Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion or any of its characters. GAINAX does. So put those lawsuits down and we can talk
"Dialogue"
[Thoughts]
Unintended Consequences 00: The Beginning of The End
The scourges passed, and the world shrinks,
There will be peace for a time,
One will travel safely by air, land and through the sea and waves,
And the First Messenger will be found,
The seekers will awaken him,
Seeking knowledge that which is beyond their ken,
And the Messenger's awakening cry will be heard,
Will roll end over end, sinking great nations,
Bringing blood, plague, hunger, fire and maddening thirst,
And with his cry, the Messiahs will arrive,
Untainted, pure and innocent,
There will be not one, but three Messiahs,
The Messiah of the past,
Young in body but ancient in soul,
The Messiah of the present,
Fiery in body and spirit,
The Messiah of the future,
Fractured in soul but purest of the three,
Guard well the Messiahs,
For they hold the keys to the future,
Only they will decide,
The fate that mankind will receive,
Destruction eternal,
Or salvation.
Excerpt from the Dead Sea scrolls. 51st stanza
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GEHRIN Genesis Research Center, Secondary Control Center
September 20th 2005, 11:35 AM
Research centers are generally not places where one would expect to find young children wandering about unsupervised. This was even more so for the GEHRIN Genesis Research Center where controversial research took place and secrets were kept with deadly seriousness. And yet, a 4 year old boy with brown hair and cobalt eyes freely wandered within the room, his eyes taking in sights never meant for the outside world. He would have continued in his explorations had he not accidentally bumped into an elderly man dressed in a white coat that depicted his position as one of the scientists within the facility.
Surprise flashed across Kouzou Fuyutsuki's face as he blinked, not quite sure if his eyes were telling him the truth and his mind was playing tricks on him. [What are you doing here?]. He was about to voice his unspoken question had he not been interrupted by the appearance of a woman in her late 20s wearing a lab coat, waving towards the child.
"There you are Shinji-chan! I've been looking for you; don't wander off without mother anymore ok?" her voice taking on an admonishing tone as she hugged the boy close.
Oblivious to the questioning gaze the elderly researcher was directing towards the woman, the child responded, his face unabashed at the admonition. "Hai mother, I was just looking."
"What is he doing here Yui? You know this is not the place for young children, especially more so with the coming experiment." The elderly researcher tried to put as much severity into his voice as possible but only succeeded in sounding exasperated.
"I'm sorry Fuyutsuki-sensei but I wanted to show my son the future that we are building here. And besides, the babysitter called in sick today and our neighbors are on vacation so I couldn't leave him alone in the house." She replied, her tone taking on the whimsical pleading tone that she knew he could not resist.
Knowing that the battle was lost, he sighed. "Since when have I been able to deny you anything? Just make sure he doesn't disturb anyone alright?"
She smiled. "Don't worry sensei, I won't let him get into any trouble"
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To the researchers clustered around the observation box, this was the moment of truth. Resting in its hanger, stood a purple behemoth known to them as the test type Evangelion Unit-01. Restrained by various bolts and gantries, it awaited its pilot and its maiden activation. Among the viewers who stood in the observation box was the same brown haired child. Waving to his mother on the other side of the observation glass as she strode on the gantry towards Unit-01 clad in a form fitting plug suit. Turning around to face her child, she waved in return as she entered the entry plug. Almost immediately, the hatch closed, sealing the woman inside as the plug was lifted into the air and inserted into the back of the behemoth's neck. It was at that point where the hubbub of the technicians rose in volume as they began reporting the status of the experiment.
"Plug lock in procedure complete. Initiating first level interface, flooding entry plug."
"Main power connected! All circuits fully functional! Initiating power up sequence!"
"A10 synapses operating within normal limits! First contact all clear! Now opening reciprocal circuits!"
"Now passing borderline circuit in 3...2...1. Borderline circuit passed. The unit is now active."
Cheers erupted at this announcement. Some of the gathered researchers shook hands while others patted their colleagues on the back. This happy mood was not shared by one technician though, who noticed with increasing alarm that one of his readings were climbing exponentially without signs of stabilizing.
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As LCL flooded the entry plug, Yui felt her stomach turn. Even though she had grown accustomed to the coppery smelling liquid during her days in the immersion tanks, she had never been able to suppress the nausea whenever she smelled or tasted it. A slight smile graced her features. [Shinji, you may not understand now, but perhaps one day you will. Please...... be strong.]
