Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion, support official release.
Apartment Rooftop (Night time)
Adam is seen at the rooftop, staring at the night sky.
"...and then Katsuragi slaps me for saving their lives! Can you believe that shit!?" Adam exclaims to no one.
"..."
"Yeah, yeah. I know I was out of bounds but it was seriously our only chance to kill that monster." Adam sighs. "Seriously, what is up with this world? It's so whacked…"
"..."
"Am I regretting it? No, I don't think so. Shinji has been like the little brother I've never had and I am personally enjoying his company. Although…" Adam places his hand on his chin, "I can't believe that there's another one, granted it's much slimmer than the one we know." He shakes his head. "Anyways, how long before recalibrations are completed?"
"..."
"Two days? That's great!" Adam said joyfully. "I can finally leave this crazy world!"
"..."
"What about Shinji? Yeah, I know he'll be sad but there's nothing I can do. I'm even supposed to be here in the first place, you know." Adam states.
"..."
"Yeah, their commander is shady as hell and it's evident that he has a hidden agenda." Adam ponders for a moment. "Maybe I should stick around, you know, to observe him."
"..."
"I should probably head back, Shinji's probably looking for me. Talk to you later." Adam walks back inside the apartment, with only the Moon as his only witness.
Class 2-A
Adam is reading a book as he watches Shinji hanging out with Toji and Kensuke. Even since Shinji saved them, Toji mellowed out and even went as far as to let both me and Shinji decked him in the face to which Adam happily complied. Afterwards, the four of them became friends though Adam still preferred to read over talking with others.
"You are Adam Ikari, the wild card."
Adam looks up from his book and sees the blue-haired girl from NERV though now with almost no bandages.
"Oh, you're…" Adam pauses for a minute. "Rei, right?"
The girl nods. "I am Rei Ayanami, the First Child."
"Hm…" Adam said. "I see that your injuries have mostly healed."
"Yes…"
The two stare at each other, before Rei turns around and walks away. Some of the students were looking their way curiously.
"No way, Ayanami is talking to someone!"
"I know it's so weird. That girl never talks to anyone ever!"
"Do you think she has a crush on him?"
"Who, Rei!? 2-A's Ice Queen!? Fat chance!"
As the students continue gossiping, Shinji can't help but be curious about it.
"Why is everyone so interested in her?" Shinji asked.
"Oh right, you haven't been here long." Kensuke said. "That girl is Rei Ayanami. She is a total mystery; one day she just transferred here and has never once talked to anyone. She's really pretty and there have been guys who have asked her out, but some of them were rejected and the rest were creeped out by her detached attitude. So seeing her being interested in a boy all of a sudden is something worth getting excited over."
Shinji nods and stares at Rei going back to her seat. For some reason, he can't help but feel… nostalgic when seeing her.
"Weird…" Shinji whispered.
NERV HQ, Unit-00 "Cage"
Encased in Bakelite is an EVA with armor that is primarily golden yellow with grey and white details all over its body. The head design is quite boxy and singular. It has a single red sensor with no visible eyes whatsoever. It also has a transparent green, sensor-like dome along with another screw head-like, yellow one on the top of its head. The rest of its body armor is just a simple, standard Evangelion armor without any shoulder pylons. Its chest armor includes a V-shaped piece along with two rounded pieces that move along with the Eva. Its arms are held down by multiple thick wires that places it in a handcuffed position. At the nape of its neck is a large cross-like device, or Signal Termination Plug.
"Rei Ayanami, 14 years old. She was our first qualified pilot in accordance with the Marduk Institute." Ritsuko explains. "The First Child, the designated pilot for the Evangelion Prototype Unit-00. Beyond that, her history is a blank; completely erased from official records."
"And the commander… he's the one who saved her?" Shinji asks the doctor, trying to understand what compelled someone like him to do that.
(Flashback)
The commander, sub-commander and Ritsuko are all in the observation room as they begin Unit-00's first activation test. However…
"Critical error in startup system!"
"Failures in Stage 3 routines!"
"Nervous system elements rejected!"
"The main system is scrambled! It's overflowing!"
Unit-00's head snaps upwards, as if rudely awakened from a long sleep.
"Neural pulse flow reversing! We can't stop it!"
"Direct monitor's disconnected!"
"Plug depth increasing, she's being drawn towards the EVA!"
"Abort contact! Emergency shutdown circuits 1 through 6!" Ritsuko ordered.
"Not working, the signal isn't getting through!"
Unit-00 frees itself from its restraints. It grabs its head like it's in incredible pain.
"Unit-00 is out of control!"
"Abort the test, cut the main power!" Gendo orders.
Ritsuko smashes a glass case and pulls a level. At the same time, the umbilical cable in Unit-00 is ejected cutting off its power source.
"Unit-00 has switched to auxiliary power!"
"35 seconds until complete system shutdown!"
"Automatic dampening systems still not responding!"
The berserk EVA marches towards the observation deck and proceeds to punch it, smashing the tempered windows with each hit.
"Sirs get back, it's too dangerous!" Ritsuko yelled.
The armor around Unit-00's neck area flies off.
