BEING HUMAN

Chapter:1

Out Of The Hands Of Mankind

Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion.

"Disconnect and self destruct one bullet at a timeWhat's your rush now, everyone will have his day to die" Outsider- A Perfect Circle

NERV- 2017

"Sir, I'm at a loss of words, there is no scientific explanation for the 1st Child's condition" Akagi Ritsuko running a hand through her bleached blond hair in frustration as she fumbled for words. "It's not that she should be dead, it's more like she is dead" the doctor continued, trying hard to sense of the situation. "We can see her, and we can hear her when she speaks, but she seems to be composed of something that isn't physical, like she's a…"

"A ghost" a deep emotionless voice finished for her. The Commander of NERV sat behind his desk, his Vice-Commander standing to his left. Gendo was unfazed by the doctor's report, it was like nothing ever bothered the man, even something as dire as this, as if he already knew what happened even without the necessity for him to hear an explanation. It was unnerving how at ease he was with things that cause the bravest of men to run screaming as mad as hell, he motioned with his gloved hand for Ritsuko to continue her report.

"Yes Sir. A year ago I would have been convinced that there was no such thing as- as ghosts, but after the attacks on the 2nd and 3rd Child, there are no rational explanations so I can only agree with you. Whereas the other two Children's piloting shouldn't be affected by their new conditions, we are currently unable to pull out another Rei since her ghost seems to be… haunting the GEO Front."

"Will she be able to pilot the way she is now?" Fuyutsuki asked from the sidelines.

Ritsuko sighed "We're talking about someone who can walk through walls and has no real physical body. Rei does seem to give off a wavelength pattern that is similar to brain waves. Her control is also improving as well on her current stat. We have observed that she can move objects and touch others for a short period of time. If she continues to improve and with some adjustments to Unit 00 she should be able to pilot with few incidences."

The Commander linked his hands together in front of his face and leaned forward slightly.

"How long will it take Dr. Akagi?"

The faux blond woman shook her head unsure as she scanned her notes, "Not anytime soon, Sir. Between Rei's improving control and the changes we have to make to the Plug and the EVA it will take at least two months or four tops."

"Understood. You are to start the changes to Unit 00 immediately as ordered in this meeting, you are dismissed Dr. Akagi."

The two men watched as the doctor left the office, "Fuyutsuki" Ikari Gendo turned his attention to the older man standing beside him, "Send a message to the 3rd child, tell him to come to Tokyo 3. Tell him that I have a use for him."

One Week Later

"Due to an emergency all circuits are busy now. Please head immediately to the nearest shelter for any assistance."

"Well, that can't be good" Shinji mumbled to himself as he hung up the pay phone. As he turned to look around at the deserted street something caught his eye. A girl was standing in the middle of a deserted street, she was around his age in a school uniform with blue hair. The 3rd Child watched as she slowly flickered out of existence.

"Hmm" he snorted lightly "guess things just might get interesting while I'm here."

At that moment his ears picked out the sounds of gun fire and explosions in the far distance. Much too far for a normal person to be able to here, but it had been about ten months since he stopped being a normal 'person'.

'What in blazes is going on? He thought as a fighter jet flew past right overhead, not a second later a missile zoomed by. Shinji covered his ears and dropped to the ground as the missile exploded nearby, he jumped back up to his feet and saw where or rather what the missile had been aimed at. The creature was almost a hundred meters tall, it was in a mock shape of a human being. It had no visible neck and large and powerful looking shoulders covered in what looked like pale armour. A white round mask with a pointed nose sat on the dark flesh served as the creatures head. Shinji didn't know what it was, but he knew it was the most dangerous thing he had ever seen in his life, and that was saying a bit.

He was awaken from his stupor by the sound of screeching tires behind him, he turned to see a car door open, revealing a young woman with dark purple hair, he had a vivid image of a typical Western TV show where the heroine would arrive in a hot car while the hero was caught in a crossfire. "Ikari Shinji?" The woman asked through the din of the explosion and confusion and all Shinji could do was nod his head. "Good, I'm Misato. Get in the car, I'm taking you to your father." Shinji didn't need to be told twice. He leaped over the roof of the car and landed beside the passenger's side door easily. Misato looked at him with wide eyes as he got in the car, "Awfully fit for a kid your age, huh?" She said before taking off like a bat out of hell.

