NGE: Another Way

Chapter One

Father and Son

It had been four years since Third Impact's prevention, and I had and still have the memories of that miserable day stitched into my brain.

"Asuka! Asuka! Get away! ASUKA!" I still remember fighting the EVAs sent to get me or Asuka to start Third Impact. She was nearly killed, but my EVA's S2 organ and tendency for it (and me) to go "berserk" finished them all off. I never fully understood the latter, but neither did anyone else.

Anyways, after the battle of the EVAs, Instrumentality was out of the window and NERV was disbanded. There were many injured or killed in the SEELE attack, but before they could reach the room where people like Maya and Fuyutsuki were, the defeat of the SEELE's EVA's and UN forces near the Japanese mainland put a stop to it. When I returned to the NERV building, I broke down because of Misato being left behind and most likely dying. Well, the odds were in my favor because some told me that she was alive and was rushed to the hospital.

Asuka and I went as fast as we could to her room, but we weren't allowed access as result of her emergency surgery. I remember still blaming myself.

"Asuka, it's all my fault. You could be dead and Misato might be now.""No, Shinji, it's not. As much as I hate to admit it, you were the one who saved me, and you saved the world in the process. You have a lot to be proud of.""People still died, Asuka! I could have ended the attack much sooner and saved Misato if I hadn't kept her waiting over my feelings of grief.""Well, you did what you could and you kept 3 billion people from vanishing in Third Impact! There's more than just NERV personnel you saved."I sat there waiting for hours. Asuka had left to get rest after all that had happened to her in that last few months, which was fine. When Misato was finally able to be visited, it was morning.

"Alright, you can go in, kid," the head doctor of the operation told me.

There she was, alive. I was so relieved.

"Shinji?""Misato!"

I rushed to hug my then guardian.

"I thought you were dead, Misato!" "I thought I was too."

Asuka, Hyuga, Maya, and Shigeru eventually came to visit as well. When I finally left, I was approached by my father.

"I want you and I to go to your mother's grave tomorrow," he explained.

"O-ok, Father."

"Meet me at the NERV entrance at noon."

"We're going together?"

"Yes. We have a lot to talk about."

I was astonished that my father, whom at that point I kind of hated, wanted me to go with him somewhere, not just meet him there in silence like we usually did.

I remember the car ride being pretty quiet with the exception of a greeting.

When we arrived at the grave, I was about to begin talking to my father before he interrupted me.

"She's gone for good now, Shinji."

I looked back at him.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I know you know about Rei, so I'll tell you why I cloned your mother and turned her into Rei. I needed to bring her back. Without her, I'm not my true self, I'm not happy, and without her, there'd be no way in hell I could raise you. You could probably hear your mother while you were in Unit-01, well, in Terminal Dogma I could hear her, I could hear you, Asuka, and the other person in Asuka's EVA too. I was going to activate Instrumentality by putting Adam's Embryo into Rei. She then became under Lilith's possession and took the Embryo with her. But after you defeated the EVAs, Rei, who's still unconscious right now, was spit back out and Lilith was gone. Both SEELE and I were too late. I guess this is better than letting SEELE kill everyone."

"Third Impact would've ended everything. That's what I wanted before I got in that EVA two days ago. I was nearly killed and cause many deaths and close calls because of my hope that I would die, Father. A lot of this disaster is my fault. Not even mentioning what I did to Asuka. She probably knows and hates my guts," I explained.

After our words of acceptance and moping, we stood there, in silence, but it felt different. It felt like I was standing next to my father, not some stranger who abandoned me after his wife died. After a few moments, I saw my father fall to his knees. He was in pain, not physical, but he felt pain in his heart for the first time in front of me.

"There's nothing I can do now. There's nothing left for me in this world. The only thing I request now is that you forgive me somehow, Shinji. I don't care what it takes anymore. I have nothing without you, my son."

That shocked me. No way his actions were anywhere near forgivable, but I noticed he wasn't the same. It's as if they weren't his actions. The last two words came even more of a shock to me.

