Fate strummed her guitar, and the world danced to her tune. Or in this case hopped. Sachiel hopped, anyway, having only one leg. Dammit, why can't I regenerate? the beast thought angrily. I must go see my father. He will know. Then Sachiel slapped an appendage to his face, remembering that going to see his father was how he had gotten into this mess to begin with. That nasty purple thing had... Sachiel repressed the terrible memory as best he could. Never mind, the problem had been his frontal attack. His aim was different, now, he merely wanted to talk to father. Wiping out the entire species from this cursed planet one soul at a time beginning with those who had enslaved his father could wait for later.
Shinji lay in his bed, listening to his SDAT. Or rather, the ear-plugs were in his ears, and he had pressed the play button, but the tape had long since reached the end, and had silently clicked off. The boy had not noticed because he was engrossed in his thoughts, and also because for some reason he was hearing a faint melody being strummed upon a guitar. It was quite entrancing, and there seemed to be a low rhythmic thumping accompanying it. My life is repeating, the boy thought to himself. No, that's not true... his life was definitely not repeating. For one, Misato had not been a crack-head (or whatever it was that had changed. Shinji fervently hoped that his guardian's new personality was caused by some recreational drug, and was not a permanent part of her psyche). And Rei was different. How many people are different? How many remember?
Sachiel had snuck back into Tokyo-3 (as well as a multi-story alien missing a leg can sneak, but meh), and he was quite proud of the accomplishment. Sadly, the pride was misplaced. He may very well have been able to sneak in on his own, though the probability was quite low, but in this case it was fate that he make it into Tokyo-3. Or rather, Fate. The woman had plucked out a complicated tune, and a bunch of technicians had fallen asleep. Shortly after that, a bunch of sensors developed temporary amnesia, and a bunch of people were made to forget about the rhythmic thumping they had just heard (which was the Angel jumping along on its single leg).
To make a short story even shorter, Sachiel pried open an entry point, dropped down with a very noisy clatter (Fate ran through a complicated series of chords and erased a few more memories and sensors), and made his way to Terminal Dogma. He hopped into a large room, spied a white form tacked to a cross, and his face fell.
"Father, they've taken your legs too??" he asked in stunned disbelief. "Wait, you're not father..."
Fate could hardly contain herself. Let's see how you like these apples, Gendo...
Meanwhile, Shinji was preparing to do the heroic thing and foil Fate's plot. Well, actually he was having a mental breakdown, but it all comes out the same in the end. How come I never got to kill Asuka? he thought with a depressing sigh. Why is Misato acting so crazy? Why did Ayanami... um... The boy brought his hand up to his lips with a blush, realizing that even if the thought that Rei was a clone drove him batty, he had enjoyed the kiss. No! He clutched his head in frustration. I wish this would all just end! And so it did. He was in control of the resets, after all.
Lilith looked up from her Freecell in triumph.
"Alright, take that Iruel! Um..."She noticed Sachiel. How did an Angel get in here? she thought in confusion. Then everything changed.
Shinji sat up, scrubbing at his eyes as he looked around. He had awoken on a beach, and the ocean was a sickening peuce color. Post Third Impact, Shinji thought with a sigh. Beside him he noticed Rei, and Asuka, and... Asuka? He automatically made a move to strangle her, then he noticed she was awake. And very perturbed.
"I think you've got some explaining to do, Third," she said in a low growl.
"...um, well, you see," Shinji decided for the truth. "During Third Impact, you wouldn't have se- BAKE, um, you wouldn't bake... with me," he finished lamely. Damned T rating, Shinji thought.
"'Bake?' What the hell are you on, Third?"
"No, umm, you wouldn't, you know," Shinji pushed his two index fingers together, blushing quite deeply.
"Because you wouldn't do this!" Rei exclaimed softly, stepping over and kissing him rather thoroughly.
"Yes, that's right," Shinji said, smiling gratefully. "Thanks Rei-AAAAH!" It had just dawned on him what she had done. "C-C-C-CLO-"
Rei slapped a hand over his mouth, hurt on her porcelain features. "Please don't, Shin-chan, you finally called me by my first name. Let me keep that happy memory."
"Dammit, First, what do you think you're doing?" Asuka shrieked. Fortunately there was no glass nearby.
"I'm doing what you were always afraid to do," Rei replied calmly.
"WHAT???"
The two of them began to slap-fight, then Rei stepped back a pace or two and fell into a Drunken Fist fighting pose. And by fell, I mean that literally. Asuka stepped forward gingerly and pushed a toe against Rei's twitching form. This, incidentally, is not the way to approach someone skilled in the art of Drunken Fist. Rei was kind enough to inform Asuka of this fact in the most violent way possible.
"...psst, kid..."
Shinji glanced over to his left, and was not surprised at all to see a chibi-Lilith stuck to a little cross with a human-sized Lance of Longinus. After crack-head Misato and Drunken-Fist Rei, he had resolved never to be surprised again.
"Kid, could you let me down?"
Shinji took the lance in his hands and with a mighty heave he freed Lilith.
"My name is Shinji, by the way."
"Ah! And I am Lilith. Your great-great-great-great-"
Shinji pondered whether he should stick her back to her cross.
"...eh, never mind." She had noticed Shinji's eyes glaze over. "Anyway, congratulations! You control the resets, because you have the highest sync ratio!"
"...that's... just silly!" Asuka croaked from where she was lying in a twitching heap. Rei stopped prodding her with her toe, turning around to look at chibi-Lilith. Another light-bulb went off above her head. Shinji remembered what happened the last time he had seen Rei with that expression, and as he wondered how he was going to escape, he inadvertently sent them all back to reality.
Fate was perturbed. Things had changed, and she had not been the one to change them. She followed the strings of change, and they all led back to... Him?? Shinji way lying on his bed listening to his SDAT. That's impossible. Well I'll fix him... She plucked out a truly disturbing theme upon her guitar, and watched as the boy cringed, checked his ear-bugs, then shrugged, closing his eyes again. He's immune? Intriguing. Fate had never found anyone who was immune to her ministrations. This requires drastic measures...
Shinji sat at his desk, deep in thought as he waited for class to start. He had reappeared back at the beginning, and things had proceeded about the same, but with the players switched around.
Hallucinatory Flashback
Misato had somehow taken out several VTOLs, and had almost caught him when Sachiel came to his rescue.
"Listen, kid..."
"Shinji! The name's Shinji," the boy groused.
"...Shinji," Sachiel continued placatingly, as he carried the boy closer to a NERV entrance. "Look, if I save you from that crazy lady, will you let me keep my legs?"
"...umm," Shinji could see no flaws in this plan. It might even tick off Gendo. "Sure, why not?"
End Hallucinatory Flashback
Sachiel had left, and Gendo had launched him in Unit-01 to end Misato's rampage. It had been a tough battle, and his Eva would be in traction for a week, but he had succeeded in his mission. It was almost enough to bring him out of his daily Shinji-depression, and then Fate reared her cute head. The classroom door slammed open, revealing a smiling female fourteen year old in the usual school uniform. A guitar case was slung across her back.
"Hello! I'm Mana Kirishima," she exclaimed happily to the stunned class. "Let's be good friends!"
Asuka's eyebrow twitched.
