Title: Neon Genesis Evangelion - Matters of Trust
Chapter: The Reason You Are Here
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: All of Neon Genesis Evangelion (just covering my basses)
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Do not own Eva. I would buy it but I am broke.
Summary: AU, basically a series rewrite. Shinji must keep a promise he made years ago. S/R pairing. How NGE should be.
AN: Major deviation from Eva Cannon. Timeline elements ignored. Characters are OOC for the series. If you don't like this then stop reading now. You have been warned.
AN2: In this Rei is not a Clone and she is not related to Shinji in any way.
" " denotes speech
' ' denotes thought
~~~~~~~~~~~
School had been boring, just like every other day, most of it was spent listening to the Sensei rehashing his experiences during the Second Impact. There were no tests scheduled for Shinji, and Rei was still on inactive status due to her injury so they were on their way to their apartments. When they reached Shinji's apartment, Rei sat down to watch as Shinji began to prepare dinner. After a while, Shinji noticed Rei watching him.
"Do you want to help, Rei?" Shinji asked.
"I don't know how." Rei replied.
"You don't know how to cook? What did you used to do?"
"I ate at the NERV cafeteria. The meals were free." Rei meekly replied.
"Well. I'll have to teach you, some time." Shinji said as he served dinner.
After eating the meal quietly the sat down in the living room of Shinji's apartment listening to some music. They were so comfortable together after their picnic the day before that sat in contented silence, till Rei fell asleep, her head resting in Shinji's lap as he rested his back against the wall. As he drifted off, Shinji thought that he had never been more content in his life. Subconsciously, however, he knew that the peace would not last, that war was coming.
********
Shinji and Rei ran through the now deserted streets of Tokyo 3 towards the nearest NERV entry point, Shinji carrying both of their bags as Rei was still injured from her activation test nearly a month ago. Her injuries were almost healed, her eye had completely healed a week ago but her arm still required time to heal fully, but they both knew that she was not yet ready to fight and therefore it would be Shinji that would go into battle. Secretly Shinji was relieved that he would not have to worry about her. They made it to NERV Central without incident and discovered that the Angel was out of range of the Eva's and that the UN forces would have first crack at it. Nevertheless, Shinji was still ordered to suit up.
After changing into his plug suit Shinji, accompanied by Rei made his way to Unit 01's cage to await entry. As the reports of casualties to the UN forces filtered down to the crew waiting in the Eva cage, Rei's worry for Shinji increased. The UN forces finally detonated an N2 mine against the Angel, which had little effect on it. Rei grew slightly jittery in the minutes that followed. When the Angel started to move Commander Ikari appeared in the observation booth.
"Shinji. It is time to move out." Gendo ordered.
Shinji looked over at Rei with slight worry.
"Pilot the Eva, Shinji. It is the reason you are here." The Commander said.
Glancing at Rei, Shinji nodded then started to move towards the entry plug. On impulse Rei stepped in front of Shinji, grabbed his face in her hands and gave him a passionate kiss.
"Come back to me. Ok?" she whispered.
"Ok." Shinji whispered back, before climbing into the entry plug.
The entire command deck of NERV was speechless. Even the unflappable Gendo Ikari was shocked; however he recovered before anyone else noticed. It was almost a minute before anyone spoke.
"Hey. Are we doing this or not?" Shinji called from in his entry plug, jolting everyone back to work.
No one who knew Rei and did not see the incident, either live or during one of the many reruns in the next few weeks, believed that the quiet and reserved girl would do any such thing. Once the launch process began, Rei quietly made her way to the command centre so she would not have to face the stares of tech crews.
********
Shinji felt the massive pressure of the catapult as it shot him towards the surface to meet his enemy. His opponent was not his enemy because he was told it was, or because it wanted to end the world. It was his enemy because, if it got the chance, it would hurt Rei and that was unacceptable. Anything that threatened Rei would instantly become the enemy of Shinji, simple as that. The restraints were released from Unit 01 and Shinji waited for his enemy to approach. When it did he got his first look at a being called an Angel.
It was the same size as the Eva, about 40 meters high, with dead black skin. There were several protrusions that looked like bone on the outside, most noticeably rib like structures around a glowing red sphere, the Angel's power source, as well as at its shoulders and a round structure with what looked like eye holes that functioned as a face. Unit 01 faced off against the Angel.
"Shinji's EEG (*AN: EEGs refers to brainwaves*) readings are changing." Maya said over the COM link, which Shinji ignored.
Unit 01 charged the stationary Angel. The distance between the combatants closed rapidly then the purple Eva was halted by the skewer from the Angel's right arm entering its abdomen. When the Angel tried it again with its left skewer, Unit 01 dodged, grabbing the weapon and breaking it in half over its purple knee. Using the newly acquired weapon, Unit 01 stabbed the Angel just above the red sphere and then grabbed the Angel's right arm and crushed it, rendering it useless.
