Disclaimer: Still don't own Evangelion, D&D, Forgotten Realms, or any other material used in this fic.

Author's Note: This is my attempted to slide back into the world of Eva fanfics. I hope I portrayed Rei well in this chapter since it has been a while that I have written her character. Please grant me some allowances.

It was quiet in the bookstore.

Yosho Yamaguci yawned as he looked up from his book. It was late in the afternoon and he still had yet to receive any customers. As he sat at the counter, he grabbed a potato chip from the bag in front of him and tossed it in his mouth.

Sighing, the elderly Japanese man looked up at the clock. He still had another hour before closing time and wondered how he would spend that last hour. Yosho had already dusted the shelves and the monthly books were completed; not that there was much to do with the books anyways.

This was one of the many times that he truly regretted opening up a used bookstore in Tokyo 03. It was nice before the Angels came and business was good; now, most of the populace had left the city and those who stayed rarely visited the shop. If Yosho hadn't been so stubborn, he would have closed up shop and left the city as well.

Deciding to read a little longer and close early, Yosho buried his nose back into his book. The book he was reading was an old history textbook from before 2nd Impact. He had come across it during his travels and added the book to his growing collection.

The bell above the front door rung and Yosho looked up to see that a young girl had entered the shop. From what he could tell, she was a teenager and she was wearing a school uniform from the local high school.

Her outward appearance caught Yosho by surprise. The young girl had very pale skin and reminded Yosho of an Albino he had seen when traveling through Africa. Her blue hair was exotic and her red eyes were something that he had never seen before.

Rei Ayanami looked around the used bookstore.

It was smaller than it looked on the outside and she concluded that it was because of all the books that filled the shop. There shelves of books from corner to corner other than the small space of the reception area as one entered the building. It was a rather clean store and it looked like there was not a hint of dust; not that Rei would have cared anyways.

Realizing that she had nothing to read, the Eva pilot decided to finish the bookstore on her way home from NERV. Rei had an early morning session with Dr. Akagi and the Dummy Plug. Commander Ikari was absent and was out of town on business.

The test with the dummy plug had gone well there was very little hostility from Dr. Akagi. Rei still did not understand what she had done to earn such enmity from the fake blond and concluded that it was a type of jealously because of her relationship with the Commander.

"Is there anything I can help you with young lady?" asked the shopkeeper as he stood up from behind the counter. Rei could tell that he was happy to see her and she deduced that the man did not have customers very often. He was a short elderly man with no hair and wearing glasses.

"My supply of reading material has been depleted; I require more" said Rei, walking up to one of the shelves.

"Is there anything in particular that you are looking for?" asked Yosho, taken back by the girl's formal dialogue.

"No; I do not require any assistance, thank you" answered Rei with a neutral tone of voice. Yosho just smile and sat down, not sure what to think. It was almost like he was talking to a robot.

"Well if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask. My collection is one of the best in the world and some of the books here you cannot find anywhere else. Also, if you need anything I can help you get it" stated the shopkeeper. What he said was mostly true; some of his collection was material that only he had due to 2nd Impact. Yosho also had a talent for tracking down anything written on paper.

There was a rumor that the US Government kept a hidden vault of rare books that no one else had in the world. It was said that the collection held original texts from ancient times, long thought to be destroyed during 2nd Impact.

Rei scanned the bookshelf closest to the front door, reading the titles. She was not sure what she was looking for. Rei did not have a particular preference when it came to reading. She was the sort of person who read anything that she could get her hands on.

All the reading material that she had gone through had come from the school's library or NERV. Both place's reading material was nothing special and Rei found most of books uninteresting. However, they were a nice distraction from her miserable life.

It was Rei's interaction with the Second and Third Child that made her realize that her present lifestyle was appalling. She was starting to become aware that the Commander truly did not care about her and saw her as a tool.

The Second Child always called her a doll and at the time, Rei disagreed. However, she was starting to think that she was a doll and did not know how to fix that.

She was at the back of the store now with the front counter no longer visible.

Something caught her eye and Rei grabbed a large black hardback book from the shelf. It was very heavy and there was no title on the front or side of the large book. She could tell the book was very old buy it showed no sign of decay.

Opening the book up, Rei saw that there still was no title. There was no publishing information or ISBN number. However, there was what seemed to be an author's note of some type. It was located on the page just before the official writing began.

Rei read the note silently to herself.

If you are reading this, then my legacy still continues on this realm. What you have in your hand is the first volume of what contains not only a recount of my life here on Earth but detailed instructions of my work. I am nearing the end of my long awaited goal and will leave this legacy so that others may follow.

Also know that though you believe that you are reading this in what you think is your language, you are wrong. The spell that has been placed on this book and others like it configures the mind so that anyone can read it.

