Kowaru Nagisa was dead to begin with.
Yes, the man who was once partners in fighting the monsters and partners in lending money with one Shinji Ikari was as dead as a doornail. His death was signed off by the Commander, and he was six-feet-under for the last seven years.
Now, Shinji was the owner of a small moneylending company still branded "Ikari and Nagisa". It had been Kowaru's idea; now, there was but a few penguin employees, a clerk named Misato, and Shinji himself.
The little shop of Ikari and Nagisa Moneylenders was dingy, dark, damp, and dank, the picture of early industrial-era small business. Misato was doing her best to stay warm while also work on her paperwork; Shinji, for his part, was in the process of throwing a debtor out of his office. "I'm sorry, sir," the debtor protested, "it's not my fault, I was just a little behind on my loan! Please, just a little more time-"
But his protests were cut off as Shinji opened the door and threw the debtor out, wiping his hands on his shirt once he was done. As a 28-year-old, he was in the prime of his life, but at least to him, he felt much older. His moment of introspection over, he slammed the door and returned to his desk while the sound of Misato's pen doubled.
And then the door opened again. "Happy Christmas, uncle, Misato!" is what Unit 02, a large red man-like machine powered by a coal generator in its back would've said if it was capable of human speech, but as it was it just said "FASDFHAFDHGHAF!"
"Happy Christmas, Unit 02!" Misato said cheerfully before quickly returning to work under her boss's glare.
Shinji then glanced up at Unit 02 and then back to his work. "Bah, humbug," Shinji said.
"Christmas a humbug, Uncle?" is, once again, what Unit 02 would've said, but it just made more unintelligible noise. If Shinji hadn't once piloted an Evangelion, he probably wouldn't be able to discern what his 'niece' was saying. But that didn't mean he could blot out the noise.
"What right do you have to be happy?" Shinji said, "you're poor."
"What right do you have to be dismal?" Unit 02 would've replied if it was intelligible to normal people, "you're rich enough."
Shinji glanced up at it. "If I had my way, I'd stuff every Christmas well-wisher in his own turkey and roast him. And bury him with a stake of holly!" he growled.
"That seems like too much work for you," Unit 02 observed.
"Well, yes, that is too much work. But that's beside the point," Shinji said. "Niece, you keep Christmas in your own way and I'll keep it in mine."
"Christmas has done me good," Unit 02 argued back.
And then Misato carefully edged around the gigantic, smoke-spewing red Eva to enter Shinji's office. "Sir," she said, "The clerks and I were wondering if we could add another piece of coal to the fire…"
"Wark," added a penguin named Pen Pen, waddling underneath Unit 02 to enter Shinji's office.
"Not enough, eh? Well, one piece is enough to avoid the unemployment line!" Shinji roared.
Misato nodded, slightly pale, and returned to her post with the panicked-looking Pen Pen. Then the door to the shop opened again and two women entered. "Happy Christmas," one of them, a lady in a lab coat who looked vaguely familiar, said, "this is the office of Shinji and Kowaru?"
"Indeed," Shinji said gravely, rising from his seat. "And to what pleasure-"
"We need you to pilot the giant robot, Mr. Ikari," the other woman who also looked vaguely familiar, one holding a clipboard and a pen, said. "My name is Maya Ibuki, and this is Dr. Ritsuko Akagi," she said, indicating the other woman. "At this time of year, with Christmas approaching, we go around the local businesses and ask for reputable ladies and gentlemen to sign up for a few hours of piloting giant robots to hold off threats from the nation…"
"Ah, good," Unit 02 said, although Maya stared at it in fright and Ritsuko in confusion, "my jolly uncle is very generous to piloting!"
Misato shouted a translation for them. "Many of us feel that we must take the burden off of society to pilot giant robots to help the nation at this time of year," Ritsuko said, apparently believing in redundant exposition.
"Have you looked in the prisons and the poorhouses?" Shinji said.
"Oh, plenty of times," Maya said cheerfully.
"Oh! Excellent," Shinji said, "for a moment I was worried."
"We don't want the poor to bear the brunt of the piloting," Ritsuko said.
"What can I put you down for, sir?" Maya added.
"Nothing," Shinji said.
"You wish to remain anonymous?" Ritsuko said.
"I wish to be left alone," Shinji replied, "I won't take away the idle people's work."
"Uncle-" Unit 02 began to protest, but Shinji cut it off by barking, "don't you have other things to do this afternoon?"
"Sadly," Unit 02 said. "I'll sign up and leave you to wallow in depression, uncle." It crouched down, wrote something on Maya's clipboard.
"T-thank you?" Maya said.
