AN: Hello again! After some due consideration, I decided to rewrite part of this fanfic. Some of the areas felt rushed, and a bit over-exaggerated. While most of the content is the same, you should notice little things here and there that will catch your eye. Hopefully this is better than the original, and that I will endeavor to become a better writer through your honest reviews. But that's all up to you, fellow readers. That's all for now, Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion and all characters herein are the rightful property of GAINAX. So don't send in the hounds just yet.

P.S. I've made it so that anonymous reviews can be taken now. Feel free to send your thoughts.

Act 1: The Beginning

"Shinji!" cried out Misato on the command bridge. "Get up! You'll be killed!"

Since the beginning of the battle with the third Angel, Shinji had been unable to get Unit 01 to sync properly, and now, NERV's one chance at actually defeating Sachiel was quickly going to hell in a hand basket.

Ahhh! Let go of me!

Shinji's screams of pain could be heard ripping through the command center's loudspeakers, making everyone except the stoic Commander and Sub-Commander wince.

"Eject the entry plug!" Ritsuko ordered.

"The signal is being blocked!" Hyuga replied. "It's not responding!"

Misato looked on helplessly as the Angel lifted Unit 01 up by the head with one arm, easily reflecting how strong Sachiel was.

"My God," Misato whispered. "We might as well have sealed him in his grave…"

A lance of sun-colored light extended from the Angel's left elbow, then… like a shot, slung out of it's wrist at alarming speed, smashing into Unit 01's skull. Drawing back, the energy lance struck again… and again… and again.

"My eye!" the blue-eyed pilot cried out, "It's piercing eye!!!"

Like a jackhammer, Sachiel continued its vicious assault on the Eva's cranium, doing it with such deliberate slowness that many would believe it was taking its time…

"Stop," Shinji pleaded, screaming. "Stop, make it stop!!! Make it stop!!!"

Misato's stomach was filled with butterflies, a tight knot wrenching into her gut. "…Shinji…!"

"The head casing is becoming fractured," Aoba shouted. "It can't take much more…"

The long-haired tech's voice died off with the alarms as he watched the Angel suddenly pause mid-stroke.

"What the hell…?" Misato narrowed her eyes.

"It stopped…" said Ritsuko. "But… why?"

The lance of light faded away into the Angel's arm, where it gently lowered the Eva back to its feet. A curious expression was painted on its bird-like face, almost like it was sizing up its adversary.

"Detecting abnormal singularities inside the EVA," Hyuga stated.

"Report," Ritsuko ordered.

"Magi are confirming now…" Hyuga's glasses reflected the multitude of information scrolling across his screen, "Verified…Seventy-percent probability--white signal?"

The bottle blond turned pensively away in thought. "This is unexpected …" she murmured. "Could, Shinji be…"

Just about everyone else's pulse skipped a bit in the dead silence that ensued; the klaxon shrilling in the background.

Shinji's pleas had all but ceased, and it turned Misato's blood to ice.

"S-Shinji…?" she croaked, her eyes dilating. "Is… is he…" There was never a moment more than she could remember wanting to cry this much. She was going to show him the world, take him in under her caring arms and chase away all the troubles of his past.

Just like a mother did for her child...

"The angel," Maya exclaimed, scaring everyone senseless, "It's trying to merge with Unit 01!"

Misato and Ritsuko gasped in unison, the blanket of sadness suddenly lifted from the purple-haired woman's heart, "What!?"

"AT Field is eclipsing the Eva's, it's nullifying Shinji's ego border!"

High atop the command center, a man with dark glasses began to perspire. Of all the things he'd been prepared for, this was definitely not one of them.

Gendo's usually calm demeanor had been shaken. This was not in his scenario.

"Damn it," shouted Ritsuko. "Lieutenant, disconnect all nerve links to the pilot, now!" she ordered.

Ibuki's hands flew over the controls, but after a few seconds her face turned down in a scowl. "Negative, the angel is neutralizing the neural feed to Unit 01!"

"Pilot's brainwave activity is off the scale!" Aoba shouted. "He's going into shock!"

Sachiel was fusing its body together into Unit 01, its green skin melting into an amorphous goop all over the purple mecha's armor. The Eva was twitching violently, much like how Shinji was inside his entry plug.

Misato whirled around on Ritsuko, "We have to something…!" she said in a desperate tone of voice. "We can't just let him die!"

Then… there came a voice that chilled the very air of the room.

"Doctor Akagi."

