Neon Genesis Evangelion:Last Chance; Once More with all Your Soul
Disclaimer: I do not own NGE or any of its characters. I am not making any money, this is just for fun.
An NGE fanfiction by Devaro Ayanami
Beta-read by SithKnight-Galen
Chapter One
I Will (NOT) Stop YouMisato slides down the elevator door after shoving Shinji inside, wishing it wasn't so cold. Slowly tilting over to land on her right shoulder, Misato begins to cry.
I wish I could've done more for you, Shinji… I wish I could've saved you from this hell on earth, that you didn't have to pilot Eva, that I could've protected you from the horrors that you had to see. I wish I could've done more for you kids. Asuka, Shinji,… Rei… forgive me…
Misato lays there, the chill fading into numbness, as the base begins to rumble. Forcing open her eyes one more time, for a moment she thinks she sees Rei, but blinks and realizes it's Kaji. As tears flow out of her eyes, Kaji reaches down to her and brushes her cheek, wiping away the tears.
A splash echoes unheard as an explosion tears through the hallway.
Misato bolts upright, sheets flying off of her. She gasps as the feeling of reality from the nightmare fades, and images and echoes of conversations from it fade as well. Kaji sits up beside her, concern on his face as he places an arm around her shoulders.
"What's wrong Misato?" he asks gently, flicking a small lamp on next to his side of the bed.
"Nothing… just a nightmare…" she replies. As he slightly tightens his one-armed hug, Misato twists towards him, tears starting to flow as she speaks, "Just… don't ever let me go… no matter what I say or do, don't give up on me… Don't leave me alone."
"shhhh. I promise." Kaji says, gently laying Misato down, and covering her with a sheet. Laying down beside her, he hears her whisper as she falls asleep, "Don't die…"
Kaji lifts a silent prayer that he can keep his promise, before turning off the lamp and falling asleep beside her.
Asuka jerks upright in her bed, disorientated. What-what just happened…? One moment she was laying down in their bed in their Tokyo-3 apartment having put the Children to bed, and suddenly she's back in her room in Germany.
I have to find out what's going on… I will NOT fail the ones that need me! Looking beside herself at the now narrow mattress, Asuka hopes the four people she cares about most are safe.
Rei's eyes snap open and she bolts upright, only to fall back as dizziness overtakes her. Forcing herself back up, she glances around the room, instantly recognizing it as her old apartment. How did I get back to this place? Where is Kaworu? And Shinji-kun and Asuka-chan?
A quick search of the small apartment reveals only what she had thought far behind her: A bare, one room apartment in the oldest district of Tokyo-3. A place she thought behind her when Kozo had her moved to better care for Shinji.
I must find them again. I will NOT remain alone!
Kaworu opens his eyes and finds himself in a tank of LCL. He can feel the eyes of a few of the old men of Seele outside the reach of the glow from the tank.
Old fools. They have no hope at all for this world. The world will follow only one person's destiny, and he is not among them.
Feeling them leave the room and again leave him alone within the tank, Kaworu tries to feel Her AT Field nearby, but finds only the old men and their guards.
I will reach them, one way or another. But this time, I will NOT give in!
Lilith's double straightens up, looking down at Misato's empty, blood-stained and LCL soaked uniform with saddened eyes, the sound of the elevator's descent flowing in the background amongst gun-fire and explosions.
"It's alright… soon all will be made right."
Rei jumps as the voice of Adam's double, Kaworu, echoes silently behind her. Turning about she sees no one, only the blast scorched corridor.
"Will it be soon enough?" she asks the air before feeling herself being pulled, summoned, to a place high above her, beyond even the ceiling of the geofront.
Kaji stamps the brakes, then presses down on the accelerator, drifting around another corner. Maneuvering the blue Renault Alpine like a maniac, Kaji hopes he reaches the station before Shinji leaves, either on a train or on foot. Racing around another corner, he also hopes he doesn't damage Misato's car as he dodges a badly parked pick-up truck.
Glancing out the passenger window, he sees several blasts, and realizes the Angel is already in the city. Racing down another street, Kaji spots a young boy jump away from the road and he slams on his brakes, turning the wheel and spinning to a halt facing back the way he had just come. Lowering the window, Kaji leans his head out.
