Neon Baccano Evangelion: Changes.

Epilogue

They didn't know.

Hell, it had been a few months since I found out, and I still had to remind myself of it nearly every day.

To be fair, becoming immortal after having not been so for the first 16 years of your life isn't something you get used to overnight.

Is still remember when we discovered my little... *ahem*... Issue.

Asuka had been a little, well... Upset would be the most appropriate term, I think.

It's been thirty years, and I can still feel that slap...

And that kiss...

But, that's for later. Currently, I'm hunkered down beneath a flight of stairs as the Japanese Strategic Self Defense Force systematically murders everyone I know.

And they just found me.

Shit...

I push back against the wall as the JSSDF soldier puts the gun to my head and thumbs back the hammer. I hear the click and I clinch my eyes shut, pulling my legs to myself.

He speaks right before he pulls the trigger.

"Sorry kid... Nothing personal," I think it was.

This is gonna su...

There's a bang, and my head slams back into the wall behind me. I fall over, eyes wide open. I watch as he holsters his pistol and pulls the rifle from his back. He thumbs the safety off as a small hole appears in his forehead.

She's late...

I watch his body crumple to the ground and fall forward as his squad mates bring up their own weapons and prepare to fire.

They don't stand a chance. Not against that woman.

Misato leaps onto the first one, her knee catching him square in the jaw. He stumbles back as she shoots the other one point blank in the throat.

She turns to the last one and he brings up his rifle.

Poor bastard...

His kneecaps are quickly eliminated, his pained howl echoing down the corridor. His rifle clatters to the ground as he falls backwards, his knees bending at an unnatural angle, the shattered bones grinding against each other.

I watch Misato holster her own weapon before slowly walking over to the man. She reaches down and pulls his boot knife from its scabbard, casually running her thumb over the blade.

She climbs on top of him and kneels down, the knife clenched in her palm. She grabbs the man by the front of his tactical vest and pulls his face right up to hers. She turns her body just so, and I couldn't see his face.

She speaks, quietly, but I can still hear the words.

"Nothing personal."

Her arm jerks and the man's body spasms a few times before going limp. She drops him back down and stands up, adjusting her jacket as she turns to me. She walks over and places her hand on my shoulder.

"Shinji... Are you alright?," she asks as she gently shakes me.

I blink and sit up, my brains slowly following me.

They run down the wall and slide up my back, every drop of blood pulling themselves out of my clothes as the gray matter and chunks of skull fit back into place.

It was over in a matter of seconds and I reach around to feel at the back of my head. There's no hole, no blood. Only smooth, solid bone. The skin finishes knitting itself back together and I go to stand.

Misato takes me by the shoulder and helps me up, surprisingly calm for a woman who just killed three men and then watched her young charge's brains pack themselves back into his skull.

I absentmindedly rub at the back of my head, rolling my neck with an audible pop.

"I never figured immortality would be this painful," I speak after a few moments.

"Shinji, I thought you said you weren't really 'immortal'," Misato says, straightening my collar, "You said you were still going to die someday, but from old, old age, not from any outside source."

I nod.

"Yeah yeah yeah... I know," I say as I reflexively rub the back of my skull again, "That still hurt like a sonofabitch, though."

Misato goes to reply when gunshots ring out behind us in a darker part of the hallway.

I flinch, but when I hear the screams and wet popping sounds, I relax.

"Kaji, I take it?," I ask Misato as she chuckles and pulls out her walkie-talkie.

"Hey, Ryoji. You okay over there?"

"Ayup. Just some stragglers from the upper level," comes the crackled response, "You got Shinji?"

"Yep. I'm taking him to the cages now. I think Asuka is getting a little lonely up there."

A chuckle, accompanied by a muted gurgling sound.

"Good. You two hurry up. I think I can handle the rest of these bastards."

Misato grins and motions for us to start walking.

"10-4, Kaji," she replies, "You... You be careful, alright?"

Silence. And then...

"Yes dear."

Misato smiles and puts her radio back in her pocket.

Which is when it crackles back to life, Asuka's voice coming over the wavelength.

"Hey! Misato! You there?," she yells, "You find the idiot yet? Not that I really need his help, but Unit 02 is running low on power, and these white things are tough to kill."

I chuckle softly as Misato replies.

"Hang on, Asuka. I've got your husband. We're heading to Unit 01's hangar now. He'll see you shortly."

"What? He's not my hus..."

With that, Misato clicks off the radio and drops it in her jacket pocket. She then steps aside and gestures towards the elevator we've just come across.

"After you, Master Ikari."

I grin.

"Don't mind if I do."

So... I've finally gotten back some inspiration and have started tweaking this story. I also gotten some more ideas and I think I'm going to shuffle through the original series to see how they can fit in to this story.

Yet again, don't expect any sort of consistent update schedule, but don't look for it to take several months for each new chapter. My primary focus is still "A Promise Made," so that will take up most of my time for the next few weeks potentially.

So. Here we go.