Disclaimer for all chapters posted in this story: I do NOT own Evangelion. I just own my original ideas that pop up in here. Any comments on anything, don't hesitate to email me.
"…I wish I could have saved them. All of them…"
Shinji Ikari, Adam's chosen son, looked over the fields of earth void of life, except for the orange globs of LCL that littered the landscape. Plant-life was half dead, the vast ocean colored like sunlit water that appeared at dawn of evening, crashed against the solid rock and lapped the shores of sand. Everything was quiet, and would remain quiet for eternity. There was barely any wind to rustle the leaves, and in time, that too would die away. But he would remain a being of etherealness, to look after it till its dying days, and then wonder alone in the black vastness of nothingness, always haunted by the look of those red, blue, brown, green, eyes. The eyes of humanity, as each watched on as they were released of their coils, both spiritual and mortal.
It bothered him, that as the destroyer, he was bound to the earth, to watch it wither and die before he himself was released.
Alone.
Forever.
---
He hovered before the head of Rei, the red orbs serving as her eyes dull with death.
A single tear was shed. "If god was truly a good man, why! Why has he cursed me like this?"
As usual, the head didn't answer. It never did. Silenced by the absence of a soul, it could never perform its functions again.
"I just…I just want to live a life. A life where this never happened. IS THAT SO HARD TO GRANT!!!"
"…yes."
Shinji wheeled around. Before him, a man stood. Crimson eyes shone with brilliance from his tanned skin. Hair flowed from his head in gray, coming short of the bottom of his long robes, which in tern where revealing bare feet. In His hands hung a spear of two prongs, and a shield. There were no age signs, weariness, battle scars or conflict on his face, but it shone with fatherly love.
"Wh-what…what did you say…"
"After my seventeen messengers failed to return, I…launched my own investigation into why. Can you imagine the surprise I felt, an emotion I have long forgotten, when I found out they where defeated and killed by you and your cohorts believing that they came to destroy? Even more so that you, a son of Adam, Asuka, a temperamental human, and Rei, the clone of Lillith, were the cause of it."
His speech was gentle; no sound of malice was evident in his voice. Even so, with that revealed, Shinji still felt it hard to look into his eyes. He felt ashamed, hatred at himself, as well as pity. Pity that he couldn't have found out why they were sent.
He continued. "It matters not though. They too were driven mad by eternal living. If they could have thoughts now, they'd be glad, and be thanking you for ending their eternal suffering."
Shinji finally looked at him. "At the cost of my own. Is that why you are here? To gloat at me that I now must suffer eternally? That I, being a son of Adam, was chosen out of all those who did better than me, to remain an existence with no purpose!" Shinji was fuming now, angered by this revelation. "I never wanted to spend eternity alone, staring at the dead head of the person who is a half-clone of my mother, and my most probable love-interest!!
"If that is why you think I'm here, than you are mistaken entirely. No one should suffer as I am, so I am here to give you a life to live again. Did you not say you wished a life where this event didn't happen?" As he spoke, Shinji's vision began to blacken, his memory slowly forgetting things. Important things, from certain events. "I, being the loving god, grant you this wish. But before you go, I must apologise ahead of time. But you must change things that will happen, or we will meet again."
Shinji's vision faded. However in the recesses of his mind, he heard his final message.
'Good Luck.'
-----
We Live Forever
A NGE tale written by:
The light of darkness
Inspired by:
Stories from great writers, previous attempts
& my music
--
Chapter 1: New life / Angel Attack
-----
'Not again…'
With his vision cleared, he observed the streets, empty except for abandoned cars. The buildings around him were tall and whole, shadows looming from them even in the midday sun. Every few blocks there were pay-phones, people absent for miles around, well…except for an extremely pale albino, red eyes boring into his. Dressed in a school uniform of blue and white, she looked the splitting image of her.
"Rei…"
He whispered her name, scarcely believing it was her. He knew without a doubt however, it was her.
'…You came…'
She faded from existence, birds scattering from nearby power lines, as shockwaves vibrated through the earth. He turned to face a nearby mountain, and the first angel he had faced, a being with hands of three prongs attached to long, thin arms, a bulky body with a round thing that was supposedly its head, grey as stone, and strong sturdy legs, appeared, lumbering out from behind the ranges. It would have looked human if it wasn't for the fact it had no neck and it had a massive red stone sitting in what was a bone incasing toward the lower torso.
'I've already defeated you…Sachiel.'
The great being stopped its advance. Raising its arm, a lance of energy erupted from 'hand' destroying one of the many VTOL's hovering around it, causing the craft to careen towards the earth, the turbulent winds making it to glide toward his current location.
'I know, child of Adam…'
The VTOL crashed into the pavement exploding on impact, shrapnel flying out in all directions, as Shinji's eyes widened in horror. Things were changing…fast.
