Disclaimer: Any characters mentioned are all under copyright. This work is purely fan-made.

Title: The Mafia

Author: Scarabeye 3000

Prologue

Tokyo-03

The 3rd Child walked through the streets of the fortress city as he finished another long day with his two friends. Kensuke, his spectacled friend, self-proclaimed computer genius/hacker, and career stalker/pervert, managed to dig up a Pre-2nd Impact game that are both addictive and time-consuming. Although, it was really entertaining and he managed to spend at least a little time being a normal teenager playing games, it was quite tiring and irritating after three straight hours. His eyes were irritated and a bit puffy, while his concentration mostly went out of the window from too much playing, not to mention his head feeling like it was axed in half.

Shinji looked up into the darkness that enveloped the skyline and shook his head, "Damn you Counter-Strike."

He shook his head and tried not to think too much about it and tried to concentrate instead on getting back home. Turning into a shopping district that he frequented, he walked quickly to avoid the 7pm rush hour, he was only six blocks from the monorail and he was making good time. The 3rd Child rounded a darkened alleyway and stumbled upon a commotion, three shadows moved into its relative safety from prying eyes.

Ducking behind some wooden pallets he surveyed the situation hidden by the shadows.

"Let's do the water torture on him."

"Brother Rin," a soft calm voice, with a hint of accent spoke in the darkness, "Maybe, we should just feed him to the fishes. Like they usually do."

"Yeah! Let's dump him at the bay," another giddy voice said as the darkness kept their identities safe.

"Xiang-Men, get the knife."

As the man moved in the shadows, the 3rd Child abandoned all thought and moved instinctively, he made his way quickly towards the man, picked up a long blunt object and whacked him in the head with a 2x4. 'Not exactly what I have in mind-' he thought ruefully as the man dropped to the pavement, stunned beyond all reason. '- but I really have very limited choices here.'

He reared the wooden 2x4 again and swung wildly overhead, a dull sound floated through the darkness as he dived for the ground. Another body flopped down near him and he crawled away behind what he felt like a stack of plastic crates.

"What the hell was that?" frustration wracked the voice of the gangsters as they flung around in the darkness, "Watch were your going man!"

A collection of grunts, 'Ow' , 'Stop swinging' , 'Put down your gun!' reached his ears and he grinned in satisfaction. Growing accustomed to the darkness Shinji picked up a plastic crate and flung it wildly at the bumbling gangster. Another dull thud reached his ears as a man screamed in frustration, "Fuck! That hurts like- Who the hell threw that!"

"Shoot something!"

The sound of clicking filled his ears and he lay flat on the ground, but not before hurling another crate into the group of men, it connected again and a loud blast penetrated through the night, it sounded like cannon fire for him and the light from the muzzles briefly made them see him hiding behind the crate.

"I saw him!"

"Where is the son of a bitch!"

"The crates!"

He could actually see the movement of the barrels as they pointed towards him, shit, this was it. This was serious and he was going to die here.

"You're dead kid-"

Another gun went off and he expected to bleed to death, but the gun wasn't with the gangsters, it was from the man that they were mauling awhile ago. Bullets rippled through the alley as the gangsters stumbled and fall, the shooter was obviously disoriented and doesn't seem to have a pattern or have a grip on his field of fire. Nevertheless, it was quite effective that the men scattered and fled the alley. As the gun clicked empty, Shinji crawled towards the barely conscious man and tried to speak, "Are you ok?"

The man grunted and shook off the cobwebs from the mauling, he took a lungful of air and exhaled, "Thank you, now please help me my friend," the man gripped his shoulder and pulled himself up.

The 3rd Child looked up as the man stood up, he was quite tall, it was quite exhilarating at the stupidest thing he did by helping this victim, aside from piloting Eva of course. It did not matter for now and the man seemed to have recovered already. He supported the man towards another alley and they vanished into the shadows.

"Ok, I wasn't expecting this."

Shinji stood nervously as two burly looking men led him towards a 2nd floor office. It turns out that the man that he helped awhile ago has 'quite' the influence, and right now he earned the gratitude of his associates. When they emerged awhile ago from the alleyway, they came upon the entertainment district of the city, bars, restaurants, and cafes lined the streets. He was led off into a restaurant that was half-filled by customers, the two burly looking men standing guard at the door went to them after seeing the man that was with him, they rushed over immediately to help. He was about to go when they took over the carrying, of course he was invited to sit down and 'talk' with the people that he needs to talk with.

