is one of the main plotlines.
- Cosy Catastrophe: As wandering around the ruins of Tokyo-3, Shinji starts feeling hungry. So, he breaks into an abandoned convenience store and grabs several bottles of water and bags of snacks.
- Doorstopper: 261,000 words spread over thirty-one chapters.
- Due to the Dead: During his early wanderings, Shinji builds a memorial for his family and friends by the sea of LCL.The tears came again, but Shinji ignored them and continued on. A long piece of wood was stabbed deep into the soft sand, and a horizontal piece was attached with some old nails and a good-sized chunk of concrete. Several hours passed. Eight crosses were made, all standing next to each other. A larger nail was turned into a crude chisel, and eight names were scratched into the wood. Shinji slowly removed the shining silver cross from around his neck and hung it on the nail in Misato's memorial, completing the picture he had formed in his mind several hours ago. He sat back on his haunches and wiped his eyes clear, solidifying the image in his mind.
'I'll have to come back in a few days, to make sure they're still standing. Perhaps I should come here once a week, like some sort of pilgrimage.' - Earn Your Happy Ending: After surviving the Apocalypse, Shinji and Asuka must protect the returning humans from the next batch of eldritch abominations as trying to overcome their traumas and figuring their relationship out.The sad teenager she had met almost ten years ago was now a fine young man. The angry German girl was now a beautiful young woman. Shinji and Asuka had been through the worst the universe could throw at them, and while there had been stumbling blocks, they had managed to overcome them.
- Facepalm: Ritsuko facepalms while listening to Misato and Asuka bickering during one operation.Somewhere deep underground, a soft slap was heard in the command centre of NERV, as Ritsuko Akagi's palm met her face for the umpteenth time since she'd first met Misato Katsuragi.
- Flashback Nightmare: After returning from the Sea of LCL, Shinji's dreams are plagued by recurring nightmares where he watches again howAsuka's Evangelion was ripped into pieces and eaten.
- Friendless Background: As wandering around the empty ruins of Tokyo-3, Asuka feels Shinji's absence more acutely than other people's because he was the only potential friend she had ever gotten since she was three.For almost her entire life, Asuka had felt lonely and abandoned. She had spent so much time perfecting her piloting skills, desperately seeking praise from those around her, and almost no time simply trying to make friends. Hikari had become a close acquaintance, Rei was merely a co-worker, and Misato was just her guardian and superior officer.
- Good Morning, Crono: The story starts with Shinji waking up and finding himself lying on a beach right after the Third Impact.
- Gratuitous German: As soon as the first chapter, Asuka roars: "Das ist es! Ich werde sie am ENDE!" when she is taunted by an enemy.
- Headphones Equal Isolation: When she wakes up on the beach and recalls how she got killed, Asuka bitterly wonders whether Shinji did not help her because he was -again- using his headphones to insulate himself instead of paying attention to everything else.
- Ironic Echo: As talking to each other during Instrumentality, Kyoko reprimands Asuka fo swearing. Five minutes later, Asuka reprimands her mother for swearing.Asuka: "Because he's a goddamn coward?"
Kyoko: "Watch your language, young lady."
...
Kyoko: "Still, if I ever find that asshole in here I'm going to give him such a trashing."
Asuka: (smirking) "Language, Mama."'' - In Medias Res: The story starts with Asuka about to fight a new Angel while getting worried about Shinji. The next chapter goes back in time to Shinji waking up after the Third Impact.
- Lap Pillow: In chapter 16, Asuka is letting Shinji rest his head on her lap after he has passed out.Both teens were on the couch with Shinji's head on Asuka's lap while she softly stroked his hair. The boy had his eyes closed, looking as if he was indeed asleep. If it hadn't been for what happened with Shinji earlier, Misato would have found it almost adorable.
- Leeroy Jenkins: After the Third Impact and Nerv's rebuilding, Shinji Ikari's fighting style has devolved into going into a berserk rage and charging recklessly as soon as the enemy is spotted, ignoring Misato's orders.Any hopes that this would be an uncomplicated fight were shattered as an unearthly roar shook the city, the shrieks of ripping metal almost lost in the noise as Unit-01 tore its way out of the launch cradle as if it wasn't even there. Heavy stomping from the south told Asuka that Unit-01 was already racing towards their target, and she surged forward before Misato could order her to advance.
