M R X Fanfiction
NGE: The Splitting of the Soul
By Mind Raider
http://www.geocities.com/mind_raider2000/mrx.htm
Revised by Babel Matrix
http://www.ifihadasite.com/itwouldbeabout/explodingsquirrels.htm
DISCLAIMER: All characters are the property of Gainax Inc. I'm just borrowing them.
Author's notes: If you liked my prologue here comes the first chapter. Like I said before I will try to keep them in character but I reserve the use of creative license.
Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted;
persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished;
persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.
By Order of the Author
Mark Twain, "Tom Sawyer"
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Chapter One: "New" Arrivals
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In a large room sat a man who had more control over the events of mankind than any single man before him. He was at his desk in his usual position, elbows on the desk, hands gloved in white, fingers together under his nose and his eyes hidden behind tinted glasses. He had been alone for hours and had not moved since his meeting with his second-in-command
and the doctor.
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"What is the condition of Unit-01?" he said the moment she was standing at his desk.
There was nothing except the voice that commanded so many. That voice had the feel of ice and the power to create fear. Here in this huge room filled with darkness, he was very much in control.
"There appears to be no physical damage to the unit other than the few damaged areas caused by the last Angel. Those repairs will be finished the day after tomorrow. It seems the incident with the third did not damage the unit any further, though there was a small energy spike when they were released, but it did not effect any of the Eva's systems," said
the doctor.
He was silent, waiting for the doctor to continue.
"The core shows no significant change, all systems are operational and..."
He interrupted her, "What is the condition of the pilot?"
Surprised by the question on the pilot but still able to answer without pause, "I was attending to the Third Childrens, as they are in isolation after their tests were completed. From what we have gathered they all are identical in every aspect; we will know more when they awaken. Here is my written report on their condition. We will be moving them
into a single room to gauge their responses to each other." She gave the commander a folder which holds all the results on the Third Childrens and Unit-01.
"How did it happen?" he inquired, his voice echoing in the room.
"From what we have gathered, the Unit used it own biology and energy to create them. We are currently studying the incident."
"How will this effect their abilities to pilot?" Ikari set down the report without reading it.
"We will have to give them time to recover before a sync test can be done. I would expect them to recover, given enough rest," Ritsuko said, waiting for a reaction from the Commander.
"When will they awaken?"
"Their life signs are climbing, so they should awaken within the next 12 hours."
"I want the pilots tested for synchronization with their Eva's as soon as possible."
"Yes sir, but they all need to rest..."
"We need to be ready," he stated coldly, her compassion doing nothing to sway him. "Keep me updated on your progress."
"It will be done, sir," Ritsuko said in a defeated tone before turning and leaving the room. She began her walk to the infirmary to tell Misato the news.
"What of this incident with the Third Children? His situation is odd to say the least," said a voice from the background.
Fuyutsuki steps out from the shadows and breaks the silence. A long pause fills the room as the two men absorb the situation at hand.
"It will be used in our favor."
Looking down towards Ikari, "How will you explain this to SEELE?" Fuyutsuki's voice hinted concern. "Ikari, the child was reborn in three bodies after he came back from being absorbed into Unit-01. It was hard enough explaining what appened during the fight with the fourteenth Angel..."
"It will be dealt with."
"Still, we have to adjust the scenario for this incident."
"Perhaps... but the change will be small compared to the change we would have to make if the third was lost. SEELE will see this as a major incident but will realize that this can be used in their favor. Their arrival mean a increase in our forces for the final battles, though we will need to bring in the other Units for them." Ikari pulls out a report from his desk, and passes it to his second-in-command. "There will be some 'new arrivals' to look after."
A pause fills the room as Fuyutsuki looks over the report.
"So this is another one of your side projects? How will you explain this?" Fuyutsuki questioned, breaking the silence with his inquiry.
"The reconstructions of Units 03 and 04 have been completed. The Third Childrens will pilot Units 01, 03, and 04, increasing our forces to 5 Evas and 5 pilots. SEELE will be told that the lost of Units 03 and 04 would be a waste and their reconstruction was needed," Ikari smirks at knowing that he was able to secretly rebuild the two Evas.
"What about the contamination with Unit-3 and the 'incident' with Unit-4's disappearance?" he asked, almost as though preparing Gendo for the questions of SEELE.
"All contamination issues have been dealt with, since a different source was used in the reconstruction. The incidents with Unit-03 and Unit-04 will not repeat itself with these rebuilt Units. I have based their S2 design on my own Solenoid theory."
"Where did you get the core for them? Might I ask who 'volunteered' to be the first pilot?"
"No one volunteered, they are simulations. The process is far from perfect but it is satisfactory for our needs."
"But even with all of that said and done, you went behind their backs, Ikari."
"The incidents with 03 and 04 were taken into consideration and outside sources were not informed because of security issues. SEELE needs us to fight the last Angels and we need more Evas to do it. They will see this and agree."
"They also expect answers and they will come here for them."
"I would expect nothing less from them."
Fuyutsuki looked at the man for a moment. He then headed out of the dark room without another word. While leaving the cold office he wondered what Ikari was planning.
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'This was not written in the Deed Sea Scrolls. Even if we took the text to the extreme, nothing in them even remotely comes close to this event.' Alone now he was able to brood about his concerns. He knew that events could happen, even if they were not foretold in the Dead Sea Scrolls. But this event could change everything. He continued to stare in front of him, 'but all things considered, the mission to bring back the pilot was successful if not more so.' Moving his hand for the first time in a while he turned on the terminal to access the security system. He typed some commands and in a second he was faced with monitors showing the pilots.
Gendo Ikari, the Commander of Nerv, watched through the monitor cameras, moving his head slightly to better see the image on the screen. There were three rooms, each one identical and each holding the same person. He remembered the ICU was filled with activity when the pilots arrived, they were quick to be tested and examined by the many doctors and scientists at Nerv's command.
His eyes turned from the monitor and fell upon the reports on his desk. He pushed a button, and the screen turned off, his eyes were now on the one that interested him the most at this time, it was the written report from Dr. Akagi on the status of the third pilot and Unit-01. It did not tell him anything that the Doctor did not say. except for one thing. Within the report was stated that the original single pilot had dissolved in the LCL, and was forevermore lost. The 'original', anyways. It also pointed out that every administered test and examination revealed the same result : the three Shinji's were ALL Shinji Ikari on the physical level. Their chemical makeup, genetics, physical features, brain scans, scars and even fingerprints were all the same. All they had to do was to wait for them to wake up. The doctor, with her knowledge in certain projects, knew that they would likely have the same memories and personalities. They knew what had happened, they had tried to perfect their process since the beginning, with only a few successes and many flawed or failed attempts. 'This was not in MY scenario,' he thought as he sat at his desk.
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In three rooms three Shinjis were stretched out on beds, dreaming of what was to come. The dream was strange by any normal measure but by not by their ruler. They were in a triangle the three of them stood facing each other, each the same but a different person, all were one but within three bodies. They were in their plugsuits and they stood over a black abyss of nothing, there was no up, down, left or right they were just there.
"It has been done," all three spoke with a strange echo that seemed to come from every direction.
With those last words the dream faded from their vision, allowing all three were resting. When they awaken they would face many people with many questions that needed to be answered.
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'Where the hell is he? Probably did something stupid again and they're trying to clean up his mess. Misato always coddles Shinji. I'm the great Asuka Sohryu Langley the Second Children! Why do they even need him?'
