Creation began on 04-13-20

Creation ended on 05-27-20

Neon Genesis Evangelion

I Dream of Evangelion: A Burning Desire

As he floated in the hot spring within the shed behind the temple, Shinji pondered what he heard Pema say in her sleep earlier this morning. In fact, he'd been pondering about it ever since he got up this morning, as he couldn't ignore her words. Maybe it was nothing but a dream she was having that involved him, but he doubt she could lie to him about it if he questioned her; the ability to utilize loopholes included the ability to give only half the truth instead of the whole truth. And this went beyond the curse she was under to protect him from danger.

"Shinji…daisuki," her words echoed in his mind as he submerged his head under the hot water.

But does she really? He wanted to know deep down.

Meanwhile, within the temple, Pema, dressed in a pair of blue shorts and a pink shirt as she replaced the burnt ashes of firewood with a set of three logs, was wondering what was up with Shinji today after she woke up. He had been…keeping away from her a little bit. Was he upset with her? Did he know she had snuck out while he was asleep?

"Arff!" Otomo barked, getting her attention.

"Do you think he's upset with me, Otomo?" She asked the dog.

"Arrf, arrf!" Otomo replied.

Pema thought back to a recent dream she had before she woke up today. It was really nice, too. She was with Shinji and Otomo, just looking down at the world from atop a mountain that was reaching high into the night…until she made a choice to hug Shinji…and he got a little too close. In fact, he had gotten much closer than she had expected of him…and crossing some personal boundaries that she was certain she was responsible for…and then she expressed that she was in love with him in his native language when she felt him slip his right hand under her shirt to caress her…

Get a hold of yourself, Pema! She ordered herself, and found that she accidentally snapped one of the logs in half. You'll drive yourself mad thinking of what might've been or could've been…but isn't or will ever be.

She looked at her hands at the gems embedded in her palms, seeing that they were almost gone now after she had adjusted to the absorption of Adam and Lilith. There would be no end of the world or human race, leaving people's fates to be decided by themselves.

"Uh, Pema?" She turned and saw Shinji on the other side of the temple, wearing a pair of dark shorts and a blue shirt, having returned from the spring. "The spring is yours now."

"Um…thank you, Shinji," she responded, and then replaced the broken log with another one.

Shinji walked over to the front of the temple and stepped outside to sit on the steps. His bath did nothing to ease his mind as it cleansed his body. He couldn't stop thinking about what he heard Pema say in her sleep. It was definitely enough to drive a person a little crazy.

-x-

"…What makes you think that they had something to do with it?" Ritsuko asked Gendo in his office after being told that Lilith was no longer within Terminal Dogma; she doubted people like Shinji and this girl he lived with in the abandoned temple were capable of breaking into the base undetected and accessing security locks and removing an organism of massive proportions in less than a night.

"That distraction of his has been in the way ever since he showed up," he told her. "And worse, he has refused to listen to us, instead looking for any excuse to not be involved."

"That doesn't mean that either one has disposed of Lilith. We've checked her, and she's just a rogue living off the grid. She has no ties to anyone or anyplace, no medical records, social security number, social media accounts, bank records, nothing. I can't see how she would be a threat if she has nothing to offer to anyone…except perhaps her body."

Gendo looked up at her like she had said something out of line.

"You can't possibly think that they're romantically involved, do you?" She asked him. "The girl's old enough to be his big sister."

Of course, Gendo didn't believe that they were involved with one another. But he saw them together and he saw what the girl was capable of. If she couldn't destroy the Angels, then she could at least absorb them, merging them with herself and using their abilities as if they were hers. Worse was she did all that she did for the sake of protecting the boy from harm…and he accepted her protection because it was without a price. She was his personal guardian angel without wings, his safe place from the cruel world they lived in, a world that was going to end in due time. And he needed to find a way to get rid of her for good.

-x-

"…It looks like we're both having an off-day," Shinji heard Pema say to him as he was laying on the roof of the temple, looking up at the sky. "Can we talk, Shinji?"

He raised up to face her and responded, "Yeah, Pema. I think we need to talk."