He noted the restaurant's name was 'The Sicilian'.

His burly escorts stopped at a double door and opened it for him, stepping inside he saw that the design was European. Probably Italian or French, anyway he wouldn't know the minute differences from the two, and it seemed irrelevant as he stood in front of a long table with 7 people sitting in front of it. The design was all wood and it overlooked the restaurant with a terrace of its own. Classical music floated from an unseen vinyl player, light came from an overhead lamp that seemed to illuminate only the table and its occupants. As he approached, 7 sets of eyes fixed themselves on him, and he candidly thought they had the same look as the Section-02 agents, 'Was this a secret meeting of Section-02 agents?' stifling a smile at his musings.

"It seems you have granted our 'family' a great favour."

The speaker spoke from the terrace and was holding a wine goblet in his right hand, he was looking down at the restaurant's diners and his back was unto him. Tilting the wine into his lips he downed it in one go, he walked over to the head of the table and sat down, he gestured for him to take the other seat at the head of the table and he slowly approached.

"Please... sit."

"Please, excuse my intrusion," Shinji said meekly to no one in particular and took his seat, "G- good evening-"

"Good evening," he was taken aback as the table chorused his words.

The man at the other end of the table looked at him appreciatively and smiled, "You have my gratitude young man for helping one of my 'little brothers'."

As if on cue, the 7 men with him raised their wine glasses and gave him a toast, he took his reluctantly and took a sip of what looked like red wine, but the bouquet of the drink was less of the grapefruit that he was expecting, and it had a more forceful flavour.

'God, that was bitter.'

Another man joined them at the table bringing all of their occupants to 10, he recognized him as the one he helped, he looked a bit ruffled up, but he seemed ok. The man at the head of the table kept the smile on his face and sighed, "You look just like him."

"Huh?"

Shinji took another sip of wine and sighed, "Pardon?"

"Now that you have mentioned it," the man that he helped squinted to look at him, "The resemblance is somewhat striking Victorio."

Agreement rumbled through the table as the 3rd Child took another sip of wine.

"May we know your name?"

"I'm Shinji, Ikari Shinji sir."

Victorio waved him off, "Oh please, enough with the pleasantries... just call me Victorio. You are a very kind young man, you are very brave, and you defend us from some things that we could not fight back."

"Piloting that robot is really bad-ass huh?" another man piped in.

"Language please," the man at the head of the table reprimanded one of his colleagues, "Now, why don't you finish your wine so we can talk some more, there is someone else who wants to meet you."

"Who?" taking the wine in his hand again.

As he finished his wine, Shinji's vision blurred and the wine glass slipped from his hand and shattered at the floor. Lights swam from his eyes and he lost consciousness, however before he smacked himself on the table the men nearest him caught him gently. Victorio smiled across the table, "The Don would like to see you little brother."

1 hour later

Shinji 's eyes fluttered open as he rubbed the sleep off of his eyes, he had never felt so rested in all his life. As his eyes focused he saw that it was an unfamiliar ceiling, closing his eyes, he reviewed the events in his mind, but after a few tries gave up. The last thing he remembered was Victorio talking to him, then suddenly his world went wobbly. After that, this came up.

The silk sheets felt good though.

'What the- silk sheets?'

He sat up straight and looked around the room, there was a lot of marble that much was certain, curtains from the ceiling to the floor, and a whole lot of wood. He stood from the bed and felt his knees regaining their strength, walking around the room he stumbled upon a large painted portrait with a mahogany frame. His mouth opened a bit and his brow furrowed, '-the hell...'

It was his face that looked back at him, rather an older version of him, he felt like looking through the mirrors of time. His doppelganger had longer black hair, same complexion as him, dressed in a finely tailored suit, had the same dark-blue eyes like him, but had a prominent scar starting from his left eyebrow, going down to his cheek and stopping just below the lip line. Maybe it was just another turn of fate that he ended up there, so pushing his luck further, he walked out of the room and explored the whole house.

Shinji walked down a flight of stairs and made a left turn.

Now most people with an 85 point IQ can and would probably be able to find their way around a city, the thing is, this was not a city, and the house, nay, this estate probably has more rooms than the Geofront. He passed a library awhile ago, went down a flight of stairs took another wild turn and ended up back in front of the library.