At this point the Angel fired its particle weapon, from its eye holes, sending Unit 01 flying down the street and crashing into a building, its armour now scorched to a brown colour. As the Eva impacted, Shinji saw movement out of the corner of his eye and instinctively moved the Eva's hand to protect it from falling debris. When he looked down, Shinji saw a young girl, she looked like she was in second grade, cowering under the cover of Unit 01's hand, staring up at the robot. Unit 01 knelt down and pointed down a street, away from the battle. The girl nodded and ran off in that direction.
"Misato! Civilian on the field, heading West. Transferring coordinates now." Shinji called over the COM link.
"Rodger. Sending recovery team." came the reply.
"Acknowledged." Shinji replied, still acting on autopilot.
Unit 01 ran back to contact the Angel and encountered its AT Field. Expanding an AT Field 180 degrees out of faze to the Angel's allowed Unit 01 to cancel the effects of the field. Jumping onto the Angel, Unit 01 managed to break its other arm under the robots foot. Ripping the embedded skewer out of the Angel, Unit 01 repeatedly pounded it against the red sphere, the power source of the Angel, cracking it on the third blow and puncturing it on the fourth blow. With this final blow the Angel exploded, surrounding the victorious Eva in a pillar of flames.
********
The cheering of the crowd assaulted Shinji's ears as he opened the entry plug. All of the command and technical staff (Except Commander Ikari) were there, congratulating him on his effort. Shinji was almost bowled off his feet the moment that they touched the walkway, caused by Rei giving him a hug from a running start.
"How's the girl?" Shinji shouted when he saw Misato.
"She's fine." Misato replied with a smile. "Recovery team got her to safety."
Shinji just smiled in response, and started towards the male locker room, still holding Rei with one arm. After making his way through the crowd, showering and changing, Shinji had to report to the infirmary. He was released half an hour later, told that he was perfectly healthy and Rei was told that her cast would come off in two days. As they walked back to their apartments, they were both relieved that Shinji had not been injured, or worse killed.
"I was so scared for you, Shinji." Rei said quietly as they entered Shinji's apartment.
"Shush. I'm fine. Really. All I was worried about was not letting it get toy you." Shinji replied.
Rei started shaking and Shinji quickly caught her up in a hug.
"I felt like I almost lost you again." Rei said.
"Hey. I'm not going anywhere." Shinji replied.
A few minutes later Rei stopped shaking, Shinji had been holding her the entire time, whispering reassurances that he was not going anywhere.
"How about I teach you to cook? Cooking always calms me down when I'm upset." Shinji suggested.
Two hours later they were sitting down enjoying a decent meal that Rei had cooked. Sure, the kitchen was a complete mess, they had to use twice the amount of raw materials to make the same outcome, it was not quite as nice as Shinji could have done and they had to change their clothes afterwards due to them being covered in flower, which was odd since there was no call for flower in the recipe for the meal. The most important part was that they had totally enjoyed the process of making the meal, laughing at the mess they were making, and that Rei felt pride at her accomplishment as the meal was the first thing she had made since the age of three, which had been crayon drawn birthday card for Shinji.
They sat for hours on the couch in Shinji's living room, not talking just taking comfort from the close physical presence of the other, communicating their joy at the others presence more effectively with gentle touches and body language than they ever could in words. Eventually Rei fell asleep against Shinji's shoulder. Lifting her gently, Shinji carried Rei into the spare bedroom and tucked her into the bed.
"Goodnight, Rei." He said softly, kissing her gently on the forehead. "You are the real reason I'm here."
Stepping out of the room, he stared at Rei for a second before switching off the light and closing the door. Shinji went to be thinking how good it was to be reunited with his best friend. Unnoticed by her male companion, Rei rolled over on the bed and muttered something about being glad.
********
Shinji and Rei entered the classroom to find Touji incredibly jittery.
"Touji, what's the matter?" Shinji asked.
"Do you know who pilots that big robot?" Touji asked.
"Why?" Shinji responded.
"Because I need to find them."
"Again, why?"
"I need to thank them. My little sister was lost in the city during the battle. She said that the pilot of the robot saved her from being crushed by debris and then pointed her to safety. She was found by a recovery team that had been directed to her by the pilot."
"I'm sure the pilot was only doing their job and would rather not be found." Rei said quietly.
"Yah. I'm sure that the fact that your sister is ok would be enough of a reward for the pilot." Shinji added.
"I guess you are right." Touji said before returning to his desk.
'Knowing she is safe is enough reward for me, and I did not even know it was Touji's sister.' Shinji thought as he took his seat. 'Now all I have to do is keep Rei safe.'
Rei patted his hand and gave him a soft smile. She knew that he felt good about saving Touji's sister. Shinji smiled back, then the Sensei entered and class began.