"Father... I don't know what to say. What will change after NERV is behind us?"

"Everything will be normal after this. We can live normal lives. I can be your father. I can take you Rei and get out of here. Please, Shinji. I won't be forcing anything on you anymore."

And that's where everything changed. Little over a week later, my father gave the order for the disbandment of NERV until another threat came. Everyone left in search of a home. Misato and Hyuga moved to the cities between Old Tokyo and Tokyo-2. Shigeru moved to Kyoto. Maya went to study abroad. Fuyutsuki planned on going with us. For a short amount of time, it was a comatose Rei, Asuka, Fuyutsuki, Father, and me left in NERV headquarters.

Asuka was eventually called back to Germany, but not without saying goodbye.

"Shinji, before I go, I'd like to speak to you alone."

She took me to her temporary room.

There was silence for a few moments, before I felt Asuka wrapped her arms around me.

I was about to ask her what she was doing, but I couldn't find the words.

Another brief silence ensued, before Asuka spoke.

"I'm sorry for everything I've done to you in the past year," she said.

"Asuka-"

"Let me speak. Everything bad between us was mostly my fault. I can't describe how you must have felt."

"Asuka, there's something I need to tell you."

"With that tone of voice, it's definitely something you're going to apologize about. Don't. I want this farewell to be somewhat happy."

I sighed.

"Take care of Wondergirl. She'll need you based on what's happened to her. I'll be back someday. Please wait for me."

"I promise. I'll call you a ride to the airport."

I was about to turn away, but Asuka gripped harder.

I hugged her back.

I then heard a sob.

"I wish things were different," I heard her say.

"Me too, Asuka, me too."

That was one of the only moments I had with her that wasn't bad blood or an argument of some sort. I would miss that a lot over the years, but it wasn't my choice to make her stay.

Eventually, Father, Fuyutsuki, and I moved to Tokyo-2, while Rei was transferred to a hospital and research facility there a little bit earlier.

At some time after that, I got Asuka's address, and wrote her a letter, telling her about what I did and how I felt horrible about it. I hoped I'd never get a letter back.

I started school again, being my first year of high school. I entered a little late, as we hadn't moved to Tokyo-2 until a month after school began. I was in the same high school as (a then recovered) Toji and Hikari, I made a few other friends, and the rest is history, a normal history, I might add.

I visited Rei in the hospital a lot in the beginning, but as it got later, it only grew harder and harder for me to go emotionally and I was also busy. As I approached my last year of high school, I stopped going all together.

Four years after all that, I got into Tokyo University, but I was still living with my Father. I didn't know what to do with my life, so I resorted to the one of the only things I was good at, the cello, and signed up for Music Theory classes, along with Japanese and English, as a backup, because I was told I was good at writing assigned reports and stories by my English and Japanese teachers. My father and I had and still have plenty of money so I didn't even need a job, but it's still encouraged by many. My father wanted me to stay with him, as there was plenty of room in the house and Tokyo-2 had a competitive housing market, being the capital and the closest major city to what used to be Tokyo-3.

Being in college separates people. Hikari ended up in Tokyo University with me, but we were in completely separate fields of learning, so we only ran into each other occasionally. Toji decided to get a physical labor type job instead of going to college, which disappointed Hikari, but that changed when he somehow bought an apartment they both moved into. The rest of my friends left for other parts of Japan or studied abroad. I was back to square one, but this time with my father there to support me.

The only other NERV member I had any contact with, other than my father and Fuyutsuki, was Misato. She didn't live far, so she came to visit a lot right after we moved, but eventually she found a man that was for her that wasn't Kaji, so she stopped visiting as often. She still called a lot though, constantly reminding me that I was the son she never had. She got married to him during my second year of high school, which I ended up going to the wedding.

One day, where this story starts, I got a call from her.

"Hello?" I asked, answering the house phone.

"Hey, Shinji!" I heard Misato say.

"Misato, what's up?"

"A lot, what about you?"

