Disclaimer: I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion, but Firefox owns Explorer.

Well this is Chapter 4, sorry for the late update, I decided to spend more time proof reading a making sure I have my facts straight. You guys are in for a bit of a treat with this one though. In this chapter, instead of giving small little bits of the past, I'm gonna piece some of them together to get a better understanding. You can call this as somewhat of an interlude, well, anyways, continue to read and review this story. Its been fun so far, and I want to keep writing.

"" Speech.

'' Though.


6/24/06-6/25/06

"Uh, my head." Shinji awakens upon a beach covered in LCL, he seemed a little fazed and confused. Looking around, he notices Asuka lying down not far away, she's covered in bandages and doesn't look to be in very good shape. Upon seeing Asuka, he then tries to strangle her. Asuka wakes up to see Shinji trying to kill her and brings her hand up to his cheeks. Noticing this, he stops.

"This feeling sucks." Shinji lets go of her neck and sits down next to her. "I'm alive?"

"Fortunately yes, lets get out of here." Shinji picked her up in his arms and proceeded to carry her and look for a hospital. Walking around for a few minutes he noticing a couple of tents with a large red cross by it, assuming that it was a field hospital, he continued to carry Asuka towards it. The field hospitals were fairly busy, seeing an empty cot, he lays her down until an doctor arrived. While the doctor was checking on Asuka, Shinji decides it would be best to wait outside.

"You're alive." Shinji turns around to see Misato. Her face covered in tears, Shinji soon found the live squeezed out of him

"Yes, I'm alive, Asuka too."

"But...how?" The two decided to go inside and check on Asuka.

"Well, if you think about, Unit 01 did demolish Unit 03," Shinji replied, "And Toji lived."

"Guess that's true." Misato walks up to the doctor as he was checking Asuka. "How is she doc?" She asks.

"Aside from neurological damage, she's fine, we need to transfer her to a real hospital for treatment, but she should be good in a week." he replied before moving onto another patient.

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A whole week has past since the aborted Third Impact. Economies were desperately trying to rebuild, countries were trying to help the victims, and people were trying to pick up their lives and continue on. Soon after Asuka was released from the hospital, Shinji and her received a rather disturbing letter.

"SCHOOL?" Asuka's was pissed, to have gone through hell and back again only to return to school, her scream was loud enough to wake the dead, kill them, and then wake them up again.

"Yes, school, surprisingly, most of Tokyo-3 was left intact and you still need to get an education." Misato replied.

"This sucks." Shinji spoke up.

"I agree." Asuka replied.

"And afterwards you two need to return to NERV to finish some business." Misato finished her beer and leaves for work.

"I stand corrected, this sucks." Shinji said.

"I agree."

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"I don't get it." Kensuke told Shinji and Toji, he was bored out of his mind and decided to strike a conversation.

"Get what?" Shinji replied.

"We just survived the Third Impact," Kensuke looked at the teacher, "And he' still talking about the Second Impact."

"Yea, if you really think about it, he should come up with some new material." Toji spoke up.

"So, Shinji, what was it like?" Kensuke asked.

"What was what like?"

"Having to fight against all those MP Evas." Shinji shuddered at the thought and looked over at Asuka.

"I think it's best we not talk about it." Toji, understanding the situation, decided to change the subject. "Hey, what's going to happen to NERV after this is all over with?"

"I don't know, I'll probably find out after school." Shinji still looking at Asuka. Kensuke and Toji, realizing that it was best not to talk about anything referring to NERV, remained quiet.

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"There is a very important reason as to why I called you all up here today." Gendo was standing in front of all the NERV employees. Shinji and Asuka were sitting in the front right next to Misato. No one knew where Rei was, but surprisingly, she was marked as the only NERV casualty, most likely having something to do with the Third Impact. Gendo was pacing back and forth, waiting for the right moment to say what was needed to be said. "The past year, the Angel attacks, the Third Impact, has all been hell on you all," Gendo took a deep breath, "but you'll never have to worry about it again."

"You don't mean." Ritsuko spoke up.

"Yes, NERV has been disbanded." With those final words, the commander walked away.

