Chapter 01 Arrivals A Meeting Azure Angels
Shinji looked wistfully down the dusty, deserted road he was standing on, longing for another life where he had a loving family and friends. Instead, he was stuck in this one, his mother dead, abandoned by his father and bullied constantly. Thus, when he received the letter from his father telling him to come to Tokyo 3, he jumped at the chance to have a family and happiness again. But now, he found himself listening to a recording on a payphone in a deserted city, with no one but his pack to keep him company.
"Figures," he muttered, hanging up in disgust and digging through his bag for the card he had received, along with the letter. On it was pinned a picture of the most beautiful woman he had seen since…well…ever… She was a stunner with vivid purple hair and one hell of a figure. This figure was helpfully paid attention to by both her provocative pose and an arrow pointing at her expansive cleavage, labelled 'Look at this!' Instructions to be here by 3 pm, whereupon said bombshell would take him to his father were the main content of the letter itself, though Shinji had paid little attention to this, concentrating mainly on the card.
'And she's my fathers…what?' Shinji murmured, once again checking his watch, which read 4 pm, in cheerful red numerals.
Across the city
'Goddamit! Why did I have to lose him, now!' screamed Captain Misato Katsuragi of NERV as she tore through Tokyo 3's deserted streets at unholy speeds, occasionally glancing down at a file and picture both labelled 'Shinji Ikari.'
'So what the hell am I supposed to do now?' asked Shinji as he looked up from his watch and over the deserted...ok, not so deserted road, as a girl was standing on the other side of the road, standing and…staring? He could have sworn that she wasn't there moments earlier ago. Her eyes, blood red and chilling, seemed to delve into his very soul. Shinji opened his mouth to speak, but his words were lost as a roar from overhead knocked him flat on his face. Looking up in shock Shinji was amazed to see a small fleet of flying vehicles jet around the corner, flying so close to the ground that he had been knocked down by their backwash "What? Are we at war or something?" Staggering to his feet Shinji spun back around to see the girl was ok or, at least, that was his intention. Unfortunately, she had vanished as if she was never really there. Shinji would have found this sequence of events quite disturbing, had his full attention not been suddenly drawn to the 60ft tall monstrosity that had just come around the corner.
Far above the scene Rei Ayanami acquired her target and dived.
Shinji just stood there stunned as the thing slowly trudged around the corner. In appearance, the creature was hideous. Its jet black, gangly body rocked from side to side as it trudged down the street. The features on its skull-like face seemed to glow in anticipation, and the various bones protruding from its flesh at odd angles only served to heighten the sense of wrongness. Even as he watched, the VTOL's barraged the monstrosity with enough firepower to level a city… with as much effect as a rolled up newspaper.
The monster retaliated by raising an arm lazily and firing some sort of beam, destroying at least five of the aircraft attacking it.
It was about then that Shinji's legs overrode his brain and decided that sticking around to engage in polite conversation would be a bad move.
As he turned to run, the monster appeared to notice him for the first time, bending down to peer at him, tiny yellow eyes shining from their skull-like housing. Then, to his horror, it reached an arm out towards him, outstretched fingers coming within scant inches of him. Suddenly, it stopped and turned towards the sky, at which point something which looked like a flash of blue lightning hit it squarely between the eyes.
Shinji had little time to wonder at his good fortune before he was knocked off his feet by the shockwave caused by the collision, recovering in time to see the monster hurtle through some nearby buildings and come to a rather painful-looking stop.
Pulling himself upright for the second time in as many minutes Shinji finally noticed his saviour for the first time; it was tall, well over two metres and covered in blue body armour that looked more natural then artificial, instead of a face, a featureless visor gazed out at the world. It currently hung suspended from an array of huge dragonfly-like wings, looking like an angel from Scripture, the gaps in its armour pulsing a deep aqua.
It turned and stared briefly at him before flying after its foe, and for just a moment Shinji swore he saw a face behind that visor, crimson eyes gleaming through it.
As Misato rounded the corner at breakneck speed the scene that met her eyes was not a welcome one. Rei was engaging the target, and Shinji was on the floor less then 40 feet away from the battle.
With a startled exclamation, Misato slammed the brakes down and yanked the wheel to her right, performing a drifting turn that would have made Elwood Blue's proud and that placed her between Shinji and the warring titans. 'Get in now!' she screamed, throwing the passenger door open. Shinji was all too happy to oblige leaping into the car and onto Misato's lap in his hurry for safety.