'Schiesse, here we go again!' she thought as Unit-02 rushed down the street, ripping up asphalt and shaking buildings with every step the behemoth took, the power cable unfurling behind her. 'Jumping the gun as usual.' She had to get there before Unit-01 did, or there would be nothing left. 'Of which one though? The monster...or Shinji?' - Left Stuck After Attack: Asuka embeds her axe into Raziel during one fight, but then she cannot pull it out. Quickly she gives up her axe and draws her knife.Without missing a beat, Asuka continued the swing, turning her whole Unit around and adding momentum to her attack as the axe sunk into its right shoulder. The beast did not seem to notice, and Asuka's attempt to pull the axe out was thwarted as the wound appeared to close around the blade. The surface of Raziel's right arm began to writhe as it started pulling the axe into its mass. Realising that it was trying to trap her, the redhead let go of the handle, back-pedalling as she reached for her shoulder-mounted progressive knife.
- Lethal Chef: Asuka would rather starve to death than eat Misato's so-called cook... which her guardian is inexplicably proud of.Asuka: (thinking) "Of course, it was either him or Misato doing the cooking. And I'd rather than starve to death than eat Misato's culinary disasters. That crazy woman could set cereal on fire, and she'd still eat it and consider it a masterpiece!"
- Mirror Scare: After scavenging for new clothes, Asuka checks herself in a full-length mirror. Then the image in the mirror suddenly changes into a one-eyed, maimed, bloodied, plugsuit-wearing Asuka. Asuka recoils in horror, but just so suddenly, the macabre reflection is gone.
- Named by the Adaptation: Asuka's stepmother has no canon name. Here, she is Katharina Langley.
- No Sense of Direction: After spending several hours wandering around an empty city, Misato bitterly reflects Instrumentality did not improve her awful sense of direction, and she finds now hopelessly lost.
- Oblivious to Hints: Discussed. Asuka got upset every time Shinji missed -or seemed to dismiss- her hints, but after coming back from the dead she starts considering maybe he noticed but he did not know how to react.
- Parental Substitute: Misato ends up adopting Shinji formally.
- Retail Therapy: After spending the night in an abandoned gas station, Asuka decides to go and get clothes. She wants to feel excited about a shopping trip, but not even the thought of new clothes can lift her gloomy mood.
- Shout-Out:
- To Advice and Trust when Kyoko says in a better world, Shinji and Asuka could have started to heal together if Shinji had held Asuka (or vice versa) when they kissed.
- To time-travelling fics like The Second Try, Once More with Feeling or RE-TAKE when Kyoko wonders whether the power of the Third Impact can be used to change the past.
- Skyward Scream: As he is lying on the shore, Shinji comes to the realization that he has committed the greatest genocide in History, and screams.
- Supreme Chef: No matter how much she complains about Shinji's maddening habits and traits, Asuka would never slam his cook.Whatever else she said about the Third Child, she privately admitted that he knew how to cook like a professional chef.
- Tantrum Throwing: Discussed. Asuka ponders she needs to find a calmer way to deal with her issues because past methods like throwing her possessions at people did not really help.
- Tempting Fate: In the first chapter, Maya Ibuki glares at her co-workers when they speak with confidence about the outcome of the incoming battle.Maya Ibuki: "What do you think will happen this time?"
Makoto Hyuga: "Nothing bad I hope."
Shigeru Aoba: "I'm sure everything will be fine."
Maya Ibuki: (glaring) "How can you say that, after everything that's happened?!" - That Was Not a Dream: After falling asleep on the beach, Asuka feels someone has lifted her and is carrying her around. In her sleepy state, she believes it is her guardian Kaji, and mumbles she has had a real strange dream where the world had been destroyed.
- Thinking Out Loud: As exploring the ruins of Tokyo-3, Asuka starts thinking aloud because the sound of her own voice makes her feel less lonely.With the lack of people around Asuka had stopped keeping her thoughts inside her own head. Talking aloud helped her feel less... alone.
- Time Travel: When asked if time-travel is possible, Lilith argues that using time-manipulation to prevent the end of the world is not feasible due to its unpredictability.
- Wedding Finale: The story ends with Shinji and Asuka getting married.
- You Wake Up on a Beach: After getting torn into pieces and dying, Asuka wakes up on a beach. As she takes notice of the red waters, the ruined buildings, and the giant Rei's head lying far away, she wonders how and why she ended up on that beach.