Asuka quickly got off her bed and stood up in the dark, kicked some of the mess that was on the floor and went to the living room. It was late at night and Misato would be back soon. She would be awake to see her.
'I'll make her tell me where he is so I can kick his ass. How dare he...' she thought with a strange look on her face.
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Misato raced down the road at night, while there were only a few cars out at this time of night her speed still could of alerted all the cops in the city. But she knew she could easily get out of a bust with a flash of her Nerv security card. After dropping off Ritsuko she was going to Kaji's. She knew that she could do nothing for Shinji while they were in isolation, so she decided to have the meeting.
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The day was too long and gone and she was too tired after her meeting with Kaji. She would have her answers soon. It had been a couple days since she was at home to rest, so she wanted to take a nice long hot bath, maybe even eat something. She looked at her watch and figured Asuka would be asleep at this time, which was for the better because if she was awake she would have to tell her what happened.
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Asuka stood by the door to the apartment. She stood there tapping her foot impatiently. It was very late at night and on more than one instance she had nodded off and she would have succumb to her urge to sleep if she did not see the door slide open when it did.
"Misato! I demand to know where that baka is!" she yelled, venting her anger at being made to stay up so late.
Caught off by her roommate's request she quickly thinks of what to say to her. The situation was very sensitive and telling her the whole story would complicate things more, but she knew she had to tell her something. "Asuka, Shinji is fine, he had some... problems with his Eva but he was... saved. He is now recovering," she said, trying to hid her own confusion about the situation.
"I knew that baka messed up again, serves him right," Asuka said in a satisfied tone, knowing that Shinji had problems with his Eva. With that off her mind she turns on her heel and goes to her room, leaving Misato to think of how she would tell her that there were now three of them. 'This will not be pretty', she thought. When they got to Nerv she would have a lot of things to explain.
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'They have retrieved Ikari-kun,' Rei thought. As she focused on the third pilot, a line of new thoughts came to her mind, which she now went over carefully. He was different from the other people she had known. She went over his responses and actions over and over again in her head trying to find a pattern with them. Rei turned onto her back and closed her eyes, she decided that these thoughts would be resolved at another time and that she would see Ikari-kun in the morning.
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The morning rays of warm and golden light fell upon the towers of glass and steel. They formed creeping shadows in the valleys and played in the streets of Tokyo-3. The light of the morning, so pure and powerful came to rest on three children. Slow to awaken from their deep thoughts of the mind and stirring of the souls, they seemed still to the outside
world. Their eyes opened to the light slowly, one might have wondered if they had slept for years but in truth they had not slept that well at all. After struggling to see through the light their eyes opened revealing blue orbs. Eyes as blue as the waters of a great furious storm but looked more like deep black than blue. Some may have looked upon these eyes and
say they were gorgeous, but the emptiness within would stir up wonder, sadness and pity. They slowly lift their hands to their face, blocking the light. They let the light pass through their fingers and after awhile their eyes adjusted to the strong light. From the edge of their vision they saw that they were not alone. Turning their heads they saw each
other and wondered why or when did they were put into the same room with other people. Now a more puzzling question fell upon their mind as they noticed that the other people looked just like him. The question rolled off their lips in a whisper barely audible to themselves, "What happened to me?" Just then, Doctor Akagi walked in and interrupted them. All eyes turned to the door
"Good morning, I see that you all finally woke up," she spoke in her 'mater-of-fact' voice.
"Can you explain this please?" they sounded confused as they pointed to each other.
"Well first of all we need to check if you have memory damage," said the doctor.
"Fine," they said a little annoyed at the doctor's sidestepping of the question.
"What is your name?" the doctor asked.
"My name is Shinji Ikari," they said in sync.
"What is the name of this city?" she continued to write down their responses.
"This is Tokyo-3," they said in monotone, they were tired of doing this every time he was knocked out during a fight.
"Now Shinji this won't take long. I thought you would have gotten used to this by now."
"I don't think anyone gets used to what we go through." they said with a sigh.
After several more minutes they finished the questions, not once noticing that they all answered at the same time and with the same response. The doctor took down everything in detail for the final report to the commander. She still had reservation at testing them so early but she knew things had to go on.
"Well I am glad to report that your memory is fine," the doctor said after finishing a sentence on the chart.
"Thank you, but can you explain what happened?" the three asked. They pulled themselves up to a sitting position on the bed.
"Well we were hoping you could explain it," the doctor answered as she wrote down some notes down on a chart.
"You expect us to know?" they asked in a dumbfounded unison.
"From what we can tell when you were inside the EVA and something happened that caused three bodies to form instead of one. We still don't know why or what happened, but we are currently running diagnostics." After a pause for them to take in the information, Ritsuko decided to ask the question on her mind. "Can you tell me what you remember? Do you remember anything at all?"
"The only thing I remember is someone calling for me and feeling someone with me. It was strange," they said "I do remember some strange noise that tried to rip me apart, but that's where things get fuzzy."
The doctor made some more notes while they continued. The closed their eyes, trying to build a mental image of the event. "When I was inside I felt something, it was like a strange dream that I could not wake up from. At the time I didn't know it was even like a dream."
"I need to check on your last tests. The others will be here to see you later," she said. She walked out, leaving them to think.
The doctor left the room and headed down the hall as the three of them realized that they had just said the exact same things at the same times. It was weird to them, yet it invoked their curious nature. They still wanted to know what the others were, but the situation would take some time getting used to, first. There was a long pause till one of them decided to start.
"How are we going to do this?" the one in the middle bed said, breaking the synchronized cycle of talking between the three.
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That morning at the Katsuragi house, the older of the two woke up first and began her morning. The door of her room slid open and Misato materialized, looking like hell and rubbing her stomach. She wobbled into the kitchen and got a beer from the fridge. The woman seemed to brighten a bit and in one fluid motion was able to open the can and pour all of the beer down her throat. Right after that a loud yell could be heard echoing through the apartment. It was a fairly typical day at the Katsuragi residence.
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The sound of a very loud yell filled the room of the younger woman sleeping. 'Why does she drink so early?!' she asks herself as she got up from her bed and headed for the bathroom.
Misato heard the sound of a door sliding open and close and the bathroom being used. 'Asuka's awake.' She about to get mad, since she wanted to take a shower, but she suddenly remembered who's turn it was to make breakfast. After mentally groaning to herself about the newly acquired chore on her 'To Do' list, her thoughts moved on to wondering what she was going to make. 'There isn't much of a selection in the fridge, but it will have to make due...' Surprisingly enough, breakfast did not take as long as she expected. 'Not that toast is that hard, but heck...' Misato's slightly drunken train of thought was derailed by the sound of a bathroom door sliding open. From the bathroom came Asuka, fully dressed.
"Good morning!" exclaimed an upbeat Misato, practically beaming a smile at Asuka.
"Good morning Misato, what's that smell?" asked Asuka.
"I made breakfast," said Misato, finishing her second beer.
"I... don't think that I am that hungry..." Asuka hesitatingly said, trying to not sound too horrified at the concept of eating Misato's food for breakfast as well. 'Lunch is bad enough, but this might kill me...'
"Don't worry!" Misato reassured. "It's only toast. I only burned a few before I got it right," she said proudly.
"Ok...I guess I'll have 2 slices," Asuka said in a sigh.
"I already had breakfast, so I'm going to take shower and change into my clothes," said Misato, walking into the shower.