Rei paused in her battle to look after the retreating car and its occupants. 'All that's left now is to-' Her thoughts were cut off as the Angel's arm slammed into her, catching her in a vice-like grip before flinging her to the ground.
Beneath the city, the commander fumed silently, Rei was not supposed to let ANYTHING distract her from combat 'Retrieve her through the 3rd access lift. Now!'
Over the screen Rei's prone form could be seen sinking into the floor, while the angel, denied its prey, turned and continued its implacable advance. Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, Misato finally eased up on the accelerator and turned to look at the boy she had rescued. The child beside her had definitely inherited his father's looks, he had the same slightly shaggy brown hair "And why exactly were you just standing there, in the middle of the road, like you wanted to be run over!"
"Buh?"
"Well, I suppose it can't be helped, just watch where you're going in the future okay?"
"Buh?"
"What? Too shaken up to talk, or is it that your dazzled by my good looks, hmmm?"
"Uh miss… what was that thing?"
"What thing? The blue one or the giant skelly monster?"
"Either or"
"The former was an Evangelion, our last line of defence against the angels"
"The other thing, right?"
"Yup, your friend back there was an angel"
"So, are you taking me to see my father?"
"Of course, you did read the note didn't you? I took the picture specially"
"uh… yeah"
Misato gave him a reassuring smile "yeah, most people are like that the first time, but you kinda get used to it"
"Goody"
Chapter 02
Father Awakenings The Death of Innocence
"This… this is my father's work?" Shinji's voice trembled with both fear and awe of the huge machine before him, what little he could see of the, what had Ritsuko called it Evangelion? Was a dull gunmetal grey and judging from the size of the head easily as tall as most buildings. A single black eye stared at them, dead and lifeless.
"Correct" the voice was cold, controlled and hard as steel, that voice was ingrained in Shinji's soul since that time it had left him at that train station 10 years ago.
"Father!"
"Why, why after all these years have you called me here?" As angry as Shinji tried to make those words sound the note of hope in his voice rang out clearly, maybe his father DID love him, maybe he was wanted after all?
"Because I have a use for you" Shinji visibly stiffened, with those words Gendo Ikari had completely crushed the boy's hopes.
Even Misato was shocked by this callous remark; did the man care nothing for his son?
Ritsuko stepped forward
"You well pilot it."
"What"
Shinji stayed silent but agreed with the startled Misato there was no way he could pilot a robot, giant or otherwise, he'd only just clapped eyes on the thing!
"No."
"You heard me; NO! I can't pilot that thing"
Shinji fell to his knees
"I…just can't."
Gendo glared down at the boy with a look that, if Misato hadn't already know the man to incapable of emotion, would have been labelled as disgust before turning away from the boy and flicking a switch on a consol to his right.
"Rei"
"Yes…sir" the reply was weak, strained, Rei's wounds must be bad, to tax her regenerative abilities this much
"Our spare is useless, you will do it again" again Gendo's voice was supremely cold, totally masking his worry for the frail girl he was sending to her death. If the gamble didn't pay off they were dead.
"Yes…" her voice cracked with a moan of pain "…sir"
Ritsuko sneered at Shinji's huddled form a moment before turning away and bellowing orders to the assembled engineers.
"Ready Rei for combat."
Almost immediately a group of men and women rushed into the room from a side passage wheeling a hospital gurney.
Shinji watched listlessly as the technicians bustled around him, completely oblivious to his presence. "So…I wasn't needed after all"
Amidst the tubes and doctors Shinji could make out the form of a young girl, heavily bandaged and in obvious pain being helped to sit up.
"Who's that"
If Shinji had been paying attention, he would have been shocked to realise that the girl on the gurney was the same one he had seen up on the street less then an hour ago.
Misato gave a contemptuous snort before answering, "That is Rei Ayanami, the young girl being sent to die in your place"
The room shook violently as the Angel above evidently annoyed at being ignored threw its weight around, damaging or destroying most of what it could see. The vibrations threw the girl out of her stretcher and into Shinji's lap. At the same moment, a huge section of gantry fell tumbling down from high above, aiming to land perfectly on top of Shinji and the newly-deposited Rei. Milliseconds before impact, Rei's eyes flared, her AT field sheltering the two of them from harm. Sending the offending Girder ricocheting away to Shatter against Gendo's armoured perch.
Pulling herself to her feet Misato looked down at Shinji cradling Rei's still form and sighed.
"Shinji, you've seen what we're up against so you have to make the choice: either stay and help us or leave us and Rei to our deaths"
It was a cruel thing to say, she knew that but in war morality was usually the first casualty.