She was dressed in a light purple yukata that barely reached down past to her knees. Even though she didn't fit the societal requirements of his race's culture due to her appearance, Shinji did find her attractive in such an outfit. He guessed that he was more interested in the traditional clothing style than he was in the modern clothing style.

"You seem…somewhat distant this morning," she expressed her opinion with him.

"Yeah," he admitted. "You were talking in your sleep when I got up today."

"Yeah, about that… I was dreaming. You were in it."

"You said something that…got to me a little bit."

"What did I say?"

"You said…you said…daisuki."

"What…what does that mean, 'daisuki'?"

"That means… It means… 'I love you'."

Pema looked away from him for a moment before looking back.

"It sounds nice when you understand its meaning," she expressed.

"Yes, it does," he agreed with her, "but…words sound better…when one means what they say."

"And…if one does mean what they say?"

"Then they should hope that the feeling's mutual."

Pema sighed and then asked, "Is it mutual, Shinji?"

He looked at her, never really feeling such a way he felt for another person…like he wouldn't know even a semblance of love and affection. But with Pema, this girl that had been trapped within a bottle for over five-thousand years, maybe even over fifty-thousand years, he did feel accepted by someone. He felt appreciated, not pitied or looked down upon, and they actually knew one another. There wasn't any other person he could actually talk about anything with, whether it was about one's familial ties or something as trivial as the weather or world records. For Shinji, the only stable relationship he has ever had, and indeed his longest one, for that matter…was with Pema.

"I can't wish for it to be mutual," he told her, "but I do want a real romantic interest, Pema. I also want you to be happy. What do you want?"

"Me? I want…I want the same thing, Shinji. The man I was being pressured by my father to marry, I could never love, but to be in love with someone that actually loves me… I want you to be happy…and I want what I feel to be reciprocated…willingly."

Pema then laid on her back on the roof.

"You and Otomo are all I really have in my life, Pema," she heard Shinji say to her.

"You and Otomo are all I really have in my life, too, Shinji," she responded.

Her view of the sky above was obscured by Shinji, who looked down at her, his eyes sullen by a sense of sadness that he didn't desire to be there.

"Who is he kissing?" She questioned. "Is it me? Or is he…longing for love from a fantasy?"

Shinji lowered down to meet her gaze.

"When I see you, Pema," he uttered, "and when I kiss you…you're not a fantasy."

Then…Pema closed her eyes and just waited for him to do whatever he had to do to make his move on her. She felt his lips press against hers like before, but it was a light sensation. He was being gentle with her, either because he was a gentle soul or because he knew she could hurt him if she wanted to. But she didn't want to hurt him; love didn't have to mean having to hurt someone. And then she felt his left hand caress her cheek.

She raised her left arm to find his right shoulder and held on.

-x-

"Looking for something, Kaji?" Misato asked him as she found him trying to access Terminal Dogma.

"Yeah," he answered her, "and I was hoping it was in here."

He accessed the panel and opened the doors to Terminal Dogma, revealing…a giant, red cross in a large pool of LCL.

"I was hoping it'd be here," he said, disappointed. "Something had to be here, though."

"What were you hoping would be here?" She asked.

"Adam, the First Angel."

"The First Angel? Here? No, no way. That Angel caused the Second Impact fifteen years ago. Why would it be here?"

"Because…I brought it here for Ikari."

"You what?!"

"I can explain."

Misato raised her gun at him and frowned.

"Start talking," she ordered.

-x-

They spent the whole morning inside the temple. There wasn't much going on between them, but they were just seeing where this…new feeling was taking them. So far, all they did was make out, something Pema was rusty on because she was alone and had to be informed about that usually, as far as Shinji understood it, progressed to where couples…go to bed together…and not always to sleep. They didn't need to go down that route yet; Shinji was still young and Pema was…not trying to corrupt him with showing her how anything was done.

"Say, Pema," went Shinji as they lay on the floor, not really doing anything, just laying together. "We should head outside like before. Maybe visit that museum again."