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NERV was indeed disbanded, it came as a surprise at first, but after a bit of thinking, people began to understand why. The Angel attacks were over, there was no need for NERV to be active. The UN agreed it would have been best if they were to disband NERV and confiscate Unit 01 and what was left of Unit 02 so they wouldn't fall into the wrong hands. People over the world agreed with this course of action, the Evangelions were so God-awfully powerful that they could threaten whole organizations, if not whole countries, so they posed a heavy threat.

What did piss off many, if not all of the ex-NERV employees was that NERV was pitted the blame for causing the Third Impact, and that SEELE was deemed their lord and savior who saved all the souls of humanity, not some weak little boy who had an epiphany at the last second. However, Shinji didn't care whether anyone thought he saved them or not, he was just happy it was over and that he at least knew the truth, Asuka however, didn't bode well with it, as many would have predicted.

"THIS IS FUCKING BULLSHIT!" Asuka never did let up on what had happened, and continued to vent out her anger, much to the displeasure of her roomates.

"Come on Asuka, it's been a whole week, let it go already." Misato was starting to get sick of her complaining, to the point where she would threaten to cook if she were to continue. "At least we got our charges acquitted, if it weren't for Fuyutsuki, we'd all be behind bars."

"I don't care, it just upsets me, after all that work, we're the bad guys."

"It could be worst, just think of it that way."

"I don't think it could get any worse than this, the whole world hates us." Asuka couldn't take it anymore and decided it was best to go out and clear her mind.

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"Oh, it's about to get worse, trust me, I think it's time." The man sat at his desk, covered in the shadows.

"Are you sure?" Asked his second hand man.

"Yes, begin phase two."

"Yes, sir."

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Shinji was starting to get depressed, but he knew why, it was the fact that everyone hated him. He thought he could just ignore everyone, but the boy was wrong. He was able to put up with the name calling, the angry stares, and even the occasional beating, but there was just one thing that he couldn't stand, those five words, five words that completely turned Shinji inside out and he did the one thing he thought he never do.

"Hey, look, it's the asshole that nearly destroyed the world." yelled one of the students as he was walking down the hallway.

"I though you were a nice boy, but I guess I was wrong." One of the girls spoke out.

"You're nothing but a lying deceiving prick, you're just like your father." One of them stepped out in front of him.

You're just like your father.

You're just like your father.

You're just like your father.

In that very instant, Shinji snapped and slammed the kid's face against the wall.

"DON'T YOU EVER COMPARE ME TO MY FATHER." Shinji proceeded to bang the kid's face until it was bleeding and broke his nose. Once Shinji regained his composure, he stopped, and started to backpedal away from the wall. He couldn't believe what he just did, he just hurt someone, even though he had it coming, he didn't deserve the punishment that he just received. He looked at his hand, noticing a bit of blood.

"I'm just like my father." Shinji fell to his knees and began crying.

Ever since that day, no body wanted to talk to Shinji, save for Toji, Kensuke, Asuka, and Hikari. He was starting to go down the road of mental instability, and the students and teachers were beginning to notice. He was starting to dread every living moment of his life. If not for his small circle of friends, he probably would have killed himself by now, to end the suffering. All he did was go to school, eat, and sleep. He only spoke when spoken to and never indulged in any conversation. He thought that it couldn't get any worst then it already has. Too bad it always does get worse and worse, until that one faithful day.

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Shinji was walking home, he was just let out of school, much to his relief. He was getting sick of it, he wanted to tell the world that they were wrong, that SEELE was responsible, but he didn't have any proof. SEELE did indeed have hard evidence that NERV, or more realistically, Gendo, wanted to start the Third Impact. What was left out however, was SEELE's involvement, but no one, save for NERV and SEELE knew that. As he slowly crept towards his apartment, he felt a sense of dread hit him, something just wasn't right. He opened the door to see Misato viciously packing a bag with his stuff. On the floor laid two men in suits bleeding through their chest.

"Misato, what's going on?" Shinji asked.