"You look a lot different than the pictures we have of you." Misato commented as the car swerved to avoid a lamp post as she ran an eye over the young boy, taking in his blue jeans, white t-shirt and dusty brown leather jacket along with his physique before handing Shinji a thick folder that had 'Welcome to NERV' (For Your Eyes Only) on it. Inside of the folder there was a picture of himself eleven months ago, before the 'attack' happened to him. The boy in the picture was thin, maybe less than a hundred and forty pounds, with well kept hair and grey blue eyes, but since the picture where he allegedly hit his 'growth spurt' Shinji had grown about eight inches taller and gained about fifty pounds of muscle. His hair was a bit longer and shaggier when in the picture, and as for his eyes, they no longer seemed sad and lifeless, they were wild, free, and full of life in them.

"I- well- uh- I hit a growth spurt" Shinji explained nervously, hoping he sounded more convincing then he was showing. He wasn't bothered by the high speeds the car was going, if anything he was enjoying the drive. His only regret was that he wasn't outside, running along with the car, feeling the wind through his hair and the earth under his feet.

"That's one hell of a growth spurt" Misato whistled appreciatively. "You're pretty calm considering everything that's just happened"

"Really? You think so?" Shinji offered a small smile. "I'm used to weird stuff happening to me. I would like to know what that thing is, though." As he pointed again at the Angel now towering most of the buildings on the outskirts of Tokyo-03.

"You're a lot different than I thought you would be." The older woman smiled back. "I thought you'd be a lot… meeker. And to answer your question, that thing is an 'Angel'."

Shinji was about to ask her what she meant when he noticed something odd, it was as if all he could hear was the sound the car. It was like someone turned off all the sounds outside the car that made his hair stood on end. A cold chill ran up his spine, "Get down!" he yelled at the top of his lungs and threw his arms over Misato, pushing her head down. A shockwave instantly hit the car and sent it airborne, flipping in mid air until it landed on its roof. Both of the passengers crawled out of the car with no major injuries.

"Shinji, are you all right?" Misato asked. The boy nodded and looked around, noticing that most of the outskirts of the city had been destroyed by some kind of explosion. "What the- HELL were they thinking, using an N2 mine!" Misato yelled , turning to her car "And my car's totalled! I only had 24 more payments. How the hell are we going to get to the base now?"

Shinji walked over to the car and put his hand underneath it, and with an effortless grunt, pulled up until the car flipped on to its wheels. As he turned to the woman he saw her staring at him with her mouth agape. "I work out?" He offered with a shrug of innocence. They got into the car and drove off in silence, Misato sending an occasional glance toward the boy sitting next to her. He was so clouded in mystery that she wondered how did he know that the N2 mine was about to go off, how was he so strong enough to flip the car by himself, and how was it possible for him to change so much in only ten months? For a boy who was sixteen he looked more like he was eighteen or even twenty for crying out loud, and he's still in high school?

They entered a tunnel that leads to a vehicle elevator platform, when they parked on the platform it began to descend. After a short time in the dark a sight unlike any other came into few. An under fortress, known as the- "GEO Front! That's the real GEO front! Goddamn-" Shinji stopped and looked at Misato. "I mean- Wow."

"Yup! Our secret base of operations- NERV HQ" Misato smiled at the boy's surprise. "The Keystone for the resurrection of the world and the stronghold of humanity"

Later, inside the base

"You're lost, aren't you?" Shinji asked. It had became obvious after ten minutes that the young woman had no idea where they were going.

"Define 'lost' Mr. Ikari?" Misato laughed nervously.

Shinji sighed, as an ANGEL was rampaging up at the surface, he was sure this wasn't going to help. So he took a deep breath, letting air fill his nose. A scent he didn't recognize was in the air, it smelled like blood but somehow it was a bit different. He smell people along with the unusual scent, if there was group of people around it was most likely where they were meant go. "Let's go this way" He said pointing and walking at the same time, following the smell he attributed to being un-lost.