All eyes swept to the observation deck where the Commander was seated, whom somehow had not broken his concentration (or his pose), since the beginning of the battle.

"Deploy the N2 mine."

"What!?" the purple-haired captain yelled, "Are you insane!? It'll kill him!"

Gendo stared down the woman from his perch, his steely eyes hidden behind his dark glasses.

'Stubborn woman…' he thought harshly. 'Just like your father…'

"……He's right." Ritsuko met Misato's fearful gaze head on. "We can't risk letting the Angel contaminate Unit 01." the doctor lowered her eyes to the floor, ashamed to admit the truth to her best friend. "There's no other way…"

"That's bullshit!" Misato retorted, causing Ritsuko to flinch. "There's always another way!"

"Stand down, Captain!" ordered Sub-Commander Fuyutski. "If we allow the Angel to unify with Unit 01, then the Third Child is already lost." The old man stated firmly.

Fuyutski's voice lowered a notch, "Using the N2 mine while it's in its weakened state is the best chance we've got."

"But we already tried that!" she fired back. "How do you know that it will work this time?"

Gendo's response was almost immediate: "Securing the Eva takes priority over all else," he replied coldly. "-Including the pilot's well being."

The abrupt silence that followed was nothing short of nerve wracking. Disbelief and disgust were running through just about everyone else's minds at the cold demeanor of the Commander.

'Heartless bastard…' Misato scowled, her brown eyes glaring daggers up at the Commander.

The alarms continued to sound, with the pilot's cries for help dying off. Everyone was waiting for someone to make the move.

"Umm, C-Captain…?" came Maya's voice.

Misato turned to regard the bridge bunny, breaking eye contact with the Commander's penetrating stare, "What now?!"

At that main moment, Misato followed Maya's terrified gaze up to the main screen… and paled visibly… as did everyone else.

"Something's… happening…"

------

As the green, blob-like shape of the Third Angel continued to enclose its body around the spastic form of Unit 01, the Eva's hollow eye sockets began to glow a blazing white. Even as Sachiel oozed over its face, the eyes appeared to be untouched, almost as if it was causing the Angel to stray away from them.

But it did not matter, thought the Angel. It would have its prize… one way or another.

As the last remnants of Unit 01's purple armor were assimilated, Sachiel began shuddering, as an almost unholy life-force penetrated its soul…

'What is this-' was Sachiel's lost thought before a blinding scarlet light erupted from within the Eva; reaching up to rake the sky in a pillar of raw energy. Accompanying the earth-shattering explosion was a loud, high pitched wail that shook the very foundations of the Geo Front.

Far away, to the casual onlooker, the beam of light parting the heavens above could be seen for hundreds of miles. What they could see that NERV could not was the apex… topped with a Christian cross a thousand feet up.

The Messenger and the Messiah… had become one…

Deep inside Unit 01, another battle was taking place.

"So… you're the one that is trying to kill me…"

"Huh," Shinji looked around, realizing that he was no longer inside his entry plug, but floating aloft in perpetual darkness. There was no horizon, no horizontal or vertical, just the bleakness of black. The air felt chilly around him, making him break out in a cold sweat.

He also noted, that he felt… naked? Shinji hugged himself close, confirming his own suspicions as his fingers met with nothing but skin.

"Who's… there?" he asked fearfully, trying to trace where the voice was coming from.

A strange presence made itself known in the back of his mind, a light pressure that made him feel lightheaded.

The eerie voice came once more, this time sounding awfully feminine. "You are special, Lilum." it answered indirectly. "I can feel it deep within you; calling out."

Shinji tensed up as the otherworldly being probed deeper into his mind, like ice water running through his veins.

"And yet… something is keeping you from me. ……Hmm…"

"Lilum…?" Shinji narrowed his eyes in confusion. "What are you talking about? Who are you?" he demanded.

A bright light from far above suddenly shone down upon him, nearly scaring him half to death. Around that same time, hundreds, no… millions of red eyes opened around him, glairing at the Third Child. The eyes weren't normal by any means. The sclera was black, reflecting like a hematite stone off the white light… and the pupil was a glowing crimson.

Disturbing was a pure understatement…

"Aahhh," Shinji had to shield his eyes from becoming permanently blinded; it was so intense.

"…I… am Sachiel; the Angel of Water… sent from the heavens above to cleanse this world of the filth that defiles it."

"An angel…?" Shinji peeked out though the gaps between his fingers, his eyes coming to rest on a darkened figure floating above him, their features obscured. It appeared to be remotely female from what he could garner.