Taking two slices on a plate Asuka sits at the table thinking of the last time she had a real breakfast. It had been Shinji's day to cook... her mind clicked when she thought of Shinji. They were going to see him today, but Misato had said that he had a problem with his Eva. She wondered what had happened that took a month to fix. She hoped that Shinji remembered how to cook; with a month of Misato's cooking, she needed a real breakfast. She imagined the smell of a full plate of eggs, sausage, bacon, hash browns and even French toast. She could taste the fresh orange juice and freshly brew coffee. 'Real food,' she thought as she took a knife and buttered her toast.
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After the shower, Misato went into her room to prepare for the day. They would get to see them at the hospital today if they were well. She still wondered why three came back but she more concerned with the possibility that they were hurt in some way. She picked out an outfit, then realized it was one of her last. Her mind clicked, remembering that Shinji did most of the cleaning. 'He was always taking care of us,' she thought as she got dressed. She remembered what happened when 'he' came back; it was so strange seeing three of them lying there. Even though she had missed him deeply, having three of them meant something was amiss. She was saddened by the thought of troubles not being over, but decided to push the thought out of her mind. She had other problems that need dealing with at the moment, like telling Asuka. She still couldn't think of a way to tell Asuka that there were now three Shinjis. After she finished dressing, her brooding helped her decide that it would be best just to show the three of them to her.
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Back at the hospital they all wondered what they were going to do. This was so strange for them. They looked at each other and opened their mouths to talk but no words came forth. They did not want to be the first one to speak. A smile came to them when they realized that after everything they were still so shy. They stayed like that for awhile till one of them just spoke up.
"We should first pick out names so we can speak to each other, otherwise it will be confusing if we all went by the same name," the right Shinji said.
The center one spoke. "I would like to keep Shinji if it is all right with you two. Is it?"
"It's OK but we still have to pick names for the rest of us," said the left one said.
"We should keep it simple and easy to remember," Shinji said while rubbing his chin,deep in thought.
"I got it! I think I want to use Shin," the left one said.
"That leaves only me..." the right murmured, also deep in thought about what to call himself.
After several minutes of thought, his head snapped up. "I have it I want to be called Shinnyo" the right one said, smiling at his decision about his name.
"Now, with that settled, we should talk about what happened. I mean... if you all want to," Shinji said.
"It's kind of obvious. I went inside the Eva and we three were the one's that came back," stated Shin.
"I can tell that but can any of you guess why? I do remember something about a voice. It gave me a choice and..." Shinnyo began, trailing off as the memory escaped him.
"I remember it also," Shin added.
"So this is what I decided on?" Shinji asked, voicing the question he kept asking himself.
"I'm not too sure. I tried to decide, but could not," said Shin.
"I think so...maybe," Shinnyo said, still trying to figure out what happened. Having a somewhat blank memory of the event was starting to drive them up the wall.
"So all of this happened because of a choice," Shinji stated once more, as if it would help him remember.
"It seems so..." said Shin and Shinnyo in unison.
"Do any of you remember what the choice was? I... I remember!" exclaimed Shinji, the memory slightly returning. "It was about a person..."
"It was not just about one person. It was about... more than one," Shin added, his memory coming back as well.
"He's right, it was about...." said Shinnyo, closing his eyes. After awhile he blushed and opened his eyes. "It was about...Misato, Asuka and Rei. I...chose them," Shinnyo finally admitted.
"How could I make a choice between... three... people..." Shinji fell silent. His mouth hung slightly slacked, and his cheeks reddened. The blush was apparently becoming contagious.
Shinnyo just sat there as he watched Shinji's astonishment at the revelation.
"What about them?" Shin asked, confused at the behavior of the two.
Shinji face was still red from what he just realized. Shinji suppressing his first instinct to stutter, and instead opted to wait and explain it when he fully absorbed it all.
"Shin, there are now three of us and three of them..." he just let the statement hang there and hoped Shin did not need further explaining.
"I... see." Was all the now stunned Shin could say. "I remember now..." Shin was the last to catch the blush that went around the room.
"Then this means..." Shinnyo said, not finishing his sentence.
"This means I made it so we don't have to make a decision..." Shinji finished, getting redder.
"Lets talk about something else... like what are we to each other?" Shinnyo asked, changing the subject.
"Well I think you could call us brothers, but we are identical to each other. Because of that, we might as well be the same person. Remember when we were talking in sync when the doctor questioned us?" Shin said.
"Yes but we are also individuals, since we can have separate ideas and feeling like the names we thought of. We didn't have the same suggestions. Take this conversation for instance. It's not in sync," Shinji retorted.
"We could be the same person with different aspects split into three bodies. That could explain the sync part as well as the different ideas, since different parts of our thought are in different bodies." Shinnyo added.
"I don't think so... if that was true how come we function as individuals?" Shinji asked.
"And we should complete each others sentences, not be in sync with them," added Shin.
"So what are we?" Shinnyo asked himself. He then let out a deep sigh of frustration.
'How can we acting as one and then later on as individuals?' Shin asked himself.
"Hmm...if we were linked somehow, that would explain our sync when we were answering those questions...let's try something. Shin, concentrate on me. Try to find out what I am thinking about," Shinji said.
"Ok." Shin closed his eyes and focused his mind on Shinji. He let his mind loose among the others. At that point he felt something that he almost missed. It was so familiar that he thought it was him. But he was concentrating on Shinji, so that couldn't be it.
"Shinji, you were thinking of getting some food, and Shinnyo, you were thinking of getting out of here, right?" They both nodded in an almost baffled manner.
"I was right, we do have a connection," Shinji.
"We need to work on it then, you were right about what I was thinking about, but you were supposed to find out what Shinji was thinking not me," added Shinnyo.
"You're right. We'll need to work on it," said both Shin and Shinji, talking in sync once more.
"We will have to work on that as well, or else this could get annoying fast," Shinnyo said, sounding worn out by the situation.
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Misato headed to the kitchen, until she saw Asuka. Sitting at the table with her hands propping up her face, weariness and frustration lay openly on her face's expression. 'I guess she didn't get much sleep last night,' she observed. She decided to enter the dining room. When Asuka caught signs of Misato walking in the room, she quickly readjusted herself, trying to look awake as awake as she could manage. Misato took a seat in front of Asuka, looking her straight in the eye. 'Here we go...' Misato thought to herself.
"Asuka, before we go, do you remember what I told you last night?" she asked, hoping that the girl would understand what she tried to explain.
"Of course I remember, that baka had a accident with his Eva," Asuka answered, her best smug face on.
"Well when the... accident happened, it changed Shinji a little..." Misato said slowly, trying her best not to fell bad about the whole thing.
"What do you mean?! You said that he was fine!" Asuka yelled, getting offensive for being lied to.
"He is Asuka, but something....happened....that...." Misato said in a hesitant voice, still not being able to totally get it out.
"What happened Misato? I want to know!" Asuka exclaimed, still angered from being left out.
"I can't really explain it, I'll have to show you," Misato said quickly, finally letting out.
"Why can't you tell me what happened?" the girl asked, her tone getting more agitated as the seconds past.
"Just trust me on this one. Look, it's time to go. We'll talk about it at the hospital," Misato said as she walked towards the door, keys in hand.
"Fine!" That was the last thing Asuka said to Misato as she left with her to the car.
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The bright light flowed threw the window and began a new day. Rei woke up and got ready for the day ahead. She showered and got dressed, like it was any old day. She stared at her reflection in a mirror for a moment, something which she almost never did. But the unfamiliar moment passed quickly, and she continued on by going to the door where her simple white shoes were. After slipping them on, she opened her door and stepped outside. She began her walk towards the hospital where Shinji was held. Thoughts of him swirled in her mind throughout the march towards the large white building.