After walking for another ten minutes they reached an elevator that Misato finally recognized. When they reached the level that was their destination, the elevator doors opened to reveal a scowling blond woman, curiously her eyebrows are brown. "Captain Katsuragi" the woman looked surprised but frowned at the same time, "You're actually on time."

Misato stuck her tongue out at the blond. "Yeah, it seemed that little Shinji here knew where he was going" She was unable to keep her confusion out of her voice.

"Not so little" The blond woman smiled as she did an over-all look of him, "I'm Akagi Ritsuko from the first engineering division- the supervisor of project E" she introduced herself. "You must have been following the smell."

Shinji's eyebrows shot up in surprise "You know that I'm-"

"I know everything I need to know about you, Shinji" The doctor nodded her head as Misato sniffed the air saying she didn't smell anything. "Follow me, there's something I want to show you before you meet your father."

As they walked down the hallway a voice came on over the speaker. "First Wave Personnel To Battle Stations! Repeat, First Wave Personnel To Battle Stations! Prepare To Initialize Anti Ground Attack Unit 01"

"What do they mean? With Rei in a coma there's no one to pilot Unit 01, right?" Misato asked.

"We found a reserve pilot" was the only answer Ritsuko would give.

They entered a dark room with the light off. Even though there was no light, Shinji's eyes could make the outline of something large sticking out of some kind of water. The smell of blood was thick in this rooms, if he didn't know better, he'd say that there was a river of it. The lights came on and he saw that they were standing on a platform in front of some kind of robotic head just above the red water the rest of it was in. He could tell from the smell that the robot was somehow alive and he had a strange feeling that the red water was the thing's blood. "What in blazing hell is that?"

"You most likely know already that she's not really a robot." The doctor kept her eye on the machine as she spoke. "She's a manmade all purpose battle weapon, Artificial Human Evangelion. It's the last chance for humanity, and this is the first unit."

"So this is what my father has been working on all these years" Shinji said in awe.

"That's right Shinji" said a voice that Shinji hadn't heard in years. "It's been while, hasn't it." There, standing in a door way above the Evangelion was the man he knew as 'Father'. A burning in his chest lit up like wild fire and his hand began to shake as rage made his eyesight red. A roaring in his head blared as the beast inside his heart cried for blood! Oh, how he wanted to sink his teeth into the man's neck and rip out his throat. "Now listen to what I have to say carefully Shinji, you are going to ride her, and fight the Angel."

"Why the fuck do you think I should do anything for you?" Shinji yelled, his anger getting the best of him. He knew it was the beast making him so wild, making him so angry. It wanted nothing more than to feast on this man's innards for abandoning his son. And he wanted to let it so bad, yet he was still keeping himself under control.

"If you don't do this, all of Humanity will perish." The Commander's voice was cold. as if he was talking to a stranger instead of his son. "The very existence of the Human race rests on your shoulders."

"And why should I give a fuck about the fate of the Human Race!" The boy screamed as his eyes went from their normal blue to a feral hazel-gold. His whole body shook as his muscles stiffened and his tendons cracked with the tension, it felt like he was going to convulse and attack anything in front of him.

But suddenly he stopped shaking as quickly as he started it, and looked down at the ground. "That's it, isn't it?" He chuckled, not looking up at his father's cold stare. "This is how I can prove my humanity huh? Strange how the fate of people like you is in the hands of someone like me," He looked up at the Commander, his eyes once again blue, the convulsions on his muscles seemed like a thing of the past. "I'll do it, I'll pilot your damn robot father!"

Inside the EVA

"Cooling down cycle complete! All internal cage systems in docking position! Pilot has reached the cockpit position within the Entry Plug!"

"Roger! Inserting Entry Plug!"

Shinji felt the Entry Plug shake as it entered the EVA. He was a little uncomfortable, the plug was both confined and claustrophobic and he can't help but feel… trapped. Somehow, he didn't like it. No, he just didn't like it, he hated it.

"Plug lock-in procedure complete! Initiating first level interface! Flooding Entry Plug!"