TBC
Chapter: The Reason You Are Here
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: All of Neon Genesis Evangelion (just covering my basses)
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Do not own Eva. I would buy it but I am broke.
Summary: AU, basically a series rewrite. Shinji must keep a promise he made years ago. S/R pairing. How NGE should be.
AN: Major deviation from Eva Cannon. Timeline elements ignored. Characters are OOC for the series. If you don't like this then stop reading now. You have been warned.
AN2: In this Rei is not a Clone and she is not related to Shinji in any way.
" " denotes speech
' ' denotes thought
~~~~~~~~~~~
School had been boring, just like every other day, most of it was spent listening to the Sensei rehashing his experiences during the Second Impact. There were no tests scheduled for Shinji, and Rei was still on inactive status due to her injury so they were on their way to their apartments. When they reached Shinji's apartment, Rei sat down to watch as Shinji began to prepare dinner. After a while, Shinji noticed Rei watching him.
"Do you want to help, Rei?" Shinji asked.
"I don't know how." Rei replied.
"You don't know how to cook? What did you used to do?"
"I ate at the NERV cafeteria. The meals were free." Rei meekly replied.
"Well. I'll have to teach you, some time." Shinji said as he served dinner.
After eating the meal quietly the sat down in the living room of Shinji's apartment listening to some music. They were so comfortable together after their picnic the day before that sat in contented silence, till Rei fell asleep, her head resting in Shinji's lap as he rested his back against the wall. As he drifted off, Shinji thought that he had never been more content in his life. Subconsciously, however, he knew that the peace would not last, that war was coming.
********
Shinji and Rei ran through the now deserted streets of Tokyo 3 towards the nearest NERV entry point, Shinji carrying both of their bags as Rei was still injured from her activation test nearly a month ago. Her injuries were almost healed, her eye had completely healed a week ago but her arm still required time to heal fully, but they both knew that she was not yet ready to fight and therefore it would be Shinji that would go into battle. Secretly Shinji was relieved that he would not have to worry about her. They made it to NERV Central without incident and discovered that the Angel was out of range of the Eva's and that the UN forces would have first crack at it. Nevertheless, Shinji was still ordered to suit up.
After changing into his plug suit Shinji, accompanied by Rei made his way to Unit 01's cage to await entry. As the reports of casualties to the UN forces filtered down to the crew waiting in the Eva cage, Rei's worry for Shinji increased. The UN forces finally detonated an N2 mine against the Angel, which had little effect on it. Rei grew slightly jittery in the minutes that followed. When the Angel started to move Commander Ikari appeared in the observation booth.
"Shinji. It is time to move out." Gendo ordered.
Shinji looked over at Rei with slight worry.
"Pilot the Eva, Shinji. It is the reason you are here." The Commander said.
Glancing at Rei, Shinji nodded then started to move towards the entry plug. On impulse Rei stepped in front of Shinji, grabbed his face in her hands and gave him a passionate kiss.
"Come back to me. Ok?" she whispered.
"Ok." Shinji whispered back, before climbing into the entry plug.
The entire command deck of NERV was speechless. Even the unflappable Gendo Ikari was shocked; however he recovered before anyone else noticed. It was almost a minute before anyone spoke.
"Hey. Are we doing this or not?" Shinji called from in his entry plug, jolting everyone back to work.
No one who knew Rei and did not see the incident, either live or during one of the many reruns in the next few weeks, believed that the quiet and reserved girl would do any such thing. Once the launch process began, Rei quietly made her way to the command centre so she would not have to face the stares of tech crews.
********
Shinji felt the massive pressure of the catapult as it shot him towards the surface to meet his enemy. His opponent was not his enemy because he was told it was, or because it wanted to end the world. It was his enemy because, if it got the chance, it would hurt Rei and that was unacceptable. Anything that threatened Rei would instantly become the enemy of Shinji, simple as that. The restraints were released from Unit 01 and Shinji waited for his enemy to approach. When it did he got his first look at a being called an Angel.
It was the same size as the Eva, about 40 meters high, with dead black skin. There were several protrusions that looked like bone on the outside, most noticeably rib like structures around a glowing red sphere, the Angel's power source, as well as at its shoulders and a round structure with what looked like eye holes that functioned as a face. Unit 01 faced off against the Angel.
"Shinji's EEG (*AN: EEGs refers to brainwaves*) readings are changing." Maya said over the COM link, which Shinji ignored.
Unit 01 charged the stationary Angel. The distance between the combatants closed rapidly then the purple Eva was halted by the skewer from the Angel's right arm entering its abdomen. When the Angel tried it again with its left skewer, Unit 01 dodged, grabbing the weapon and breaking it in half over its purple knee. Using the newly acquired weapon, Unit 01 stabbed the Angel just above the red sphere and then grabbed the Angel's right arm and crushed it, rendering it useless.