He barely heard the screeching of tires as something hard impacted on his head, causing him to faint upon contact.
---
Eyes opened unaccustomed to the light, making him squint before his eyes adjusted to the brightness. Before too long, a splitting headache also made itself known. Making a low groan, he moved his hand resting by his side to his head, hoping it would elevate the pain, and started to look at his surroundings. Lying on the back seat of a car traveling at astounding speeds, he noted the driver was female, long purple hair crushed behind her back and the seat. She was wearing a short black dress, shades, and red driving gloves and a jacket with what looked like a stiff collar. Any other accessories she wore were not visible.
"Uhhhh, hello?"
The driver's head whipped around to reveal a face not too old or young. The face was childish though, as if she wanted to continue living like one.
"You're awake!!" she exclaimed, thrilled at the fact he was alive. "After a hit like that, I thought I would have to carry you to the infirmary. So how are you?"
"Hit to the head?" he questioned, ignoring her question completely.
"Yeah, being close as you were to the explosion caused by the angel, it's kinda great that you didn't receive worse."
"Explosion? Angel? What are you going on about?"
"Wait, you don't remember that stuff?"
"What stuff?"
"What's the last thing you remember?"
"Waking up in here. Why, what's going on?"
"…shit. Ritsu's gonna kill me…"
"Who's Ritsu?"
---
The large shutter closed behind them, the express car train starting its trip downwards, soon the walls blurring with speed.
"So…I'm Shinji Ikari. And you're Misato Katsuragi. And Ritsu is Ritsuko Agaki, your friend, who works with you in this top secret organization called NERV, which in turn is run by my father Gendo Ikari, who is regarded by many as a bastard. And he abandoned me when I was six, to be raised by the JSSDF, which stands for Japan's Strategic Self Defense Force…Are you sure that this is correct?"
"Hey, I've had to read your file before picking you up alright? Of course it's true. The file's under your seat if you want to check."
"I'll be fine."
"Sure?"
"Positive…you have a mirror somewhere? I want to see what I look like."
"Sure, it's small, but it's a mirror. Twist the rearview mirror around."
Reaching up, he turned the long-yet-small mirror around to face him, and immediately lost himself in ruby eyes, scarcely noting his slightly tanned skin, or smartly ruffled hair.
"…My…eyes…"
"What's the matter with them? They change or something?" Misato questioned in jest, not noticing something click in his mind.
'Did they change? Why am I so drawn to my eyes? What is wrong with them? Is there anything wrong with them?' He continued staring at them, puzzled a little by their color.
"I wouldn't be so surprised by their color. I know of one other who has the same color eyes, but then again, she's albino. There's a lot of strange things that albino's have."
Breaking away from the mirror, he was about to question her on who and what she meant, when the tunnel gave way to a large, well lit cavern.
"It's…a geofront," he said, voice neutral of awe and surprise.
"Yep, this is mankind's last hope and NERV's primary facility."
He didn't say anything, but he had the strangest feeling of déjà vu.
The train carried them to the heart of the geofront, where a large pyramid was stationed surrounded by large amounts of vegetation.
---
Footsteps echoed down the empty corridors, the sound reverberating off the metal walls. The path in-between the walls well trodden by the two seemed to go on and on. It seemed like hours, and probably was, until Shinji finally shot out the question.
"…Are you sure you know where we're going? I think we've been going in circles."
Misato, although caught with her lack of direction, tried to discreetly hide the map Ritsuko gave her.
"Hehe…they make these things to be used you know…" She said, hoping that he would lay off as her mind was already having a go at her.
Noticing the small parchment, he questioned, "Is that a map?"
"…yes." She admitted with a defeated sigh.
"…And you got lost…"
"…Yes…"
"You're hopeless."
That got her going. "Hey, you try navigating around with a map that shows every floor packed on top of each other!"
"Fine, pass me the map."
She handed over the map, still a little ruffled that he called her hopeless. It hurt her ego to hear that.
Shinji took one look at the 'map' and was a little put off. 'No wonder she got lost.' It was a piece of paper with hexagons within hexagons and little rectangles representing rooms, and small arrows presenting the way through the complex. It was if you looked at it without understanding what it was meant to be, a whole lot of scribbles and waste of paper.
Shinji took off at an even pace, following the map as best he could to a tee. The amount of rights and lefts taken were many to count. All he knew was that they were making ground. Before too long they got to a metallic grey lift door.
"Thanks Shinji! Now, down a few floors and…"
The doors opened. An attractive woman in a one-piece diving suit and doctor's coat stepped out and the doors closed behind her. An obvious fake blond, she smelled of cigarettes, and a faint putrid scent hidden behind carefully applied perfume. No signs of make up, she was lightly tanned, but it was fading slowly, he guessed from over excessiveness of being indoors. Dark rings were barely visible under her eyes, a sign of lack of sleep.