"What the Hell!" Shinji yelled as the Entry Plug started to fill up with the red liquid, he pounded slightly on the ceiling as the fluid reached up to his chest and panic welled-up in him at the same time, "You trying to kill me here or something!"

"Don't be alarmed" Ritsuko's voice came over the inter com. "Your lungs are being saturated in LCL, you'll be able to undergo direct oxygen exchange through the LCL."

Shinji calmly let the liquid into his lungs, and almost instantly began to breath normally. He didn't miss the fact that the LCL tasted like real blood.

"Main power connected! All circuits fully functional! Initiating power-up sequence!"

"A10 Neural synapses operating within normal limits! First contact all clear!"

"Opening reciprocal circuits!"

"Synch rate at 63%!"

"Synchronization errors are within 0.3%!"

"This is incredible!" Ritsuko gasped. "It's actually going to work."

Misato took charge with a nod from Ritsuko, "Evangelion Unit 01 Prepare To Launch!"

"Releasing primary lock bolt!"

"Release confirmed! Releasing umbilical bridge!"

"Releasing primary and secondary restraints!"

"Releasing safety locks one through fifteen!"

"Internal battery fully charged! External power outlet nominal!"

"Transporting EVA Unit 01 the launch elevator!"

"Gate Five standby! Launch path clear!"

"All green! Launch preparations are complete!"

"Roger" Misato turned the command desk. "Commander Ikari, do we proceed?"

"Of course" He confirmed from behind his folded hands "If we fail to defeat the Angel Humanity has no future."

Misato nodded her head "Right" she turned to the bridge "EVA, Launch!"

Shinji felt gravity push down on him as the EVA was launched up toward the surface. The sudden stop was just as unpleasant, but when he opened his eye, not remembering closing them, he was face to face with the Angel. "This it Shinji." Misato said over the intercom, "Safety locks open, EVA, lift off!"

"All you have to think about walking and it'll walk" Ritsuko instructed "It'll do what every you think of-" she seemed to lose her voice as she saw the EVA take a crouching position. No, she thought. there's no way he's thinking about-"

As to prove her right, the EVA leapt forward, running hard and staying close to the ground. The Angel shot a beam of energy from its hand, which missed the EVA. When the EVA reached the angel it pushed itself upwards, striking it's middle with a powerful uppercut.

"… leaves me alone for ten years" Shinji growled as he struck the white mask with a right hook of his Evangelion, sending the Angel flying to land on its back sending concrete and half a block of pavement into the surrounding buildings. "He doesn't even bother to call, sends a letter, probably got someone else to write it anyway," he hissed to clenched teeth stemming his anger and frustration. "Not even a freakin' 'Hello Shinji, it's nice to see you- wow you've grown so much!" the rage was building up inside, the beast clawing its way through his mind, trying to break the surface. His eyes turned to the previous feral hazel-gold, his canines started to lengthen, "Instead it's 'Boy, get into my giant robot and kill a fucking Angel'!"

"Disconnect the video feed from the Entry Plug" The Commander ordered as the 3rd Child's voice was reduced to a rasping sound, "No need for us to be worried about how he looks, concentrate on the readings."

Ritsuko nodded while Misato looked confused. "Shinji" The doctor said into the com. "we're turning of the video feed. Feel free to let loose on the Angel." She turned off the feed and turned to the Commander, 'That should at least make him more comfortable.'

Cutting the video feed, huh? Shinji thought. At least the old man is smart enough to let me have my privacy when I change. Shinji began to shake and convulse as his muscles began to expand. His nose changed into a snout and his jaw stretched with it. His ears became pointed and hair sprouted over his arms, legs, chest and face as his shirt was ripped by the sudden change in his body mass.

"Sudden mass build up detected in the Entry Plug! Synch rate reading at 87%" Maya gasped "Reading a weight change with the pilot" the young woman paled "P-p-pilot's c-current weight is over four hundred and twenty pounds!"

"What? That impossible!" Misato shouted and almost shoved her nose at the terminal.

"Ignore all physical reading and concentrate on the synch readings" The Commander order, making eye contact with Ritsuko who just nodded, understanding the situation.

"Shinji, are you ok?" Misato asked, worried despite the Commander's calm tone.

