Creation began on 04-13-20

Creation ended on 07-07-20

Neon Genesis Evangelion

The Darkness Grows

A/N: What could be worse than the Angels? Just about any other potential threat to mankind.

It was against the doctor's orders, but NERV had to be prepared in case of an Angel attack, so Shinji was inside the Entry Plug for the umpteenth time, undergoing synchronization training to ensure that his sync ratio with Unit-01 was still within stability.

"How is he?" Misato asked Hyuga, turning back to see Yuki-Onna looking at them with the eyes of a concerned predator; if something went wrong and Shinji was harmed further by their tests, the woman felt that this dinosaur/human hybrid wouldn't hesitate to lay down the hurt on each and every one of them, just to show that she was worried for his safety over theirs.

"Everything's still green," Hyuga answered, maintaining a vigilant monitoring of the Third Child's vitals. "Say, has anyone else been seeing ghosts lately?"

"Define 'ghosts'," went Maya to him.

"A creepy girl in a kimono," suggested Shigeru, "barefoot, wields a naginata, drops the temperature a couple degrees?"

"Hmm…" They heard Yuki-Onna growl. "You've seen Hisako, as well?"

"Hisako?" Misato questioned. "You're saying that she's been around here?"

For the last five days since the Third Child returned with the Riptor hybrid, NERV HQ had been the source of bizarre sightings of a girl that wasn't supposed to be there, but every time anyone had seen her, she would disappear a moment later, as if she were looking for something…or establishing that the Geo-Front was now her place to haunt. Not even Ritsuko Akagi could explain this phenomenon (even if Gendo Ikari wanted her to).

"Wait a minute," Misato then realized something, looking at Yuki-Onna. "You called her Hisako? That ghost girl has a name?"

Yuki-Onna looked at her and responded, "Hisako isn't a threat to Shinji, so she is not a threat to me. I disregard her presence here. What can one do to the dead that hasn't already been done to harm them in life?"

"Even if she is dead," went Ritsuko to her, "her presence within NERV puts us at risk of unwanted danger."

"You mean, like me?" Yuki-Onna questioned. "Like that knight?"

Yuki-Onna wasn't smart like any of them were, but when she pointed out that ever since Shinji had arrived with her to Tokyo-3, the only actual threat to NERV's mediocre existence…had been the Angels…and the renegade Fulgore that attacked Shinji.

"Uh, excuse me," they heard Shinji's voice on the intercom, "am I almost done here? It's been almost three hours."

Ritsuko looked at the graphs and compared them to the last score Shinji obtained. They were the same as before three days ago: Eighty-two percent.

"Yeah, Shinji," she sighed; if his score hadn't dropped in the least since he was injured by the Fulgore, it was unlikely to shift later. "Hit the showers and call it a day."

Turning the monitors off, the faux-blood turned to see that Yuki-Onna had already vacated the room they were all in, no doubt going to see Shinji.

"That girl seriously cares a lot for the kid," Maya expressed.

"Maybe too much," Misato suggested her opinion, "but she was right about one thing?"

"Which is?" Ritsuko questioned.

"Shinji has only been attacked by two different threats: The Angels and that robot that had been made by Ultratech before Second Impact."

-x-

Looking at the surgical scar from his operation to repair his punctured lung, Shinji sighed as the hot water continued to pour over his LCL-soaked body. He was not feeling better every time he got into the Eva. Instead, he felt like he was just getting worse because NERV…or just his father…wouldn't cut him loose and recruit someone that actually wanted to pilot the Eva.

"Shinji," he heard Yuki-Onna speak his name, and he turned to face the obscuring shower curtain, seeing her feet and tail underneath it.

"Yes, Yuki-Onna?" He responded.

"Are you well?"

"Just tired."

She tapped her talons onto the floor.

"You need rest," she told him.

"Yeah," he agreed with her. "I do."

-x-

"…This is insane," Ritsuko heard people talking as she walked down the hall, seeing several men and women walking the opposite way. "How are we supposed to work down here when there's a restless spirit wandering around with a pole arm?!"

"If I see her again, I'm turning in my resignation," a woman told the man. "First a rogue machine attacks and nearly kills some kid after murdering some people, we have to put up with a dinosaur that might as well be some mad scientist's attempt to bring back the prehistoric era, and now we have a ghost spreading warnings for people to leave before something bad happens."

This wasn't the first time Ritsuko heard of these rumors. Lately, random people within the base were seeing this…Hisako ghost that Yuki-Onna had met and spoke with, but because the Riptor had no actual information about her that she was willing to share with them, the faux-blond chose not to believe that this ghost actually existed.

"You'd be wrong to think that I'm not here," she heard a female voice behind her…and felt a chill run down her spine.

Turning around, the scientist saw the Everlasting Child with her pole arm, standing a good five feet away.

"I am here, and I am warning those with a conscience to leave while they still can," Hisako told her. "There is a darkness here that will pull you into itself until there is no escape. Leave this place while life still flows through your veins."

"I'm afraid I can't just leave because a talking form of alternate electrical energy shows up and decides to scare people into running away. In case you don't know, mankind is facing a global crisis with a threat that will drive us all into extinction."

"There is a being beneath your feet that will serve as a gateway for the master of this darkness to cross over into the mortal realm once the darkness has accumulated in strength. When it arrives, those who remain will be forfeit to all free will."

"Where's your proof?"