"Miss Katsuragi. I would appreciate it if you do not waste my time. This is the fourth time this week alone!" Misato muttered an apology behind her embarrassed grin. "So this is the third child..."
"Yeah, he's like his father. The unfriendly part, that is."
Ritsuko regarded him carefully as she beckoned them both into a now open elevator. Something was going through her mind, and it was putting him off. Fast. He went back to studying the map he took, trying to ignore the gaze of the good doctor.
"So, might I want to know how he got that recent mark on his head?"
Misato inwardly groaned in despair. She knew that this would come up.
"And no lies, ether," Ritsu added.
Misato crumpled, and relented. "He got hit in the head at the extraction point, and now…he's got amnesia."
Ritsuko lost it.
---
The trip was boring after that, and he lost himself in the red manual of NERV. He could predict somehow, though, what each next word was said, and soon he set himself a challenge to test himself. He'd pick a random sentence, and read the one before, guessing the next line. It was amusing until after getting seven in a row right. He then attempted to go back to the map, if the lights didn't go out after he closed his book.
"Uh…Why's it so dark?"
As if a being understood his question, they suddenly came back on and Shinji looked curiously at the bio-mech. A large purple face loomed in front of him. A singular horn protruded from the middle of its forehead, black sockets in the presence of eyes. An occasional splash of color was in small amounts, and even then rarely visible.
"And this is…"
"An Evangelion. Unit 01 to be exact," Misato answered his question.
"…So this is why I was summoned?" He questioned again.
"Correct."
The statement echoed around the room, however it pointed out plainly that there was a viewing platform where a solitary man was standing. Dark tinted orange glasses, white gloves, highly cared for uniform. It didn't take a genius to figure out who he was.
"Father?"
Ignoring him, Gendo continued, "We're moving out."
"Moving out!?" Misato demanded perplexed, things moving in her brain faster than she thought possible. "What do you mean? We don't even have a replacement pilot yet!"
Ritsu caught on silently what he was planning. "You just delivered one."
"What! How can he do it! It took Rei months to sync with it to a respectable level!"
"We just need him to sit in the Eva. We're not expecting much of him."
Misato glared daggers at her best friend.
"Why did you send for me?" Shinji's small voice carried out across the bay fairly well.
"You know why."
Shinji looked up and met his gaze and smirked. "Actually, I don't."
Gendo didn't falter. "With your intelligence, I'm sure you can come up to a reasonable assumption of why I called."
"So you want me to pilot this…behemoth? I think the only reason you called was for our own personal gain. Correct? "
"That is a reasonable assumption."
"Then you should know my decision based on these facts."
"Why are you still here. If you express such disinterest in saving humanity, then leave. Die in what way seems best to you."
Gendo's words cut harshly in the enclosed space, reverberating of the walls. Shinji, under the implications of what was just said by both parties, hung his head, knowing full well that he had made his decision.
An explosion caught everyone's attention, drawing their heads to the ceiling of the complex. A few cracks appeared in the cealing, particles floating toward the ground. "It's close. It know's we're here," Gendo stated.
Ritsuko turned to shinji, a little panic in her eyes. "Time is scarce, Shinji. If you want to live, humanity to live, now's the time to act."
Misato glared at him, not wanting him to give up so soon in life. Her tone was a little less sympathetic as she stubbornly told him to board the mecha.
Shinji had read what he saw on history in the NERV handbook, and read through it. It was a well orchestrated few paragraphs, however to him, it didn't seem right. Something was off about the whole thing. It was too well documented, like a story that tells of the events as they happen. It unsettled him deeply when he saw this. Something was off.
"No, Humanity's time has gone. I thought second impact presented that fact."
Silence rang in the hanger. Shinji had spoken, and it seemed that he was not to be deterred.
---
An eye opened wearily, before setting into an emotionless gaze. The figure noted she was on a bed, with white sheets adorning it. It was the noise of the nurses in the non-descript room, hurriedly moving about she assumed that woke her.
She glanced about, searching for anything that could be used for a mute, wanting to drown them out. In her search, she didn't notice that everything had quieted down, the foreboding presence of a section 2 guard holding a voice transmission device in her direction. Looking up to his covered eyes, he silently nodded at her unspoken question.
His voice came through the radio. 'Rei, our Spare is useless. You must do it again.'
Her hopes of rest were shattered as she heard those words. She was broken, in more places than one, had a gauze over her right eye, protecting it while it healed, and on top of that, the replacement that had arrived at the last minute had refused to pilot in her place?!
She nodded grimly, despite her ailments. The commander was not to be refused. "Hai, commander…" Her voice was soft, trying to hide the pain.