"Emergency auto ejection activating!" Maya yells.
"Shut it down, now!" Gendo rebukes.
The Entry Plug launches itself out of Unit-00 and proceeds to fly to the roof before the thrusters lose fuel and the plug hits the floor hard.
"REI!"
Unit-00 smashes its head into the walls as it is showered in Bakelite. It continues to do this until there is a large dent in the wall.
"10 seconds till complete system shutdown! 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!"
Unit-00's body goes limp, like a puppet without strings.
"Unit-00 has gone silent."
Gendo rushes to the Entry Plug to open it, but the moment he touches it he staggers back due to the intense heat causing his glasses to fall off. However, he pushes on through and manages to pry open the Entry Plug though severely burning his hands in the process.
"Rei, are you alright!?" Gendo frantically asks.
Rei slowly raises her head to meet the commander's gaze. Her broken and bloodied body causes her intense pain, but manages to nod.
"...I understand."
The glasses he was wearing tilt, its lenses crack under the intense heat.
(Flashback end)
"That doesn't really strike me as something Ikari would do." Misato said, doubting the words of her friend.
"His part in it was sponged from the official report, but it definitely did happen." Ritsuko assured her.
"And even after all of that, he still wants to bring Unit-00 out of suspension." A crane is seen lifting the old Entry Plug. "Aren't we being a bit hasty with this?"
"The Angels have forced our hand. We need every weapon in our arsenal we can get."
"That's true, but still…"
"The reactivation tests have already been completed and there are no problems with Unit-00 itself." Ritsuko states. "All that's left is calibrate the neural connections and-"
"Then she'll be immediately put back on active duty." Misato finished.
Rei can be seen in the Entry Plug staring at the pair of glasses she kept around.
Adam looks on from a platform as Rei and Gendo talk to each other. He notices Rei's attitude going a complete 180 as she seems more cheerful and smiling more than at school.
"Rei seems to act more like a normal girl and the old man seems really happy to be spending time with her." Adam turns to Unit-01, who knows Shinji is inside. "It must be eating away at him, seeing his father spend more time with her rather than him, his son."
With that, Adam leaves the EVA cages; family dramas aren't exactly his forte.
Misato's Apartment
Adam walks out of the bathroom with Pen-Pen in toe. He seems to have taken a shine to him for some reason.
"Oh Adam, can you do me a favor?" Misato asks.
"Sure, what is it?"
Misato reveals a plastic card and passes it to Adam. "This is Rei's renewed ID. Can you go with Shinji to deliver it for me?"
Adam shrugs. "I don't see why not, sure."
Misato smiles. "Thanks, pal. You're a lifesaver." She drinks her beer and then proceeds to drink another can.
How she manages to drink so much and yet not get a hangover the next day is one the many mysteries of this world.
West Apartments, Tokyo-03
Rei lives in the outskirts of Tokyo-03 or what Kensuke calls "No man's land" and an appropriate name, too. There is barely anything resembling a neighborhood apart from the dozens of apartment complexes that spread throughout the area. It's dirty and there is garbage littered everywhere, a clear sign that no one has been here for years or cared enough to be here for years.
And they let a 14-year-old girl live here? How irresponsible can they be?
"This is it…" Adam says as the boys stand before an apartment door with the tag "Ayanami" next to it. Shinji presses the doorbell but it doesn't seem to be working. He tries knocking but there is no response from the other side.
"Well, only one option left…" Adam states, moving his hand to the door handle.
"Wait, what? No!" Shinji cries out, stopping his roommate. "C'mon, Adam. We can't just do that, to Rei or anyone! That's just rude!"
"Yeah, you say that buuuuuuuut…" Adam twists the handle and, to the boys surprise, the door opens.
"Are you insane!?" Shinji screeches before looking at Rei's apartment, and stares in surprise. "Why is it so dark?"
"Better question is 'why isn't the door locked?'" Adam moves to the other side of the handle and immediately notices the problem. "...it's broken." He states, concerned as to the reason why Rei hasn't fixed it yet. The handle itself looks like it's been in this state for a long time, probably from even before Rei moved here. Did she really feel that safe here?
"Um, hello? Rei, are you here?" Shinji calls out, walking forward before taking out the card. "It's me, um… Shinji! I uh… I mean WE came to drop off your new… card…"
Adam and Shinji looked on, shocked at what they saw. Rei's room is.. A mess. The room is dark and dimly lit due to the curtains covering the open window on the far wall. Her bed is undone, as if she hasn't bothered to clean it, there is a pile of papers on a wooden desk beside a wooden chair. There is also a drawer beside the end of the bed and a clothes rack above it, which has several wrinkled or undone clothes sprawled on it. On the far side, there is an empty box with what seems to be bandages left inside it.
"Strange…" Adam is surprised about Rei. He had assumed that Rei had trouble interacting with others but the state of this room proved him wrong. See, you can always tell what sort of personality a person has looking at their room and from looking at this Rei seemed completely apathetic or lacks any sort of emotions as she doesn't seem to care about the state her room is in.