"Yes… I'm the one that you foolish creatures are trying to kill…" Sachiel's voice took on an edge to it, "Your selfish desires to survive have made you all blinded, weak!"

Shinji felt himself cowering before the benevolent presence above. "But… why?" he asked, fearful that he may be caught in the Angel's wrath. "Why are hurting so many people? What purpose does it serve?"

"Because they have something that belongs to us… and we will stop at nothing to reclaim what is rightfully ours." said Sachiel, the malice in its words dripping with self righteous overtones.

The multitude of eyes around him blinked all at random, then, settled into something akin to a lustful gaze.

"As for you… I shall have what you try so desperately to hide."

The blue-eyed boy blinked, "What are you-"

Shinji was cut short as lacerating pain shot up his spine. His mouth opened to scream, but all the air was driven from his lungs.

It felt like someone was digging around inside his skull with a searing hot blade, peering into his mind with a vengeance.

"-Ahhh!" he screamed, clutching his head. "G-Get out of my head…! You're hurting me!"

"That is not my intention, Lilum." Sachiel declared. "If I had had more time, I would've made this easier for you."

The pain intensified to unbearable levels, excruciating, almost like his head could split in half. Tears of anguish crept down his face as his screams rose in crescendo.

"No… I… I-I can't… take it!"

Lacing his fingers into his scalp, he groaned loudly and tucked himself into a ball as his mind felt like it was being eaten away piece by piece by the Angel. Shinji's body was going into violent convulsions of its own accord, with him writhing as an animal dying from a mortal wound as the nerve endings within his mortal form became fried by the pervasive elemental force of the Third Messenger from "God".

Then suddenly, out of the blue, his father's voice came into focus.

You are a failure... it said in a disgusted tone.

A wire of resistance snapped inside of the pilot. All the oppressive thoughts he'd locked away into a dark and forgotten area of his mind were coming back.

You are not worth my time. He deadpanned. You never have been... and never will be. You are a just a tool waiting to be used; and that is all you shall remain to be.

'Damn it all...' Shinji glowered, face raw from crying.

Gritting his teeth in frustration, his pain soon turned into hatred, hatred for himself, for his father, and for the monster that sought to take him away to the Elysium fields of its own world.

'Goddammit!' he seethed, wishing the tears would stop, 'Why do I always have to be so damn weak!?'

"Do not worry. All will be over soon…"

A cold chill went down Shinji's spine at hearing those words. In his folly, he had almost forgotten that he wasn't alone. With his eyes practically bugging out, Shinji's self-loathing was instantly replaced by fear.

'Would… would death really be an escape?'

Or was it a beginning to something anew...?

Something... worse...

A long pause, followed by the constant harbinger of death pouring its limitless energies into the frail human's mind.

A soft whimper escaped Shinji's throat as the pain receded by a mere hair, and it started to get him wondering.

Perhaps the Angel would spare him after all...

And then:

Sachiel spoke, "To answer your question: No, I will not kill you… yet."

Shinji continued to cry in abject terror as the Angel raped his mind, white hot embers burning down his throat with each gasping breath he took. His skin felt like it had been set afire, scalding him from the inside out and roasting his internal organs.

He couldn't take much more of this...

"Stop…" he sobbed pitifully. "What do you want from me…?"

"…To join you, Lilum." Sachiel stated gleefully, "Heart and soul."

The blue-eyed boy tried with all his might to hold on, clinging to whatever hopes that he had left... which was dwindling fast.

"You are being quite resilient, Lilum... Interesting..." The angel kept digging away at Shinji's thoughts, wanting to find a way to break through the human's emotional barrier so that they could become one.

He wished for the madness to end, whether it resulted in death he no longer cared.

'God… why can't I just die…'

Suddenly, he heard a gasp, a pained sound of surprise that was not his own.

Memories that Shinji would much rather forget resurfaced to the forefront of his mind. Like watching a sepia tone film through an old 8mm projector, Shinji's most traumatic moments of his life played out distortedly. His mother's sudden death; his father's cold demeanor at their funeral; him being discarded like trash at his uncle's house without his father even saying goodbye; his silent, almost catatonic life throughout childhood; the constant berating he had to endure from his teacher. So many memories that he had long since buried had taken on form and substance… once again.

Sadness, grief, loneliness, and loathing; those were the feelings that Sachiel could feel emanating from within Shinji.