"I cannot believe I'm lost," he sighed with frustration, 'I've seen houses like this on an MTV show… its like a small museum or something.'

Finally, the 3rd Child came upon a hall lined up with beautiful marble statues.

He walked through the hall and almost reached the large double doors when a small voice froze him in his tracks.

"Who are you?" he turned around and saw a little girl with red hair and ocean blue eyes. It was really absurd, but he thought she looked like a smaller Asuka.

"Uhm," he was at a loss of words, he was stunned by the similarity itself.

"Are you strong?" asked the little girl as she approached and looked at him expectantly.

"Uhm," again, he was at a loss of word, "I guess?"

"Carry me then!" she demanded, her voice full of conviction and he was momentarily surprised by her words. "Let's go to the garden!"

He sighed heavily, since number one, he was lost on a large house, two, he had no idea on who's house this is, three, he's being bullied by a 5 year old girl?, four, where the hell was he anyway? Five, crap he just felt depressed with everything that happened to him for the day. He carried the little girl and realized that she was quite light, although he was a bit scrawny in his opinion, he could hold his own against carrying children. Feeling a bit elated, and surprised with the closeness of the child to him, he smiled at this.

"Ok, so where do we go then?"

As she pointed towards a door, outside two pairs of eyes observed them through the window. Two men were at the garden soaking in the serenity of their surroundings, the first man was Victorio, he played with a cigar that was not lit between his two hands, the other man was clutching a red rose flower and looked at Shinji with an affectionate gaze.

"I thought you won't smoke anymore?"

"As you can see, it is not lit," Victorio said with a small smile, "What do you think? Can you see the resemblance?"

The old man chuckled and sighed, "I could not believe it, the same face, with a different soul in it. My heart had a surge of happiness just by seeing his smile again."

"Shall we follow them then?"

The old man nodded and turned left into a growth of rose bushes and disappeared behind it.

Shinji, much to his relief stepped out into the cool breeze outside, the little girl did manage to navigate through the labyrinth of rooms and hallways that they ended up in front of a large garden filled with many flowering plants and various trees. She pointed again to a cluster of trees and they picked a small cherry tree, probably about 30 years old, its trunks were not as big as the ones he saw at public parks, but it looked sturdy and strong. So he sat behind it, with his back rested on the trunk, the little girl also sat behind him and rested her back to Shinji.

"Err... you didn't tell me your name."

"Huh? I forgot!" she exclaimed, "I'm Mikhaela Hiei Corleone."

"Oh, ok... and do you know where am I?"

"This is Heaven on Earth."

Shinji sighed, 'Ok, I might have stumbled into the loony bin.'

"Will you be my big brother?"

'No harm I guess...' he thought wryly and nodded, "I guess so."

"Mikhaela," a deep hoarse voice said behind them, he almost jumped as their approached was undetected by the 3rd Child, "Mi Hija, don't badger our guest too much."

Victorio approached with a sly grin on his face, fully remembering what happened at the restaurant Shinji's temper flared a bit, "Hey! You put something in my-"

He stopped abruptly as the old man raised his right hand a bit, his ring finger had a ring that glinted brightly at the light of the sun. It was the biggest diamond that he had ever seen, and it had some engravings of an unknown language that adorned the sides of the stone, the old man retracted the hand and took a deep breath, "I apologize for my son's behaviour, Victorio is very keen and quite forceful when he wants something to be done."

"So if you may please follow me to my office," the old man turned and Victorio gestured with his hand for Shinji to follow. The little girl waved at him as they walked inside towards the estate once again, they walked past exquisite paintings, statues that exalted grandeur, culture, and well-being. They passed it all and came upon two oak doors, the elder man opened it and stepped inside with Shinji and Victorio bringing up the rear. The office was all redwood, pictures adorned the circular table in the middle of the room, it showed a younger Victorio, the younger looking man that resembled Shinji, and the little girl named Mikhaela that he met awhile ago.

There were two chairs that were European in design in front of a large desk and behind it a portrait of another old man looked to an unknown distance. He had a high forehead and just the right amount of hair to emphasize his age and his status in the family, he had puffy cheeks and a prominent nose, he wore a black suit with a red rose on his chest, he looked both authoritative and intimidating. Just below the portrait a phrase was embedded in the frame the caption read:

'Life is so beautiful – Vito Antonio Andolini (1891-1955)'

They noticed that he was looking intensely at the portrait.