"Now is not the time Shinji, you need to get out of here now, here, take this," Misato handed him a bag, "Get out of here as fast as you can, don't look back." Shinji did what he was told, as he ran away from the building. After a few minutes he turned around and saw machine gun fire fly out the balcony. He decided the best thing to do was to head to NERV, little did he know that wasn't a very smart idea.

Shinji ran as fast as he could towards NERV, although NERV has been disbanded, it was going to be used as a military base for the JSDF and was still in use, however, without the Evangelions. Shinji was really scared, he was used to fear, but this was something beyond fear. He continued to run.

"EVERYONE WE'VE GOT A PROBLEM!" Yelled Shinji as he ran into NERV, to his surprise he found no one there but his father.

"Shinji I would like to talk to you, follow me." Shinji obeyed and followed his father. "You know what is happening, do you?"

"What's going on? I don't understand." Shinji was nervous, something was happening, and he didn't know what it was.

"Well, you'll find out soon enough," He answered, "Would you like to know what happened to Misato?"

Shinji look at his father and came to a shocking realization, "YOU!" He mustered all of his strength and punched Gendo as hard as he could. To his surprise, he actually fell to the ground. Shinji, deciding that he needed to get out of there as fast as he could, ran away, something he had become very good at.

'I need to find Asuka.' Shinji ran through the Geofront. Shinji arrives on the surface and sees Asuka. "ASUKA!"

"What is it?" She replied.

"We need to get out of here, something bad has happened."

"What is it?"

"Misato's dead." Shinji hung his head low.

"Yea, whatever, let's go home, you're in a lot of trouble you know." Not believing him one bit.

"I'm serious!" Shinji followed after Asuka, unaware that he was walking home. Shinji was desperately trying to convince her the entire way but she wouldn't listen. As they approached the door, both Asuka and Shinji felt it, both feeling that something was wrong as they reluctantly opened the door.

"Oh, my god." The entire apartment was a mess, there was blood and bodies on the floor and it looked as if the entire place has been searched and thrashed. Shinji contemplated whether telling Asuka that he told her so, but decided against it.

"We need to leave, we can't stay here."

"We're are we going to- oh my god Misato!" Asuka notices Misato by the balcony door and slowly approaches her.

"Shinji...Asuka...get out...of...here..." Misato tried her best to speak, but barely could.

"It's alright Misato, it's alright, we're going to get you to a hospital." Shinji was trying to hold in his tears.

"It's too...late for...me...there's a...map...in your bag...go there..." With those final words, Misato left the plane of the living.

"Misato." Shinji was starting to cry.

"Shinji, we have to go." Asuka began looking at the map, she ran to her room to get her stuff. "I know it hurts, but if we stay, all of her troubles would have been for nothing, we can't stay here." Shinji, agreeing, decided it was best to carry on, no matter how hard it was going to be to continue. And with that, the two of them started walking away. The two began heading towards their destination until Asuka suddenly stopped.

"Asuka, why did you stop?" Shinji wondered.

"We're being followed," Asuka didn't want to look back, "okay, on three, we make a run for it...1...2...3!" Shinji and Asuka ran as fast as they could. One of the men fired his gun at them. Shinji continued running, glad that he had not been hit, but he notices something was wrong, he wasn't with Asuka anymore. The blood drained from his face as he turned around and notices Asuka on the ground.

"Shinji!" She yelled.

"ASUKA!" He ran up her and held her; she was bleeding though the chest, obviously shot. "Don't worry, I'll get you out of here!"

"Shinji, go, I'm not going to make it." She pleaded.

"I'm not leaving without you Asuka, Asuka?" He looked back down at the her and noticed her lifeless eyes. A bullet flew over his head, he knew he didn't have long before he was taken down too. Shinji couldn't take it anymore, in the past hour he had lost two of his friends. He didn't want to leave Asuka, but knew he had no choice, he had to keep going, whether he liked it or not. He closed her eyelids and very, very reluctantly, continued on.

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To say Shinji was upset would have been an understatement, after ditching the two who were following him, he looked at the sun and noticed that it was starting to set and he needed a place to stay for the night. He notices that he's been heading in the direction of Kensuke's house and that he should be there in a few minutes. He decides he'll spend the night over at Kensuke's house and leave early in the morning. Checking to make sure he wasn't followed, he rang the doorbell. When the door opened he sees Kensuke standing at the door.

