Chapter 1 – Calling From the Void

Japan, 2015. A boy named Shinji Ikari was the middle of nowhere, inside a black cold void, so could he could see his breath due to the low temperature of the place. He was looking around and trying to figure out where he was while breathing heavily because of the fear he was feeling. There was a voice echoing from the darkness, a voice of a woman and it sounded a bit familiar to him. That calling was getting louder, seeming that its source was getting closer. Shinji kept looking around and when he turned around, he saw a shiny silhouette for a brief period before being overwhelmed by its light that made him cover his eyes, also feeling warm after being in contact with such radiance. Then, when he uncovered his eyes, he saw that he was on a bed in a infirmary of a location that was unknown to him. He tried getting up, but suddenly he felt pain on his skull and after touching his head, noticed that he's got some bandages on it. Frightened and confused, not knowing where he was, neither what happened, Shinji then noticed that there was someone else there, a blue haired that was unconscious and with some medical dressings as well on another bed in a deep sleep. Afterwards, someone entered the room. Were two women there with him.

- How are feeling, Shinji? – Asked Misato, being right by the side of his bed with Ritsuko, worring about his state, bending a bit towards the kid with a smile on her face.

- You know my name. How? Who are you people? Where am I? Why am I here? What's going on? – Asked Shinji to the two adults that were with him, still confused by the situation he was in.

- I'm Major Misato Katsuragi. The other is Dr. Ritsuko Akagi. This is an infirmary in the Geofront, NERV's Japanese headquarters. We just saved your life as ordered by your father. You are right under Tokyo 3. – Responded Katsuragi.

- Am I the only one you rescued? Where are my uncle and aunt? – Asked Shinji again, but he didn't get any response as the other two were quiet, just looking down and to the side, not knowing how to answer him. – No. No! – Shouted Shinji before beginning to cry, grabbing the pillow on his bed, wetting it with his tears while the sounds of his sadness were buffered by it due to the lack of response from those women, with that silence only meaning one thing, that his aunt and uncle were dead.

Thinking that nothing could be said Ritsuko redirected her attention to the other child in the infirmary, laying unconscious on another bed, and Misato came close to the boy and grabbed one of his hands with both of hers while looking at him with a tone of grief because of his situation talked:

- Look, we came to your place as fast as we could and we did our best, but by the time we got there, your loved ones have already fallen because of the angel. Please, forgive us.

- Angel? – Asked Shinji while he was still crying.

After Ritsuko was done checking on the girl, she returned to Shinji, put one of her hands on one of the boy's shoulders, she picked her smartphone and showed a photo to him of the monster attacking the place where he lived before he got into this situation and explained what was going on, being as direct as possible, as looked curiously at the other patient, Rei Ayanami.

- Shinji, we are in a really bad situation. NERV is an organization created to fight these things. See that girl there on the other bed? She did her best to hold back that monster with her Evangelion, but got really hurt on the process and…

Before Dr. Akagi could finish her talking, an alarm sounded and a quake shook the place, making Misato pick her communicator, turned around and contacted NERV's Command Center.

- What the hell was that?

- The angel was able to get through our defenses on the surface, Major. It's trying to create a way down here with its explosive power. – Answered one of her subordinates, Makoto.

After getting the message, Ritsuko immediately grabbed Shinji by his hand and rushed with him to the part of the Geofront as quickly as possible to where Unit 01 was. On the way there, she said:

- Look kid, Commander Ikari said that you are the only one capable of doing this, so please, understand what I'm going to ask you to do when we get there, ok?

Shinji just remained quiet, which made the doctor worry no only about him, but also what could happen to everyone, not only at the Geofront, but in the whole world.

After getting there while being followed by Misato, Shinji saw the Evangelion that the woman who brought him to that sector of the HQ was talking about. He got really intimidated by its imposing look and because so many things were happening at once, he couldn't process everything and come to any idea about why she made him go there.

- What the heck is this thing?! – Asked Shinji, still not understanding why he is there.