As the final connections were made, the liquid seemingly vanished in a burst of color. Placing a hand on the plug walls, her face gentle, Yui whispered, her voice so soft that the audio pickups embedded in the plug registered nothing. "Good morning young one. Together, let us protect humanity and give them a bright future." Almost at once a strong sensation of hollowness, longing and need overwhelmed her senses, so strong, that she could feel herself being drawn into that infinite emptiness. Gasping slightly at the mental assault, she braced herself for what she knew would come.
As her sense of self began to erode, she held onto the image of her smiling child. [I will protect you Shinji ...always.]
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Back up in the observation deck, panic reigned among the staff. Orders were snapped out and hands raced across consoles in their haste to follow.
"Suspend all contacts! Close circuits 04 to 25!"
"Signal rejected! It's not working! Contact with the entry plug has been lost"
"Abort test! Cut power!"
A smash of glass, a button pressed, and with a roar of explosive pins, an oversized plug was ejected from the back of the EVA unit.
"The unit has switched to emergency power! 26 seconds until battery failure!"
"Cathexis, Destrado, have gone through the safety limit. The signal is not stabilizing!"
"Emergency eject of the plug!"
"It's not working! The plug is rejecting all signals! Attempting to......wait! Synchronization levels have dropped to 0%! All activity within the unit has come to a complete halt!"
"Entry plug communications protocols now reinitializing... reestablishing contact with entry pl... oh....Kami-sama!!"
As the visual data was transmitted to the overhead monitors, the staff fell into a shocked silence. Displayed among the monitors was the cockpit of the entry plug where not more than 4 minutes ago, a young woman had entered with a cheery wave, except this time, there was no woman, only her empty plug suit floating within the LCL filled plug. The only exception to the silence was the tear filled voice of a frightened child, asking for his mother, begging for her return.
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Osaka Central Train station, 8 days later
Farewells are not uncommon at train stations where friends, family and colleagues would bid farewell to their loved ones and associates. However, this particular farewell between the father and tearful son was unlike any that the passerby's had ever witnessed.
"Go to the Hokage family home. You know how to get there; they will take care of you now." The short clipped instructions were delivered by the bearded man with no emotion, bare of any inflection that made it human. Finished with his message, he turned his back and began walking to the waiting train.
Flinching slightly at the cold tone the boy looked at his father, anger temporarily supplanting the grief on his face, "Why are you leaving father? Why are you going away?" His hand began to clench and relax itself. [Why are you leaving me?]
No answer came forth from the man as the boy continued to question his retreating back. None came until he was seated within a private room on the train as it accelerated away from the station. Even then, the answer was only heard in the echoes of his mind. [You may yet serve my purposes boy, but until then, I have no need of useless things.]
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Hokage Family Residence, Miyagi Prefecture, April 17th 2008
As far as guest rooms went in the Hokage Home, it was sparsely furnished. A bed, a closet and little else graced the cramped room but the 7 year old child didn't mind. He had long since adjusted to the cramped quarters and he didn't have that many possessions to take up room anyway. The only real possession he had aside from the clothes he wore was his mother's SDAT player, a relic of happier times. He often questioned himself on why he kept it. It represented the pain of loss he had felt nearly 3 years ago. And yet it was his only link to her. No pictures had remained after the funeral, whether thrown away or destroyed, he did not know. Every time he listened to the haunting classical melodies recorded on the machine, he felt calm, soothed. As if the music itself could take him away, back through the years, to happier times. Times where pain and loneliness were only words, not the daily experience he faced every time he woke up.
Mostly ignored by his foster family, he had begun taking cello lessons in school, immersing himself in the music for hours, letting the melody soothe his mind. [Father....its been so long since I've seen you, why did you leave me behind? Was......was I unwanted?]
"Shinji! Come on out to the back of the house, we want to show you something."
Broken from his brooding by the voice of his 'uncle', Shinji rose from his bed, puzzled at the unexpected call. None of the Hokage family ever talked to him unless it was absolutely necessary. He wasn't kept worried long as he was met them at the back of the house.
"Shinji, take a look over there."
Following his uncle's pointed finger, Shinji noticed a peculiar structure out among the trees. Slightly larger than a shed, it had windows and apparently, curtains as well. He was about to go closer to see inside when his aunt spoke. "You're going to be in junior high next year. We thought you might want your own room so........"
