Walking in the Shadow of Dreams

The Angels are gone. Now What??

By Gregg Landsman, the author of Nobody Dies, Walking in the Shadow of Dreams once again takes Neon Genesis Evangelion and tweaks one or two things to make an interesting What If. Using a snippet by the creator of The Second Try as a launching point, Landsman takes us to a world where Third Impact was rejected in a stunning but well-written fashion, and we open with a Shinji and Gendo that actually have some common ground sparring as a lead-in to Gendo offering Shinji a job as NERV's Chief Inspector. His first assignment -- go fetch the new head of Project E.

Gendo being Gendo, even now, he neglects to tell his son the recruit is a certain red-head...and that their new head scientist is bringing her daughter...

As with a certain other fic linked above, Landsman uses NGE as a lens to explore family, dysfunction, and coping...but uses a Lighter and Softer touch than canon to do it. Still, one gets the impression from word one that this is a world where you must Earn Your Happy Ending.

It's also the fic that solidified Landsman's characterization of Lilith, and by extension Rei, as having a strong desire for babiesbabiesbabiesBABIESBABIESBABIES! to procreate.

Shadow seems to be on hold while Landsman works on its Troper Critical Massed cousin, but the sixteen chapters so far are worth the read.

Between 2010 and 2011, Landsman posted the first six chapters of a rewrite of this fic, which will move more slowly, expand the plot, and has incorporated Mari Makinami and other characters which weren't in the original. The Spacebattles.com.com forum thread about the rewrite is here.

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Tropes used in Walking in the Shadow of Dreams include:

• Alternate Character Interpretation: Even though Gendo is shown like having been a bastard, Yui is portrayed how being just so bad.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Following the Second Angel War, monsters named Kaiju started showing up. Theories about why go from being attracted to Ramiel's corpse to divine punishment for the fact that Commander Ikari remarried. Entirely understandable.
• The Atoner: Gendo is making a genuine effort to be this -- although Gendo being Gendo, his chosen avenues tend to be complex and questionable in nature.
• Badass Boast: Rei: I am Adam. I am Lilith. And you are screwed."
• Broken Bird: Asuka. Hoo Boy, where to start. The events of Instrumentality ripped her pride to shreds and left her an absolute wreak. 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 Freak-Out). 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.
• Brother-Sister Incest: The Lilith part of Rei really wants Shinji to make her some babies.
• Crossover: The changes in Instrumentality that form the backstory of Walking are a result of the 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.
  • 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.
• Break the Cutie: 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.
• Cluster F-Bomb: Touji at the beginning of chapter 6 in the rewrite. Why? Because he's been left to deal with a really weird situation 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.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Since Rei is now the sum of Adam and Lilith merged with her, Asuka did just that during their Cat Fight. It is not known if it will happen again in the rewrite, though.
• Everyone Can See It: 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.
• Everyone Went to School Together:
  • Shinji, Toji, and Hikari not only shared the same classroom, they attended the same college.
  • In the rewrite, Touji went to a college in Kyoto rather than the one in Tokyo-3 that Shinji and Hikari attended.
• Fiery Redhead: Even though she is calmer than before, Asuka still keeps her fiery temper.
• For Want of a Nail: See Crossover above.
• Freak-Out: Asuka had a massive meltdown about 8 years prior to the start of the story, which destroyed Misato's living room and put Shinji into a coma.
• Guile Hero: Even more so than Nobody Dies, Gendo. Shinji has come to think that complex plans are just the way his dad works.
• Heroes Want Redheads: It IS a Shinji/Asuka fic. Shinji bluntly states he had been waiting twelve years to fulfill his Asuka-related fantasies, and Gendo explained to Asuka all relationships his son had been on since college had failed because he kept comparing his girlfriends with Asuka and finding them wanting.
• Karma Houdini: 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.
• Love Dodecahedron: Chapter 6 of the rewrite has thrown a new monkey wrench into the works, as a very drunk Hikari tries to put the moves on Shinji. This leads to the reveal that 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 Hikari's oldest child is Shinji's and not Toji's. Gregg's not saying one way or the other.
  • And in the original story, Gendo previously threw another wrench when he revealed to Shinji that he and and Kyoko dated for a while before he met Yui and she returned to Germany and met Asuka's father.
• Mama Bear/ Papa Wolf:
  • Do NOT threaten anyone the Ikaris consider family. This trait, in fact, is why Third Impact didn't go off as it did in canon. Seeing his wife as the manipulator she is in this verse, Gendo gets around his idealized image of her somewhat -- to the point he has his metaphysical fingers at her throat and is ROARING, "God damn you, get away from MY SON!"
  • According to Greg this is the reason behind Asuka's initial hostility towards Shinji; she fears that geting involved with NERV again will destroy her daughter's life (as it did to her.).
  • And then there's Rei, who, besides trying for a family of her own, has taken a shine to Asuka's daughter Ariel.