"I'm fine" Growled a voice far too deep to be human. Misato's eyes widened in shock, and look at the Commander, who waved it off by simply not even moving. "I'm going to finish this, where is it's weak spot?"

"The red core on its chest" Ritsuko answered for Misato, as she was too stunned to even reply or think straight, she was mumbling something about a bear or something hairy that was incoherent for everyone else. "Destroy the red core and the Angel will die."

"Done" Shinji growled as he grasped the control yokes firmly with his claws almost crushing it with his strength. He was in complete bliss, as the change always brought. He felt the power flow through his every muscle, and felt a peace that he never really felt with anything else. He was one with the beast called Evangelion, and this fucking Angel was about to find out what it meant to get in the way of a pissed off werewolf.

The EVA leapt at the Angel as it tried to stand up doing a cork landing at the Angel smashing into its stomach fluids, and debris flying everywhere. With a feral roar it grabbed the two horn-like protrusion on its side and gave a mighty tug. Some kind of violet blood spurted from the Angel's chest as the horns were torn asunder at the combined strength of the pilot and the Eva. Using a piece of the shattered horn as a makeshift cutting weapon the Evangelion started to slam down onto the core with its fist. Slamming its whole arms into the core as it cracked at the assault. The Angel tried in vain to fight back and stand up to regain some advantage, but he kept pounding the core and its mask alternately in a sick kind of rhythm. The core of the Angel cracked to its limit until the EVA roared in time with Shinji and drove it's hand straight through the core shattering it and to the Angel's chest. The abomination bubbled up and exploded with the force of an N2 mine, blood rained down as the residue of the blast covered the street and washed at the buildings, the Angel's blood looked familiar and Shinji couldn't help but notice that it looked a lot like LCL.

Back at NERV HQ

Misato stood outside the Entry Plug with Ritsuko waiting for Shinji to exit, when the boy opened the Plug door and stepped out the two women raised their eyebrows at Shinji's state of dress. The tattered remains of his shirt were in his right hand while his pants were covered in rips and tears. He followed their eyes down and grinned at them nervously "Erm- It got awfully rough in there. Is there a way that it won't be so hard on my clothes next time?"

Ritsuko smiled back, knowing just what the boy meant "Don't worry Shinji" she reassured "We'll make it so it's easier for you to pilot if you promised to reach that same synch rate again every single time. Now let's get you checked out before we send you home"

"Oh!" a thought suddenly came to him, "Where am I supposed to stay? Not… my Father's right…?"

Ritsuko almost chuckled at that thought, but turned her eyes towards Misato as the Captain smiled like a cat who just found a mouse. "You'll be staying at my Apartment" the purple haired woman grinned "I just moved in, so it's a little messy, I really hope you don't mind. It'll make things easier since I've been made your guardian."

The three were watched from above as they walked off towards the medical ward so Shinji could be checked over. "Strange" Fuyutsuki mused "That the future of the human race is in the hands of Children who are not even human."

"It's most likely better this way" The Commander returned "They who have lost their humanity treasure it more than humans would. Humans would always take their humanity for granted, they don't realize how important it is. They go on living their ignorant lives, while there are those who would give anything to live a normal life, they continue to live without realizing how precious the life they have really is."

"I understand," Fuyutsuki nodded "But how will this affect the scenario?"

"If anything it will improve our chances, because Instrumentality can offer them the one thing they want the most" The Commander smiled at the older man's confused look "It can offer them back their humanity."

Misato's apartment

"So Ritsuko told me that the Entry Plug's instruments malfunctioned, saying that my weight was really heavyor something." Shinji started the conversation as they walked down the hallway to the apartment, knowing that Misato would start to ask question soon enough. Ritsuko promised him that she would fix the instruments so that they wouldn't detect the change in weight the next time he changed. She said she would also put a voice filter in his comm. Ritsuko was helping as much as she could so that he could keep his secret. It was part of the deal for him so he can continue to fight the Angels in a 'normal' kind of way. NERV would help him live something resembling a normal 'human' life. That and he'd paid of course.