Shinji looked back and forth between the wounded girl and his father, looking down on it all with that same insufferable smirk.
This was it; he could leave now, never see or hear from his father again, and leave this poor girl here to die.
Or he could stay, do his fathers bidding like a puppet, and maybe, just maybe save a girls life and do something that makes his own worth living.
"I…I'll do it!"
Far above, from his vantage point overlooking the scene Gendo smiled 'all was going to plan'
From his right Shinji vaguely heard the voices of the technicians preparing the EVA for combat and the harsh voice of Dr Akagi barking out orders
But all he could see was the girl lying limp in his arms, the way her crimson eyes seemed so familiar to him "Don't worry" but she had slid into unconsciousness her blood red eyes still staring up at him.
Then he felt Misato's comforting hand on his shoulder,
"It's time."
The "plug" as it was called was a fairly simple affair, a chair and console contained in a five metre long tube that was apparently inserted into the Eva's faux spinal column. This was all fine and dandy, till they started to fill it up with…
"Tango?"
"It's not Tango, its LCL!" Ritsuko growled amidst sniggers from the bridge crew and Misato,
After fixing Misato and the techs with a withering glare she continued
"It allows us to monitor your condition and oxygenates your blood directly"
Shinji nodded mutely and gagged slightly as the LCL entered his mouth, it may have looked like Tango but it tasted like blood.
Back in Central Dogma, Ritsuko supervised the final connections, whilst Misato attempted to offer moral support:
"You can do this Shinji!"
'That's the best she can come up with?' Shinji felt that going up against a giant monster in a robot he had only known about for 10 minutes might well have been spectacularly stupid, bordering on suicidal, but it deserved a decent pep talk at least.
"Connections made…Evangelion LAUNCH!"
With that the ceiling above Shinji opened, and the massive coil gun that launched the EVA to the surface fired, propelling Shinji's machine to the surface at a speed which, had he not be cushioned in LCL would likely have broken his neck.
As it was Shinji was treated to the unpleasant sensation of having his spine compacted by the immense g-forces involved with moving at such speeds.
He was suddenly hit by a wall of light, as the door to the surface opened. He felt, rather than heard the click of the elevator shaft closing again, under him, and abruptly found himself face to face with the creature he had seen outside the command centre.
It walked slowly towards him, an odd lumbering gait, one foot lifted then swung forward, followed by the other, coming to rest slightly in front of the first, the two faces, formed seemingly from Rei's prior attack, grinned madly at him, as though exalting in its pain. Shinji hesitated, "Um…Misato, what am I supposed to do?"
"The Eva has a built in 40MM cannon, just centre the target in the crosshairs and pull the switch, the computer will do the rest," she replied hurriedly. Still doubt lay unshakably in her mind, 'Will the armour even work…?'
"Okay," Shinji levelled the suit's gun and pulled the switch. The suit shuddered as the afore-mentioned gun spat 40mm uranium-tipped death that tore through the inky blackness towards the monster in his sights. The super-heated shots slammed into the surrounding buildings, shrouding the creature in clouds of smoke and shrapnel.
"Did I kill it?" Shinji asked hesitantly. Deep below, in Terminal Dogma, Misato let out a cry of frustration,
"Idiot! You hid it in your smoke!"
"Wha-?" Shinji exclaimed, as the creature's shadowy bulk burst from the billowing smoke and debris, slamming violently into the EVA, sending both creature and machine flying from the impact.
"Shinji, get out of there!" Misato's panicked cry galvanising him into action. "Come on, you piece of junk! Get up!" Shinji yelled desperately to get it to stand, but the Angel was quicker. With agility surprising for its size and awkward appearance, it had his EVA by the throat and shoulder.
Then it began to twist…
The cockpit was filled with the creak of tortured metal as the EVA's joints began to give. Until, with a final crack, the left arm came free, to be cast aside like so much scrap metal.
Satisfied that the Eva would not be moving any further, the Angel held Shinji high above the ground and exposed the palm of its hand to the EVA's face. Shinji got a good look at the palm and noticed a red sphere in the middle of its misshapen hand which began to glow.
With a crash, the lance impacted, driving straight through Shinji's machine and out of the other side. The EVA was sent flying backwards down the street, crashing to a halt against an unfortunate block of flats.
"Unit-01 has…gone silent…"
MST
Maelgrim: So, the first chapter of Eidolon of destruction his here at last…
Kanesuke: Yeah…took ages…
Malegrim: When you can bloody well write it give me a call
Kanesuke: No, my role is irritating proof-reader…not writer…
Maelgrim: semantics aside, its not too bad is it?
