A/N: This is totally my first ever fanfiction story. Hope you like it!

Chapter 1

Memories

"Instrumentality had failed- "

"Our plans have been thwarted by that rascal Gendo and his idiot son."

"The only source of utopia, the one possibility of human evolution -"

"Maybe it was all for the good."

"Whose good?! Mankind? Or Ikari?"

"This cannot be accepted."

"There is only one course of action. Ikari and his son must be destroyed."

The alarm bell rang. Outside, the cicadas continued with their eternal symphony. It was a beautiful day.

Waking up was the worst. Shinji rubbed his eyes and stared at the ceiling fan. Some part of him longed for some other life, away from NERV, away from the Angels, away from...

"Baka Shinji! Stop jerking off and get up will you? We'll be late!"

Right, school. School was okay, really.

Shinji quickly showered, brushed, dressed and packed his bag. Asuka had already left without him, and that made him feel quite relieved frankly - at least he didn't have to put up with her on the way. He checked if he had forgotten anything - not that it really mattered, but at least it gave him the comfort of routine.

Just before he left, he gave a last look at the door.

I wish Misato-san was here.

He walked through the streets, past electric poles, abandoned buildings, trees and lakes. Tokyo 3 had become, in effect, desolate as the previous incarnations of Tokyo - but the few who remained here helped it limp on.

The trees had started growing back, along with the farmlands. There were no indications of what happened the last year - the attack on Geofront, the failed Instrumentality, the monstrous Eva series. No major indications at least. A daytime moon was rising in the sky - and if you looked carefully, you could see what looked like a bloody scar across its face.

Shinji went to school because staying home with his memories was far too difficult. There were people to distract him at school.

He entered the classroom, where Asuka was already there, talking very loudly. The class had shrunk. But Shinji couldn't help noticing a new face, a familiar new face - someone who he thought was dead, someone who he had killed. Shinji looked at him and sunk to his seat, sighing.

I don't care, and he's not real.

I don't know even if my memory of him is a real person. He betrayed me and liked me. It hurts, hurts, hurts.

He could be killed a thousand times and there will still be spares. That's so weird. The dead should remain dead.

The JDS Kongo - a destroyer for the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force - circled the waters some hundred kilometers off Izu islands . It was a standard UN peacekeeping operation, making sure that the uneasy balance of powers between SEELE, NERV and the Japanese military didn't descend into conflict...again.

At this moment though, the above three were the least of anyone's worries.

"My God, are you sure about this? It does not show up on SONAR."

"We just confirmed the spectroscopic analysis for the third time, Commander. We wanted to be sure."

"And…?" whispered the Commander, dreading the answer.

"Pattern blue."

This world has changed. Shinji, I may not be the person you met. But you Lilims are so fascinating, unlike us. So worthy of affection.

I hate that I have to kill you.