I also issue a warning to the reader. If you are to pursue the same goal that I have, it will require much sacrifice and dark acts. You will walk down a very dark road and you must be prepared for it if you are to follow in my steps. Just know that the reward will be worth it.

I wish you luck and hope to meet you at the end of your journey.

To say that Rei's interest was caught was an understatement. With the book in her hand, Rei walked back to the front area and up to the counter. The shopkeeper looked up from his book and smiled at her.

"Did you find something of interest?" asked the man, taking the book from her. Seeing her eyes, Yosho was slightly unnerved but did not show it.

"How much?" asked Rei, ignoring the man's friendly nature.

Looking at the book, Yosho recalled never even seeing the book before. It was not an unusual occurrence since he usually bought boxes of books at a time and never went through all of them. He was about to come up with a price when Rei, being impatient, spoke up.

"I will give you 6000 yen for the book" stated the Eva pilot flatly, taking the money out of her bag and holding it up to the man. The shopkeeper's eyes widened.

"Works for me" said Yosho, taking the money and handing Rei the book. She then placed the book in her bag and walked out of the store without a word.

Yosho smiled as he put the money in the register. He realized that he should have gotten the girl's name and hoped that she would come back to shop. Her demeanor still slightly unnerved him but she was still a customer.

…………………………………………………………………………………………….

Rei walked home a little faster than she normally traveled.

The sun was starting to set and the street lights were starting to flicker on. They were a recent addition to her path home. She had heard that it Major Katsuragi had a hand in it when she learned that Rei walked home in the dark.

The major was one of the only members of NERV's staff that treated her well. Though the woman's boorish behavior aggravated Rei, she still respected the Major as her superior officer.

There was a vehicle parked across the street from Rei's apartment building and the teenager took no heed of it. It was a van that her Section 2 guards used and it was a common sight for Rei to see.

Walking up the steps to her apartment, Rei took notice of a paper bag that lay in front of her door. Picking it up, the Eva pilot opened it and looked inside. Within the bag were a carefully prepared salad and a note.

Dear Ayanami

I had some leftover salad from dinner and thought that you might want it since Asuka complained about it. I know you are a Vegetarian and hope you like it. If you want, I can give you the recipe or even make some. Let me know!

Shinji

For a reason Rei did not know, her face was red and she felt very hot inside. It was something that was starting to become a regular occurrence for her. She did not know why the Third Child affected like this.

Walking into her apartment and closing the door behind her, Rei walked into the kitchen and placed her bag and the salad on the counter. The apartment was very dirty but Rei didn't care very much. A pile of bandages lay in the corner and she had dirty laundry scattered about.

As she walked into her bathroom, Rei stripped herself of her clothing on the way. After relieving her self, Rei stepped into the shower and relaxed as the warm water descended onto her body. When she was done, Rei took the blue towel that lay next to the shower and walked out of the bathroom, drying herself.

After she was done drying, Rei tossed the towel back into the bathroom. Not bother to put any clothing on, she walked into the kitchen and filled up the beaker that lay on the counter full of water. After taking a drink, Rei grabbed a fork out of the drawer and grabbed the salad as well.

Rei enjoyed the salad immensely. It was made up of Romaine Lettuce, radishes, carrots, raisins, tangerine, tomatoes, and broccoli. It lacked any dressing which Rei preferred anyways since she liked her salad dry.

After she was finished eating, Rei left the dirty dishes in the sink and walked over to her bag. Taking the book out of the bag, she walked over to her bed and turned on the reading lamp that lay on a chair next to the bed.

The lamp was a gift from Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki who knew about her fondness for reading. It was an old small lamp that was made before 2nd Impact; it had a green shade and a copper base with a copper pole that connected the two parts. It was very reliable and Rei appreciated it.

Climbing into bed, Rei lay down and opened the book to the author's note. After reading it again, the blue-haired girl flipped past the page and started reading. Her eyes slightly widened and her curiosity was heightened more than ever. She continued reading, completely tuning out everything around her. There could have been an Angel alarm and Rei would not have noticed.

And so her dark path began.

Author's Note: Like I said above, this is my first step back into the world of Eva fanfics. I won't necessary be ignoring my Gundam Seed fanfics but I will do my best to focus on the two animes.

For my fans of VaR, I will do my best to give you an update. I hoping this fanfic will push me back into writing Eva enough so that I can slide into VaR without a problem. I am still a little stuck with writers block but I do vow to update it before the year is done.

As for the update to this fic, I hope to have it soon. I am doing my best to update Checkmate for Gundam Seed Destiny and this fic was written in intervals when I took a break. I have started on chapter 2 though. Just to warn you guys, this will feature a Dark Rei. I will say that it will end with an R/S pairing but they will both be a little dark. I will reveal what was in the book Rei acquired next chapter and hope it will be to your satisfaction.

Please R&R! Updates only happen when I receive reviews!