"Yeah, we should," she agreed with him; she didn't mind going to that rural town with the large Sakura tree again, as it had been a while since they had visited such an old-fashioned town.

"Arrf! Arrf!" Otomo barked, wanting to go back to the town where they first met.

-x-

If Misato wasn't pissed at Kaji before, she was pissed at him now. Bad enough that he was a spy for the Japanese Ministry of the Interior, but he was a triple agent, working for and against NERV and SEELE (whom she knew only as the Committee), and when he was in Germany, he took the recovered Adam embryo, brought it to Japan and gave it to Gendo! Apparently, Adam was meant to serve as a keystone of sorts for this Human Instrumentality Project that the Committee was concerned about NERV insuring, but with the revelation that Pema was the creature that took control of the Evas whenever Shinji was placed in danger, directly or indirectly, Misato got the suspicion that she might've dealt with Adam in an effort to protect Shinji from further harm, if it was ever in that chamber in Terminal Dogma at all. She left Kaji down there with the threat to rat him out to the sub-commander if he didn't leave the base within the next half-hour.

"Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki," she called out to the elder as she found him in the hallway. "We may have a problem."

"Actually, we do have a problem," he told her as he turned around. "Commander Ikari may have crossed the line regarding his son and his lady friend. He's trying to get rid of the woman in any way he can, including contacting Immigration to see where she's from."

"I don't believe Pema's an immigrant from any country left on the planet, sir."

"What do you mean by that? She's clearly an illegal alien from someplace."

Except she's over five-thousand years old, from a time where we didn't even exist, where these laws and systems against immigrants didn't exist. Maybe she's from Egypt, maybe she's from Greece or Tibet or just some…ancient civilization that had people that could live like gods. But if you choose to view her as property, then she's really Shinji's because he found her bottle and released her from an eternity in the darkness. The last thing she'd need from people that want a piece of her or to get rid of her is to be put inside a cage with other people that she doesn't know. Even Shinji doesn't deserve that happening.

"And if he can't get rid of her legally, he will try to get rid of her illegally," Fuyutsuki stated.

"And what if he ends up harming his son in the process?"

"I honestly don't know."

"Well, Immigration was a lost cause," they heard Ritsuko say as she came to them with a clipboard in her hands. "Whoever this Pema is, she's clearly got no ties with any other country. There's no record of her from anyplace in the world."

"Her name's Tibetan for 'lotus', but she's not from Tibet?" Misato asked her.

"She's not from Tibet, Egypt, Australia, Africa, Russia, you name it, she's not from there. It's like this girl fell out of existence somewhere and the only time she ever made her appearance was when the Third Child showed up."

"And Immigration doesn't want her?" Fuyutsuki asked.

"If she's not from any of these countries, they don't want her if she's not one of them. One guy actually had the gall to say if she spends her time with a Japanese boy and is able to speak our language with such fluidity, then she's our problem, even if she doesn't belong."

"How's Ikari taking this response?"

"As well as can be expected."

Of course, that was a lie. Gendo was not taking this well; if he couldn't dump Pema on someone else because of her appearance, then he'd have to dispose of her in another way. And right now for him, and only because he suspected her of this latest atrocity that would ruin NERV if it ever got back to SEELE, the girl had to be either murdered or exposed as some sort of monster, making her an outcast for life. But Ritsuko was confused by this, mainly because she didn't know what Pema was capable of or what she did to Gendo, namely scarring his face.

"Where is he now?" Misato asked her.

"In his office, where he's been for the last two hours," she answered.

-x-

"…I honestly don't know what is stranger when I look at this tree, Shinji," went Pema as they stood outside the museum and the rural town again, "the fact that it's as big as a building…or the fact that houses a museum in its trunk."

"I'm more impressed by the fact that it's a real tree and nobody took it down," Shinji told her as he opened the door. "After you."

"Oh, thank you."