The agent walked away from view, and the doctors flew into a flurry again.
She was wheeled out into the hallway, not three minutes had passed since she woke.
---
Things were moving fast. Not long after Gendo had diverted his attention elsewhere, the good doctor started bellowing orders to the surrounding orange suited personnel. Things started moving again in a fast and hurried pace. In the middle of it all, Shinji bowed his head, his breathing a calm and relaxed pace. 'I'm not needed. I…I…am weak. Is this who I was? A coward?'
The doors to his left opened, hydraulic systems issuing a soft hiss and a clack of wheels and many pairs of soft shoes resonated within the room.
Soft shoes…Clack of wheels…
Shinji's head whipped around to witness a gurney and a few nurses pass him, its blue haired, red eyed occupant staring into his orbs of blood colored eyes, before contact was broken with a white coated nurse walked in between the teens. He continued to watch her as she sat up, only to see her wince in pain as she aborted her task.
'She's injured…Their going to make her pilot that behemoth when she's literally covered in bandages?! Who are these people, these devils in disguise? She can't pilot in that condition! Even I can see that…
The earth shook with such velocity, it shook him from his thoughts. At the same time, overhead loose support bars and lights were shaken from their joints.
Shinji ran. As fast as he could, he ran, if only to have some hope of saving the girl he just condemned.
---
'Why the in the world did I ever get in this thing.'
The thought ran through Shinji's head as he waited patently for the technicians to finish the final preparations. The tube called the entry-plug had not been inserted yet, but even still, the air was dead, only the soft voices of the personnel in orange gave away life. No time to change, he was still in the clothes he was found in.
Images of the falling debris, and the helpless gurney as the doctors ran away from it flashed through his eyes.
'Oh, yeah. Because of her.'
Her, he later found out as he somewhat listened to Dr. Akagi as she explained briefly how the Evangelion operated, was Rei Ayanami. The first chosen to pilot. The injuries however he was curious about. One did not sustain injuries like she did during an accident.
He heard rather than felt, the plug inserted in, before the running of liquid gained his attention.
"So now you decide to drown me? Who then are you going to get to pilot!" His voice was calm, not afraid of a death that was swiftly approaching.
"Ikari, it's LCL. It connects you to the eva allowing you to pilot it. In other words, it's breathable." The calm womanly toned voice of a bridge personnel came through the speakers. Familiar, he could not place where he had heard it before.
The liquid dubbed LCL rose above his head. He didn't even need to breathe to know how it tasted. He exhaled the remaining air from his lungs before gagging as he inhaled the liquid. It felt worse than it tasted.
"I'd like them to see how they handle inhaling this stuff…" he muttered to himself.
Things started to liven up. Every few seconds a voice rang out as processes were initiated and completed. The plug seemed to disappear as Shinji felt his awareness of his body extend.
'It's still dark.' The plug disappeared intirely as Shinji found himself looking at the wall infront of him, as if through his own eyes.
"Now this is cool."
---
'Now this is cool'
The voice came through the speaker as Misato grinned.
"Bi-directional circuits open."
"Synchronization ratio: 53.1."
Ritsuko looked over her students shoulder at that, observing the panels displaying the readings generated by the replacement pilot.
"Amazing…"
The student, 1st lt. Ibuki, declared the results. "Harmonics seem normal. No disturbances have been found."
Ritsuko nodded, turning to the Operations Director, Misato. "Captain, begin."
"Begin Launch!"
---
1 min later, above ground
Sachiel was bored. He had played his mission down to a tee, now he was just waiting on his final target. He had been wondering around town for a few minutes now, but was starting to get impatient. It seemed to him they were taking longer than the last time. He approached the street of his downfall for the third time in a row, when the familiar alarms sounded. It inwardly smiled as the ground lit up with the glass bulbs they called lights. The ground parted, poles rocketed up, and jamming into position was the final target in the great monstrosity that was not himself.
Sachiel projected a thought to the boy.
'That wasn't very nice.' The thought came back. 'But I thank you anyway for being up here. You will now die'
'Ahh, death. What a pleasurable experience. But I will make it fun for you too, as you will be there before me, along with humanity.'
---
'-along with humanity'
"Shut up and get out of my head!"
Enraged by the invasion, Shinji willed the eva to charge the angel. The Eva sprinted forward. Seeing this, Sachiel moved to the side and grabbed the head of the Eva in a hand, halting it and tearing up ground as it slid back a few hundred meters.
'I will not die without completing my mission, Lillum'
Inside the eva cockpit, Shinji watched as the hand holding the head glowed, before everything went white.
A/N: I've been working on this for a while (aprox. three/four months). its all about time. Don't expect quick chapter updates, but they will be posted, don't worry about that. Review, seriously. I want to know how this one went.