Amidst this chaos however, laid a powerful sprit. The light that shone threw him, was more radiant than the brightest star, piercing into the Angel's soul like a dagger to the heart.

It was so overwhelming… so intoxicating… that the Angel could not help but feel lost within it.

An impossible feat… something that was forbidden…

"I... I cannot believe-"

On that day… an Angel cried.

"Your soul is so… haunted," she said, her words sympathetic. All eyes watching him started to shed tears, falling away into the abyss like blood-red rainwater.

The blue-eyed boy could only weep inconsolably into the dark, drawing his legs into his bare chest. "(…sob…sob-sob…) Why…?" he drawled like a scared child, "…What… have I ever done... hic to deserve this?"

Sachiel lightened her psychic probing considerably, now that she had learned of Shinji's memories. Albeit unfortunately.

"…I'm… s-sorry…" she whispered softly, her voice quavering.

Shinji was nearly close to hyperventilating, his breath coming out in sharp pants, his body curled in a U-shape.

Far above the hunched form of Shinji Ikari, a pale hand reached down towards the stricken pilot, "…………Shin-ji…?"

The Third Child gasped, eyes snapping open in an instant… where he found himself face to face with the most glorious sight he'd ever seen.

"Oh…"

The Angel known as Sachiel… was a young girl, beautiful and curved, with snow white skin and light green hair just touching her shoulders. Crimson pools glistening with tears gazed indolently into Shinji's star-studded eyes.

She was a maiden most fair, with a lithe body to die for. Oddly enough, she had a remarkable resemblance to the girl he'd held on the walkway in front of Unit 01, though slightly older in appearance, and a bit more well-endowed.

A rather peculiar aspect was that she was naked, though the over-bright light from the heavens clouded most of her more intimate parts…

She placed his cheek in her palm, stroking his face, "I can end this torment for you," she offered, her lips hovering closer to his. "You will be praised and adored, loved and lusted for… only if you let me…"

Shinji couldn't form a single coherent thought. All the things he'd ever wanted, the life he'd always dreamed of… this… thing was willing to give. It seemed almost too good to be true.

"I-I," his voice was caught in his throat, the trauma still reflecting in his mind.

"Take me with you," she pleaded, ruby eyes searching ocean blue. She slowly drew her soft arms around his rigid form, embracing him tenderly.

"Mmmph," Shinji's body clenched in desire, the smoothness of her skin gliding across his like vanilla cream dabbled in whipped silk. It took all of his self control to remain calm, though his member had become half-awoken against her inner thigh.

Sachiel's angelic beauty exuded with an alabaster glow, her divine aura flowing into him.

"Let us become One…" she murmured sleepily in his ear, "Let us share this fire that burns between us… Adam."

The blue-eyed boy stopped crying, the pain all but erased as soothing warmth flooded every inch of his being. It felt… incredible to say the least. Shinji's mind fell into a void of comfort, the mind numbing light pervading his senses like a cancer, tingling upon his skin.

"Your soul contains the very key to our salvation…"

"Mmm…" Shinji had forgotten that he was embracing this astoundingly enigmatic and overwhelmingly attractive creature. Subconsciously, his arms wrapped gently around the green-haired girl's slender frame, noticing how soft she felt to the touch, and drew her flush with his body. Waves of electricity washed over him as Sachiel embraced the blue-eyed boy fully, arms and legs curling around him.

Shinji had never felt so relaxed…

"Shinji…-"

"Shinji…"

SHINJI!

A startled gasp escaped the blue-eyed boy's mouth, his eyes snapping open at the rending scream from his wayward dream. The slow, steady beep of a heart monitor ticked by, the stale taste of recycled air flowing into his lungs.

It took Shinji a few moments to become acclimated to his new surroundings, which he'd established as a vacant hospital room. He was lying on a bed, with all manners of medical equipment attached to his frail body.

Try as he might to move, though, a soft, yet firm weight had settled over his chest.

'Was it all… a dream?' Staring up at the white, monotonous ceiling, the flood of bright light bathed him from the nearby window. The Geo-Front was still in its morning hours.

"Unfamiliar ceiling…" he said softly.

A soft rustling of sheets, an embrace that was not his own…

"Shin-ji…?"

Eyes wide with surprise, he turned over onto his side…

And found crimson eyes staring back…

AN: So... how did it go? Hopefully, heaven forbid, that this isn't so AU that Eva fans will come to loathe it as it goes along. See you again... maybe.

BTW: The title is the Greek word for "One". It's unique, as is the story.