Her smiling husband finished for her. "We built one in the garden just for you". The smile never reached his eyes. "Now you can study without being interrupted."
"Thanks.......thank you uncle, thank you auntie"
Polite words, but to Shinji, they were a matter of rote, mechanical and without feeling. The Hokage's never heard his next whispered words, or the pain they held. "I'll study hard....I'll study by myself."
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Osaka Municipal Junior High School, August 18, 2009
For the young children of Osaka, school was a place where social gatherings took place alongside dreary education. They would get together, make friends and learn the social skills that would later help them cope with the world and the problems that 2nd impact had left behind. Occasionally, there would be an introvert who would socialize less and have a small circle, if any at all, of friends. Typically, those friends would be the type who didn't discourage easily and persevered in breaking the introverts out of their shell. In the case of the Nekoma Municipal Junior High School however, there was an exception to the rule. This exception came in the form of an 8 year old boy with brown hair and sad, soulful, cobalt eyes.
Introverted and timid, Shinji's nature would have frustrated a good many would-be friends. The reason why he had no friends at all was that no-one had attempted to understand him in the first place due to his background, or lack thereof. Arriving in Osaka and subsequently abandoned by his father mere minutes later had generated a bizarre curiosity regarding the reasons for his abandonment. Lacking in hard facts, the local community had created a great many speculations; none of them coming close to the truth and all of them judging either parent or child harshly. Shinji had heard a great many of the whispered comments but he no longer shed any tears over it. It was as if he had none left to shed.
Shinji suppressed a sigh as the dismissal bell rang. It was raining again and without an umbrella, he would be drenched. The other students, those with umbrellas or other means of remaining relatively dry, had already departed in a mass exodus, easily ignoring the solitary boy as they had done so for several years. With the music room under renovations, he couldn't wait out the rain by playing the cello either. Lacking any other destination, he decided to make his way home. [Its not like they would care anyway as long as I don't get their things wet.]
Before Shinji had traveled more than a block away from school, he was already drenched to the bone by the increasingly heavy rain, his striped shirt and drawstring shorts thoroughly soaked, his hair plastered to his face. Cold and wet, he decided to take a shortcut along a river, a route he normally avoided due to the refuse and associated smells found along the riverbank. 2nd impact may have come and decimated humanity, but their garbage would always find its way to places they weren't meant to be. Fortunately, the rain managed to keep most of the smell down. He had passed by one pile of discarded furniture under a bridge when something within the heap caught his eye. It was a bicycle, a little battered, but apparently still usable.
[A bicycle, here? Looks like it was thrown away]. Of its own, his hand began reaching towards it. [It would be nice to have one..... but... uncle may disapprove] he stopped himself, his hand inches away from the handlebars. Fear over being disapproved off or rejected warred with the practicality of having a bike. Practicality won and his hand reached out, grasping the bicycle's handlebar and pulling it from the rest of the discarded furniture. [If I keep it out of their way, they probably won't say anything.]
The bicycle proved to be a little too large for his small frame, but Shinji adjusted the seat position and found that his legs could reach the pedals without much trouble. Eager to see how the bicycle would perform, he immediately began riding it around slowly, wanting to get his balance first. Gaining in confidence as he experimented by going in a few small circles, he decided to continue practicing by riding home. He had not gone very far when a cold, authoritative voice stopped him.
"You there, hold it"
Turning around, Shinji found that the owner of that voice was a policeman, apparently on patrol.
"Is that your bike?"
Having no skills at the art of deception and being an honest person, Shinji answered with the truth. "No... but someone had thrown it away under the bridge so I..." He was cut off by the policeman who had smirked upon hearing the first word.
"It's not nice to lie"
"Honest! It's the truth!" Shinji's protestation had little effect as the officer began to advance on the boy
"Is that so?" The smirk grew into a predatory grin "Let's have a talk at the station"
Before he could reach out to the boy, a testy voice cut through the air, freezing the officer in place.
END OF PROLOGUE
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A/N: The settings for the prologue were mostly borrowed from the manga and with the exception of the final part, as close to the original as possible. It had occurred to me that only a truly unusual set of circumstances (unless he lived out in the boonies) could have kept young Shinji so isolated that nobody would have tried to reach out to him. The manga helped explain that a bit. That got me thinking. How much would have changed in the show had someone actually gotten a chance to get him out of his shell or at least mature him a bit before arriving in Tokyo-3? That's what this fic is about.