SWING! Hisako thrust her naginata up towards Ritsuko's neck, the blade just an inch away from piercing the flesh.

"Stay if you dare," she told the woman. "The being beneath your feet is a pawn in the drawing of shadows swollen with hatred, chaotic rage and starving agony."

Then, the ghost pulled her weapon back and disappeared, leaving Ritsuko to wonder just what was going on.

The being beneath our feet? She wondered. Could she mean Lilith?

-x-

Sitting on his bed, Shinji yawned as he made a conscience choice to turn in earlier today.

"Brr," he suddenly shivered; it just felt like a shiver ran down his spine. "Uh…Yuki-Onna?"

The Riptor, which had been squatting over in the corner near his bed, looked up and felt the same drop in temperature that Shinji had.

"She is here," she spoke.

Then, in front of them, the ghost that had been haunting the halls of the base appeared.

"Gah!" Shinji gasped; he had felt a cold presence before, but it hadn't felt like this before. "Who…who…who are you?"

Hisako, down on the floor, rose up to her feet and stood in front of them.

"I am Hisako," she introduced. "Your friend, Yuki-Onna, and I have met."

Shinji looked at Yuki-Onna, who seemed unaffected by the ghost's presence.

"Okay."

"You're in danger."

"What?"

"You're in danger. There is a darkness here that draws in the shadows to do its bidding. If I can't convince the people that work here to leave while they still have the option of doing so willingly, then I must try to convince you, someone that was placed in danger deliberately, and by his own parents, no less, to leave this horrid place. Turn away and live…or stay and suffer."

"What is here that will hurt Shinji?" Yuki-Onna asked her.

"The fallen hero formerly known as Eyedol, who seeks to return to this plane of existence…and his master…Gargos. They will emerge through the giant that dwells beneath us, protected unknowingly by those that will be sacrificed to ensure its protection."

"Are they…Angels, too?" Shinji asked her.

"No…but they are worse than what you have been told sparingly about these…Angels you ask of. Please…whatever you feel you have to do. A temple on the countryside, a hotel or motel, you have to leave this place while you still can. Leave and live. Don't stay and suffer an inescapable fate, Shinji. Take your friend…and get out of here."

Hisako then disappeared, leaving Shinji worried about what he was told just now.

"Yuki-Onna," he uttered, "can Hisako be trusted?"

"She hasn't tried to harm you," she responded. "I believe she's right about you being in danger while here. We should leave."

-x-

Slit! A long slit had formed on Lilith's torso, creating a hole.

Swirls of dark energy had emanated from the hole…and a large claw emerged from it.

"Grrr!" Something growled, grabbing the side of Lilith and pulled to remove the rest of its body from where it dwelled. "At long last! I've finally made it through!"

Falling from Lilith, a large being with wings had entered the lair of the Seed of Life that didn't belong, looking around the chamber.

"Let the darkness come to me!" It roared.

-x-

Alarms went off, upsetting various people.

"What's going on?!" Misato asked as she entered the command center of Central Dogma.

"We got trouble!" Hyuga responded.

"An Angel?"

"Worse," went Shigeru. "Angels."

"Angels? Multiple targets? How many?"

There was a pause in the chamber, which Misato didn't like.

"How many Angels are there?" She repeated.

"There are five Angels," Hyuga revealed, "three approaching from the ocean…and two in space. The two in space, just outside of the planet's atmosphere."

This…was unexpected. While NERV was tasked with defending mankind against the Angels, they weren't prepared with facing multiple Angels at once. And worse, their only two pilots capable of piloting the Evas were both still on the mend, with the Third Child still recovering from his injuries sustained from nearly getting killed by a rogue robot.

"What the ETA of the three from the ocean?" Misato demanded.

"Ten minutes," Maya answered.

"Prepare to launch Unit-01."

-x-

"…Oh, no," Hisako gasped as she returned to the chamber in Terminal Dogma, seeing the creature that had emerged first. "Are you Gargos?"

In front of her, reducing Lilith into a pile of white and orange goop, the winged being saw the armed ghost and generated tendrils of dark energy surrounding itself.

"I am," it revealed, "and this world shall belong to me, starting with this city!"

"You will be stopped."

"Not by the likes of you, child. This world has lost its way. These humans have lost their faith. I was divinity incarnate once! I was worshipped! And now…now, they will see that I am their one and only god!"

"Except you need him, don't you?"

Gargos looked at her, as if being questioned of what he needed to solidify his reign in this world.

"Heh-heh-heh," he chuckled. "His fate was sealed the second they brought him here! Those that dare to play with forces they have no understanding of will pay the ultimate price for their arrogance! Ha-ha-ha! Eyedol!"

Gargos flung his right claw in front of himself and opened a portal in front of Hisako, releasing a large, two-headed creature with a spiked club.

Hisako brandished her naginata and prepared for the worst; she learned that Eyedol was strong, but she had no idea just how strong.

Standing on hooved feet and almost eight feet in height, Eyedol, despite once being the ancient rival of Gargos, was now enslaved to the being, looking at the ghost girl in front of them.

"Dispose of her essence and fetch my sacrificial child," Gargos commanded him.

"Rrrraaurgh!" Eyedol growled and charged towards Hisako.

To be continued…

A/N: Not really what I had anticipated, but when things get bad, they hit the metaphorical fan. This is only the beginning of how things escalate. Wait and see.