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The ride to the Nerv hospital was long and dragged out. Misato was taking it slow today, and Asuka was beginning to get worried. But at soon as a sign that she was worried about Shinji came up, she would try to think of something else. 'I don't care about that baka. All I need to care about is being the best!' She tried to keep from thinking of him but it was over a month since she had seen him last, so she couldn't help but admit to herself that she missed him at certain moments. Though he was a boring little boy and he was not the most interesting company, he was also around enough for her to get used to him. She remembered the times she would tease him, like the time she explained 'thermal expansion'. The memory of the kiss came to mind, and almost brought a smile to her face. But she immediately pushed it all aside. 'I don't need anyone else, I'm the Great Asuka Langley Sohryu! I only need myself!' Being lost in her thought, she did not notice that they were getting close to the hospital.
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At the Nerv hospital, the blue haired girl sat and waited for the doctor. She had not been there long, but she had time today to be there. 'I will wait and ask if Ikari-kun is fine, then I'll see if I can see him.' From the reports she accessed, she knew that Ikari-kun was retrieved. But the report was extremely vague and obscure. She tried to access more information, but it was beyond her security clearance. This immediately made her curious, since she had one of the highest levels in Nerv. Her thoughts were interrupted by loud voice from down the hall.
"What's Wondergirl doing here?!" Asuka blared, not wanting to deal with the First today. She already had enough on her mind.
Misato was about to tell Asuka to calm down, until she heard the steps of Ritsuko from down the hall. The blond doctor was wearing her usual heals, stockings, black skirt, lab coat and blue blouse. She walked down the hall to them holding some charts in her hand.
Asuka, not wanting to wait any more, steps up to doctor as she comes into range and in a demanding voice says, "Where the hell is that idiot and what happened to him?" Rei stands up beside Misato, who is quite surprised, and even a bit dumbfounded.
"I thought Misato would have explained what happened to him to you." the doctor looks at her friend, stabbing her with a disappointed gaze. Misato put a fake grin on her face as she fought both the urge and need to kick the doctor. "It's harder to explain than you think," she grumbled under her breath.
"Might as well get this over with. Lets go and see Shinji, he's out of isolation and can have visitors," the doctor reports before turning on her heel and heading back to the room, with the three girls in pursuit.
A few steps from the door she turns around "I have to warn you Asuka. What you are about see will be shocking," Ritsuko warns, trying to brace the girl for what was about to see.
"Why are you warning me? Why not Wondergirl over here?" Asuka points to the direction of the girl mentioned, slight agitation and annoyance in her voice. She marched past the doctor and entered the room. She did a double take and then stood frozen at the scene before her.
Rei was not far behind Asuka. She walked in and was just as shocked, but years of training gave her more control over her reactions. She stood there next to Asuka and waited for an explanation for what happened to Shinji.
Misato and Ritsuko came in last, Misato still being shaken by the room, and Ritsuko wearing an "I told you so" expression on her face. Misato took another look at the three and couldn't stop the concern which washed down on her face. She was still worried that what happened to them had hurt them in some way, but she couldn't avoid being confused as to which Shinji was the one she knew.
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"Mein Gott an Himmel! What happened to him?!" Asuka demanded, pointing at them as they sat up in the beds.
"Asuka, the accident that happened trapped Shinji in his Eva, and we worked for a whole month to try to get him out. We did the best we could, but when he was released, three came back instead of one," Ritsuko explained, trying her best to calm the girl down.
"How are they?" Misato asked, speaking for the first time since they walked in.
"Like I expected, they all are physically fine and their memories are completely intact, as well as identical. They are all Shinji," Ritsuko said in an exhausted tone, tired of repeating this to Misato. "They all have the same physical form and mind."
"What do you mean they are Shinji, which one is real?" Asuka asked, trying to figure out if all of this was a dream or nightmare.
"If you were listening to me," Ritsuko said in an annoyed voice, " you would have heard that they are identical to each other, they have the same memories, and they are physically identical. From what we can tell, each one of them is Shinji."
"How can you say that?! They can't ALL be the same person," Asuka stated, trying to put it into a more logical perspective.
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When Asuka, Rei and Misato entered the room, they were glad to have visitors. When Asuka began to shout and point at them, things became uncomfortable. When they began to talk about them like they were not there, they felt the need to point out that they were fine. They looked for an opening in the conversation and jumped in.
"Your right we all can't be the same person," the three said together.
Everyone was silent when the three spoke for the first time. It was strange for them hear the three speaking in sync. Asuka quickly recovered.
"You see? Even the idiots think I'm right," Asuka said in a triumphant tone.
"That not exactly what we meant Asuka," they said, trying to clear up the meaning of their words.
"Are you saying I am wrong?!" Asuka asked in a coercing tone, one that could've made an Angel burst into flames, (or beg for it's life.) All three decided to be very careful about there words from that point on.
"N-n-o! We're not saying that, we just wanted to explain things to you all," they answered, not want an angry Asuka. Even though they now out numbered them her three to one, the fear remained.
"So explain it already! I see being stuck in a Eva has not given you a spine or a brain," Asuka accused, trying her best to sound disappointed in them.
"I'm sorry..." they said out of reflex, but quickly remembered what happened when they apologized.
"I don't want your apologies I want you to explain this to us!" she barked, angered that nothing had changed with him. Yet she couldn't help but be relieved that they he hadn't changed. Or rather they, she really didn't know how to address the trio.
"First of all, we picked out new names for us. It would get confusing if you called all the same name." They explained, still speaking in sync.
"Good thinking, I was about to ask you to do that later on, but no time like the present," Ritsuko said.
"Will you stop talking in sync? It's giving me a headache," Asuka groans, giving them another glare of either pain, anguish or death. The three couldn't really decide which one she was giving out. They were all bad.
"I'm sor.....never mind, what I wanted to say is that I want to keep Shinji."
"I want to use Shin."
"And, I want to use Shinnyo."
"Great this will clear up allot of things," the doctor said while writing the names down on the chart.
"That's nice and all but there are still three of them," Asuka said, seemingly the only one hung up on it. "Doesn't anybody else think this is strange?"
"Don't overreact, Asuka. Rei is being calm about this," Misato said, trying to calm the girl.
"Wondergirl doesn't do anything she's not ordered to," Asuka answered back. She then turned to Rei. "Hey Wondergirl, what you think of this?"
"I don't know," Rei answered, her voice so soft it was barely heard.
"Figures," Asuka said with a roll of her eyes. She then turned back to the three.
"So what now?" They looked away before Asuka yelled at them.
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To Be Continued...
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Authors Soapbox
Well how you like the first chapter to my fic. This thing has taken a lot of my time. I was thinking if this thing gets going that I would make it span seven or eight chapters (not including prologue) or even more. I tried to address the issue of the splitting, it was hard to get out and the whole name thing took a lot of writing and rewriting and starting over. I will not put in the scene with Kaji and Misato from the series, I don't have experience in that type of writing. I leave it to writers who have skill and honor in that area. I am sorry for the delay I had to rewrite the prologue. I also would like to thank Babel Matrix revising this chapter. I am also planing to redo the prologue again, mostly fixing the grammer. Please review this fic.
If you have comments, criticism or even flames you can E-mail me at:
mind_raider@yahoo.com
leave a E-mail address so I can reply.