"That, is my grandfather, Don Vito Andolini Corleone," the old man took a glimpse behind him and sighed, "I remember him like I remember everything in my past."

The man cleared his throat and looked at him at his eyes, "I am Anthony Vito Corleone."

"Ok."

"And from the stupid look your giving my father," Victorio interjected as he opened a wine bottle from a bar, "I'm assuming you don't know who we are."

"Well, deducing from the way that we met," Shinji shrugged his shoulders and said nonchalantly, "I'd say you're like Yakuza or something."

"Pretty close Shinji," Victorio approached him and gave him another glass of wine, which he eyed suspiciously, "Trust me, that one doesn't have anything in it ok? Well we're pretty close to the Yakuza, my mother was a Nee-san of the Yamaguchi-gumi, she was the youngest daughter of the Oyabun, which is also my grandfather."

"Wait a minute, if you're not Yakuza? And you have the resources to kidnap me, then -"

"We are Mafia, also called La Cosa Nostra of the Corleone family from Sicily," Don Corleone finished for him as he was silenced by the sudden rush of facts, "But please, do not judge us quickly by this fact that we have shared with you."

"Uhm," he was at a loss of words.

The Don gave a small laugh and sipped his wine, "Now that we have told you a bit, please, share us some things about your personal life."

He sipped on the wine and the effects were almost immediate, he relaxed, he didn't notice it , but he was fidgeting a lot awhile ago. But with the help of the wine that Victorio gave, it helps a lot in calming his nerves, plus the bitter taste kept distracting him.

"My mother died when I was 2..."

An hour later

With half the bottle gone, Shinji concluded his story, omitting some things that he deemed too personal to share or say. By pouring his heart out, he felt that some weight was actually lifted from his shoulders, he had never shared anyone the hurt he felt with his mother dying, or his father abandoning him, yet these people, although abducting him at first, were the only first persons that actually listened to his story. That was a lot of baggage, and the wine did help in their conversation. The frustrations of not being able to speak with the only living family member, his distance with his father, the torture of piloting the Evangelions, and also his inability to connect easily with people hindered this possibility.

Don Corleone was silent the whole time as he spoke, while Victorio finally lit the cigarette he was playing awhile ago.

"You are a very strong young man, do you know that?"

The 3rd Child smiled at the Don and cracked a small smile, "I guess..."

Don Corleone cleared his throat and stood up, he walked to a nearby table and admired the scent of a rose on a nearby vase.

He turned to Shinji and puts an arm around his shoulders and said.

"I'm going to make you an offer, you can't easily refuse."

All three men said nothing as the Don's words sunk in.

"What offer?"

"A place in my family, inside Cosa Nostra, the old family that came from old Sicily, the island sank underneath the waves as the event called 2nd Impact consumed half the world, but Sicily will always live here-" the Don pointed to his chest, "-and here-" then to his head, "There are very few people like us, but in light of that we have made some exceptions, you will be my son, second to Victorio, and would replace my son that was killed."

"Remember the portrait that was in the room where you woke up?"

Shinji simply nodded, "I think so... he looked almost like me."

"He was Derek Anthony Corleone, my second son," the Don sat again in his massive office chair and sighed, "He was killed protecting me when we were ambushed by a rival family when I went back to visit America, my wife was also killed that day while shielding Mikhaela."

"It was a shame I was not there," Victorio shook his head in regret, "I could have done something, but now I must carry the regret with me until the end of my days."

"Do not burden yourself with the past my eldest," the Don raised his hand a bit in consolation, "But the question now is, will you take up the helm of my second son? We can only offer a resemblance of a family to you."

The 3rd Child sat silently as the two men looked at him, "I'll let you sleep on it Shinji, there will be no rush, if you ever do not accept. Then you are always welcome here in our home."

A gentle knock reached their ears as the doors opened slightly, a little head peeked near the doorknob and smiled sweetly.

It was Mikhaela.

"Time for dinner Father!"

The little girl ran towards their father and Anthony picked her up gently, they all headed to the dining room and seated in a banquet table enough, in Shinji's mind, for his friends, everyone he knew at NERV, even his father. But what really caught his attention was the scent of food, the aroma of freshly baked bread, tomato, and the lingering smell of spices.