Kanesuke: eheh…I haven't read it all yet…
Maelgrim: Up to this point I never actually thought that I'd ever actually get ANY of this done
Kanesuke: Just shows what having someone nagging you will do…
Maelgrim: yeah… annoy, irritate and generally pester me into forgetting what I'm writing
Kanesuke: Meh, I'm good at what I do…Anyway, I have to give you some credit, what I've read is great…
Maelgrim: thanks, I've tried to give EVA a slight twist, likely failed miserably, but what the hell
Kanesuke: Just so long as I get the pairings I want, everything will be fine…
Maelgrim: we'll see, we'll see (Cue evil all powerful author laugh)
Kanesuke: …You sound like a cat when you do that… (Oooh…poetic)
Maelgrim: nice one Chaucer, now lets get on with the story, they've listened to us whine long enough
(End MST)
Angel Misato Father Red eyes A grinning skull Mother!
With a startled yelp Shinji awoke. He found himself in a hospital bed, staring up at a very bland ceiling. "Unfamiliar…" His voice sounded strange in his own ears, like he'd died and come back again.
"So, how is he?" a familiar voice…
"Misato?"
"Physically, he's fine, better then fine, you saw that," Dr Akagi's voice sounded tired, almost resentful. "Mentally? Who knows…I mean it must come as a shock to change like that."
changed? What were they talking about?
Shinji looked up as Misato entered; flanked by Dr Akagi, both had slightly worried expressions, as though they had both seen something that would haunt them for years
Misato was the first to speak, a look of concern evident on her face.
"How are you feeling, Shinji?"
"Ok... I guess, what happened?"
This time it was Ritsuko that fielded the question "Well. You beat the angel"
This sounded good, but the look on their faces told Shinji that this might not be the case
"What happened? All I remember is a bright flash of light, and then I woke up here"
"Well, we may not be able to tell you what happened in a way that you believe us… but we can show it to you"
The way that Ritsuko said that that made Shinji nervous, whatever had happened it didn't sound like something he'd want to see.
"The combat record makes for some interesting viewing Shinji; we never knew you had it in you"
again something about the wry way that she said this that irritated Shinji, but he suppressed his a growing annoyance as a TV was wheeled into the room by some orderlies.
The video began, the small number in a corner telling Shinji that the log was taken from just after he fell unconscious.
"My God, what have we done?" one of the technicians, a young brown haired woman
"Shinji"
"Energy readings from Unit-01"
"What"
All eyes were on the gutted and torn remains of the EVA. The Angel turned, sensing new life in its foe. With a roar of primal rage and hate, the chest of the EVA burst open and a figure blazing with pure power rose high above its corpse on obsidian wings.
"Shinji…" Misato's voice was quiet, nothing more then a shocked murmur yet in the ringing silence that had heralded the birth of their saviour it sounded like a shout.
Shinji watched in awe as he, he had no idea how he knew it was him, it just WAS flew at the angel with a roar, before slamming into a shimmering field of hexagonal orange force.
"It's an AT field!"
"As long as that field's up, he can't get near that Angel!" Dr Akagi's voice was panicked now.
With a roar, the being that had been Shinji slammed its claws into the field and twisted. With a screeching like metal on glass the field flexed and shattered causing the Angel to stagger back as if wounded.
'Just like that…' Now her voice was awed,
With a cry of triumph, Shinji resumed his attack zooming towards the Angel's face with a snap of his wings, but the angel was not as badly hurt as it seemed,launching a blast from its eyes that slammed into Shinji and washed over him, hiding him from view. But when the storm ended he stood unharmed, arms crossed over his face, eyes blazing with power and fury.
Shinji's fist made a loud crunching sound as it passed through the Angel's skull sending a shiver both through the bridge crew and Shinji himself, watching in horror at the carnage he had caused. The angel staggered and fell, arms flailing wildly in an attempt to grasp the cause of its pain, yet Shinji was both too fast and too brutal. He continued to rain blows upon the angel's body and face, each strike punctuated by the snap of bone and the tearing of flesh until, with a hellish shriek Shinji drew back his fist; primal energies surrounded that raised claw, the blow that would erase this abomination from existence. The angel sensing its imminent demise chose the one path left for it; self-destruction.
The blast stretched high into the night's sky, a glowing cross to mark the grave of the first messenger.
"Energy readings from the blaze, he's alive!"
