Neon Genesis Evangelion

Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion, I don't even know If I'd want it.. But, I think I would, it's all about the Benjamins, ey?

I always write the Disclaimer when the chapter, or in this case the prologue, is finished.

My eyes are actually closing… Sorry if this bores you.. Well, on with the story.

Author's Note: Sorry, wait a little longer.. This is a big AU, I just wanted to try this.

I had this idea in my head, and I just wanted to work it out with the Evangelion Characters.

The Third Impact is of really good use here.

Well, after reading that, you should be able to understand that his is an AU.

A big one at that, I feel. Neway, tell me if I should continue.

NGE: Dark Happiness.

Prologue

A screech filled the air, swiftly but harsh. Unfortunately, the screech was followed by a scream that seemed to last for minutes, though it was just a four second scream. Sobs followed soon after the scream, from the sobs, you could conclude, it was a young boy.

The young boy was found inside a cave, purposely hurting himself with the sharp edges of the wall. Like a real masochist he let himself fall hard through another stony spike. His screams showed the boy has suffered long and hard. It seemed the boy was doing it on purpose. The boy was in extreme pain, though he never shed a tear as the blood on his body poured down toward the ground. He simply continued…. Never pausing.. never stopping..

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After The Change, what people called it, most of humanity had somewhat changed, thus the name 'The Change.' Some people were impossibly smart, others were incredibly fast or strong. The Change was, of course, what only few people knew, also called Third Impact. Though not a single human had transformed into, for example, beasts.

Humanity had tried to develop technology into their lives, but all was in vain. It seemed nothing was with them. It really was a survival of the strongest, fastest and even smartest. Life wasn't safe.. nothing was certain, a person could be attacked, killed, at any time. There was no difference between night and day. Even children and women weren't save alone on the streets, especially if they had some form of food with them. Men were slaughtering each other for water, hunting each other down, to prove they were stronger. Some women and children were exceptionally strong, stronger than adult men. They were avoided and they weren't as aggressive as the men. At least, most of them weren't.

Once in a while, there were really big fights, where two extremely strong persons were matched up against each other. Both couldn't win without killing the other. These fights could sometimes last for more than a day, and villages were sometimes destroyed just because of these kinds of fights. Not many children were born in a year, and most children kill their first victim at a young age, some are even forced to kill their own mother, father or other relative. Some would go as far as to kill even baby's. The world had become ruthless..

But there were also mystifying figures looming around the landscape. It was not often that someone would leave their own village, for they have heard there are true monsters out there. This, of course, being a rumour. But there really were weird persons, who were also very strong. People went missing when they left their village. And villages were guarded by guards well, it would be hard to just charge into a village.

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A man walked through a completely abandoned wasteland, moving toward a village. His face was completely covered, except for his hair and his left eye, even his mouth was covered. Dark brown hair, and cold dark-blue eyes. His clothes were mostly grey with black shoes, a black belt along the waist and black gloves. He was carrying a few throwing knives on his belt. He looked similar to a ninja, but in a weird kind of way, he also didn't.

With a slow, almost lazy pace he moved on, until he reached the gates of the village. The guards looked suspicious at him and drew their lances.

The guard on the left of the gate, asked the first question, "What are your intentions in the village ?"

The man looked lazily at the guard, with his left eye, and stated, "I want to find out what happened."

The other guard snorted and pointed his lance at him, "What do you mean, what happened ?"

The man sighed deeply. "I mean what happened here. Where is everybody, where is Tokyo-III ?"

Both guards looked at each other, until the left guard responded, "You mean you don't know ?" He looked at his fellow guard, before turning back to the stranger. "Where have you been?"

The man simply.. didn't move an inch as he stared the two guards down. The left guard continued, putting his lance a little lower, "The Change.. THAT's what happened. You're completely covered in that because you're ugly underneath it all, isn't it ? Well, others changed in different ways."

The other guard continued for him, "Some grew stronger, others grew weaker. We," The guard pointed at himself and the other guard, "Grew a lot stronger."

The man, who had his hands in his pockets, mumbled. "Third Impact…" He shook his head. 'So… is this what I've done? Have I created differences between humans? Strong… weak… Not good..'

"Well, take us on!" The left guard yelled, receiving the man's attention once again.

The man frowned, as he saw both guards in fighting stances in front of him. "I don't understand. Did I offend you? Why should we fight ?"

"Because we can not let you through! We guard this village and you are not allowed to continue from here on!"  The right guard yelled, trembling from excitement.

"Then, I'll move on to the next village." The man said calmly, almost lazily.

"You won't be allowed to enter a single village! You just look too dangerous!"

The man responded with a "Huh ?!" and continued, "Dangerous ?"

It seemed the right guard had lost his patience, jumped and slammed his lance right through the man with extreme high speed.  

The other guard was puzzled as he saw no one, at the spot where the man was just standing. He only saw the other guard, who just smashed his lance through the ground.

The attacking guard was also confused, "Where is he? He couldn't have dodged that! Where… HE  COULDN'T HAVE DODGED THAT!!"

The other guard shrugged quickly as he looked around. "And yet… he did. This isn't good.."

Both guards scanned the entire area for the man, but found nothing but sand, being carried by the silent wind.

"I don't understand. Why are you attacking me? I'm sorry if I did anything wrong.."