He was practically assaulted with numerous scents that he saw stars popped in his eyes, the Japanese tongue and taste is mild, controlled and balanced. The food on the table is an explosion of numerous flavours, salty and creamy for the cheese, sweet and sour for the tomato, while the smell of wheat and flour flounced from the bread. Shinji kept standing at the doorway as the three Corleones seated themselves.

Victorio grinned and called out to him, "So, were you stunned by the furniture or the smell?"

Blushing a bit he sheepishly took a seat next to Mikhaela, but Don Vito waved him off and made him seat at his left side, the traditional place of the 2nd son of the head of the family. Two maids attended to them as he took his knife and fork.

'Thank god for Asuka...'

With the knowledge of a professional, he managed to use both the fork and the knife to eat since Asuka, being what she is, managed to teach him more than a thing or two about using various utensils.

"My offer still stands Shinji, but please, do not repeat everything what I have told you." Don Vito said after putting a napkin on his lap and twirling the alfredo in his fork and taking a mouthful, "let me repeat, that we are not as welcome with the normal class of society as you are."

"I understand Don Vito," he smiled a bit, the two maids were attentive to keep their wine goblets full and their food still hot, it had been like this in the Katsuragi household. Whenever, Misato would be miraculously early for dinner, all four of them would dine together, including Pen-pen of course. But this is the first time that he actually enjoyed eating, and being served at the same time, it was a new experience for him, and in a way, quite pleasant.

The meal passed without incident and the three Corleones walked him up to the front porch as a limousine stopped in front of them. He finally got a glimpse outside and he saw multiple buildings surrounding the-

"What is this place anyway?" he suddenly remembered his first question when he finally woke up.

Don Vito smiled and sighed, "This is Villa Cerulea... the main house of our family, and the surrounding houses are for our maids, guards, cars, and anything else that we might need."

"But for now," Victorio interjected, "We don't want NERV to be alerted of you missing so its really good for both of us if you think our offer for the night and we also send you home."

Shinji bowed properly and bid them good night, as he sat inside the limousine, the driver looked at him from the rear view mirror and nodded his greeting.

"You are welcome here Shinji," Don Vito gave him a warm smile and opened his arms.

Something tugged at his chest at the old man's body language, so he simply nodded again as the car moved forward.

As they made their way towards Tokyo-03 he had the glimpse again of the fortress city that he defends, he was just a young boy, sure pretty much in mid-teens, but still a boy in all aspect. But Evangelion really does make you grow old, he can only shook his head as he reflected on his current state of mind right now. Family huh?

Misato is pretty much family now, if he would accept the offer, he didn't need to leave her alone right?

Asuka, well, let's skip her for now.

Toji and Kensuke, my first school enemy, and my first school friends. The punch did hurt though, and it's not like I'm leaving them right if I accept this.

Rei, well, Rei is Rei. Nothing else. An anchor, or a glass where I can see what my father really is towards other people. She changed. Subtly. But I can see it.

Pen-pen, might get a mate for him if possible.

Asuka, well, liking her is an understatement of what I feel.

With jumbled thoughts in his mind, he managed to drift off to sleep, when he opened his eyes again he was surprised that he was parked right outside of their apartment complex.

"Wha- We're here? So fast!"

The driver again peered through the rear-view mirror, "Actually sir, you've been sleeping for an hour now."

'Holy shit!' it was already dark, and if he was right Misato could have alerted Section-02 already, "I've been sleeping that long?"

"Yes sir," the driver bowed a bit, "it would be very rude to wake you up, Shinji-dono."

'Ok... so I'm a prince now?' shaking the cobwebs off, he opened the door and walked up to the elevators, he turned and bowed at the driver, "Thank you Mr. Driver."

"At your service sir," the driver did another small nod as the 3rd Child entered the elevator. As the limousine pulled away, another black sedan tailed it and stopped in front of the NERV commercial complex.

A Section-02 agent monitored everything inside the car and pressed his earphone, "The 3rd Child has arrived."

To be continued...

Author's note:

Ok a few notes, I decided to remake this fic.

It was really horrible if you ask me, and I made this abomination myself, but I can't seem to do it these past few years. Finally, I had the initiative and now I'm done, together with my other fics, and an up and coming one-shot.

Another attempt of a one-shot.

Cheers everyone.

Scarabeye