Chapter 1

A/N: Um, hi everyone. Been a while hasn't it, hehe. Anyway, here's something new, and I actually intend to finish this one. I've already got a buffer set up as I work on more chapters. For those who are waiting for my other stories I will get back to some of them at some point.

Anyway, here's Evangelion with bits of fantasy settings behind them. I was inspired to write after reading NGE: Nobody Dies by Gregg Landsman. For those of you who are both brave and interested, go check it out.

Waking to the incessant beeping that was his alarm, Shinji groaned as he slammed the silence button on his clock. He allowed himself a moment to himself before getting out of bed. After completing his morning rituals, Shinji took his place in the kitchen making breakfast and lunch for himself and Misato.

His godmother, Misato Katsuragi, has been raising him since the time he was left there by his father over ten years before. She was a thirty year old woman who looked and acted more like a college sorority girl. Despite how she acts, the woman was still a very good guardian. Shinji would never have become the person he is without her guidance.

Though that still doesn't change the fact that she was a slob and couldn't cook anything that wasn't instant. It was by necessity that Shinji became the housekeeper and cook.

"Some days I wish Misato at least keeps the fridge stocked," he muttered to himself as he stared into the near empty fridge.

Deciding to keep it simple, Shinji simply has toast, checking his wallet to make sure he has money for lunch from the canteen at school.

Hearing groaning sounds from the hallway, he rolled his eyes as he dropped a can of beer onto the table. His godmother made her appearance, wearing her usual sleepwear of panties and shirt as well as the cross pendant that she always wears. If it wasn't for the fact that she had been wearing the same thing everyday since he was four, Shinji would definitely have been very uncomfortable in close proximity with the near nude woman.

Cracking the can open with a flick of a wrist, Misato downed her morning beer before letting out her wake up howl. Shinji placed a serving of toast and egg in front of her, grinning at her antics.

"We need to go grocery shopping again," he told her, "and you really need to cut down the amount of alcohol you consume."

Sticking her tongue out at him, Misato replied, "I don't drink that much."

Grabbing her purse, she pulled out a couple of bills, "Here's this week's food money, could you take care of it?"

"Don't I always?" Shinji asked dryly, taking the money and putting it in his wallet.

It was times like these that make him wonder who was the parent and who was the child in the apartment. With this, another morning in the Katsuragi/Ikari household came to an end.

After getting dressed in his school uniform, Shinji took off for another day of lectures at school, "I'll see you later."

"Oh that's right," Misato realized something, and shouted to the boy, "I'm working late today, so you don't need to make dinner for me."

After acknowledging her, Shinji took off. Taking the elevator down, he reviewed his mental list of groceries to get. Once he got off the elevator, he caught sight of two of his friends.

"Yo Shinji," greeted the boy in a track suit, "We were just on our way to get you."

"To get me, or to see Misato?" Shinji replied in a dry tone.

They had the good grace to look embarrassed. Touji Suzuhara, captain of the basketball team, and Kensuke Aida, member of the photography club, both met him on the first day of school. They first met when the two boys first laid eyes on his godmother when she came to school to drop him off. After that, the three got closer and became friends.

"Could you at least tell us what she was wearing?" Kensuke asked desperately, adjusting his glasses.

Shaking his head, Shinji started off down the road to school. His friends chased after him, bugging him for details. Grinning wryly, he ignored their pestering as they walked to school.

Classroom

His friends finally gave up their attempt to get Shinji to talk. Mostly in part to the fact that if they continued, the class representative Hikari Horaki would have overheard them and given them an earful.

"Hey, did you hear?" Kensuke began after they sat down, "there was damage done in the park. Huge craters were all over the place, like someone detonated explosives last night."

"Huh?" Touji replied in disbelief, "No way was there any explosions. I live in that neighborhood, I'd have heard something."

Pushing up his glasses, the nerd continued, "That's the thing. Dozens of people were reported to be walking past the park at the time the explosions would have taken place. Yet no one heard or saw anything."

Shivering, Touji said, "That's pretty spooky."

Shrugging, Shinji said, "Maybe it was just a bunch of people digging holes to make it appear like there were explosions."

"That's no fun," Kensuke said, opening his laptop, "It's much more interesting if something like aliens or ghosts did it."

Shivering, the jock tried to change the subject, "Hey, how about them Giants?"