"Hey! Shinji?! Get in! We gotta get outta here fast!!" he yells, revving the Alpine's engine and glancing quickly in the direction of another series of explosions.
"R-right!" Shinji yells back startled, running for the passenger door. Reaching the car, he jerks the door open and leaps in, slamming it behind him as Kaji steps on the gas and races down the street, putting in a call for a vehicle lift.
As they race through Tokyo-3's streets several missiles flash by overhead, blazing around buildings and slamming into the Angel.
"Whoa!!! That didn't even scratch it!" Shinji yells, looking through his window at the Angel as it rounds the corner, then yelps as Kaji drifts the car around another corner and narrowly avoids being stepped on by the Angel. Seeming frustrated, the Angel brings up its hand and fires its arm-spike, again narrowly missing the car.
Rounding another building, Kaji spots the lift, ready and waiting patiently for its cargo. Flooring the accelerator, Kaji jams on the brakes right before entering the lift, barely stopping short of the back wall. The lifts doors slam shut and they feel like the floor has dropped out from under them as the lift begins its high speed descent into the Geofront, followed by a blast overhead.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Kaji leans back in the seat and relaxes for a moment. Shinji, however, has ideas other than relaxing.
"Sir… What exactly was that thing?"
"That," Kaji says, opening his eyes and looking at Shinji, "is what we have codenamed an Angel. An extremely powerful entity from somewhere that comes for only one thing: the death of the whole of humanity."
"Angel?! How would it kill all of us? Why is it here?" Shinji blurts out, shocked by this revelation.
"Those are questions I can't answer," Kaji says frowning, then turns to glance at Shinji, "But we have a way to fight them…"
"How?" Shinji says, then frowns and looks away out the window to watch the lift walls flash by, "Is that why I'm here? Has my father only called for me because he found a use for me?"
Kaji winces as he remembers what he read in Shinji's file, knowing that there was little love lost between the two. Reaching into the glove-compartment in front of Shinji, Kaji removes a plain tan book with the Nerv logo on its front, and hands it to the boy.
"Read this, it's got most of what you need to know for now. Afterwards, if you end up piloting, I'll tell you what I know of what that book doesn't talk about. Oh, and get your ID badge out."
Nodding grimly, Shinji takes the book and pulls a letter with a card attached out of his small bag, but before he can open it, they drop out of the tunnel and into the open air of the Geo-front, racing down the rails towards a building set behind a pyramid. Shinji plants his hands on the window, drinking in the sight of the forests bathed in golden light from the Geo-front ceiling.
"Wow! A real Geo-front!" Shinji gasps, and Kaji chuckles, glad the boy does appear to still be a child at heart. Shinji turns back to Kaji, a frown creasing his brow, "Is this Nerv? This is where my father works?"
"It is. He's the commander, actually." Kaji says, and the vehicle lapses back into silence.
Pulling out his cellular as he and Shinji get out of the car in the underground garage, Kaji dials the bridge. Waiting for one of the bridge crew to pick-up, he leads Shinji off down a corridor. Hearing the other end pick-up, he starts speaking. "Hey, I'll need Dr. Akagi in Cage 7 in about five minutes. Tell her I've got the back-up."
"What, no good afternoon for me, Kaji-kun?" Ritsuko says on the other end.
"Oh, hey Rits. I was expecting Makoto or Aoba to pick-up. Tell Katsuragi I said hi. Meet ya in Unit-01's cage in a bit."
"Misato is-" whatever Ritsuko was going to say is cut-off by Kaji quickly hanging-up. Turning to Shinji, he finds the boy studying the book, confusion and determination mixing on his face.
"Unidentified Object is still approaching. Visual of the target has been obtained." Bridge-Tech Shigeru Aoba states calmly, "Transferring to projector."
The massive form of the third Angel, Sachiel, flashes into the air in front of the bridge tower. Explosions ripple across it, but not even a scorch mark appears on its scale and bone hide.
"The Target remains intact. It is continuing to move into the Central District." another Bridge-Tech, Makoto Hyuga, announces, followed by the UN and JSSDF commanders yelling back and forth to direct more weapons and force against the monster on the projection. Down on the lower level, Ritsuko and Misato watch the military make a fool of itself.