"Just boring college. I don't have a job currently, so I don't do much. It's not like NERV's still here to drag me places all the time," I responded.

I heard her chuckle.

"You're funny, Shinji," she complimented, making me suspicious, as she had always complimented me like that way after a few beers.

"Are you drunk?" I asked.

"No."

"Wow. Ok."

"Listen, I'm free to come visit this weekend. Is that cool if I come stay a night or two?"

"Oh, of course, it's been a while. Yeah, sounds great. I'll let Father know."

"Awesome. How is Gendo, anyway?" she asked, sounding a little more serious when she mentioned my dad.

"Good. How's your husband?"

"Oh, Kaito? He's great. We've done so much together."

"That's good to hear."

She chuckled.

"What?" I ask.

"I can't help but notice how much you've changed, Shinji."

"What do you mean?"

"You sound a lot more confident and less like you don't want to be around."

"Okay?" I said, in a confused tone.

She wasn't exactly wrong. I was more confident and I didn't exactly want to die anymore, but there was still the anxiety and emotion when it came to certain subjects.

"You'll notice it a lot more when you get a girlfriend," she added, interrupting my train of thought.

"Whatever," I said, trying to get away from the subject.

"Have you visited Rei?" she asked, delving into an even worse subject.

"No, not since that day in my final year of high school."

"Oh. You should see how she's doing though."

"I know, it's just the more I saw her, the more I felt empty. I always think about how none of my friends are here, you and the other NERV employees I got along with are in different places as well, and Dad and Fuyutsuki aren't always open."

"Trust me, it'll all be okay. Everyone is still trying to get NERV behind them and will eventually have to open up. I think people like Asuka-"

"No," I interrupted, "Asuka won't come around. She knows what I did to her."

"C'mon, Shinji, that's almost five years behind us. Do you really think that's always on her mind when she thinks of you? Her attitude wasn't really her, she knows how you must've felt, she's just like you."

"That's the problem. People like me don't put things behind them."

"You did. You're living a life without complaining about NERV. You aren't crying in the corner of regret. You're moving on and fast but you just don't notice it."

She was right, and I didn't retaliate or worry about running away like I did in those days.

"I guess you're somewhat right about that, Misato, but I'll still have my doubts."

"Ok. I'm looking forward to visiting this weekend. See you soon!"

"Bye," I said, putting the phone down.

The conversation soured my mood a bit, but I was fine. I then went into the living room, where Father sat at his computer, probably working on something for work.

"Father?" I called.

He turned his office chair toward me.

"Yes, Shinji?" He asked.

"Misato called and said she was free to visit this weekend, is it okay if she stays here?"

"Of course, Shinji. It's been forever since we've seen her. I assume you're going to ready the guest room?"

"As soon as I got your permission, yeah."

As much as I thought otherwise in the beginning, my father changed a lot. Right after moving, after he got a job to help fix Tokyo-3 and everything affected by the EVA's, my Father spent as much time with me as possible. He knew how I lonely I was during and after NERV, and wanted to have me live a better life. Unlike me, he didn't grieve about ruining everything. Sure, he still blames himself for Instrumentality, but he didn't take it as if he was going to take it to the grave.

I went down the hall and went into the guest room, which would be Rei's room, if she woke up. I laid out sheets on the bed and plugged in all the lights and small TV we had in there. At the sight of the complete yet desolate room, I sighed.

I guess I better visit her tomorrow.

I turned away and left the room, before looking into the room once more.

How I wish you were here, Rei.

A/N: Hey there! This is a story I wanted to try writing for a little while now. If you have read my stories, it's mostly other stuff, so this is new for me as I recently finished this anime. It was so depressing in the end so I wanted to write another timeline where the world was just barely spared in what almost was Third Impact. This chapter is a little short compared to what I plan to write, but this is just a slow introduction to what I plan to come. Please RR, if you are waiting on an update to my other story, that should be done soon. If you are new to my account/story, welcome! I hope this story turns out great!

Stay cool,

bakercomics