Disclaimer: I do not own Eva. If I did, End of Evangelion would've made more sense.

"Hooo-ly Shit!"- Jared Leto

Weee'rrrre BAAAAACCCKKK! Well, I'm back. You know what I mean. This is my first Eva fic. So happy to have finished this! I hope you guys enjoy.

PLEASE REVIEW AT THE END. THANKS! :D

Chapter 1

A sky of brown. Was it a sky? It was surrounding everything, and there was no Sun. No, it wasn't a sky, it was like a cloak. A heavy curtain blocking everything out. Blocking everything in. A dim light with no visible source permeated the space.

"Whoever put us here wants us to see the world they created."

Burgundy sand contrasted with pale feet. He thought perhaps if the cloak wasn't there, the ground would appear crimson. Did the same thing happen again?

"Oh, Shinji…"

Where was Shinji?

He looked up and saw what he had failed to see before. Stakes in the earth, lances of retribution, giant bones scattered with chunks of flesh.

And the bodies of the Lilin, impaled on the rods.

The First Child, the Second Child, the Fourth…and nearest to him, about 15 feet away, the Third. Shinji Ikari, hung limp, arms and legs dangling in submission to the force gently pulling them all towards the center of this planet without actually bringing them any closer. They were all perfect and pale. There was no blood, no scarring or mutilation. Just those lances penetrating through their bellies, all the same, perfect replicas.

He could hardly see anything besides Shinji's peaceful corpse, but he knew there was more to witness. His eyes slid to the right, his view extending to see beyond the grove of stakes. There were the fallen Evas, the sources of the crumpled tissue and broken bone upon the sand. They lay with one another, limbs overlapping in the heap. In the center was Unit-08. Her horns were shattered and half of her face was gone. He could not see a left arm or shoulder. On her left was Unit-02, whose dried brain matter was spilling out of her open skull. And on the right was Unit-01. He could not see what injury had befallen that Eva. Kneeling behind the others, with his face upturned to the sky, was the dark form of Mark.06.

His eyes caught a glimpse of something else just in front of the Evas. It was pale grey against the surrounding red. His eyes narrowed as he peered at it. Another dead Lilin. Not on a stake. Then, he recognized the slender body.

"Oh," he thought as he gazed at the head lying face-down 5 feet from the corpse, "Right…That's me…"

"..."

Gradually, the color was bleached from the picture, and the image was reduced to black and grey lines, devoid of definition, devoid of meaning. Just another extinction. Just another failure…

He closed his eyes and, somewhere inside, he groaned.

''''''''''''''''''

Kaworu's eyes flew open. The first thing they did was dart around the room, taking in the ceiling, the furniture, and the blue sky outside the window. He sighed, closed his eyes, and breathed deeply. When his heart rate slowed to a normal pace, he opened them and turned his head to look out the window again. It was beautiful. The world was usually beautiful, though not the same way it used to be. But then again, he had never known any other world.

He let his mind wander for a while, then sat up and walked to the bathroom.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Shinji blinked as the sun shone down on his bed.

"Mmf," he grumbled as he rolled over and snuggled further into the pillow.

His alarm went off, and he almost smashed it trying to turn it off. He grumbled and covered his face with his arm.

Several minutes of sleepy bliss passed before they were brought to an abrupt end by Asuka Langley Shikinami. She threw his door open as hard as she could without destroying it and yelled, "Hey, lazy, get up!"

Shinji jolted and glared up at her.

"Mind your own business," he grumbled.

She sneered at him.

"I am," she asserted, "It's my business whether I get my breakfast and lunch or not, and it's your business to make it. So c'mon, chop-chop! Food's not gonna cook itself!"

He scowled. Why did she always have to insist he make breakfast on top of lunch? Couldn't she do that much herself? He thought maybe he should take it as a complement that everyone always wanted him to cook for them. But in Asuka's case, she was terrible at doing it herself anyway, so it didn't really mean much.

He rolled over onto his back to stare up at the ceiling. He heard Misato exit the bathroom and call, "C'mon, Shinji, rise and shine! I have to go to work, and you have to go to school, remember?"

He sighed. Yeah. School.

Grunting, he heaved himself up and swung his legs off the bed.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Shinji trudged down the sidewalk behind Asuka, who was talking about some European city or other she'd been to while he listened to music. He had one earbud out so he could pretend he was paying attention. He'd gotten cussed out the first time she turned around and saw he wasn't, and he just couldn't bother with her drama, so this was his solution.

