Note from CFK: Thanks to urging from Caudimordax, I'm starting the story more or less from scratch. Don't worry we'll get back to where we were soon enough. Thank you to all who've commented! Keep it up!
"Shinji!"
The Third Child awoke in an empty hospital room. It was all white here, and for just a moment Shinji could believe he was dead.
His arm. What felt like moments ago it had been broken, and now it was whole. Before, his eye had also been punctured. And yet now, he appeared to be fine.
Wait no, it wasn't him who had broken an arm and lost an eye. It had been…
The Eva.
The thought sent a jolt through his system. His memories were jumbled, and he couldn't remember just what had happened before he passed out. All he remembered clearly was pain.
After a short time, Shinji began to wonder about his whereabouts. He rose to his feet and walked to the door. The hall was empty.
"Hello?" he called.
He was in NERV's medical wing, that much was obvious, and as he thought on it, he began to remember why. His father had sent for him, and he had come, dutiful son that he was. He came, and he found war ahead. Tokyo-3 was under assault from something they called an Angel. A beautiful woman named Misato Katsuragi brought him to NERV HQ so he could… could…
"Why did you bring me here?"
"Because I have a use for you."
Shinji did the best he could to shake his father's voice from his head and went about wandering the halls. The place was very large, empty, and difficult to navigate. Not that the last part mattered much. Shinji didn't know where he wanted to go anyway. Outside, into Tokyo-3? He would hardly know his way around, and the large portion he fought in last night would likely be a wasteland. Back to the Eva cages? He had nothing but bad memories and dread for that place. He would not be remiss if he never saw it again.
After a time, Shinji realized there was a solitary sound in this place. The steady beeping of a heart monitor. He seemed to be drawing nearer to it. Ready to learn what he was supposed to be doing, Shinji sped up a bit, and promptly slowed down again.
For whatever reason, running brought to mind a different time of running. Running he had been a part of, yet no in control of. Running, not away from, but towards something awful in the hope self preservation. Shinji did all he could not to understand what he was thinking.
Ikari rounded the corner and found himself in front of the room he had sought. Hooked to the monitor which had attracted him was a girl. She was pale and covered in bandages, one of which obscured an eye. She looked like she might be Shinji's age. Both the monitor and her current position suggested she was asleep.
He recognized her. She was the other pilot. The "First Child." His father had wheeled her out in order to guilt Shinji into piloting Unit-01. She had been just as hurt as she was now, and may have attained some additional minor injuries when an Angel born tremor knocked her to the ground.
Shinji walked into the room. "H-hello? I'm sorry to wake you, Miss…"
She woke up. She blinked her good eye and turned towards Shinji, sitting up in the process.
He stopped speaking.
There was something wrong. That wasn't just her face, that was someone else's face. He had seen it before, it had blinked at him. The window. More than that. The other face. It chased him. It wanted something, maybe something in him.
Was it there? Was it still in there, his head, now?
He stepped back.
"No, please-please don't. I don't know who you are just leave- leave me alone. Please. Please!"
Ikari tripped out of her room, facing her the whole time so as to avoid a surprise attack. He was yelling now, screaming for her to leave him be, apologizing for something. Soon he couldn't understand the words coming from his mouth. The girl sat in her bed and watched him as her monitor continued its steady reports.
Nurses and orderlies emerged from the hidden crannies of the building, and suddenly a great number of hands were pulling at him, taking him somewhere. Unfortunately, Shinji's mind was elsewhere now. He fought them bitterly, trying to escape the clutches of a foe who was not there.
And yet still it spoke.
Shinji please listen.
Love.
"You mustn't run away."
Leave him alone!
"Just focus on walking for now."
You don't know me anymore, do you?
"All you need to do is sit down."
He didn't even feel the needle.
Shinji came to in another hospital room. This one wasn't empty. Misato stood at his bedside. "Hey kid. Heard you gave the staff a hard time."
"Umm, sorry."
He tried to get up, but found he couldn't. His hands and feet had been strapped to the bed. After struggling for a second, he shrunk back down with a sigh. Misato restrained herself from laughing, but didn't offer to help.
"Co- Could you untie me please?"
"We~eell, since you asked so nicely…." Captain Katsuragi stooped down and began unfastening his restraints. "Just promise not to hit me or anything, 'kay?"
He nodded mutely. Once she was finished, he got up and rubbed his wrists as they left.
They walked in silence for awhile. Shinji felt that was for the best. Misato, on the other hand, seemed unnerved.
"So, how are you feeling?"
"...I'm fine."
She let it drop and they didn't speak again for some time after.
They came to an elevator. Misato hit the up button. The doors soon opened, revealing Director Rokubungi.
Misato made a move to enter, until she noticed Shinji wasn't. He and his father were both staring at the ground. So she waited for the elevator to close, ushering Gendo off, before trying a different elevator.
The Captain did not understand that little encounter, but Shinji did all too well. Regardless how the mission went, regardless what had become of the Angel and the Eva, the truth remained. Shinji had failed.