At this point the Angel fired its particle weapon, from its eye holes, sending Unit 01 flying down the street and crashing into a building, its armour now scorched to a brown colour. As the Eva impacted, Shinji saw movement out of the corner of his eye and instinctively moved the Eva's hand to protect it from falling debris. When he looked down, Shinji saw a young girl, she looked like she was in second grade, cowering under the cover of Unit 01's hand, staring up at the robot. Unit 01 knelt down and pointed down a street, away from the battle. The girl nodded and ran off in that direction.
"Misato! Civilian on the field, heading West. Transferring coordinates now." Shinji called over the COM link.
"Rodger. Sending recovery team." came the reply.
"Acknowledged." Shinji replied, still acting on autopilot.
Unit 01 ran back to contact the Angel and encountered its AT Field. Expanding an AT Field 180 degrees out of faze to the Angel's allowed Unit 01 to cancel the effects of the field. Jumping onto the Angel, Unit 01 managed to break its other arm under the robots foot. Ripping the embedded skewer out of the Angel, Unit 01 repeatedly pounded it against the red sphere, the power source of the Angel, cracking it on the third blow and puncturing it on the fourth blow. With this final blow the Angel exploded, surrounding the victorious Eva in a pillar of flames.
********
The cheering of the crowd assaulted Shinji's ears as he opened the entry plug. All of the command and technical staff (Except Commander Ikari) were there, congratulating him on his effort. Shinji was almost bowled off his feet the moment that they touched the walkway, caused by Rei giving him a hug from a running start.
"How's the girl?" Shinji shouted when he saw Misato.
"She's fine." Misato replied with a smile. "Recovery team got her to safety."
Shinji just smiled in response, and started towards the male locker room, still holding Rei with one arm. After making his way through the crowd, showering and changing, Shinji had to report to the infirmary. He was released half an hour later, told that he was perfectly healthy and Rei was told that her cast would come off in two days. As they walked back to their apartments, they were both relieved that Shinji had not been injured, or worse killed.
"I was so scared for you, Shinji." Rei said quietly as they entered Shinji's apartment.
"Shush. I'm fine. Really. All I was worried about was not letting it get toy you." Shinji replied.
Rei started shaking and Shinji quickly caught her up in a hug.
"I felt like I almost lost you again." Rei said.
"Hey. I'm not going anywhere." Shinji replied.
A few minutes later Rei stopped shaking, Shinji had been holding her the entire time, whispering reassurances that he was not going anywhere.
"How about I teach you to cook? Cooking always calms me down when I'm upset." Shinji suggested.
Two hours later they were sitting down enjoying a decent meal that Rei had cooked. Sure, the kitchen was a complete mess, they had to use twice the amount of raw materials to make the same outcome, it was not quite as nice as Shinji could have done and they had to change their clothes afterwards due to them being covered in flower, which was odd since there was no call for flower in the recipe for the meal. The most important part was that they had totally enjoyed the process of making the meal, laughing at the mess they were making, and that Rei felt pride at her accomplishment as the meal was the first thing she had made since the age of three, which had been crayon drawn birthday card for Shinji.
They sat for hours on the couch in Shinji's living room, not talking just taking comfort from the close physical presence of the other, communicating their joy at the others presence more effectively with gentle touches and body language than they ever could in words. Eventually Rei fell asleep against Shinji's shoulder. Lifting her gently, Shinji carried Rei into the spare bedroom and tucked her into the bed.
"Goodnight, Rei." He said softly, kissing her gently on the forehead. "You are the real reason I'm here."
Stepping out of the room, he stared at Rei for a second before switching off the light and closing the door. Shinji went to be thinking how good it was to be reunited with his best friend. Unnoticed by her male companion, Rei rolled over on the bed and muttered something about being glad.
********
Shinji and Rei entered the classroom to find Touji incredibly jittery.
"Touji, what's the matter?" Shinji asked.
"Do you know who pilots that big robot?" Touji asked.
"Why?" Shinji responded.
"Because I need to find them."
"Again, why?"
"I need to thank them. My little sister was lost in the city during the battle. She said that the pilot of the robot saved her from being crushed by debris and then pointed her to safety. She was found by a recovery team that had been directed to her by the pilot."
"I'm sure the pilot was only doing their job and would rather not be found." Rei said quietly.
"Yah. I'm sure that the fact that your sister is ok would be enough of a reward for the pilot." Shinji added.
"I guess you are right." Touji said before returning to his desk.
'Knowing she is safe is enough reward for me, and I did not even know it was Touji's sister.' Shinji thought as he took his seat. 'Now all I have to do is keep Rei safe.'
Rei patted his hand and gave him a soft smile. She knew that he felt good about saving Touji's sister. Shinji smiled back, then the Sensei entered and class began.
TBC