- This is Evangelion Unit 01. It is your Eva and you'll be its pilot. You'll get up there and fight the angel. You are the only one that can do it. – Replied the Doctor with a serious tone, which surprised Misato for hearing such a crazy idea from the chief scientist of NERV.

- What?! I can't! Can't you see that I'm hurt and still trying to deal with the fact that the ones who took care of me are dead because of that monster? It's the first time I look at this. I'll just screw things up! – Responded Shinji for what he was told to do, not being able to accept that they would demand him to really pilot the Eva.

- Ritsuko, are you crazy? Can't we do something else against the angel? – Said Misato, also not accepting that her colleague was really speaking those words.

- No, unless if you want the First Child dead. If we really had another way to deal with the situation I wouldn't tell a boy in Shinji's position to fight that monstrosity upstairs. This is the only logical thing to do if we have to accomplish our mission. This is our last resort and was proposed by Commander Ikari himself. – Responded Ritsuko to Misato, making the Major look in disdain to the side for being obligated to comply with this idea due to the circumstances.

- My father said that? Oh, I get it. This is why you rescued me, right? You wanted me to postpone my death to face that angel. I can't! My father is still the same. He just doesn't care about me. You… - Before finishing what he had to say, a sudden pain was felt in Shinji's head, making him stop talking and bringing him to his knees on the ground as he hold his aching skull.

Seeing him in a state like that really made Ritsuko and Misato feel bad, but then, a new shockwave came because of another big explosion generated by the angel, shaking the place and making both women fall on their butts. The tremor also made some rocks drop on Shinji's direction, making them both scream, fearing that it would be all over for him. The angel never stopped and kept on trying to create a hole so it could go down to NERV's HQ.

- Shinji! – Shouted Misato.

- No! – Exclaimed Ritsuko.

For their surprise, the Eva moved on its own and protected boy with one of its big hands. Then, while still in pain and holding his head with his eyes closed shut, the boy heard again that same voice from his dream while he was in bed calling him.

- Come, you'll be safe here.

Afterwards, he opened his eyes started staring the Eva, seeing that it saved his life. Somehow feeling a bit better after hearing that voice, having some kind of sense of security because of what that voice told the boy and how it sounded, wanting to understand what it was, he slowly got up and said:

- All right. I'll be your pilot.

Not comprehending what went through the kid's mind, Ritsuko and Misato just looked at each other, shrugged and just rolled with it because they needed him inside Unit 01. Once within the Entry Plug and with an Interface Headset, Shinji was calmly looking at the controls of the Eva and when he saw LCL flooding the inside of the device, making him a bit scared, believing that he would drown. Right after, from the command center of NERV's headquarters, the chief scientist contacted the boy, saying:

- Don't worry, kid. This fluid that looks like orange juice is called LCL. It'll transfer oxygen to your bloodstream, so don't worry. You may feel a bit uncomfortable, but you'll get used to it.

The pilot listened to the advice, but he didn't like the feeling of having this orange liquid filling his lungs. Meanwhile, Gendo, Fuyutsuki, Maya, Makoto, Shigeru, Katsuragi and Akagi were monitoring the preparations to launch the Eva to the surface to fight the angel that was trying to reach the underground.

- Do you really think he can do it? – Asked the Vice Commander to his superior.

- He's the only one that can do it. Besides, right now, he's our only chance to fight back right now. – Responded Gendo while doing his signature pose, observing his subordinates coordinating the launch of the Evangelion.

Fuyutsuki noticed that his friend was worried, so he put one of his hands on one of Ikari's shoulders and spoke:

- Don't worry, Gendo. Even though he doesn't have a clue of how to pilot the Eva, we both know that if things get tough, it will not let Shinji die.

- Synchronization at 61%. – Informed Maya to Dr. Akagi.

- Very impressive. He's not even wearing a Plug Suit. – Said the chief scientist.

- Commander, everything is prepared to launch Unit 1 to the surface. – Said Misato after turning to the Commander.

- Very well. Proceed. – Said Gendo with a stoic monotone voice.

Still with disdain on this idea, but with no choice, Misato did as ordered.

- Evangelion, launch!