Both guards' eyes widened as they saw the man, already past the closed gate. Both thought the same thing. 'How the hell did he get past the gate?'

Both guards screamed at the same time as the stranger walked into the village while they were still locked out. "Open the gate NOW!!!!"

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The man moved on, not bothering to look back at the stumbling guards. The sand he put his feet in as he walked was mixed with pieces of iron and glass. The small houses around him didn't have windows, some didn't even have roofs. In the distance he could hear the guards scream to open the gate. The other guard had probably fallen asleep

'Odd, I simply do not know why they attacked me. I didn't do anything wrong.. did I ?'

He started looking in every direction of the village. Not a single person was walking the.. streets.. right now.

'Such silence, this seems desolate. Yet maybe that's just because it's almost morning. This village seems wrecked too.'  

The man narrowed his eyes at a man, lying with his back against a wall.

'Tramps?'

The stranger noticed the man lying with his back against the wall was dead. 'Strange village..'

"HEY!! STOP RIGHT THERE!!!"

The man turned around and noted the two guards, running at his direction. Both were enraged and ready to kill him, so it seemed. 'Oh well.. might as well stop them..'

With swift movement, he approached both guards and he punched both in the stomach, silencing them. The guards didn't know what happened as they saw the man appear right in front of them in less than a second. Now they were both out cold.

'That leaves one guard. The one that controls the gate.' The man looked up at a thin tower beside the gate and saw the guard through a narrow hole in the stone wall.

The man grabbed one of his throwing knifes and simply threw it with exact precision, through the hole, splitting the guard's head. Not a single whisper left the guard's mouth.

The man ran, in utter silence and speed, up the stairs, toward the now dead guard. Only to retrieve his throwing knife.

As he came down the stairs, he stood face to face with another man. From the looks of it, it wasn't a guard. And he seemed somewhat strong.

"Who are you?" The newly arrived stranger asked the man who entered the village without permission.

The man who was completely covered, except for his right eye, answered. "Call me, Ikari Shinji…"

The other man, reacted completely surprised. "A.. A Child?"

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"Today is the day, Nagisa-kun. Ikari-kun has taken his first step."

"I see.. And what of the others ?"

"They've taken their steps a long time ago, they are used to the world as it is now.'

"Shinji-kun…. Do you think he can handle his own doings, Rei ?"

"I do not know. Maybe. They're alive thanks to him, yet they are also condemned thanks to him…"

"I wonder what he has been doing all these years."

"I.. I do too.. He has taken quite long.."

"One might wonder what one can do in five years…"

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Shinji looked surprised as well, how could he know he had been one of the Children ? "Yes.. I was a Child.."

The other man seemed afraid, but didn't falter. "I once saw a Child fight… He was good, but not something out of the ordinary."

"You.. You've seen another Child?" Shinji asked, his left eye never moving away from the man.

"Yeah… But I can not let you continue on.. You've entered this village while the guards refused entrance. I will knock you down. I believe myself to be better than any Child." He said, spitting the word 'Child' out in disgust.

'If the other Children have the same abilities as I have, this man could be very strong indeed…' Shinji thought. 'But… let's see how he fares against this status first…'

The man, moved, ever so gently, away from where he was standing, and within a second, planned on sweeping Shinji's legs. Shinji merely put his left leg up. "Too slow."

The man, after missing Shinji's leg, stood on his arms and moved his foot hard toward Shinji's head. Shinji put his head a few inched backwards, letting the foot swing by. Shinji already made his decision after shaking his head sadly.

Shinji was disappointed. "You're not strong… But.. you're confident, I'll give you that. But you won't be able to lay so much as a finger on me." Shinji stated and changed the topic. "What did the other Child look like ?"

The man ignored Shinji and started punching at his face. Shinji simply looked through the man's speed and evaded it all. "You can not even touch me, let alone beat me. Give it up."

After less than two minutes, the man stopped trying to hit Shinji. "You're good.. But honestly, the other Child was a lot stronger than me as well." He took a few breaths as he stared at the ground. "I just wanted to see how I would fare against a Child."

Shinji looked at the man, though you couldn't see it from looking at his left eye, he was  curious. "A Child… " Shinji sighed. "It's been so long.. " Shinji paused again. "Where did you see the other Child?"

The man looked straight at Shinji and took his time to answer, "Right here. He was not like you at all."

'Another male Child? How can this be? Toji and Kaoru are both dead.. even Rei is dead.. Only Asuka was alive when the red wave hit.' Shinji's left eye narrowed. "I wonder if she's still alive…"

"Child! Hey! Are you listening?"

"Yes."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm leaving. There simply is nothing here."

With that said, Shinji turned around and went the same way out as he came in. But this time, the gate was open.

The man he left behind watched him leave. 'I wonder.. Maybe this is a sign.. Why would a Child enter a village?'

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Well, so much for a prologue. I'll be writing this story, together with my other stories, but my updating won't be fast, simply because I find myself not having much time lately. Work, school and computering/writing don't get along easily. I'll try to update as fast as I can if you want me to, in the order: Forgive or Forget, Payback Time, To Start Over, Dark Happiness and Forgive or Forget again, and so on and so on, as a circle, you see. Please R&R, I'd like to know what you think of this.

Fare-thee-well,

TokehGecko