History Fanfic / WalkingInTheShadowOfDreams

*** It YET doesn't make a lot of sense. If he was locked into a maximum security prison they would know where he is, all the time, and he would have no access to tools to set Apocalypse off (like he does being the Commander). I'm willing overlooking that detail because the story is very entertaining, but it's FridgeLogic, not matter how you look to it.

* ShipperInDeck: Gendo. It's scary how easily he can manipulate events to get his son and Asuka back together despite of all what had happened in the series and in the next years. Then he reveals long before meeting Yui [[spoiler:he had promised Kyoko he would make things worked for his and her children,]] but he had forgotten. Makes you wondering what might have happened if only he would have remembered about it during the series...

** Misato's mother also can count in the rewrite. Misato told him if he ever ''slightly'' pisses her off, her mother will geld him with her bare hands.

* TheChessmaster: Of course, Gendo is the most obvious example, but Shinji is becoming another. A humorous example was he developing a plan to score with Prof. Soryu. [[spoiler:It was a good plan.]]

* TheTeetotaler: Shinji does not drink. Blame Rei for this.

* ArtificialHuman: In the original Fic [[spoiler: Ariel was found in a subsection of the NERV-germany branch which was filled with unfinished dummy-plugs that were genetically based half on Asuka. Because she's biologically her daughter, Asuka decided to take her in and raise her as such.]]
** [[spoiler: ButICantBePregnant / SurprisePregnancy: In the rewrite, Asuka actually gave birth to Ariel, but she has no idea how it happened. Apparently, she woke up one morning and found herself magically pregnant. For good reasons, she suspects that NERV had something to do with it, but becuase Ariel turned out to be a normal kid, she decided to raise her.]]

** [[spoiler:Yui -and later Kyoko- also count.]]

* BrokenBird: Asuka. Hoo Boy, where to start. The events of Instrumentality ripped her pride to shreds and left her an absolute wreck. While the rest of the cast began to pick up and move on with their lives, her bitterness, resentment, and sense of self worth steadily grew worse and worse, culminating in a violent meltdown 4 years later (see FreakOut). She fled back to Germany after the breakdown and spent the next few years rebuilding her life and recovering from her ordeals. She's mellowed out considerably since then, but still rather bitter towards her old life, and convinced that everyone she knew back in Tokyo-3 hates her guts and/or sees her as a pitiful wreak of a human being.

* ClusterFBomb: Touji at the beginning of chapter 6 in the rewrite. Why? Because he's been left to deal with a really weird situation [[spoiler: involving younger versions of Shinji and Asuka who have just appeared in Tokyo-3]] while the rest of the cast have all decided to take unannounced trips to Berlin.
* CoolBigSis: Misato was a blend of this and ParentalSubstitute to Shinji in the original series. In the rewrite, [[spoiler:her mother got married to Gendo,]] so she nows IS Shinji's stepsister and treats him accordingly (or not accordingly, keeping in mind how her blood sister would want treating him).
* CovertPervert: Asuka. As soon as she hooked up with Shinji, she tossed the "cover" part out of the window.
* {{Crossover}}: The changes in Instrumentality that form the backstory of ''Walking'' are a result of [[spoiler:the [[ButterflyOfDoom butterfly effect]] of the interactions of the canon NGE cast with the characters from ''Nobody Dies'' that were dropped there by that fic's version of Leliel]].
** [[spoiler:In the rewrite, younger versions of Asuka and Shinji from the end of ''End of Evangelion'' have wound up in this universe alongside their older counterparts, likely for the same reasons.]]
* DeathEqualsRedemption: It took [[spoiler:being [[MindRape MindRaped]] by Arael]] for [[spoiler:Kyoko]] finally stopping to [[NeverMyFault blame everybody but her]] and admitting all her faults and wrongs (including her part on her daughter's mental scarring). [[spoiler:Asuka]] finally forgave her [[spoiler:and introduced her to Ariel, something she had previously refused to do]] before she left for the afterlife.

* DisappearedDad: Asuka raised Ariel by herself and refuses to explain who the father is. [[spoiler: This is because she doesn't know either.]]
* EveryoneCanSeeIt: During a conversation, Shinji tells nobody back in high school would have seen coming Asuka and him getting together. Touji replies EVERYONE saw it but the two of them.