"Kensuke, can I crash at your place for a little bit, there's been a problem." Shinji asked.

"Sure no problem" he motioned towards the door, "anything for a friend."

"Thanks." Shinji walked into the door, he proceeded into the guest room and drops his bag onto the bed. He proceeded to walk into the living room but saw two men there. 'Fuck, they followed me.' He watched as they proceeded to beat up Kensuke.

"Where is he, we saw him enter this room." One of them spoke.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Kensuke said.

"Well, since he ain't talking, I'll just finish him." He pulls out a pistol and fires.

"AHHH!"

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"FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!" Shinji ran away from Kensuke's house as fast as he could. Trying to think of what to do next. 'I can't go to Toji, god-forbid, what the fuck am I going to do." Shinji, stops in an alleyway to catch his breath. ' They're all gone, they really are.' Shinji broke down crying, thinking of what to do. After a few minutes, he regains his composure and takes out a piece of paper with a map on it and looked around for a disguise, He puts on some dirty clothes he found lying around and then headed towards his destination.

It was around 11 o'clock at night, and Shinji was starting to waver. Thoughts running through his mind about the last couple of hours. Not being able to take it anymore, Shinji gave up and sat down at a nearby park bench.

"I can't take it anymore." Shinji had practically given up hope. "I don't want to live anymore." Shinji was bawling his eyes out. He had hoped that after the Third Impact everything would be fine, after the Angels, he could live a normal life, but he was wrong, dead wrong. He remembered all the troubles he's gotten himself into, and now that his friends were gone and without anyway to bring them back, he just lost any hope of living. And to make it worst, there were people looking for him, he hoped that he could just get it over with and let them finish him off.

"Do you wish to see your friends again?" Shinji turned his head to see a man walk up to him. "Do you wish to see your friends again?"

"..." Shinji just remained quiet.

"Follow me, we're going for a walk." Shinji, knowing that he has no choice, decided to follow along side him. "Do you wish to see your friends again?"

"..."

"I know you do." The man spoke, "What if I where to tell you that there was away for you to see your friends again, without killing yourself, are you interested?"

"..." Shinji didn't say anything, but he nodded.

"If you wish to see your friends again, there is only one thing you need to do," The man stopped walking, "We need you to pilot Unit 01, that's all you need to know."

"..." Shinji looked at the man like he had just grown a second head. He couldn't have heard that right, could he?

'What? Pilot Unit 01? I haven't piloted that thing since, since the Third Impact. Why would they need Unit 01.' Shinji's face turned pale when he realized what they had been planning.

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"Bah, I can't believe we failed." The SEELE members were talking to one another shortly after the Third Impact.

"It's all because of that boy, we were so close too." Spoke another member.

"What we need to do is to give him a reason to do so, and we can be successful this time." Spoke another member.

"But how are we going to do that?"

"Don't worry, I have an idea."

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"Fourth Impact." Shinji couldn't believe it. He had just figured it out. They needed him and Unit 01 to cause the bloody Fourth Impact. After the failed Human Complement project, they will still try to do it again. And he was needed, he was needed in order to complete the project and cause the Fourth Impact. That was why they killed his friends, who was supposedly his family. They needed to give him a reason to die, to not want to continue living to make him want to go through with it. It would have worked too, if he hadn't figured it out, he would have gone through with it, but, he was angry. ANGRY THAT THEY WOULD USE HIM LIKE THIS! He felt different, normally he would've been afraid, scared, and would run away to end all this suffering, but not today. There was something different he wanted. He didn't want to see his friends, not yet. He didn't want to run away. No, he wanted something he had never wanted before.

He wanted revenge.


A/N: Well, there you go, Chapter 4, I hope you liked it. I think I did a nice job at it, but I'm not the judge in this decision here, you guys are. Please tell me if I did a good job or not and what you think of the story so far.

PLEASE REVIEW.

I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE AND WHERE I KEEP THE EXPLOSIVES!

Toodles.