The Devil-Eyed Child

Chapter 4

A/N: Sorry for the delay! Time to reveal the big cliffhanger! I know this isn't what you wanted to see but I put this chapter up just to show you guys I'm not dead. I promise I'll have another chapter of at least a thousand words uploaded by Monday.

"What the hell happened to me Rei?" Shinji's voice echoed through the bathroom. When she didn't respond he asked again.

"We are not currently aware of what happened to you." She responded in a cold, matter of fact tone.

'She's hiding something.' Shinji thought to himself, eyeing Rei, who stood in front of him blushing. "Well it certainly is... a new look." The boy said to no one in particular as he turned around to face the mirror. It was still the same image that he had seen minutes earlier, despite his hopes of the opposite. Ruby red eyes stood in stark contrast to the silver mane atop his head, while a large scar ran vertically across his right eye. The look gave off a menacing 'don't mess with me' feel. "Guess I'll just have to get used to it, right Rei?" He continued with a note of finality at the end of his statement, turning his head to look at Rei as he did so. "It's impolite to stare at a guy you know?"

"Oh..." Was her short reply before walking out of the bathroom, red faced and ill composed. 'Should I tell him?' She thought to herself, now sitting in a chair next to the hospital bed.

"I wonder what she's thinking." Shinji said aloud, breaking the still silence that radiated through the bathroom. Putting the clothes that he found waiting for him on, he checked once more in the mirror to confirm the drastic change in appearance. 'Wait a minute.'

"Hiruka? Hiruka!" The boy shouted mentally, searching through his mind for the constant presence.

"Yes?" It was cold voice, a harsh reply that seemed riddled with longing and curiosity.

"Hiruka?" It didn't sound like the familiar, joyous conscious he had come to love.

"He is... on leave." It replied in the same dark tone. "I am his replacement while he is gone."

"Replacement?" Shinji questioned. 'Hiruka never said anything about a replacement.'

"Just call on me when the time is right child. I will be here." It finished, as the feeling slowly receeded.

For the first time in his life, Shinji felt a longing. "WAIT! What... what is your name?" He almost yelled aloud.

"Just call on me when the time is right." It replied once again, finally leaving the boy alone to his thoughts.

It started as a sniffle, then a tear, before turning into an all out bawl. Tears rolled down his cheek, tracing over the red scar and dripping to the checkerboard floor below. The man known as Shinji Ikari, pilot of Evangelion unit 1; the man with the weight of the world on his shoulders, was crying after the loss of a best friend. Wiping the tears from his eyes, the young man gazed once again into the reflecting brilliance of the mirror. His fingers grazed the scar running elegantly across his face. His irrational thoughts could only ask one question. "What now?"

Again the tears started to fall.

A/N: Again, sorry for the short chapter... See you Monday!