Misato's cell phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Hey, I heard you retrieved the Child. How's he doing?" asked Ritsuko.
"Allegedly? Fine." Misato replied. "By the way, where exactly am I taking him? So far I've just been walking to my office."
"... No one told you?"
"No, but you're about to. Fess up!"
"Well, about that. Originally the people in charge of accommodations just assumed he would be bunking with the Director. For whatever reason that fell through. After that, we toyed with stationing him in the barracks, but that was also decided against. Like Rei, he needs a life beyond work with kids his own age to function in the need capacity. So… We've made a temporary decision."
"I'm holding my breath here."
"He's staying with you."
"WHAT?" Misato fought the urge to reach through her phone and punch the doctor in the face. "You can't be serious. A kid, with me?!"
"It isn't like you don't already have pets," said Ritsuko. "Besides, you've met the kid. I doubt he will make too much of a nuisance of himself."
That's true,thought Misato, taking a look at the Child in question. He looked exhausted. His eyes were hollow and his shoulders slumped. He didn't even seem to be taking much notice of his de facto guardian. He just stared into space, either deep in thought or complete absence of it.
"Alright, I guess this will be fine for now." she said. "And don't worry, I promise not to put "The Moves" on the kid."
"OF COURSE YOU WON'T! FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE MISATO I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS-"
Captain Katsuragi pulled the phone away from her face, wincing at the damage already done to her ear drums.
"Jeez, some people just can't take a joke."
"Welcome to your new home, Shinji!"
The Third Child looked around and nodded noncommittally. The place was a pig sty, and hardly seemed to warrant Misato's emphusiasm, but it was as good as any other place would be. At least it was far from Unit-01.
Misato found his continued lack of reaction troubling. She'd tried multiple times to snap him out of this funk, but he had just nodded or said something monosyllabic. It was unsettling to say the least.
"This is the fridge, feel free to eat anything in it. But don't open the bottom portion without knocking. That's where our other roommate stays."
"Understood." He chose not to mention the fact that the top part of the fridge seemed to be filled with beer and microwave rice, it would have to suffice. As for the roommate, she clearly wanted him to ask and would soon explain further without prompting.
Shinji, for his part, was still grossly distracted by the turmoil within his skull. He could feel movement in there. That was the best way he describe it to himself. Something moving about, muddling his thoughts, making it so much harder to focus on anything.
It was something about the Eva, he knew that. Why else would it have come with no bidding, just spontaneously forming with his thoughts? And why would the thought of even seeing Unit-01 again fill him with such dread?
"So, would like to have dinner now?"
Ikari shrugged. "If you want to."
"Well, I think I would! So, how about you go freshen up while I get to work?"
"... "Freshen up"?"
"Yep. Bathrooms over there."
Evidently she wanted him to run a bath. Might as well.
Shinji approached the bathroom and opened the door with some hesitance. It was clear from his guardian's impish expression that she had something "amusing" lined up for him there, and judging from her reaction towards his bondage, her fun might be less enjoyable for him.
"SQUARK!"
Yes, there was a penguin in the bathroom.
Shinji gave hot springs penguin a cold stare, and it eventually waddled off, feeling rather embarrassed.
The water was warm, but not especially comforting. Shinji's worst memories always seemed to find him in the bath.
When he'd lost control back there, after the Angel had taken his Eva's eye, he hadn't just been in the cockpit anymore. It felt as though his mind had split in two. Part of him had been trapped in the control plug, watching the horror unfold. The other part… It had been taken somewhere else.
You don't remember me, do you?
Love.
Shinji found himself shivering, despite the warm water. He got out as soon as possible.
The Ikari boy made it through dinner with little commit in it's inadequateness. He said good night to Misato and went to bed.
He soon found it little better than the bath. Even in sleep he could escape the horror NERV had planted inside his own mind. So he got out his SDAT. As always, tracks 25 and 26 eased his mind, though less than usual. That was to be expected. Before, he had used it to avoid thinking about his parents. Now, he didn't know what thoughts he was avoiding.
Eventually, he drifted off to sleep.
"You musn't run away."
Misato stared at Shinji's door. She knew she should go in there and say something to him. Tell him about how'd saved lives. About what a brave thing he had done. About how she understood how he felt about his father.
But she kept thinking about his blank stare. How far away, and almost alien he had seemed. Maybe she'd appeared the same way, once they found her after Second Impact. Somehow, she felt this was still different.
So she didn't go into his room. She went to bed and followed suit on trying not to think about things that were.
Dr. Akagi stared at the CAT scan. As the head of Project E, she kept an eye on all three Children. She knew everything there was to know about them. This included their mental stability, their health, and their family life. There were also things about them only she and the Director knew. The CAT scan results were one of them.
"Yes sir, he's already showing signs of contamination."
"Already? Hmm, how odd," said Gendo. "It took months for the Soryu girl to reach that point. We'll need to keep an eye on him.
"Make me a file on everything we know about my son. The Council will require a review."
"Understood sir."