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Mind Raider
M R X Fanfiction
http://www.geocities.com/mind_raider2000/mrx.htm
M R X Fanfiction, Mind Raider 2000 © Mind Raider, 1999-2002. All rights reserved.
NGE: The Splitting of the Soul
By Mind Raider
http://www.geocities.com/mind_raider2000/mrx.htm
Revised by Babel Matrix
http://www.ifihadasite.com/itwouldbeabout/explodingsquirrels.htm
DISCLAIMER: All characters are the property of Gainax Inc. I'm just borrowing them.
Author's notes: If you liked my prologue here comes the first chapter. Like I said before I will try to keep them in character but I reserve the use of creative license.
Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted;
persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished;
persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.
By Order of the Author
Mark Twain, "Tom Sawyer"
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Chapter One: "New" Arrivals
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In a large room sat a man who had more control over the events of mankind than any single man before him. He was at his desk in his usual position, elbows on the desk, hands gloved in white, fingers together under his nose and his eyes hidden behind tinted glasses. He had been alone for hours and had not moved since his meeting with his second-in-command
and the doctor.
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"What is the condition of Unit-01?" he said the moment she was standing at his desk.
There was nothing except the voice that commanded so many. That voice had the feel of ice and the power to create fear. Here in this huge room filled with darkness, he was very much in control.
"There appears to be no physical damage to the unit other than the few damaged areas caused by the last Angel. Those repairs will be finished the day after tomorrow. It seems the incident with the third did not damage the unit any further, though there was a small energy spike when they were released, but it did not effect any of the Eva's systems," said
the doctor.
He was silent, waiting for the doctor to continue.
"The core shows no significant change, all systems are operational and..."
He interrupted her, "What is the condition of the pilot?"
Surprised by the question on the pilot but still able to answer without pause, "I was attending to the Third Childrens, as they are in isolation after their tests were completed. From what we have gathered they all are identical in every aspect; we will know more when they awaken. Here is my written report on their condition. We will be moving them
into a single room to gauge their responses to each other." She gave the commander a folder which holds all the results on the Third Childrens and Unit-01.
"How did it happen?" he inquired, his voice echoing in the room.
"From what we have gathered, the Unit used it own biology and energy to create them. We are currently studying the incident."
"How will this effect their abilities to pilot?" Ikari set down the report without reading it.
"We will have to give them time to recover before a sync test can be done. I would expect them to recover, given enough rest," Ritsuko said, waiting for a reaction from the Commander.
"When will they awaken?"
"Their life signs are climbing, so they should awaken within the next 12 hours."
"I want the pilots tested for synchronization with their Eva's as soon as possible."
"Yes sir, but they all need to rest..."
"We need to be ready," he stated coldly, her compassion doing nothing to sway him. "Keep me updated on your progress."
"It will be done, sir," Ritsuko said in a defeated tone before turning and leaving the room. She began her walk to the infirmary to tell Misato the news.
"What of this incident with the Third Children? His situation is odd to say the least," said a voice from the background.
Fuyutsuki steps out from the shadows and breaks the silence. A long pause fills the room as the two men absorb the situation at hand.
"It will be used in our favor."
Looking down towards Ikari, "How will you explain this to SEELE?" Fuyutsuki's voice hinted concern. "Ikari, the child was reborn in three bodies after he came back from being absorbed into Unit-01. It was hard enough explaining what appened during the fight with the fourteenth Angel..."
"It will be dealt with."
"Still, we have to adjust the scenario for this incident."
"Perhaps... but the change will be small compared to the change we would have to make if the third was lost. SEELE will see this as a major incident but will realize that this can be used in their favor. Their arrival mean a increase in our forces for the final battles, though we will need to bring in the other Units for them." Ikari pulls out a report from his desk, and passes it to his second-in-command. "There will be some 'new arrivals' to look after."
A pause fills the room as Fuyutsuki looks over the report.
"So this is another one of your side projects? How will you explain this?" Fuyutsuki questioned, breaking the silence with his inquiry.
"The reconstructions of Units 03 and 04 have been completed. The Third Childrens will pilot Units 01, 03, and 04, increasing our forces to 5 Evas and 5 pilots. SEELE will be told that the lost of Units 03 and 04 would be a waste and their reconstruction was needed," Ikari smirks at knowing that he was able to secretly rebuild the two Evas.
"What about the contamination with Unit-3 and the 'incident' with Unit-4's disappearance?" he asked, almost as though preparing Gendo for the questions of SEELE.
"All contamination issues have been dealt with, since a different source was used in the reconstruction. The incidents with Unit-03 and Unit-04 will not repeat itself with these rebuilt Units. I have based their S2 design on my own Solenoid theory."
"Where did you get the core for them? Might I ask who 'volunteered' to be the first pilot?"
"No one volunteered, they are simulations. The process is far from perfect but it is satisfactory for our needs."
"But even with all of that said and done, you went behind their backs, Ikari."
"The incidents with 03 and 04 were taken into consideration and outside sources were not informed because of security issues. SEELE needs us to fight the last Angels and we need more Evas to do it. They will see this and agree."
"They also expect answers and they will come here for them."
"I would expect nothing less from them."
Fuyutsuki looked at the man for a moment. He then headed out of the dark room without another word. While leaving the cold office he wondered what Ikari was planning.
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'This was not written in the Deed Sea Scrolls. Even if we took the text to the extreme, nothing in them even remotely comes close to this event.' Alone now he was able to brood about his concerns. He knew that events could happen, even if they were not foretold in the Dead Sea Scrolls. But this event could change everything. He continued to stare in front of him, 'but all things considered, the mission to bring back the pilot was successful if not more so.' Moving his hand for the first time in a while he turned on the terminal to access the security system. He typed some commands and in a second he was faced with monitors showing the pilots.
Gendo Ikari, the Commander of Nerv, watched through the monitor cameras, moving his head slightly to better see the image on the screen. There were three rooms, each one identical and each holding the same person. He remembered the ICU was filled with activity when the pilots arrived, they were quick to be tested and examined by the many doctors and scientists at Nerv's command.
His eyes turned from the monitor and fell upon the reports on his desk. He pushed a button, and the screen turned off, his eyes were now on the one that interested him the most at this time, it was the written report from Dr. Akagi on the status of the third pilot and Unit-01. It did not tell him anything that the Doctor did not say. except for one thing. Within the report was stated that the original single pilot had dissolved in the LCL, and was forevermore lost. The 'original', anyways. It also pointed out that every administered test and examination revealed the same result : the three Shinji's were ALL Shinji Ikari on the physical level. Their chemical makeup, genetics, physical features, brain scans, scars and even fingerprints were all the same. All they had to do was to wait for them to wake up. The doctor, with her knowledge in certain projects, knew that they would likely have the same memories and personalities. They knew what had happened, they had tried to perfect their process since the beginning, with only a few successes and many flawed or failed attempts. 'This was not in MY scenario,' he thought as he sat at his desk.
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In three rooms three Shinjis were stretched out on beds, dreaming of what was to come. The dream was strange by any normal measure but by not by their ruler. They were in a triangle the three of them stood facing each other, each the same but a different person, all were one but within three bodies. They were in their plugsuits and they stood over a black abyss of nothing, there was no up, down, left or right they were just there.
"It has been done," all three spoke with a strange echo that seemed to come from every direction.
With those last words the dream faded from their vision, allowing all three were resting. When they awaken they would face many people with many questions that needed to be answered.
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'Where the hell is he? Probably did something stupid again and they're trying to clean up his mess. Misato always coddles Shinji. I'm the great Asuka Sohryu Langley the Second Children! Why do they even need him?'