After that, the Eva was going up to the surface in high speed until it reached its destination, a suburb of Tokyo 3, with the day being at dusk. With the Eva released from the elevator, Ritsuko spoke:

- Shinji, for now, try focusing on walking.

- Walking… - Whispered Shinji.

Unit 01 took the first step with no problems at all, then the second, walking perfectly. Witnessing this, the people at the Geofront were having high hopes for their new pilot, but there was a problem. The quakes ceased and the angels simply disappeared, with everyone with their eyes opened for any attack. From a distance, a giant ball was rolling on the Eva's direction from behind, it was Leliel.

- Detecting angel! It's moving to the Eva's direction! – Said Makoto.

- Shinji, look out! - Alerted Misato.

Due to that warning, Shinji got distracted and because of that, Unit 01 fell on its face and the angel passed right on it, damaging some parts of the mecha by smashing it with its weight, like it's head and back, breaking the horn and making the pilot experience the feeling of being ran over by a huge and heavy ball. The boy tried concentrating to get up and so he did. The Eva was back up to face the creature, it was gone once again, appearing floating in the sky and it quickly went down to try crushing the Evangelion by falling onto it, but fortunately, the kid was quicker and evaded being smashed by Leliel, which instead of meeting the ground, it went throw some kind of black portal, again, showing no signs of its presence. There was an atmosphere of suspense in the air, with everyone trying to guess where it would attack while doing their best to keep themselves calm, but Shinji simply wasn't able to do that and started getting nervous, screaming in fear, making the pain on his cranium to come back, and because of that, the neural synchronization percentage started dropping.

- Shinji! Please, calm down! – Said Misato to Shinji, being loud and clear.

- The Evangelion is shutting down! – Affirmed Maya.

- Detecting another portal opening right behind the Eva. – Said Makoto.

- What? – Asked Ritsuko, worried by the situation.

Behind Unit 01, another black portal was formed and then, the angel appeared right in front of the Eva. Then, Leliel sent an explosion to the mecha, making it fall back into the vortex.

- Misato! Ritsuko! Help! – Screamed Shinji through the communication channel to NERV's command center before being swallowed by the vortex, losing touch with the kid and the power cable cut when the portal was closed.

After seeing the Evangelion fall before its first battle against the first angel it ever faced, everyone was feeling hopeless, specially Gendo, believing that it was the end. The shock of seeing that made Commander Ikari break his pose, take off his glasses and put his one of on his hands on his face, trying to hold back his sadness for witnessing the demise of his son and Unit 01. The others were also hopeless, thinking that there was nothing else they could do to stop the monster, except Fuyutsuki who kept looking and called everyone's attention while pointing at the big screen in the Command Center.

- Look!

Somewhere else, Shinji was floating in some kind of limbo. He was relaxed and with his eyes closed. Meanwhile, he was monologuing while floating through the black cold void.

- Where am I? Am I dead? What is going on? It's just like that weird dream from before. Anyway, I'm alone here. It seems that the way I died would be just like as my life would be after that angel appeared, living on the way of loneliness.

By being sad for being alone in such an environment, he began crying again. Right after when he opened his eyes, Shinji saw that same shinny silhouette from before, but in that moment, it wasn't blinding him with its light like before and it hugged him, giving him a feeling of warmth, making him stop crying, but then the apparition just vanished and a voice started echoing through that emptiness, but different from before, now it was a voice of another boy.

- Shinji, go back.

- Your voice is different. Who is this? What was that bright thing that hugged me? – Asked Shinji.

- I don't know what that was, but it came along with you here. You'll know me, someday, but now is not the time for that. – Replied the mysterious voice.

- What? – Questioned the boy.

- "Time" is the keyword. Now, you have to go back. – Spoke the mysterious voice.

Before he could say anything else, Shinji started falling through the void, screaming in fear, then finding himself on a bed again, seeing Rei leaving the room. He looked to the side and he saw some flowers with a card. The kid picked up the piece of paper and read what was on it.

- "Welcome back. I hope you get well".

Afterwards, Shinji smiled for that little gesture of kindness, being grateful for the gift after all the hell he went through in just one day. Then, Misato came in, being in a good mood.