"Yeah, your comm. was damaged too, you sounded like a talking bear" Misato faked a smile and chuckled a bit. She wasn't stupid, she knew there was something going on, but she wants Shinji to go and tell her. What bothered was that Ritsuko seemed to know and wasn't sharing. She'd have to find out on her own, and the best way was to play along for now until Shinji trusted her.

When they reached the apartment, Misato entered first while Shinji stood there staring at the threshold. A new home, a new beginning, another chance at being human. Sure, being the pilot of a giant robot wasn't a normal life, but at least he could live it like a human, maybe gain some friends, maybe meet a girl. He took a step over the threshold and smiled. "I- I'm home… I guess…"

Looking around the apartment the boy couldn't help but grimace. There was stack about stack of take-out containers and beer cans. 'A little messy?' Shinji thought as his sensitive nose began to itch, 'This looks more like a trash heap than an actual apartment' Misato notice the look on her new charge's face. "So maybe it's more than a 'little messy', but it's still home."

"It's fine" Shinji sighed. It was a good thing he was good at taking care of himself, it looked like he would have to be cleaning up after his new roommate as well. "So Misato" Shinji decided to change the subject. "You said there are other pilots, right? How come they couldn't pilot Unit 01?"

"We have two other pilots right now" Misato answered as she sat down with a can of beer in her hand. "One is in Germany while Unit 02 is being completed. The other pilot, Rei, had an accident while Unit 00 was being activated and is in a deep coma at the moment." She cracked the top of beer, took a big gulp out of it before looking off into space thoughtfully.

"You know" she started "It's been kind of weird, I keep getting reports from the techs and other staff that they've seen her around, or just a glimpse of her before she vanishes. What's weirder is that she's not allowed visitors, so I haven't even seen her since the accident. Anyone else I'd say that the staff was just seeing things, but a pale girl with blue hair and red eyes is a little hard to miss."

Shinji's eyes widened at this revelation, but he quickly hid his reaction. If they were telling Misato that Rei was in a coma it was probably to cover up the truth. If Rei was the girl that Shinji had seen right before seeing the Angel then she must have had been injured more seriously than what they told Misato. Shinji knew a ghost when he saw one, and the blue haired girl was as dead as JFK. 'Can a ghost still pilot?' he wondered. "I hope she gets better soon." He said, trying to sound sincere, despite knowing that the girl would never recover at all.

"I hope so too, I don't want you to be fighting all those Angels all by yourself, right?" Misato continued drinking her beer happily. She opened Shinji's personnel file and frowned, "It says here you have a medical condition that make you sick for three days a month, it says here that it's so bad that you shouldn't go to school on those days. They even have the estimated dates for the days you'll be sick written down here." Misato looked up at Shinji suspiciously as if ready to tackle him at any moment, "You're not a girl are you?"

"W-w-w-what?" He stuttered as the captain smiled wickedly "Why would you say something like that?"

"Because to get sick for three days every month" She said innocently, enjoying the blush on the boy's face. It felt nice to know even though he looked older than he was, and more matured than most men he have seen she could still tease him like a kid. "That sounds a lot like having a period."

"N-n-no!" Shinji felt the blood rush to his face, blushing more when he realized he was being teased. "I have a condition where I feel ill when the sun and moon are at a certain position that affects the earth's gravity." He explained, having practiced this lie with Ritsuko, "I feel better if I get fresh air, at night time helps the most. And I am boy!"

"I'm not so sure" Misato pouted "You'll have to prove it to me, just so I'm positive" She couldn't hold back her giggles when Shinji went bright red and walked off to his room grumbling something about being tired. "Welcome Home Shinji!" The captain laughed as she walked over to her calendar and began to mark down the days Shinji would have to stay home from school, missing completely that the three days of the month she circled were the days of the full moon every month.

Author's Note: If any reader is familiar with the TV show 'Being Human', this is NOT a crossover, just inspired by the basic story. I really hope I don't have to come out and say what kind of creepy critter that Shinji is. I bet you can guess what change I made to Asuka too.

I hope no one is too mad at me for changing their ages, it would have screwed with my story a little too much if they were younger. Hope you liked it.

Also be prepared for monthly updates. Two months if my life hit's the shit fan