Asuka quickly got off her bed and stood up in the dark, kicked some of the mess that was on the floor and went to the living room. It was late at night and Misato would be back soon. She would be awake to see her.
'I'll make her tell me where he is so I can kick his ass. How dare he...' she thought with a strange look on her face.
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Misato raced down the road at night, while there were only a few cars out at this time of night her speed still could of alerted all the cops in the city. But she knew she could easily get out of a bust with a flash of her Nerv security card. After dropping off Ritsuko she was going to Kaji's. She knew that she could do nothing for Shinji while they were in isolation, so she decided to have the meeting.
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The day was too long and gone and she was too tired after her meeting with Kaji. She would have her answers soon. It had been a couple days since she was at home to rest, so she wanted to take a nice long hot bath, maybe even eat something. She looked at her watch and figured Asuka would be asleep at this time, which was for the better because if she was awake she would have to tell her what happened.
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Asuka stood by the door to the apartment. She stood there tapping her foot impatiently. It was very late at night and on more than one instance she had nodded off and she would have succumb to her urge to sleep if she did not see the door slide open when it did.
"Misato! I demand to know where that baka is!" she yelled, venting her anger at being made to stay up so late.
Caught off by her roommate's request she quickly thinks of what to say to her. The situation was very sensitive and telling her the whole story would complicate things more, but she knew she had to tell her something. "Asuka, Shinji is fine, he had some... problems with his Eva but he was... saved. He is now recovering," she said, trying to hid her own confusion about the situation.
"I knew that baka messed up again, serves him right," Asuka said in a satisfied tone, knowing that Shinji had problems with his Eva. With that off her mind she turns on her heel and goes to her room, leaving Misato to think of how she would tell her that there were now three of them. 'This will not be pretty', she thought. When they got to Nerv she would have a lot of things to explain.
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'They have retrieved Ikari-kun,' Rei thought. As she focused on the third pilot, a line of new thoughts came to her mind, which she now went over carefully. He was different from the other people she had known. She went over his responses and actions over and over again in her head trying to find a pattern with them. Rei turned onto her back and closed her eyes, she decided that these thoughts would be resolved at another time and that she would see Ikari-kun in the morning.
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The morning rays of warm and golden light fell upon the towers of glass and steel. They formed creeping shadows in the valleys and played in the streets of Tokyo-3. The light of the morning, so pure and powerful came to rest on three children. Slow to awaken from their deep thoughts of the mind and stirring of the souls, they seemed still to the outside
world. Their eyes opened to the light slowly, one might have wondered if they had slept for years but in truth they had not slept that well at all. After struggling to see through the light their eyes opened revealing blue orbs. Eyes as blue as the waters of a great furious storm but looked more like deep black than blue. Some may have looked upon these eyes and
say they were gorgeous, but the emptiness within would stir up wonder, sadness and pity. They slowly lift their hands to their face, blocking the light. They let the light pass through their fingers and after awhile their eyes adjusted to the strong light. From the edge of their vision they saw that they were not alone. Turning their heads they saw each
other and wondered why or when did they were put into the same room with other people. Now a more puzzling question fell upon their mind as they noticed that the other people looked just like him. The question rolled off their lips in a whisper barely audible to themselves, "What happened to me?" Just then, Doctor Akagi walked in and interrupted them. All eyes turned to the door
"Good morning, I see that you all finally woke up," she spoke in her 'mater-of-fact' voice.
"Can you explain this please?" they sounded confused as they pointed to each other.
"Well first of all we need to check if you have memory damage," said the doctor.
"Fine," they said a little annoyed at the doctor's sidestepping of the question.
"What is your name?" the doctor asked.
"My name is Shinji Ikari," they said in sync.
"What is the name of this city?" she continued to write down their responses.
"This is Tokyo-3," they said in monotone, they were tired of doing this every time he was knocked out during a fight.
"Now Shinji this won't take long. I thought you would have gotten used to this by now."
"I don't think anyone gets used to what we go through." they said with a sigh.
After several more minutes they finished the questions, not once noticing that they all answered at the same time and with the same response. The doctor took down everything in detail for the final report to the commander. She still had reservation at testing them so early but she knew things had to go on.
"Well I am glad to report that your memory is fine," the doctor said after finishing a sentence on the chart.
"Thank you, but can you explain what happened?" the three asked. They pulled themselves up to a sitting position on the bed.
"Well we were hoping you could explain it," the doctor answered as she wrote down some notes down on a chart.
"You expect us to know?" they asked in a dumbfounded unison.
"From what we can tell when you were inside the EVA and something happened that caused three bodies to form instead of one. We still don't know why or what happened, but we are currently running diagnostics." After a pause for them to take in the information, Ritsuko decided to ask the question on her mind. "Can you tell me what you remember? Do you remember anything at all?"
"The only thing I remember is someone calling for me and feeling someone with me. It was strange," they said "I do remember some strange noise that tried to rip me apart, but that's where things get fuzzy."
The doctor made some more notes while they continued. The closed their eyes, trying to build a mental image of the event. "When I was inside I felt something, it was like a strange dream that I could not wake up from. At the time I didn't know it was even like a dream."
"I need to check on your last tests. The others will be here to see you later," she said. She walked out, leaving them to think.
The doctor left the room and headed down the hall as the three of them realized that they had just said the exact same things at the same times. It was weird to them, yet it invoked their curious nature. They still wanted to know what the others were, but the situation would take some time getting used to, first. There was a long pause till one of them decided to start.
"How are we going to do this?" the one in the middle bed said, breaking the synchronized cycle of talking between the three.
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That morning at the Katsuragi house, the older of the two woke up first and began her morning. The door of her room slid open and Misato materialized, looking like hell and rubbing her stomach. She wobbled into the kitchen and got a beer from the fridge. The woman seemed to brighten a bit and in one fluid motion was able to open the can and pour all of the beer down her throat. Right after that a loud yell could be heard echoing through the apartment. It was a fairly typical day at the Katsuragi residence.
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The sound of a very loud yell filled the room of the younger woman sleeping. 'Why does she drink so early?!' she asks herself as she got up from her bed and headed for the bathroom.
Misato heard the sound of a door sliding open and close and the bathroom being used. 'Asuka's awake.' She about to get mad, since she wanted to take a shower, but she suddenly remembered who's turn it was to make breakfast. After mentally groaning to herself about the newly acquired chore on her 'To Do' list, her thoughts moved on to wondering what she was going to make. 'There isn't much of a selection in the fridge, but it will have to make due...' Surprisingly enough, breakfast did not take as long as she expected. 'Not that toast is that hard, but heck...' Misato's slightly drunken train of thought was derailed by the sound of a bathroom door sliding open. From the bathroom came Asuka, fully dressed.
"Good morning!" exclaimed an upbeat Misato, practically beaming a smile at Asuka.
"Good morning Misato, what's that smell?" asked Asuka.
"I made breakfast," said Misato, finishing her second beer.
"I... don't think that I am that hungry..." Asuka hesitatingly said, trying to not sound too horrified at the concept of eating Misato's food for breakfast as well. 'Lunch is bad enough, but this might kill me...'
"Don't worry!" Misato reassured. "It's only toast. I only burned a few before I got it right," she said proudly.
"Ok...I guess I'll have 2 slices," Asuka said in a sigh.
"I already had breakfast, so I'm going to take shower and change into my clothes," said Misato, walking into the shower.
