Heartwarming / Walking in the Shadow of Dreams

• Ariel stating Shinji feels like her real father to her.
• Shinji and Asuka's conversation in chapter 10:
  Shinji: "I never rescued you to humiliate you," he says, "I did it to save you. I will always try to save you, because that's what I do."
  Asuka: "And why do I always need to be saved?" she whispers.
  He turns her around. Eyes meeting, almost iridescently blue in the darkness, he smiles.
  Shinji: "Because that's what a guy does," he says, "For the woman he loves."
• Kyoko apologizing to Asuka for all emotional trauma and abuse she put her through... and Asuka forgiving her and introducing her to Ariel formally.
• Kensuke and Rei, when he offers a marriage proposal in the hospital. She tears out all her electrodes and knocks over the EKG machine jumping out of bed into his arms, and when a panicked Shinji and Asuka rush into the room (with Misato right behind) they find her laughing for sheer joy.
• In the rewrite, Misato wanted nothing to do with Asuka after her Freak Out and still was angry with her eight years after Asuka left Japan. However, when she was introduced to Ariel she decided against recriminating her anything. And later, when they were trying to convince her to work for NERV again, she admitted Asuka she had also screwed up with her and swore she would not allow anybody harmed Ariel. Asuka felt more eased than before because she was not listening to the Commander... but to Misato.
• In chapter 5:
  "Shinji?" she asks.
  There is a tremor in her voice. A whisper in it that he can hear.
  "Asuka?"
  "Shinji, do you respect me?"
  "I do," he says, "I wouldn't be here if I didn't."
  "Good," she says with a shaky smile, "Because I'm going to completely fucking lose it right now, okay?"
  He pulls her to him as she begins crying. Her face buries in his shirt as she begins sobbing, screaming, her entire body shaking as he presses his lips to the top of her head. He waits, listening. Listening to the sounds of her whispers and hitched voice, listening to her as her tears wet his shirt. Arms wrapped around her, it takes hours for her to stop. Hours of her screaming, of her crying, of her whimpering in his arms.

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