To be honest with himself, she wasn't too bad now. It had been about a year since the Bardiel incident. When she first got out the hospital, she was bitchier than ever. But then, she started to change. She got quiet. That was strange, seeing someone as depressed as himself. It made him sad, too, honestly. But Asuka was a fighter, and the new pilot Mari Makinami Illustrious seemed to help her too. They spent a lot of time together, and Asuka seemed to regard her as a friend. Even when they gave Asuka her Eva back – new and improved – she still had a different quality about her. Shinji didn't really know how to describe it. She was more mature, and she yelled less. Sometimes, he saw her just sitting with her face in her hands thinking, eyes focused on some point in the distance. She left the door to her room open sometimes, too. He didn't feel particularly close to her or anything – they weren't exactly friends – but he thought they could kind of relate to each other because they'd both been through something painful. Really, he thought, that was what connected all the pilots: pain, fear, and war.

Nowadays, he usually made an effort to listen to her for about 10 or 15 minutes, but he tended to zone out eventually. Or he got distracted. And just then, a major source of distraction was about to arrive.

As they neared a crossroad, Shinji kept his eyes peeled on the street coming in from the right. When they were about 10 feet away, Kaworu Nagisa rounded the corner. As always, he waited for them to reach him before walking again.

"Good morning, Asuka," he said with a warm smile as she drew even with him.

"Save it for your boyfriend," she said dismissively.

He smiled cheekily after her, then turned his attention to Shinji.

"Good morning, Shinji."

"Good morning, Kaworu. How are you?"

Kaworu gave Shinji his signature smile and answered as usual, "I'm wonderful; thank you for asking. How are you?" and also, as usual, Shinji's cheeks flushed slightly.

"Good," he mumbled, breaking eye contact for a second.

He couldn't help it. Even after a year of knowing Kaworu, he still acted like this around him. He wished he could just be normal, but Kaworu was just too...well…Kaworu. He knew Kaworu had a great power over him - and he knew why, though he didn't think about it too much - but he also had a feeling that he had a similar effect on Kaworu, if not as strong. Honestly, Shinji thought that if he asked Kaworu for anything, he would do it for him "if it made him happy." And Shinji certainly would do - and had done - whatever Kaworu requested, which Mari and Asuka liked to joke about constantly. But, it was alright. He knew that he could trust Kaworu, and he would never hurt him.

As they came in view of the entrance of Tokyo-3 First Municipal Middle School, Mari sprang up from her seat on a bench and bounded over to them, arms outspread. Asuka tried to evade her, but Mari was too fast and wrapped her up in her embrace.

"Princess!" she squealed as Asuka's head was pressed into her bosom, "How are you today?"

Asuka growled, wrestled out of Mari's grasp, and pushed her away.

"I'd be fine if you stopped doing that!"

"Aww," Mari said, furrowing her brow sarcastically as she pressed a finger to her bottom lip, "The Princess is never in a good mood in the morning."

Asuka ignored her and marched on. Several girls along the walkway waved and said hi. A couple friends approached her. She and Mari were undoubtedly the most popular people in school. The boys would have said good morning, too, but they knew from experience that it would get them nowhere, if not earn them a foot in the face. Mari, however, was more than happy to accept their salutations and even grant some kisses to the cheeks of her favorites, who were elevated to a social status just below the pilots.

She was currently granting her blessing to her two favorite boys.

"Hello, puppy boy," she cooed after planting a big, wet smooch on Shinji's cheek.

"Ick," he grumbled, wiping his face, "Morning, Mari."

"Hello, Kaworu," she simpered as she squeezed him to her chest just as she did with Asuka, "How are you today?"

"I'm well, thank you," Kaworu mumbled.

Many of the boys in the schoolyard whistled or cat-called. Shinji didn't care. He knew there was nothing between Mari and Kaworu. When Kaworu first arrived at NERV, she flirted with him relentlessly, but it didn't take long for her to realize the extent of his feelings for Shinji. After that, she pretty much gave up her vivacious pursuit of him, although she still delighted in making the occasional salacious comment.

"Y'know, puppy boy," she told Shinji once, "you're the luckiest guy in the world that the sexiest, most amazing man in history is in love with you."

Shinji had blushed and stuttered something about how it wasn't like that between them, but secretly, he had to agree with her. He often wondered about how unlikely it was that someone as wonderful and remarkable as Kaworu would want to spend so much time with someone as boring and lame as him. But he decided not to mull it over too much. He just wanted to enjoy the rare happiness he had found.