Taking two slices on a plate Asuka sits at the table thinking of the last time she had a real breakfast. It had been Shinji's day to cook... her mind clicked when she thought of Shinji. They were going to see him today, but Misato had said that he had a problem with his Eva. She wondered what had happened that took a month to fix. She hoped that Shinji remembered how to cook; with a month of Misato's cooking, she needed a real breakfast. She imagined the smell of a full plate of eggs, sausage, bacon, hash browns and even French toast. She could taste the fresh orange juice and freshly brew coffee. 'Real food,' she thought as she took a knife and buttered her toast.
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After the shower, Misato went into her room to prepare for the day. They would get to see them at the hospital today if they were well. She still wondered why three came back but she more concerned with the possibility that they were hurt in some way. She picked out an outfit, then realized it was one of her last. Her mind clicked, remembering that Shinji did most of the cleaning. 'He was always taking care of us,' she thought as she got dressed. She remembered what happened when 'he' came back; it was so strange seeing three of them lying there. Even though she had missed him deeply, having three of them meant something was amiss. She was saddened by the thought of troubles not being over, but decided to push the thought out of her mind. She had other problems that need dealing with at the moment, like telling Asuka. She still couldn't think of a way to tell Asuka that there were now three Shinjis. After she finished dressing, her brooding helped her decide that it would be best just to show the three of them to her.
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Back at the hospital they all wondered what they were going to do. This was so strange for them. They looked at each other and opened their mouths to talk but no words came forth. They did not want to be the first one to speak. A smile came to them when they realized that after everything they were still so shy. They stayed like that for awhile till one of them just spoke up.
"We should first pick out names so we can speak to each other, otherwise it will be confusing if we all went by the same name," the right Shinji said.
The center one spoke. "I would like to keep Shinji if it is all right with you two. Is it?"
"It's OK but we still have to pick names for the rest of us," said the left one said.
"We should keep it simple and easy to remember," Shinji said while rubbing his chin,deep in thought.
"I got it! I think I want to use Shin," the left one said.
"That leaves only me..." the right murmured, also deep in thought about what to call himself.
After several minutes of thought, his head snapped up. "I have it I want to be called Shinnyo" the right one said, smiling at his decision about his name.
"Now, with that settled, we should talk about what happened. I mean... if you all want to," Shinji said.
"It's kind of obvious. I went inside the Eva and we three were the one's that came back," stated Shin.
"I can tell that but can any of you guess why? I do remember something about a voice. It gave me a choice and..." Shinnyo began, trailing off as the memory escaped him.
"I remember it also," Shin added.
"So this is what I decided on?" Shinji asked, voicing the question he kept asking himself.
"I'm not too sure. I tried to decide, but could not," said Shin.
"I think so...maybe," Shinnyo said, still trying to figure out what happened. Having a somewhat blank memory of the event was starting to drive them up the wall.
"So all of this happened because of a choice," Shinji stated once more, as if it would help him remember.
"It seems so..." said Shin and Shinnyo in unison.
"Do any of you remember what the choice was? I... I remember!" exclaimed Shinji, the memory slightly returning. "It was about a person..."
"It was not just about one person. It was about... more than one," Shin added, his memory coming back as well.
"He's right, it was about...." said Shinnyo, closing his eyes. After awhile he blushed and opened his eyes. "It was about...Misato, Asuka and Rei. I...chose them," Shinnyo finally admitted.
"How could I make a choice between... three... people..." Shinji fell silent. His mouth hung slightly slacked, and his cheeks reddened. The blush was apparently becoming contagious.
Shinnyo just sat there as he watched Shinji's astonishment at the revelation.
"What about them?" Shin asked, confused at the behavior of the two.
Shinji face was still red from what he just realized. Shinji suppressing his first instinct to stutter, and instead opted to wait and explain it when he fully absorbed it all.
"Shin, there are now three of us and three of them..." he just let the statement hang there and hoped Shin did not need further explaining.
"I... see." Was all the now stunned Shin could say. "I remember now..." Shin was the last to catch the blush that went around the room.
"Then this means..." Shinnyo said, not finishing his sentence.
"This means I made it so we don't have to make a decision..." Shinji finished, getting redder.
"Lets talk about something else... like what are we to each other?" Shinnyo asked, changing the subject.
"Well I think you could call us brothers, but we are identical to each other. Because of that, we might as well be the same person. Remember when we were talking in sync when the doctor questioned us?" Shin said.
"Yes but we are also individuals, since we can have separate ideas and feeling like the names we thought of. We didn't have the same suggestions. Take this conversation for instance. It's not in sync," Shinji retorted.
"We could be the same person with different aspects split into three bodies. That could explain the sync part as well as the different ideas, since different parts of our thought are in different bodies." Shinnyo added.
"I don't think so... if that was true how come we function as individuals?" Shinji asked.
"And we should complete each others sentences, not be in sync with them," added Shin.
"So what are we?" Shinnyo asked himself. He then let out a deep sigh of frustration.
'How can we acting as one and then later on as individuals?' Shin asked himself.
"Hmm...if we were linked somehow, that would explain our sync when we were answering those questions...let's try something. Shin, concentrate on me. Try to find out what I am thinking about," Shinji said.
"Ok." Shin closed his eyes and focused his mind on Shinji. He let his mind loose among the others. At that point he felt something that he almost missed. It was so familiar that he thought it was him. But he was concentrating on Shinji, so that couldn't be it.
"Shinji, you were thinking of getting some food, and Shinnyo, you were thinking of getting out of here, right?" They both nodded in an almost baffled manner.
"I was right, we do have a connection," Shinji.
"We need to work on it then, you were right about what I was thinking about, but you were supposed to find out what Shinji was thinking not me," added Shinnyo.
"You're right. We'll need to work on it," said both Shin and Shinji, talking in sync once more.
"We will have to work on that as well, or else this could get annoying fast," Shinnyo said, sounding worn out by the situation.
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Misato headed to the kitchen, until she saw Asuka. Sitting at the table with her hands propping up her face, weariness and frustration lay openly on her face's expression. 'I guess she didn't get much sleep last night,' she observed. She decided to enter the dining room. When Asuka caught signs of Misato walking in the room, she quickly readjusted herself, trying to look awake as awake as she could manage. Misato took a seat in front of Asuka, looking her straight in the eye. 'Here we go...' Misato thought to herself.
"Asuka, before we go, do you remember what I told you last night?" she asked, hoping that the girl would understand what she tried to explain.
"Of course I remember, that baka had a accident with his Eva," Asuka answered, her best smug face on.
"Well when the... accident happened, it changed Shinji a little..." Misato said slowly, trying her best not to fell bad about the whole thing.
"What do you mean?! You said that he was fine!" Asuka yelled, getting offensive for being lied to.
"He is Asuka, but something....happened....that...." Misato said in a hesitant voice, still not being able to totally get it out.
"What happened Misato? I want to know!" Asuka exclaimed, still angered from being left out.
"I can't really explain it, I'll have to show you," Misato said quickly, finally letting out.
"Why can't you tell me what happened?" the girl asked, her tone getting more agitated as the seconds past.
"Just trust me on this one. Look, it's time to go. We'll talk about it at the hospital," Misato said as she walked towards the door, keys in hand.
"Fine!" That was the last thing Asuka said to Misato as she left with her to the car.
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The bright light flowed threw the window and began a new day. Rei woke up and got ready for the day ahead. She showered and got dressed, like it was any old day. She stared at her reflection in a mirror for a moment, something which she almost never did. But the unfamiliar moment passed quickly, and she continued on by going to the door where her simple white shoes were. After slipping them on, she opened her door and stepped outside. She began her walk towards the hospital where Shinji was held. Thoughts of him swirled in her mind throughout the march towards the large white building.