Snickering, Shinji asked, "What? You afraid of a little ghost story?"

Slugging his arm, Touji made no reply while his friends laughed at him. They were interrupted when Hikari came over to where they were seated.

"Ikari-kun," she greeted, "Have you completed the survey yet?"

Taking out the survey in question, Shinji placed the blank page onto his desk.

"What?" she said in surprise, "you still haven't filled it out!"

Shinji shrugged, feeling uncomfortable under the class rep's glare. The survey was to find out what the student in question wanted to do. It helped the school counselors to give the students the advice they need to decide what classes to take in the future. The problem for Shinji was that he couldn't think of anything that he wanted to do.

Sighing, Hikari eased back, "You know, it's for the future. If you can get started early enough, you will be able to get a good career."

"Don't worry," Touji interjected, giving his friend some breathing room, "My family's construction business is always looking for employees. If you ever need a job, just look us up."

Smiling at him, Hikari complimented him, "That's very kind of you Suzuhara-kun."

Blushing a bit, the jock just gave her a big grin. Kensuke and Shinji shared a look. They both knew that Touji had a crush on Hikari, and were almost certain that the feeling was mutual. The two even had an ongoing bet to see when the two would finally confess.

A that moment the teacher entered, prompting Hikari to go through the morning rituals. After that came a long day of lectures. Despite his efforts, Shinji was unable to keep his attention on the teacher.

The comment Hikari made got his mind running: what did he want to do in the future?

His friends were already so sure of what they want to do. Kensuke plans to go into the military, Touji will join his family's construction business, and Hikari will go on to college.

He ran through a mental list of things that he enjoyed doing and sighed. The list was short, consisting of playing cello and cooking. Shinji didn't really think a career as a musician was very profitable, and he preferred cooking for his friends and family than for countless strangers. Shinji also felt that there was nothing in school that interested him academically enough for him to take.

His attention then turned towards the window. The view showed a small convoy of construction vehicles moving down the road. Recalling Kensuke's story, Shinji began to ponder what could have happened last night. This began to raise his interest, as his mind began to fill with theories. That gave him pause to consider a new future career.

Maybe I'd prefer something like this, he thought, Something like law enforcement or a private detective.

He then shook his head thoroughly, No way. Me? A detective? No way that could happen.

Returning his attention to the lecture, Shinji pushed all thoughts of the future for another time.

After School

His friends had meetings to attend, so Shinji was alone as he headed towards the shopping district. Deciding to take a shortcut through the park, he passed another set of construction vehicles. The damage from the reports had been mostly cleared away, only a few holes left to be filled.

Recalling his friends talk from this morning, Shinji took a moment to take a closer look at the damage. Like Kensuke said, the craters looked to have been created by some sort of explosion. Yet no one made any report of loud noises, which made things even more mysterious.

As he was entering the wooded section of the park, a sudden chill ran down his spine. The air suddenly became silent, as though he was suddenly became the only living thing in the park. Another thing he noticed was that the sky seemed to have gotten darker all of a sudden. It wasn't like it was night, more like the sky had suddenly become overcast, painting everything with a gray tone.

Turning around to exit the park, Shinji hit his head hard against something. Rubbing his head, he pressed his other hand forward until it came to a stop at the entrance. Taking both hands, he pressed against the invisible barrier. It wasn't solid, it had a slight give, but it was completely cutting him off from the outside.

"What they hell is going on?" Shinji muttered to himself.

Hoping that he could find a way out through another entrance, he picked up his bag and began to walk back down the path. Shinji couldn't help but feel as though he was being watched, though he could not sense anyone or anything.

He was entering the center of the park when a flash of light and a large boom caused him to fall to his knees. From deeper in the woods ahead came a giant humanoid figure. It turned towards him and began to lumber to him.

"What the hell?" Shinji cried as he scrambled to his feet.

The monster in front of him stood six feet tall, and was three feet wide at the shoulders. It's green skin glowed eerily in the darkened lighting, and its bird-like mask of a face stared blankly around. The lanky look along with its spindly limbs should have given it a funny appearance, but Shinji could feel something dark and feral emanating from it. And directly under its face, in the center of its chest was a bright red orb that gleamed with an internal light.

"Hey," a voice shouted at him from behind, "Get your head down!"