"Oh! Come have Christmas dinner with me and Unit 00 tomorrow, uncle," Unit 02 said once it reached the door.
Shinji shook his head. "Why did you ever get married?" he said.
Unit 02 laughed, which sounded more akin to tortured souls than anything else. "Why," it said, "I fell in love!"
"That's the only thing sillier than a merry Christmas," Shinji said bitterly.
Unit 02 shrugged. "It's no use," it said, "a happy Christmas to you and a happy New Year."
"Humbug."
"Happy Christmas, Unit 02," Misato said.
"Happy Christmas," Unit 02 replied. Then it left the store, hanging a wreath on the door on its way out.
"Now then, sir, about volunteering?" Maya said.
"Well, now," Shinji said, walking out from behind his chair to get face-to-face with Maya and Ritsuko, "let's see. I know how to treat the poor. My taxes pay for those robots, so they can pilot them."
"But some would die from the exertion!" Ritsuko exclaimed.
"If they'd die, then they'd better do it, and decrease the surplus population!" Shinji roared.
Ritsuko and Maya glanced at each other. "I think we've taken enough of Mr. Ikari's time," Ritsuko said, "let's go."
The two left, and with the door slamming the sound of Misato and the penguins' pens resumed. And then someone knocked at the door again. "God rest ye merry gentlemen…" came from the other side of the door, so Shinji marched over to it, wrenched the door open, and threw the wreath at a short kid wearing glasses.
"Humbug!" Shinji shouted after him, as he run away.
The day continued, with Shinji quietly seething at Christmas. The sun set, and Misato reentered his office. "Mr. Ikari, sir, it's closing time," she said.
"Very well," Shinji said, "I'll see you at eight tomorrow morning."
"Tomorrow's Christmas, sir," Misato said.
"Eight-thirty then."
"Please, sir, half an hour off is hardly customary for Christmas Day," Misato said.
"Hardly customary?" Shinji said whispered, and he looked up from his desk at Misato.
"I-it's not, sir," Misato said, "it's not at all."
"And how much time off is customary, Mrs. Kaji?" Shinji said.
"The whole day, sir," Misato said. "And why open the office tomorrow? Other businesses will be closed. You'll have no one to do business with, and you'll have to pay the coal costs for myself and the clerks."
"Yes," Shinji said, rubbing his chin, and then he stood up. "Very well. It's a poor excuse for robbing a man's wallet every December 25th. But, as I seem to be the only one who knows that…"
"Take the day off, sir?" Misato said. Shinji nodded. "Thank you, Mr. Ikari."
"Be here all the earlier the next morning!" Shinji snapped as the clerks erupted into conversation and began filing out. He stormed over to his things, put his top hat and cloak on, grabbed his cane, and left for his home.
Shinji lived in a flat which had once belonged to his old business partner, Kowaru Nagisa. The building was, so to speak, a dismal heap of brick on a dark street. It was old enough now, and dreary enough, for nobody lived in it but Shinji, the other rooms rented out as offices. The yard was so dark that even Shinji had to grope around to reach his front door.
The door, by the way, had a large door knocker on it with little use nowadays considering that no-one ever called on Shinji. It was a nondescript door, with one slight defect: currently, it looked like Kowaru's head.
Shinji, who had been unlocking his door, had to fight the urge to scream (although he did yelp a little). He had a spine now, he would keep it together, it was just a hallucination… he closed his eyes, counted to ten, and when he reopened his eyes, the knocker was back to normal. Then he continued into his home.
To say that Shinji wasn't startled would be a lie, but he still tried to assure himself that the bad memories of this day were affecting his mind. Still, the moment had passed, and the world was as it should be. And yet…
Shinji made his way up the staircase. He didn't care about the darkness; darkness was cheap, and Shinji liked it. But the incident at the door made him wary. To try and stave off any further hallucinations, he was forced to light the flat and search each room.
Once his search was complete, Shinji extinguished the lights and retreated to a room with a fireplace. One confrontation with his best dressing gown later, Shinji was sitting in front of a roaring fire, eating some gravy and cheese filled dinner food.
And then a servant's bell began ringing. Shinji had no servants, and had no need for them: Shinji didn't want to give up his money or his time to deal with them. So needless to say, it wasn't supposed to happen. Shinji rose to his feet, and then the fire went out; the room was still illuminated from a ghostly bluish light emanating from the stair-well.
The ringing stopped, and Shinji heard something… clunking up the stairs. The light was growing closer and closer, until finally a ghostly Kowaru Nagisa, wrapped in chains, walked onto the landing. "Shinji Ikari…" he moaned. The fire relit.
