History Fanfic / GhostsOfEvangelion

* HeroesWantRedheads: Shinji loves [[FieryRedhead Asuka]].

* CatSmile: Asuka has a huge scary grin when Ryuko receives a prize for her musical accomplishments:
-->Far from looking bored, in this picture Asuka had a maniacal grin on her face, holding her daughter in a headlock while she flashed the camera a V sign with her other hand.

* HurtingHero: Shinji and Asuka saved the world, but they got hurt physically, emotionally and psychologically, and the scars never fade. Even in their forties they still have nightmares and PTSD.

* TheyDo: After three years of fights, arguments, reconciliations and emotional attachment, Shinji and Asuka get together. Asuka doesn't dare to get married until they were in their late forties, though.

* EverythingsBetterWithPenguins: Pen Pen's sole presence tends to make scenes hilarious, especially when Asuka -who apparently speaks "penguin"- bickers with him. This is reinforced when the author cut it out from a scene because he wanted it to be a dramatic moment.

* LoveRevelationEpiphany: Asuka figured out what Shinji liked her when Touji and Hikari explained it to her slowly and in detail.

''Ghosts of Evangelion'' is a ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' [[AfterTheEnd post-Third Impact]] {{Continuation}} fanfic written by Bagheera that narrates the lives of Shinji and Asuka after Instrumentality. While it may sound like most post-TI fics, several details set it apart: the story covers a very long period between the years 2016 and 2080 and the narration is non-linear, showing different stages of the evolution of Shinji and Asuka's relationship as they endure different trials and challenges; it pays slavishly detailed attention to canon and characterization; and it explores some issues and relationships that Evangelion fanfiction seldom delves into.

* AdultFear:
** After [[spoiler:Asuka's death, Kyoko]] says that a woman shouldn't have to bury her own daughter.
** When Asuka gets pregnant she is terrified that her daughter will feel abandoned and discarded like she and Shinji were.

-->Asuka looked at her daughter, and found that, for a moment, she couldn't even breathe. "She's beautiful," she whispered. Her eyes were a deep blue, like her father's, and she had a shock of light brown hair. She looked curiously at this strange new person, the perfect picture of innocence.

* RejectedMarriageProposal: Shinji floats the idea of getting married after Misato teases him and Asuka about it when they've been officially dating for about seven years. Asuka adamantly rejects the suggestion, stating they're too broken and their relationship is only based on shared trauma. However, this doesn't really change anything between them, and nearly ''twenty-one years later'' Asuka asks if Shinji still wants to get married to her. He does, and they do.

* SingleTargetSexuality: Deconstructed in the case of Asuka and Shinji. After Third Impact, neither expresses any interest in another person for the rest of their lives. However, it's noted that this wasn't really the case before that event, and is yet another symptom of their severe mental traumas. Also in effect with [[spoiler:Gendo]], who continues to display single target ''humanity''; the only thing he wants to know after spending twenty years in Instrumentality is news of his wife, and cannot even feign interest in what his son has been up to or the discovery that he has a granddaughter.

* AintTooProudToBeg: After returning from Instrumentality, Asuka's mother Kyoko refuses to move in with Asuka because she will not share a roof with Shinji (she has no knowledge of anything after Third Impact, so as far as she knows Shinji is just the guy who [[DudeShesLikeInAComa got off to Asuka]] and then failed to help her in her last battle, so Kyoko [[WhatDoesSheSeeInHim cannot even comprehend why Asuka would even consider talking to him, much less having a relationship with him]]). Knowing that this is what Asuka wants and unwilling to be the cause of any separation, Shinji literally prostrates himself before Kyoko and begs her to reconsider her position. She eventually agrees just so he'll stop doing it.

* ButWeUsedACondom: When Asuka is told she is pregnant she argues it's impossible because she is on control birth. Her doctor reminds her that nothing is hundred percent effective.