* EverythingIsBetterWithPenguins: Asuka seems thinking so. In the rewrite, when Shinji told her Misato had brought Pen Pen with her, Asuka asked he also attended the reunion.

* FriendToAllChildren: Shinji is surprisingly good with children. He frequently babysits for Toji and Hikari, and to their kids he's known as "[[HonoraryUncle Uncle Shinji]].

* GoThroughMe: In the rewrite, to reassure Asuka's fears about the possibility of the Commander screwing up with her and her daughter much like NERV and SEELE screwed up with Kyoko and Asuka herself, Misato swears Asuka what the Commander would have to go through her. It was a ''very'' heart-warming moment, especially given how Misato felt about Asuka early on the fic.

* HotMom: Asuka. Misato says she is a MILF now. Misato's own mom can be one, too.
* KarmaHoudini: Do you remember the Third Impact? Gendo does not seem having faced legal consequences for abetting to commit global genocyde (Although technically everybody were restored. But still...). Moreover, he still is supreme commander of NERV, and since all SEELE members are dead, he can now make anything he wants without they interfiring or hindering him.
** Greg's addressing this in the rewrite. Gendo's the head of NERV-1 which ''technically'' makes him the supreme commander of NERV as a whole. However, there are 7 other branches NERV around the world which operate more or less independently of each other in sort of a checks-and-balance system. In Theory, at least. [[TheChessmaster Gendo]] is still [[MagnificentBastard Gendo]]. And as to why he's still the head of of NERV-1? He was apparently reinstated due to the Second Angel war, and as Greg explains:
--> "If Gendo is in charge of NERV-1, you know exactly where he is, all the time. If you can see Gendo, he can see you. If you can't see Gendo, you may be seconds away from Instrumentality."
* LoveDodecahedron: Chapter 6 of the rewrite has thrown a new monkey wrench into the works, as [[spoiler:a very drunk Hikari tries to put the moves on Shinji]]. This leads to the reveal that [[spoiler:while they were in college, Hikari sought out Shinji for comfort after a break-up with Toji, and it turned into a torrid one night stand]]. As a result, it's a distinct possibility that [[spoiler:Hikari's oldest child is Shinji's and not Toji's]]. [[ShrugOfGod Gregg's not saying]] [[http://forums.spacebattles.com/showpost.php?p=5104143&postcount=966 one way or the other]].
** And in the original story, Gendo previously threw another wrench when he revealed to Shinji that [[spoiler:he and and Kyoko dated for a while before he met Yui and she returned to Germany and met Asuka's father.]]
* MadScientist: Yui Ikari. She was on board with the SEELE's "Let's liquefy the whole humankind and merge their souls into a single, divine being" plan the whole time. After the aborted Third Impact, Gendo and Shinji acknowledge she was not quite sane. However she eventually admitted this and felt genuinely remorseful.

** Misato's mother also can count in the rewrite. Misato told if Gendo ever ''slightly'' pisses her off, her mother will geld him with her bare hands.
* MesACrowd: [[spoiler: Apparently, instead of being dissolved by Ritsuko, the Dummy Plug Cores escaped into Tokyo-3 and dispersed; each with an uploaded copy of [[NobodyDies Terrifying!Rei's]] personality. One is Gendo's secretary, a few work in the Geofront, at least one is a neighbor to Shinji, one has a movie career in Europe. and at least four went to college with Shinji and Rei. These are just the ones that Greg has listed off; there are about ''Three-Dozen'' of them out there.]] Oh, and only Gendo, Ritsuko, and Rei know about this.
* MindRape: Asuka survived one in the original series... and then she [[spoiler:met Arael again.]] Unfortunately she was able to resist it this time. However [[spoiler:her mother also was attacked by Arael.]]

* NoodleIncident: In the rewrite, Shinji tells Asuka his father got married again. He says he and Rei got him on the dating circuit and mentions it was somewhat awkwards, but he does not provide more -or juicier- details.
* OnlySaneMan: Shinji has a tendency to be this.

** Shinji's more of an UnfazedEveryman. Granted, he's not really "ordinary", but he has the demeanor of one, generally rolling with whatever weirdness that comes his way.

* {{Robeast}}: Then Angels and the Kaiju. The later ones are easier to deal with since they have no deflector shield.