'Maybe the broken lock was a sign of how apathetic Rei really is.' Adam thought. Most people would have their doors fixed as soon as possible, but Rei had hers in that state for a very long time. It seemed dull and lonely, as if forgotten or left to rot just like the rest of this area. "Um… I'm going to go wait outside in case Rei shows up. Shinji, you leave the card and meet me outside."
"Wait, what?" Shinji turns to see Adam has vanished, now outside the apartment. He sighs, before following Adam's idea and places the card down the wooden table. As he did, he pauses. There is another object on the table, a pair of broken light green glasses frames. "What are these?"
Picking them up, Shinji carefully looks at the glasses before trying them on. Taking them off, he notices on the side the word "GENDO" written in red. He gasps as he can see almost perfectly with them on, with only a slight blur effect on the cracked lens. All of a sudden, a pair of footsteps come closer and Shinji whirls around to see…
He blushes crimson as he sees who it is. It's Rei, standing beside her bed with a towel around her neck…
Naked.
The two stare at each other for a moment, Shinji freezes up and Rei simply stares before noticing what is on Shinji's face. Her red eyes harden and her face shows a slight scolding look as she rushes forward.
W-Wait I-" Shinji is cut off as Rei quickly swipes off his father's glasses and turns to her bed.
"The glasses." Rei states, reaching for them as Shinji leans back.
"W-W-What!?"
"Give me the glasses." She repeats, finally yanking them off the boy's head. However, at that moment he slips on something and falls forward, catching Rei off guard. The two fall with Shinji on top of Rei and the two stare at each other as if time stood still.
"Hey Shinji, I heard some noise. Are you-" Adam dashes in and sees the position the two of them are in. He blushes. "I'll… leave you two alone." He slowly retreats back outside.
Shinji blushes. 'This is the worst day of my life.'
NERV HQ
A short while later and the children are on their way to NERV. Rei is at the entrance to NERV HQ, using her old card but it doesn't work. "Here." Rei looks up to see Shinji holding her new card. "You'll need this since your old-"
Rei snatches the card from Shinji's hand before using it, the door opens and she walks forward. Adam stares at Rei's back, contemplating on whether or not to call her. "Okay," He whispered, before reeling to Shinji and pulling his arm around his shoulder. "Just what did you do to make her so upset!?"
"I don't know! Maybe it was the fact I saw her naked!" Shinji responds hastily, before sighing and rubbing his head. "I really should have said I was inside, huh?"
"No shit, Sherlock! You should apologize!"
"Yeah… I should!" Shinji and Adam quickly board an escalator which leads to NERV HQ's Central Dogma. As they do, they see Rei in front of them, and in close proximity, too. 'Might as well get this over with.' Shinji thought as opens his mouth. "Um, Rei? I wanted to apologize earlier for going into your apartment and seeing you um… undressed as well as falling on top of you."
"I accept your apology." Rei replies, stoic as ever while she looks forward. "You seem to put a lot of trust in a stranger, Pilot Ikari."
Adam raises an eyebrow at the statement. 'Where did that come from?'
"Well, I guess I do yeah." He answers, smiling to Rei, though she didn't notice. "He's like the big brother I've never had. It's… nice."
Adam can't help but smile at those words, but ponders if he should tell Shinji about that.
"I see. And your father? Do you have faith in him and his work?"
"What? No!" Shinji retorts, somewhat angered at how Rei assumed Shinji's liking for the commander. "He disappears for most of my life and then suddenly asks me to come here because he has a sudden need for me! What kind of excuse is that!? If he wanted me around, he wouldn't have sent me to live with strangers for 11 years and expects me to be obedient to him!?" He cries out. "No, fuck him and fuck his work!"
Rei abruptly turns around, making Shinji flinch as their eyes meet. Red eyes now housed an aggravated look in them, and before anyone could react, Rei raises her hand and slaps Shinji in his cheek. Shinji blinks in shock while Adam glares daggers at Rei. "What the hell was that for!?" He rushes towards her and grabs Rei's arm, however the moment he did there was a sudden pull that he couldn't understand and then felt something expanding.
Central Dogma
"Huh?" Maya mutters.
"What's wrong?" Ritsuko asked.
"It's weird. For a second, the MAGI had detected an A.T. Field but the signal vanished." Maya states.
"Hm… it's probably nothing but keep an eye if the same phenomenon happens again." Ritsuko told her.
"Right."
Rei pulls her arm and quickly runs off. Adam is left in a trace at what just happened. He can't understand it, but there is something… off about the girl. He simply can't place what that is.
Shinji felt his cheek somewhat surprised by Rei's reaction. 'Her face,' he thought as they arrived at their end point. 'There was anger, like she didn't believe. Just what does she see in father?'
Arthur Notes
I am probably going to update this more often, just enough to reach the ending of the first movie. Shinji here is a bit out of character compared to his canon version, but I always thought he can be more outgoing, able to speak his mind when he needs to. He hates his father for abandoning him and could care less about the reasons behind it, so I think his outburst was justified.
Who is Adam talking to on the rooftop? Well, you'll just have to wait to find out.
What happened with Rei and Adam? That's… complicated. Even I don't know (yet).
Anyways, leave a comment/review and tell me what you think.
Peace~