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The ride to the Nerv hospital was long and dragged out. Misato was taking it slow today, and Asuka was beginning to get worried. But at soon as a sign that she was worried about Shinji came up, she would try to think of something else. 'I don't care about that baka. All I need to care about is being the best!' She tried to keep from thinking of him but it was over a month since she had seen him last, so she couldn't help but admit to herself that she missed him at certain moments. Though he was a boring little boy and he was not the most interesting company, he was also around enough for her to get used to him. She remembered the times she would tease him, like the time she explained 'thermal expansion'. The memory of the kiss came to mind, and almost brought a smile to her face. But she immediately pushed it all aside. 'I don't need anyone else, I'm the Great Asuka Langley Sohryu! I only need myself!' Being lost in her thought, she did not notice that they were getting close to the hospital.
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At the Nerv hospital, the blue haired girl sat and waited for the doctor. She had not been there long, but she had time today to be there. 'I will wait and ask if Ikari-kun is fine, then I'll see if I can see him.' From the reports she accessed, she knew that Ikari-kun was retrieved. But the report was extremely vague and obscure. She tried to access more information, but it was beyond her security clearance. This immediately made her curious, since she had one of the highest levels in Nerv. Her thoughts were interrupted by loud voice from down the hall.
"What's Wondergirl doing here?!" Asuka blared, not wanting to deal with the First today. She already had enough on her mind.
Misato was about to tell Asuka to calm down, until she heard the steps of Ritsuko from down the hall. The blond doctor was wearing her usual heals, stockings, black skirt, lab coat and blue blouse. She walked down the hall to them holding some charts in her hand.
Asuka, not wanting to wait any more, steps up to doctor as she comes into range and in a demanding voice says, "Where the hell is that idiot and what happened to him?" Rei stands up beside Misato, who is quite surprised, and even a bit dumbfounded.
"I thought Misato would have explained what happened to him to you." the doctor looks at her friend, stabbing her with a disappointed gaze. Misato put a fake grin on her face as she fought both the urge and need to kick the doctor. "It's harder to explain than you think," she grumbled under her breath.
"Might as well get this over with. Lets go and see Shinji, he's out of isolation and can have visitors," the doctor reports before turning on her heel and heading back to the room, with the three girls in pursuit.
A few steps from the door she turns around "I have to warn you Asuka. What you are about see will be shocking," Ritsuko warns, trying to brace the girl for what was about to see.
"Why are you warning me? Why not Wondergirl over here?" Asuka points to the direction of the girl mentioned, slight agitation and annoyance in her voice. She marched past the doctor and entered the room. She did a double take and then stood frozen at the scene before her.
Rei was not far behind Asuka. She walked in and was just as shocked, but years of training gave her more control over her reactions. She stood there next to Asuka and waited for an explanation for what happened to Shinji.
Misato and Ritsuko came in last, Misato still being shaken by the room, and Ritsuko wearing an "I told you so" expression on her face. Misato took another look at the three and couldn't stop the concern which washed down on her face. She was still worried that what happened to them had hurt them in some way, but she couldn't avoid being confused as to which Shinji was the one she knew.
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"Mein Gott an Himmel! What happened to him?!" Asuka demanded, pointing at them as they sat up in the beds.
"Asuka, the accident that happened trapped Shinji in his Eva, and we worked for a whole month to try to get him out. We did the best we could, but when he was released, three came back instead of one," Ritsuko explained, trying her best to calm the girl down.
"How are they?" Misato asked, speaking for the first time since they walked in.
"Like I expected, they all are physically fine and their memories are completely intact, as well as identical. They are all Shinji," Ritsuko said in an exhausted tone, tired of repeating this to Misato. "They all have the same physical form and mind."
"What do you mean they are Shinji, which one is real?" Asuka asked, trying to figure out if all of this was a dream or nightmare.
"If you were listening to me," Ritsuko said in an annoyed voice, " you would have heard that they are identical to each other, they have the same memories, and they are physically identical. From what we can tell, each one of them is Shinji."
"How can you say that?! They can't ALL be the same person," Asuka stated, trying to put it into a more logical perspective.
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When Asuka, Rei and Misato entered the room, they were glad to have visitors. When Asuka began to shout and point at them, things became uncomfortable. When they began to talk about them like they were not there, they felt the need to point out that they were fine. They looked for an opening in the conversation and jumped in.
"Your right we all can't be the same person," the three said together.
Everyone was silent when the three spoke for the first time. It was strange for them hear the three speaking in sync. Asuka quickly recovered.
"You see? Even the idiots think I'm right," Asuka said in a triumphant tone.
"That not exactly what we meant Asuka," they said, trying to clear up the meaning of their words.
"Are you saying I am wrong?!" Asuka asked in a coercing tone, one that could've made an Angel burst into flames, (or beg for it's life.) All three decided to be very careful about there words from that point on.
"N-n-o! We're not saying that, we just wanted to explain things to you all," they answered, not want an angry Asuka. Even though they now out numbered them her three to one, the fear remained.
"So explain it already! I see being stuck in a Eva has not given you a spine or a brain," Asuka accused, trying her best to sound disappointed in them.
"I'm sorry..." they said out of reflex, but quickly remembered what happened when they apologized.
"I don't want your apologies I want you to explain this to us!" she barked, angered that nothing had changed with him. Yet she couldn't help but be relieved that they he hadn't changed. Or rather they, she really didn't know how to address the trio.
"First of all, we picked out new names for us. It would get confusing if you called all the same name." They explained, still speaking in sync.
"Good thinking, I was about to ask you to do that later on, but no time like the present," Ritsuko said.
"Will you stop talking in sync? It's giving me a headache," Asuka groans, giving them another glare of either pain, anguish or death. The three couldn't really decide which one she was giving out. They were all bad.
"I'm sor.....never mind, what I wanted to say is that I want to keep Shinji."
"I want to use Shin."
"And, I want to use Shinnyo."
"Great this will clear up allot of things," the doctor said while writing the names down on the chart.
"That's nice and all but there are still three of them," Asuka said, seemingly the only one hung up on it. "Doesn't anybody else think this is strange?"
"Don't overreact, Asuka. Rei is being calm about this," Misato said, trying to calm the girl.
"Wondergirl doesn't do anything she's not ordered to," Asuka answered back. She then turned to Rei. "Hey Wondergirl, what you think of this?"
"I don't know," Rei answered, her voice so soft it was barely heard.
"Figures," Asuka said with a roll of her eyes. She then turned back to the three.
"So what now?" They looked away before Asuka yelled at them.
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To Be Continued...
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Authors Soapbox
Well how you like the first chapter to my fic. This thing has taken a lot of my time. I was thinking if this thing gets going that I would make it span seven or eight chapters (not including prologue) or even more. I tried to address the issue of the splitting, it was hard to get out and the whole name thing took a lot of writing and rewriting and starting over. I will not put in the scene with Kaji and Misato from the series, I don't have experience in that type of writing. I leave it to writers who have skill and honor in that area. I am sorry for the delay I had to rewrite the prologue. I also would like to thank Babel Matrix revising this chapter. I am also planing to redo the prologue again, mostly fixing the grammer. Please review this fic.
If you have comments, criticism or even flames you can E-mail me at:
mind_raider@yahoo.com
leave a E-mail address so I can reply.
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