- Hey there, Shinji. How are you feeling? – Said Misato.

- My head still hurts and I'm still trying to deal with the departure of my loved ones. Aside from all that, I guess I'll be fine, I hope. – Replied Shinji.

- Well, don't worry. We'll help you. We will take care of you and help you deal with your problems, it is a promise. – Said Misato with a smile on her face and a tone of enthusiasm.

Shinji smiled back, showing he was thankful for that. Meanwhile, Ritsuko was watching the captured video of the battle between the Eva 01 and Leliel on a monitor at her room and analyzing the data gathered from the fight, trying to understand what happened. The footage showed a sequence of events that started right after Unit 01 fell through the portal, seeing the angel get slightly bigger right after and then seeing ripples on the creature's body that was immobile while floating in the air, culminating with the Evangelion bursting out of the monster with blood outpouring from it while the mecha roared, reducing the angel to pieces with its hands till it got totally got out of that creature's body and falling to the floor before Leliel blew up with an explosion shaped like a cross. The Evangelion then got up, covered in blood, turning around and destroying everything on its view, stopping going berserk only when Shinji's vital signals started showing again, right before the Evangelion's battery became powerless. Being uncomfortable with the video, Ritsuko turned her computer screen off in disgust for all that display of gore and insanity, Dr. Akagi was rubbing her eyes with the fingers of one of her hands and said:

- Christ. I need a break.

After that, she heard the sound of the ringing of her office's door, meaning that there was someone outside her office that wanted to come inside.

- Come in. – Said Ritsuko.

With her permission, Ikari came inside.

- It's me. – Spoke the Commander.

- May I help you, Gendo? – Asked Dr. Akagi.

- Well, I'm just here to thank you for taking my place to talk to my son. After all these years, I simply couldn't face him and demand him to pilot Unit 01.

- You are welcome, my dear. What about thanking me with a date, huh? Besides, how are you going to thank Misato for helping me with the favor, Rei for leaving that little gift of yours in the infirmary and both of them for saving him from the angel and bringing the boy here? – Talked Akagi.

- I'll figure it all out. I'd love to go on a date with you, but unfortunately I have work to do. I'm sorry, Ritsuko. Maybe some other day. – Responded Gendo before leaving the room.

Outside, Fuyutsuki was waiting for his friend with his arms folded and with a serious expression on his face and his back leaning on the wall close to the door, starting a little chat with his pal.

- You know, Gendo. Someday you'll have to face your kid and explain everything to him.

- You're right, but I guess I still don't have the guts to face him and tell him everything.

- I just hope you are quick with your preparations for that. We both know that we'll need him to pilot Unit 01. Be quick if you want to do that because he may die before you two ever have a chance of talking to each other. – Revealed Kozo while facing Gendo while keeping his posture.

- And I'm counting on you and the others to avoid that, Vice Commander. – Spoke Ikari with a friendly smile and putting one of his hands on one of Fuyutsuki's shoulders.

- Sure thing, Commander. – Replied Fuyutsuki smiling back as he gave him a thumbs up.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Australia, two guys were walking on the direction of a fighter jet, caring classified documents about NERV. One of them was Ryoji Kaji and the other was an overweight and bald old man with a black suit and tie and keeping a pistol on a holster.

- Well, Japan, here we go. Oh, my home country. It takes me back. – Said Kaji.

- Good for you, Number 1, but remember our mission. Also, we'll take a few hours to get there, so don't get so excited. – Said the old man.

- Sir, your seriousness is scaring me. – Spoke Ryoji, feeling genuinely worried.

The other guy just started laughing and then apologized.

- My apologies, but yeah, we do have a job to do. Now tell me, do you mind some Johnny Cash on our way to Japan?

- Well, I don't mind a little bit of music during the flight. – Replied Kaji, being good-humored as usual.

- Nice. I hope you enjoy the final flight on our voyage. – Said Kaji's partner on the mission.

As they were both getting inside the fighter jet's cockpit, Ryoji spoke:

- Likewise, Mr. Anderson.