"K-kowaru!?" Shinji said, and he quickly sat down again. And yet, Kowaru clunked closer and sat down in another chair next to Shinji's. "H-humbug," Shinji said, scared out of his wits. "Who are you really?"
"In life, I was your partner," Kowaru said, "Kowaru Nagisa."
"You look like him, but I don't believe it!" Shinji said.
"Why doubt your senses?" Kowaru said.
"Because a little thing- undigested beef, or a crumb of bad cheese- can affect them! Yes, there's more of gravy than of grave about you!" Shinji said, pointing his finger at Kowaru in an accusatory stance.
Kowaru chuckled a little.
"Why are you haunting me!?" Shinji wailed.
"Do you believe in me or not?" Kowaru said.
Shinji tried to calm his rapidly-beating heart and said, "I do, I have to. But why do spirits walk the earth, and why do they come to me?"
"I'm condemned to walk the earth in death because I would not walk the earth in life," Kowaru said. "I entered as optimistic and a believer in mankind; I left a pessimist and exploiter of mankind, and now I must witness what I might have shared with the earth but did not."
He gave a tug on his chains and pulled them into the firelight. They were long and cruel-looking, cast iron with ice covering some of the links. Small spikes dragged along the floor, but did not impact the wood. "You're chained," Shinji said, shivering, "tell me why."
"I wear the chain I forged in life," Kowaru said, shaking it a little, "I made it link by link, yard by yard. I made it of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it. Is its pattern strange to you, Shinji?"
Shinji was still trembling and did not reply. Kowaru continued: "or would you know that the weight and length of the chain you bear yourself? It was as full and heavy and as long as this, seven Christmas Eves ago. You have worked on it since! It is an impressive chain!"
"Oh, Kowaru," Shinji moaned, "speak comfort to me, Kowaru."
"I have none to give, Shinji, not can I tell you what I would. I can only say a little more. I cannot rest, I cannot stay, I cannot linger anywhere. My spirit never walked beyond our counting-house, not once we left the machines, and because in life my spirit never roved beyond the narrow limits of our bank, I must make weary journeys endlessly!"
"Seven years dead, and traveling all the time?" Shinji whispered.
"No rest, no peace," Kowaru stated, "and the incessant torture of remorse. Yes… and yet, no amount of regret can make amends for what I did."
"But you were always a good man of business, Kowaru!" Shinji said.
"Business! Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were all my business," Kowaru said, with a bitter look on his face, "and I squandered it on the ways of the world." He shuddered and muttered something.
And then Kowaru rose to his feet and drew up his chains, and Shinji could see the spikes entering Kowaru's flesh, though no blood seeped out. "Hear me, Shinji," he said, "my time is nearly gone."
"I will!" Shinji exclaimed, "but don't- don't be hard on me!"
"I am here tonight to warn you, that you have yet a chance and hope of escaping my fate," Kowaru said.
"You always were a good friend," Shinji whispered.
"You will be haunted by three spirits," Kowaru said.
"Is that the chance and hope? I'd rather not, then, one ghost is enough," Shinji said, "couldn't take them all at once, could I, Kowaru?"
"Without their individual visits, you cannot hope to shun the path I tread. Expect the first tomorrow, when the bell tolls one. The second on the next night on the same hour, and the third upon the night after that when the last stroke of twelve has ceased. Look to see me no more; and look that, for your own sake, you remember what has passed between us," Kowaru said. He walked over to the window, wrenched it open, and jumped out. Shinji ran over to the window to see him drifting up into the sky to join a great flow of similar ghosts, dressed in ratty clothes or fine things and wrapped in chains.
Shinji slammed the window shut and returned to his seat. "Humbug," he said, although it could not placate his nerves.
Before long, he extinguished the fireplace and headed to bed for what would hopefully be a night of empty silence and dreamless sleep. Hours passed, and although Shinji thrashed in his large bed, he did not awake until the bell tolled one. He awoke, looked around, and saw no ghost, and then turned over to try and go back to sleep.
And saw, watching him, a large, purple, machine-creature with a steam engine on its back, which seemed… vaguely familiar to Shinji. "Are-are you the spirit Kowaru warned me about?" Shinji said.
"ADFGH. AGHAFG AGATHA RFHGAFGHAFGJ, " it said, which, roughly speaking, meant, "I am. I am Unit 01, the Ghost of Christmas Past."
A/N: Yes, it is time for a Christmas Carol story, featuring NGE because I decided it worked better than my original idea. Much of this story is heavily inspired by the Sir Patrick Stewart and Muppet Christmas Carol, although this part is more Muppets than Stewart or the original book.
A Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all who read this and all who don't!