The three of them walked into school after Asuka. One benefit of being an Eva pilot – and there weren't many – was that, when you walked down the halls, everyone stood aside for you. At least if your name was Shikinami, Illustrious, or Nagisa. As they walked into Class 2-A, they were greeted by Hikari, Kensuke, and Toji. Mari, Asuka, and Hikari chatted with a group of other girls by Asuka's desk – if you wanted to talk to Asuka, you had to go to her – and "The Three Stooges" and Kaworu went to Shinji's desk. Shinji sat down, Kaworu leaned against the desk to his left, and Kensuke and Toji sat around him.

They were casually talking about some new military announcement in the newspaper when Rei Ayanami walked in. She was so quiet that they didn't notice her until she crossed right in front of the teacher's desk. Shinji visibly stiffened when he saw her. He looked away, and the other boys stopped talking. When she passed by Kaworu, he said politely, "Good morning, Rei."

She didn't respond or look at him.

When she took her seat in the back of the room, Shinji looked up at Kaworu and asked quietly with a slightly sour expression, "Why do you even bother talking to her? You know she's not going to answer."

Kaworu shrugged.

"It's polite."

Shinji's frown deepened, but he didn't argue. Kaworu was just going to be kind like that. Even to people who didn't deserve it.

"Hey, everybody! Teacher is in the classroom! Be seated!" Hikari yelled.

Chairs and desks clattered as everyone went back to their seats, and the teacher began his droning for the afternoon.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Shinji was spacing out again, staring at the pixels on his laptop screen and resting his chin on his hand. He heard whispering to his right and turned to look. Mari was passing notes to a girl behind her, and they were stifling giggles. Sitting in front of her was Asuka, who was deep in her own thoughts. He watched her for several seconds, then looked back down at his laptop.

He'd typed a few notes, back when he was paying a little attention. He listened and typed a few more. Meanwhile, a chatroom was filling up at the bottom of his screen. He stopped typing, hands hovering over the keyboard. Then, discreetly, he peeked over his left shoulder at Rei.

She was sitting like she always did, chin in her hand and her elbow propped up on the desk as she gazed out the window. As he watched her in that familiar position, his features softened.

"Rei," he thought wistfully, "Sometimes I wonder if she's still the same."

He felt a dull ache inside; a yearning for the Rei he once knew to return. It had been a year, though, since she became like this. He had pretty much given up hope. But maybe…just maybe…there was a tiny chance he was wrong.

He turned back around and looked down at his desk. He was feeling a little miserable now. She always did that to him. His automatic response was to turn to his refuge. He stared unseeing at the screen as he frowned a little.

"I know what he'll be doing," he thought.

He imagined Kaworu, who was sitting diagonal from him, gazing unabashedly at Shinji as if he'd been admiring him since the beginning of time and still wasn't tired, wearing that smooth, provocative smile as always. Beside Kaworu's head, he pictured the caption, "Notice me, senpai!" He couldn't help chuckling a little under his breath.

"Well, I might as well humor him. Can't let his efforts go to waste."

Shinji looked up and braced himself for a blush, but he was surprised to find Kaworu doing something quite unexpected.

He was indeed gazing at Shinji, but his head was down on his arms, which were laying on the table. Nothing of his face was really visible, except his eyes. And those weren't warm and sparkling like normal. They were dark and…sad?

Shinji instinctively straightened up as he read the look in Kaworu's eyes, feeling concerned and puzzled. Kaworu quickly lifted his head and smiled. He was so good at putting Shinji at ease that almost every hint of his previous mood disappeared from his features. His expression now was almost apologetic. Shinji returned the smile, but he knew Kaworu was just hiding the problem. Whatever it was, it was still bothering him, and Shinji promised himself he was going to find out what it was later.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

"Ahhhhh!" Mari sighed as she stretched luxuriously.

School was over, and all the students were spilling out into the hallway. The Eva pilots, Toji, Kensuke, and Hikari were standing outside 2-A. When Mari finished, she dropped her arms, which made a BOOF sound as they hit her sides.

"Sooo, are you guys excited for our synch test today?"

Shinji and Asuka shrugged.

"Don't you guys do synch tests all the time?" asked Hikari.

"Yeah," Mari answered, "But this time, we're gonna switch Evas!"

"Awesome!" Kensuke exclaimed from behind his camera before launching into a peal of questions, many of which the pilots couldn't answer due to either ignorance or secrecy.

Meanwhile, Rei exited the room and walked past them. Shinji looked over his shoulder at her, and Kaworu followed his gaze. When they both turned back around, their eyes met. Shinji smiled awkwardly, and Kaworu smiled back.

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