"If we know they can't hurt it, why do we even bother letting them try? It's just getting good soldiers killed!" Misato says, turning towards her college friend.
"Because they won't believe us until they've tried everything but us. You know that." Ritsuko replies, appearing absolutely bored. Misato snorts and walks toward the blast doors leading off the bridge. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to wait for Kaji in the Cage. he should be here soon unless he got lost." She then steps through the doors. As they close behind her the phone built into the counter near Ritsuko begins ringing. Ritsuko answers it, then smirks slightly as she listens to the person on the other end.
"What, no good afternoon for me, Kaji-kun?" Ritsuko says.
"Oh, hey Rits. I was expecting Makoto or Aoba to pick-up. Tell Katsuragi I said hi. Meet ya in Unit-01's cage in a bit." Kaji says, his chagrin at finding he was talking to the person he needed obvious in his voice.
"Misato is-" whatever Ritsuko was going to say is cut-off by Kaji quickly hanging-up, "Typical Ryoji Kaji. Oh well, he'll find out when he gets there." Hanging up, she heads down to the Cage.
Misato walks at a brisk pace through the corridors, taking elevators and escalators as needed, heading straight for Evangelion Cage-7, knowing she will find Shinji Ikari, the young boy from her dream, no, nightmare back in college.
Maybe meet him for the second time… Misato steps into the last elevator between her and the place where her dreams say it all started. Why did Sachiel get here so quickly? He should be slower… shouldn't he…?
Shinji follows Kaji up to a door labeled 'Cage 07' and pauses beside him as Kaji puts a hand on his shoulder.
"Shinji, I'll back you up on whatever you decide, but give Rit's a chance to explain, 'kay?" Kaji says, hoping Shinji at least pilots this first time, and give him a chance to get here, and for Rei to heal.
"I will, Kaji-san. If only to give my father a chance to talk to me as well…" so saying, Shinji reaches out and push the open button.
The door slid open to reveal a catwalk out over a clear, purple-pink liquid, and two women standing in the middle facing something on Shinji's right. The nearer one, a black, almost purple-haired woman in a red Nerv officer's jacket turns to them. Shinji recognizes her as Misato Katsuragi, the one from the photo she and the man Kaji had sent so he would recognize them when they came to pick him up at the train station. Shinji steps out onto the catwalk and turns to see what they were looking at, and finds a huge scowling head staring back at him.
"What is that?!?" Shinji yells, taking in its shape and color while Kaji steps up behind him and the officer walks up to him with the other woman, a blond in a lab coat and skirt, following.
"This is Man's multi-purpose, humanoid fighting machine: Evangelion." the blond says, "Specifically, Unit-01. Built in secret, it's our last defense against the Angels."
"So… did my father work on this too?" Shinji asks, turning to look at her, and noticing Kaji and Misato moving to the door opposite the one he and Kaji came in through.
"That is correct." Gendo's voice booms down from overhead speakers, and Shinji jerks his head up to spot his father in the control room above Unit-01's head, "It has been a long time."
"Why did you call me here?" Shinji yells, "Is it just for this-this thing?"
"We're moving out." Gendo says, seeming to be ignoring Shinji's question, and drawing a gasp from the woman now seeming to be arguing with Kaji.
"Move out?! But Rei is in the hospital, and Unit-00 is in cryo-freeze!" the purple haired woman yells up at Gendo as she and Kaji walk over to the boy, "You don't mean you're actually going to use Shinji in Unit-01?!?"
***
"That's why he's here, Misato." Ritsuko says, and Shinji silently watches them argue over his fate.
"But it took Rei seven months to reach activation levels! He's never even seen one until now!" Misato yelled back at her. She couldn't believe it. It was almost exactly like in her nightmares.
"He only has to sit in the chair, we don't expect anything more." Ritsuko sighs in exasperation, "Beside, he's the only one capable. Stopping the Angel is the top priority."
"Just this first time, Katsuragi. Then we'll see what can be done." Kaji whispers, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Is that why you called me here? Just to pilot this thing?!" Shinji demands, shock and hurt clear on his face and in his voice as he glares up at his father in stunned betrayal, "Why would you do this to me?"