* SadisticChoice: In episode 7 of the first iteration, [[spoiler:it gets revealed Ariel is half-angel.]] It looks like if they will be forced to [[spoiler:kill her -something Asuka understandably is NOT in favor of-,]] when Gendo orders [[spoiler:to subdue her and retrieve her without harm.]]

* TakeThat: In the first iteration of the fic, to the American ''{{Godzilla}}'' film. Identifying the MonsterOfTheWeek as an {{expy}} of said version of Godzilla, [[spoiler:they didn't even bother to send up an EVA. Instead, they had it shot with the positron cannon mid-roar.]]
* ThatDidntHappen: Subverted in the rewrite. [[spoiler:Shinji and Hikari both agreed (the next day) that their one night stand was a mistake, and Hikari and Toji got back together soon after and are happily married in the fic's present day. However, neither really regrets that it happened, and Hikari basically throws herself at Shinji in ch. 6 when she's drunk]].

* {{Tsundere}}: After returning to Germany Asuka eventually got her act together and her temper under control (well, after a fashion). The first time saw Shinji she punched him. The second time she wanted to sleeping with him.
* UnresolvedSexualTension: Between Shinji and Asuka for ''twelve'' years until they finally "resolved" it (in the original version Asuka gets drunk and tries to get laid with Shinji barely one day after meeting him again -and punching him-).
* {{Workaholic}}: Gendo. He works hours and hours nonstop. NERV staff rumored in reality he is a vampire feds on coffee. In the rewrite, Misato had to blackmail him with [[spoiler:calling his wife]] if he did not leave the premises and went back home.

** Greg's addressing this in the rewrite. Gendo's the head of NERV-1 which ''technically'' makes him the supreme commander of NERV as a whole. However, there are 7 other branches NERV around the world which operate more or less independently of each other in sort of a checks-and-balance system. Theoretically anyways. [[TheChessmaster Gendo]] is still [[MagnificentBastard Gendo]]. And as to why he's still the head of of NERV-1? We'll let Greg explain:

* CoverPervert: Asuka. As soon as she hooked up with Shinji, she tossed the "cover" part out of the window.

* CoolBigSis: Misato was a blend of this and ParentalSubstitute to Shinji in the original series. In the rewrite, [[spoiler:her mother got married to Gendo,]] so she nows IS Shinji's stepsister and treats him accordingly (or not accordingly, keeping in mind how her blood sister would want treating him).
* BreakTheCutie: In hindsight, it probably wasn't the best idea to let a jaded and cynical Shinji guest lecture about his experiences as an Eva pilot. It's quite an accomplishment to make an entire room of trained pilots break into tears.
* ClusterFBomb: Touji at the beginning of chapter 6 in the rewrite. Why? Because he's been left to deal with a really weird situation [[spoiler: involving younger versions of Shinji and Asuka who have just appeared in Tokyo-3]] while the rest of the cast have all decided to take unannounced trips to Berlin.

* ThisIsWrongOnSoManyLevels: Asuka says this word for word when [[spoiler: her daughter, Ariel, is getting her first chess lesson... from Gendo.]] Shinji wholeheartedly agrees.

* ArtificialHuman: In the original Fic [[spoiler: this is how Ar

** ParentalSubstitute: [[spoiler: He also becomes the official "Daddy" to Asuka's daughter Arael.]]

** ParentalSubstitute: He also becomes the official "Daddy" to [[spoiler: Asuka's daughter Ariel.]]

** Greg's addressing this in the rewrite. Gendo's the head of NERV-1 which ''technically'' makes him the supreme commander of NERV as a whole. However, there are 6 other branches NERV around the world which operate more or less independently of each other in sort of a checks-and-balance system. Theoretically anyways. [[TheChessmaster Gendo]] is still [[MagnificentBastard Gendo]]. And as to why he's still the head of of NERV-1? We'll let Greg explain:

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Even though Gendo is shown like having been a bastard, Yui is portrayed how being just so bad.

** ParentalSubstitute: He also acts as a father figure to [[spoiler: Asuka's daughter Arael.]]

* ParentalSubstitute: Shinji becomes the father that [[spoiler:Arael]] never had.

* ParentalSubstitute: Shinji becomes the father that [[spoiler: Areal]] never had.