-x-

It would only be a matter of time before SEELE discovered that Adam and Lilith were gone, and after that, NERV would likely be shut down. Even if he told them that it was that girl's fault they were disposed of, they'd still blame him because he was the one in charge of NERV. Nothing was going according to any plan or scenario, meaning Human Instrumentality was impossible to achieve, no matter who desired it, for better or for worse, leaving the human race as an evolutionary dead-end in a world that would be undone. As Gendo continued to brood in his office, he knew what he had to do now; if he couldn't have what he wanted, then he'd make sure the source of his troubles wouldn't have what they wanted, either. He reached into his desk and pulled out his gun, checking to make sure it was loaded.

Stupid girl, he thought as he got up and vacated the place.

-x-

Pema hadn't really taken the time to notice the way the tanto dagger was shaped or the different styles that stemmed from the original design. She was grateful to Shinji, who had an interest in this form of history due to his interest in mythology, and found that tanto were not often seen in public today as they had been in feudal times. Turning to face Shinji, she saw him several feet away looking at one of the suits of armor.

"It's nice," she told him, getting his attention.

"Yes, it is," he responded. "The tanto?"

"Its history is quite impressive. A pity they don't allow them to be carried in public, anymore."

"Yeah, at this point in society, they have a law for nearly everything people do. Next thing you know, they'll make it illegal just to travel if you don't follow a dress code or something."

Pema then looked down at her yukata, making sure nothing stood out.

"You're fine," Shinji told him; he only said what he said because it was the way people lived in places like Japan.

"Thank you," she praised him.

"Arrf," went Otomo, who looked over at a different section of the museum, making Shinji and Pema notice it.

"What is that?" She asked him.

"It's a gift shop," he answered. "I didn't notice it was here the last time we visited."

"Since we're here, may we look around? We might find something of interest there."

"Yeah."

They entered the shop and found it had a more…childish aura to it, like someplace you could find kid-friendly items at. But being a museum focused on ancient Japan, the items often had to focus on history. There were plastic throwing stars, ceramic pottery, earrings, figures, fans, etc.

"Anything you see in particular, miss?" A woman asked Pema.

"Uh, tanto?" She pointed to a toy tanto case with a purple scabbard.

-x-

He knew from Captain Katsuragi that the pair had visited the rural town just outside of Tokyo-3 at least once, so he knew it was possible that they would visit there again. His plan of action against his son was to expose his lady friend or at least kill her with a shot to her head; there was hardly a soul in existence that could survive severe head trauma. Even if she did survive, the chances of her not turning into a monster were slim to none, and she'd be a pariah, both because of her appearance and because of her relationship with his son. He was certain that they would never be left alone, no matter what they did, unless they chose to relocate someplace else, something he believed to be unlikely, as there was probably no other place besides that crappy temple they made their residence the boy wanted to be in.

There are only a few places of interest in this little town, Gendo thought as he drove around in his other car; NERV had several cars at their disposal. The most significant being this museum built into a large tree. And according to his file, he spent some time studying mythology, which has some history in it. What's so important about history to him? It's not going to matter when this world comes to an end.

Driving around the large tree the town was built around, he saw his son step out of the museum with the older girl, seeing that she was dressed in a yukata, as if trying to fit in with the people she didn't belong to. He fumed at the sight of them together, talking, and then the girl bending down to pick up a little dog that Captain Katsuragi had explained was living with them. And then he saw the Third Child laugh and smile at the girl, something he really resented because he hated the idea of his son being happy with anyone that wanted to see him smile.

Everything and everyone in this world, God will take away in the end, he thought as he gripped the steering wheel. He has to learn this!

He pushed down on the pedal and accelerated when the light turned green, aiming towards the couple in front of the museum.

-x-

"…Eh-heh-heh," Pema laughed at Shinji, and then her eyes turned to the side as she saw a car driving towards them. "Shinji, move!"

She forced Otomo into his possession and quickly pushed him out of the way, just in time as the car crashed right into the entrance of the building.

"Aaahh!" Some people screamed as the car came to a halt.

Shinji got up and held Otomo, who seemed okay, but was worried for Pema.

"Pema?" He called out to her as he tried to get back into the museum. "Pema!"

"Shinji," he heard her as he saw her laying on the floor away from the car, her yukata and hair a mess from the impact of being hit by a car and falling on the floor. It was only for a second, but I knew it was him behind the wheel. He tried to kill us all.