Shinji watched in awe as he walked from the inferno, backlit by the dieing blaze of the angel's power he got his first good look at himself. except that it was not him he saw; the creature was tall easily the same size as the creature that ahd rescued him form the angel the first time, and clad in bizarre purple armour that glowed a deep orange where the plates did not meet, immense wings curled around its shoulders. But the face was the worst; a grinning death's head surmounted by a single razor-sharp horn. The shadows caused by the angels funeral pyre enhancing its already hideous visage. But even as he watched this figure of abyssal power striding from the flames, it slowed, the glow of its eyes dimmed, and it collapsed to the ground, changing as it did so into the prone form of Shinji Ikari.
: Place unknown
"Sachiel has fallen to the Lillim"
"Most unexpected, their copies prove worthy after all"
"They shall fall as promised; you have the word of Shamshiel"
Chapter 3
Confrontations New Family Red eyes
Angel list X Sachiel X Shamsiel Ramiel XGaghielX Israfel Sandalphon Matariel Sahaqiel Yrouel Leliel Bardiel Zeruel Arael Armisael Tabris
"He'll be living on his own?"
"Yes ma'am, the arrangements have already been made"
The nameless lieutenants reply troubled Misato greatly; having Shinji living alone in his already precarious mental state could not be healthy for him, and having someone of his power growing unstable could mean disaster.
"Wrong, he'll be moving with me at my condo, no buts"
The lieutenant opened his mouth to protest, but catching the look in Misato's eye wisely reconsidered, nothing could stop Katsuragi when she was et on something
"Such a poor attitude… well, I'll fix that!"
"Sigh...Yes ma'am," When Misato was like this, the lieutenant knew there was no point arguing. Not if he valued his career, the 'Incident' with marketing was still fresh in his mind
" So we am I going to be living?" this was said in the same dull monotone Shinji had used since he was released from hospital "With me, in my apartment." Misato cheerful as ever
"Who do you think you are to decide where I live anyway?"
"How does your COMMANDING OFFICER sound? Hmm?" This tone coupled with the glare of imminent doom with which Misato focused on him had the desired effect; hotwiring his legs into following the bossy major "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to call Ritsuko and tell her the arrangements."
'Damn legs, always betraying me'
"Yeah, that's right Ritsuko, Shinji well be living with me, but don't worry I won't be making any passes at him!"
Whilst Shinji could not understand the shrieking irrupting from the phone at this statement, its volume told him enough
"Alright aright…yeessh some people have no sense of humour, right Shinji! Well, come on then, we've got to hurry before the store closes"
"….."
An hour later, on the outskirts of Tokyo 3
"Come on Shinji, there's something that you need to see"
"Coming," came the sullen reply.
'This kid has no enthusiasm, it's like he was raised by the commander.' Misato groused idly, Shinji's constant lethargy since his battle with the angel troubled Misato; if he didn't think about something else he'd crack.
So Misato had driven them out to a hill overlooking the city. admittedly the sunset was nice, but Shinji couldn't see why it was so important. "Just wait," Misato's reply was maddeningly smug.
"I still don't see- whoa"! The buildings of Tokyo 3 were rising from the ground framed by the light of the sunset the rising buildings were surrounded by a halo of golden light, looking for all like Gods kingdom on earth
"This is Tokyo 3, the city you saved, pretty impressive, non?" this should cheer him up a bit
"…yeah" said Shinj, almost too stunned to reply.
Misato smiled warmly "C'mon Shinji, lets go home"
Misato's apartment was in a word cluttered, in two words it was bloody messy; empty bottles and cans littered every available surface.
"Excuse me for a minute while I change ok Shinji?"
"Sure" Shinji replied as he began his search for the kitchen "umm Misato"
"Yeah? What is it"
"Why do you have two fridges? "
"Oh don't worry; he's probably still asleep, use the one on the right"
Probably still asleep? What does she mean?
No well no matter, he had a roof over his head and somewhere to call home, for now that was all that mattered.
From the log of Dr Ritsuko Akagi; regarding the beings know as the children of Evangelion:
After the events of third impact we realised that humanity would need protectors to stave of the inevitable angelic retribution, as the only thing with power equal to an angel is another angel we began research on combing human and angelic DNA to create a species with characteristics from both races.
The Children of Evangelion are the results of this research, created through a symbiosis of human and angelic DNA created by means of the INSTRUMENTALITY virus they are the first, last and best line of defence we have against the angels., the main figures in these experiments were: Gendo Rokobungi, Yui Ikari, Naoko Akagi and Kyoko Zeppelin Soryuu.
OK that's it, my first EVA fic finally ready and edited!