"For the same reason your thinking I brought you here for." Gendo calmly stated, and Misato felt her blood boil at his total lack of caring for his son.
"Because… you have a use for me?!?" Shinji demanded incredulously, voicing the fear that had been nagging at the back of his mind, "I won't! Why me? Get someone else to do it!"
"You are the only one who can, Shinji-kun." Misato says states, and his gaze snaps to her, "Nerv only has two Pilots: Rei is the first, and in the hospital; the Second is in Germany, too far to get here in time."
Gendo frowns, Misato saying what he had been going to, as Shinji jerks his gaze back to his father.
"How can I? I've never seen or heard this thing before!"
"Listen to her explanation." Gendo says calmly.
"I can't do this!" Shinji yells, his body radiating anger, terror, and hurt.
"If you're going to at least try, stop wasting time. Otherwise, GO HOME!" Gendo's voice rises, his annoyance in Shinji just barely becoming evident. Misato, temper ready to burst, keeps from going off on the Commander only because Kaji's patient hand rested on her shoulder. The base rocks slightly, then again.
"That beast has found us." annoyance in Gendo's voice as he glances to the ceiling.
"There isn't any more time Shinji," Kaji says, stepping over to him, "Just get in, just this once."
"I can't, not after coming here." Shinji turns his face away from Kaji staring in the liquid.
"Why did you come here? Don't run away from him or yourself." Kaji says frowning.
"I don't think I can do it." Shinji says, fearfully.
"Fuyutsuki… wake up Rei." Gendo says, then pauses as he waits for a reply, "She isn't dead yet." Misato's expression become one of horror as she realizes what is happening.
"Rei?" Gendo says, again pausing as he waits for her to reply, "The back-up is useless. You will have to Pilot." Shinji continues to stare at the ground.
"Reconfigure Unit-01 for Rei! Reboot the OS!" Ritsuko yells, turning away from the boy as she begins preperations for launching Unit-01 with Rei.
"Shinji…" Misato starts to say, but is cut-off by the opening of the doors to the Eva's right, and she, Shinji, and Kaji watch as Rei is wheeled out on a medical cart. Misato and Kaji walk away from him, clearing a space for the bed. Her anger at Gendo slowly changing into hate at how he is using Rei to get Shinji to Pilot.
Rei slowly sits up, pain coating her face and slipping from between her lips in small gasps and moans. Just as she pauses, the base rocks violently, knocking everyone off their feet and tipping the bed over. Misato slams into Kaji and both fall to the ground, Kaji barely keeping her from falling into the liquid, and they hear the loud clanging of steel as it hits. Looking up Misato see the Eva's hand over Shinji, Rei, and the crashed bed frame. Misato staring as the first part of her nightmare continues right before her waking eyes.
Shinji stares in shock at the massive hand hovering over him, a hand which had sheltered him from the falling beam. Hearing a gasp near his right, his gaze turns and lands on the girl which had fallen from the medical bed. He gets up and quickly moves to her, carefully lifting her up and holding her.
Shinji feels a warm wetness on his right hand under her waist, and pulls it out to see blood now lightly staining his palm. He swings his gaze over to the Eva, it's eye seeming to look at him expectantly, and jerks his gaze back to Rei and clinches his eyes shut.
Don't run away, don't run away, "Don't run away, Don't run away."
Fighting thru the pain as Shinji keeps her from collapsing completely back onto the ground, Rei tried to focus on his eyes, to give him a faint smile of re-assurance.
"I believe you can protect us, Shinji-kun." She says to him, her voice full of pain, bit still containing a hint of confidence. Shinji's eyes widen in surprise when she uses his name.
Seeing Shinji's eyes become determined as he looks back up to where his father is standing, Rei whispers almost to herself, "It's what mother would've wanted for her son."
Shinji just barely hears this, but files it away in his mind to ask her about later.
"I'll do it!" he yells, fear and determination in his voice, his eyes set, "I'll Pilot it!"
AN: This, as you may have guessed, is indeed linked to both I'm Needed and To Raise Lilium. I've read several re-start fics, all but Re-Take in Devaro Ayanami's Fav stories, and haven't seen any re-re-take. So, I thought I'd try it out, and see what people have to say.