Only for a second, but Pema saw Gendo's scarred face as he was the one that crashed the car into her. But because she pushed Shinji out of the way, she didn't change into the Servant Beast, effectively keeping him out of danger, directly and indirectly, leaving her as close to normal as she could've been.

The driver's door opened and out came Gendo, surprising Shinji and upsetting Otomo, who growled viciously at the man.

"You?!" Shinji gasped. "What are you doing here?!"

Gendo looked at him and then at the girl…and then aimed his gun at her.

"Your friend ruined everything," he told the boy, "and now it's personal."

There were still people in the museum, but Shinji knew that if anyone made a move, Gendo could've either shot them or Pema. And if he tried to place himself in danger, Pema would turn in front of them, exposing herself as some sort of monster. But if he didn't do something, his father was going to kill Pema, if that was even possible.

"What do you want?" He asked his father.

"What do I want?" Gendo responded. "I want you both to suffer. I want you both to experience loss. And I want her gone."

He then pulled the trigger, and Shinji ran towards Pema.

BANG! The bullet escaped the gun…only to miss Pema's head and hit her in her right shoulder, sending a streak of blood onto the floor behind her.

"Aaah!" She gasped in pain as she immediately held her shoulder with her left hand. "Aaaurgh!"

Gendo couldn't believe he missed the girl's head, but he swore not to miss on the second shot.

"Put the gun down!" One of the security guards of the museum yelled at Gendo, pointing a gun at him. "Put your gun down now!"

But Gendo didn't listen. He had a shot at the girl, and he was taking it.

BANG! He fired again…but the bullet never hit its target.

In place of Pema…was the Servant Beast, who grabbed the bullet out of thin air; because Shinji was with Pema when Gendo aimed and fired, Shinji was technically placed in danger, forcing Pema to change into the creature to protect. And worse, she did so in the presence of other people within the museum, exposing herself.

"Pema?" Shinji asked, looking around at the other patrons that saw them together. "Oh, no."

The Servant Beast rose to its feet and looked at Gendo with malicious intent.

"You," it growled as it pointed at him.

"What is that thing?" A frightened girl asked, held away by her mother.

"Look around you!" Gendo told them. "They saw you change! They saw what you are! You're exposed now! You can't hide from them! Freak!"

Shinji couldn't believe this. His own father deliberately attacked them, attacked Pema, and then exposed her cursed form to people. Even if they didn't know who she was, she was undoubtedly on camera here in the museum. And they saw them together, so even if they didn't recognize her, they would recognize him at least.

"And you think this revelation," the beast questioned, "will keep you safe from me? You attacked them? You tried to endanger the one that matters most. This…I cannot overlook. You…will now suffer a fate that is far worse than that of death."

Gendo fired at it again, but the bullets just bounced off its head and torso.

"You think fate is unkind?" It asked him as he backed away. "You think you know suffering?"

"You won't kill me," he told it. "You don't have the guts!"

The beast dug its left claw into the hood of the damaged car and ripped the whole vehicle in half!

"Believe me, by the time I'm done, you're going to wish I did have the guts."

Shinji and Otomo followed them outside and watched as the Servant Beast generated a pair of energy whips.

"You should run now," it told Gendo as other people outside saw it, "if you think you can."

As much as Shinji wanted to stop Pema before something bad, he feared he couldn't stop her while in her cursed state. And he knew that nothing she was going to do now was really her fault, that it was his father that brought this upon them by attacking them, but he feared what the potential repercussions would be if this persisted.

Damn it, Father, he thought as he stayed behind the Servant Beast, why did you even come after us? We were just trying to have a good time. We weren't even bothering anyone…and then you had to come and ruin things.

To be continued…

A/N: Oh, no. I bet none of you thought Gendo would actually do anything like this to Shinji and Pema. And now Pandora's Box has been opened for an unjust reason, and the jerk can't close it, even to save himself. And worse, Shinji and Pema were still trying to see where their relationship was going now that they've established their personal affections toward one another.