"I am Auntie Rei," Rei Ayanami says, "And we must discuss your actions towards my niece."

Two hours of quality time follows.

• • Gendo lampshades it, blatantly stating it is embarrassing when he can be considered the best parent in the room.
  • And even though Yui or Kyoko are disappointed with their offspring not following their wishes, they still can be scary when someone is threatening them:

Yui (to Kyoko): "Get away from my son."

• Mismatched Eyes: Asuka has one red and one blue eye as a result of injuries sustained during the Battle of Tokyo-3. She wears a contact to cover up her red eye, but Shinji finds it attractive.
• Mythology Gag: After his marathon sexual encounter with Rei, Kensuke asks for "orange juice and an IV drip". Kaji used the same line in a similar context in Nobody Dies.
• Only Sane Man: Shinji has a tendency to be this.
  • Touji also has his moments, specially in the rewrite.
• Other Me Annoys Me: In the rewrite alternate, younger versions of Shinji and Asuka (from after the events of the End of Evangelion) have wound up in this universe alongside their older counterparts (see Crossover above). While they have yet to meet, some sample material the author has written has shown that Younger and Older Asuka are prone to bickering like a mother with her teenage daughter. The two Shinjis seem to get along pretty well, but the author has implied that they will have a little of this as well.
• Reformed but Rejected: Asuka has to deal with this in the rewrite. She's cleaned up her act since her rather spectacular meltdown 8 years prior, but the majority of the cast (sans Shinji) don't believe she has changed, particularly Rei who makes it abundantly clear that she detests Asuka.
• Robeast: Then Angels and the Kaiju. The later ones are easier to deal with since they have no deflector shield.
• Running Gag: Along with WHUMPA and BABIES, there's Asuka punching Shinji just about every time they meet, and Shinji flagrantly abusing his unlimited expense account.
• Sadistic Choice: In episode 7 of the first iteration, it gets revealed Ariel is half-angel. It looks like if they will be forced to kill her -something Asuka understandably is NOT in favor of-, when Gendo orders to subdue her and retrieve her without harm.
• Scars Are Forever:
  • Asuka again, and once again Shinji finds her scars attractive.
  • Shinji has a scar on his chest from when the Lance entered Unit 01's core during Instrumentality.
• Shout-Out: There's one standout line from the beginning of chapter 12.

Asuka: You have fans. Don't you remember when you thought the whole world hated you?
Shinji: I eventually figured out I was actually attractive for a kid my age.
Asuka: It's the robot. Chicks dig giant robots.

• Take That: In the first iteration of the fic, to the American Godzilla film. Identifying the Monster of the Week as an Expy of said version of Godzilla, they didn't even bother to send up an EVA. Instead, they had it shot with the positron cannon mid-roar.
• That Didn't Happen: Subverted in the rewrite. 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.
• There Are No Therapists: Averted (surprisingly enough). Word of God states that all the EVA pilots received therapy after the events of the Third Impact. It helped Shinji; Asuka, not so much.
• This Is Wrong on So Many Levels: Asuka says this word for word when her daughter, Ariel, is getting her first chess lesson... from Gendo. Shinji wholeheartedly agrees.
• Title Drop: In chapter 9.