His head was already rotating around when a hand slammed into his back and forced him to the ground. With his face in the dirt, Shinji could only just see the person on top of him raising a hand towards the towering monster.

"lodernden Geist: Feuerball!"

The words that came out had an echo to it that reverberated in the air, and caused Shinji to feel as though there was an itch inside his head. From the hand that was stretched out came a ball of fire that was launched at the monster.

The attack engulfed the target, illuminating the area in a reddish hue. As he watched, he felt the person on top of him grabbed the back of his shirt, choking him as he was forced to his feet.

"Come on! That's not going to stop it for long!"

As Shinji struggled to keep up, he took notice of the girl, the voice was too pitched to be anything else. She was wearing a cloak that was tattered along the edges. Underneath came the glint of metal armor, though he wasn't sure how much there was. What really stood out was the girl's hair. It was a vibrant red, even in the dull lighting, and fluttered in the air around her head like a halo.

She made a quick turn and shouted with her free hand outstretched, "Iodern Geist: Großen Feuerball!"

This time the flame shot from her hand and went upward. She then turned and jerked Shinji's arm, forcing him to resume running. Taking the risk of looking back, he turned in time to see a massive fireball the size of a minivan come crashing from the heavens onto the target.

"Get down!"

She jerk hard on his arm and forced him to the ground. Once again, Shinji found his face being pushed into the dirt, the girl on top of him, her front pressed to his back.

This would be more enjoyable if she wasn't wearing that armor, the boy thought, his hormones running even while in a life and death situation.

Immediately came a huge wave of heat that engulfed them. The entire park became illuminated by the explosion that shook the very earth beneath him. A moment later the shockwave hit them, powerful enough to knock them over were they still standing.

Ah, he thought, his mind oddly lucid despite the insanity around him, at this point she rips my arm off in order to get me moving.

Thought became deed as he felt the back of his shirt being jerked, "Get moving. It's going to come after us soon enough."

This time, to Shinji's relief, the pace was slower, amounting to an easy jog as they moved away from the inferno. The girl seemed to be worn out from the effort of calling up so much fire, so he refrained from asking questions, thinking that this wasn't the best time to bother someone like her.

After a while, Shinji noticed that they were slowing down. The girl was gasping, her free hand clutching her side. She then took a quick turn into a stand of trees, pulling him into a crouch amongst the saplings.

Watching her gasp for breathe, he asked, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine!" she retorted sharply, "I just need a breather."

Shaking her head, she then demanded, "Forget that, who the hell are you? Which organization are you from?"

"Huh?"

"Don't you play dumb," she said angrily, "Only a mage could be in here. No mere mundane has the ability to even sense the barrier. Now tell me what is going on!"

Getting irritated by the girl's attitude, Shinji replied, "What the hell! That's what I want to know! One minute I'm walking through the park, the next I'm being dragged around like I'm in some dungeon quest."

She glared at him, looking him up and down. A look of comprehension dawned on her face. She grabbed his shirt and felt around his neck. This attention and physical contact caused Shinji to turn red in the face as she continued her search of his person. He looked into her bright blue eyes as she stared back at him with an incredulous look, and felt his heart race at the close proximity.

"Mein Gott," she muttered, "It's impossible, but here you are. That would mean-"

A rumble was all the warning they had, as something blasted over their heads, cutting the trees around them down. Before they could react, a three fingered hand reached down and grabbed the girl by the neck. The explosion had harmed it, entire sections of skin was charred black, and its face was cracked. However, it was healing at an unbelievable rate, a new face growing from underneath the broken one.

Shinji was frozen in place as he stared up at the monstrosity that was strangling the girl. It growled as it began to squeeze harder, making the girl whimper as her throat was constricted.

Before he could consider the consequences, Shinji had already charged and slammed into the attacker's legs, causing it to lose both its balance and the grip on the girl. Almost as quickly, the monster had its hand wrapped around his head, covering one of his eyes, and allowing him to watch as it grabbed his left arm.

To his horror, the arm of the monster grew thicker and bulkier. Suddenly, his mind went blank, and his vision turned white from pain. There was a ringing in his ears that he thought might have been him screaming.

He landed on his side, his arm was on fire. Through his fading eyesight he saw the girl rushing towards him. Her mouth was moving, but he couldn't hear what she might have been shouting.

Shinji's last conscious thought was, I never got to know what her name is.

TBC Next Week