This Chapter has been edited for your enjoyment!

(A/N Ok, welcome to my opening of Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Light of my Soul...my first fanfic for Now, this is just a preview for what is to come in the story. Also, don't mind that it's short, the other chapters are more than double in length and may be destined to get longer. Some ground rules: any kind of review is allowed, please do because it will inspire me to write further and improve my skills as an author here, just don't cuss too much at me. I won't reveal too much of the plot here, but it does use things from Halo and Ace Combat but it's not a heavy crossover so don't kill me yet. Just read the preview and see for yourself)

Disclaimer: I DON'T own Evangelion, Ace Combat, or Halo. But my armies are preparing to change that :)

(A/A/N Chapters 1-3 are POV -Unknown- 'Blaze' -Unknown-)

Chapter 1

A prologue and an ode to a dying soldier

"FUCK!"

Reduced to petty slang! Is that all that's left of my will and determination? This whole ordeal is all going to waste, sliding off into the mist and washing away. I lie back on the seat, screens flickering and static whistling, all mocking me in light of my ultimate failure. I remain still in the darkness, lost to it and just sitting as it encloses around me. But what else is there? All I can do is sit here and wait for the impending doom that our foe has in store for us. It was up to two of us, and what a hopeless battle that was. The others have all fallen 'out', according to our brilliant technicians, saying that the repairs would take weeks on end. So in the end, it was up to Unit-01 and a small crack team of others, including myself, to stave off the advancing enemy in its entire magnitude.

God, so much has happened leading up to this point. It's been a rough road, but I finally understand more than I ever thought I could. It wasn't what I would have expected it to be at first, but I wouldn't trade it away for anything else. From the strung out plans of my friends and allies, to the vacation I never knew was there. In my line of duty, vacations don't happen often (If at all), especially when you're fighting a war that was thought to have been hopelessly lost. Who would have thought that I would end up here, fighting alongside fellow pilots? I'm sorry to say that I scoffed them at first, but I think I've come to earn their friendship over time…and many apologies.

"Heh, I guess we all change sooner or later, right Chopper? GACK!"

My body doubles over as a fiery sensation fills my right shoulder, allowing a flood of memories to come pouring in. The memory of the man…on the balcony…and the shot he took.

Having incurred a bullet wound to the shoulder, I put my left hand up in an attempt to console the pain and sooth the joint. However, since the Eva is offline, the relief from the connection is gone, and that just means the pain will wave back on me with full force. I guess that's how much I've changed on this screw ball adventure, willing to give my own body so that others can move on…though I wish it wasn't so literal!

But…I've come a long way.

A smile crosses my face knowing that fact. I sit back as I struggle to remove my helmet. It a hisses and a rustles as I remove it from my head, now bleeding from the recent thrashing I took only minutes ago. Now it's all up to Unit-01, while I just sit here…idle. The prospect of doing nothing only succeeds in bringing me down.

"I've never wanted to be a burden, much less dead weight. I've always had my self-reliance, but this is just great!"

I throw my helmet against the control panel, but feel no satisfaction with the resulting bang as the helmet floats away in the LCL fluid. Frustrated further, I sit back up and, with a heavy sigh, slowly return to my train of thought.

Now all I can hope for is that the good pilot of Unit-01 can hold his own, but what can we possibly expect? Don't get me wrong on this, Shinji is an excellent pilot, but is he ready to step up to a task of this level? The last enemy took all of us to face with damage taken in by half our friends, enough to keep them out of commission until now, when we need them the most. Things just don't look good for our side. A single word crosses my mind, one of impossibility and the defiance of all odds…

'Miracle'

It has happened before, kept plenty of people alive…the survival of Third Impact. It was something that in all likelihood, I should have died from or, at the very least, not be here in my present form. I guess I have Shinji to thank for that one! But this is very different from that. This is where our actions determine the fate of everyone around us and if we can't fight back, than it's all over for everything that we ever fought for. God, I'm sick of it, I'm sick of all the fighting, it should have been done by now!!!

Why fight for what has passed? This whole day has been for nothing but in the name of massacre. The bloodshed, the loss of innocent life, the invasion of our homes, all in what name? What's on the other side of this conflict…what am I missing?

"AGH, god dammit! This bullet is killing me!!!"

To think I had taken it and more, just to pull Shinji down to the cage. I had grinned and bared it up till this point, but it makes me wonder just how many people had stood up to a bullet for that kid. Can't have been too many, right? What a lucky guy he is, living it like that with his guardian and…well, let's just say someone else important too. So why would I, of all people, help him? Maybe it's because I've gotten to know him better and see the true side of this kid. But did I have to prove it with a bullet…?

"Am I regretting it already? I really shouldn't be at this point. I mean, I am alive aren't I, for now at least. Besides, I would have given my life for someone else, if not him, right Nagase?"

So, I guess my thoughts are really drifting off from the point. I should be trying to find a way to get this Unit rolling again, but the pain in my shoulder keeps tearing my thoughts away from where they should be. Maybe I'm the one who's fighting the inevitable!

The discarded helmet floats along as I sit quietly; allowing my head to rest back and watch the clouding darkness enshroud me.

"I guess…cough…this is it for me."

Crimson flows from the mouth, skewering my hand before fading off into the LCL. I look over to my left hand, now removed from my shoulder wound. The black glove lays tinged with dry blood. I turn the hand over to look at the olive green hand on the reverse side of the palm. It's worn and torn, just like me. It seems this armor is like my very existence! But all things must die eventually…and this armor isn't going to hold off the bleeding for much longer. The fact that it's the only thing keeping my injuries under control isn't very comforting.

"Kinda feels…fuzzy…is this really it for me? No, it can't be, I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel. Ha, my life hasn't even flashed before my eyes yet. What kind of cut rate production is God pulling on me now?"

But still, everything is definitely fading. I don't know how long I can keep my eyes open. Even the pain in my shoulder is beginning to fade. My limbs are growing further away and reality is slipping from my grasp. How much longer can I hold out before someone finds me? My eyelids continue to close in on me, slowly grasping me. It feels almost similar to being pulled into the third impact…only this time it's different. This time…I won't be waking up…


(A/NPrimed and edited...the story needs to move forward, so this is as much magic as I ould work it with. I'm sorry I can't make it like the impending chapters...but you'll enjoy those!)