Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion. All characters and other related elements are owned by Gainax.
Shinji Ikari lay sprawled on the sofa watching a movie with the volume turned off. He was unsure of what was going on in the film, but it was worth it to not wake the red head sleeping on his chest. It had been a day since he had returned from NERV's hospital, and he found himself deep in thought. He believed what Fuyutski had told him. He didn't think that the commander would lie to him. But then again what other explanation did he have?
In truth he was not frightened by what the commander had said about his new state of being, but was rather fascinated by it. He wondered what had prompted his AT field to leave his body, and wondered if it had something to do with his state of mind. Last night had been the first night he had not had a dream about his mother. Last night his dreams had been concerned with Asuka, and they had been nothing like the other dreams he had been having recently.
Shinji stared intently at his right hand, concentrating. He extended his index finger, focusing on its tip. He got no reaction. Shinji sighed and closed his eyes, thinking about his mother. He again concentrated on his index finger. Again nothing happened. "What was it that she had said?" Shinji thought to himself. He tried to remember her words. He had told her not to leave, and she had said something in return, what was it? She had said that Shinji no longer needed her, to let go of the past, to instead embrace the future, to embrace Asuka. He opened his eyes again, looking at his index finger. He flexed his hand, tensing it up.
"Ouch!" Shinji winced. It was like someone had pricked his finger with a needle. He watched his arm as one of his veins bulged, like it was pumping extra blood to his hand. Then he saw it appear. It was very tiny, a small glowing orange hexagon that appeared centimeters in front of his outstretched finger, like a shield. Excitedly he jammed his finger down on to the coffee table. His hand was stopped by his outstretched finger, by the tiny glowing shape. He smiled, not seeing his wrist drip blood down on to Asuka's shoulder.
"I did it!" He said, waving his hand into the air. Blood splattered onto the white walls of the apartment as he did this, and Shinji realized it was time to stop. He released the tension in his hand, letting his tendons relax. The AT shield quickly disappeared, returning to his body, while Asuka stirred next to him. Her eyes opened slowly, and she rolled over, her chin digging into Shinji's ribs.
"Hello Shinji."
"Uh," Shinji attempted to hide his hand, "Hello Asuka."
"Um, Shinji, why does your arm have dried blood on it?" She asked, expecting a cover up answer, which she got.
"What blood? Oh this, its juice."
"Shinji why are you lying to me, we shouldn't be lying to each other if we are in a relationship like this."
"Relationship?" Shinji was startled, he hadn't really thought of it like that before. He looked into her eyes. She seemed hurt. "Damn it, Fuyutski told me not to say anything," he thought to himself. "Or did he say not to say anything about the black egg?"
"Come on Shinji; is it some sort of secret?" Asuka had now slid farther up Shinji's body, stopping once they were face to face. "God she is beautiful," thought Shinji. He leaned forward, hoping for a kiss. Asuka however clearly wasn't going to go for it, turning her head to the side.
"Alright fine," Shinji said angrily, "I'll tell you."
"I knew you'd come around."
"Actually it would probably be easier if I just showed you," Shinji said flatly.
He motioned to sit up straight and Asuka slid off of him accordingly. They now sat next to each other on the couch, Shinji with his arm and finger extended. He concentrated.
"Well?" Asuka asked after several moments.
"Hold on a second will ya! Jeez!"
Shinji was becoming frustrated, it wasn't working.
"Well Shinji your either crazy, or are very easily entertained by your finge-"
He kissed her, cutting off her words, his hand on her shoulder.
"Hey hands off you liar!" Asuka shouted shoving him away. Then she saw it. The hand that Shinji had rested on her shoulder was glowing, covered in little orange hexagons.
"How…" She watched mesmerized until she noticed Shinji's shoulder starting to bleed through his shirt.
"Shinji your arm!"
Shinji gasped in pain, releasing the tension in his arm. He felt out of breath, and rolled off of the couch, laying on the carpet.
"Shinji that was amazing!" said Asuka excitedly, "But your arm…"
Asuka moved down onto the ground with Shinji. She began unbuttoning his shirt, while Shinji grunted from the pain. Once it was unbuttoned she pulled Shinji's arm out of his sleeve. His shoulder was covered in dried blood, it looked like a huge scab. She touched it cautiously. The dried blood snapped and began to crumble. Soon it had all fallen free of Shinji's shoulder, as if it had never been there, dissolving as it hit the ground.
Shinji looked up at the beautiful girl on her hands and knees above him. She shook her head and smiled, letting out a small laugh of disbelief.
Misato Katsuragi turned the corner to her living room, hungry for a mid-night snack, but instead stopped and stared at the scene in front of her, which included a shirtless Shinji on the ground with Asuka on all fours over him, as well as blood stained walls.
"What in the hell are you two doing!"
Before either of the two teenagers could respond the telephone rang. Misato checked the caller I.D., it was from NERV. You two are very lucky I have to take this call. She answered the phone, and her face soon turned pale.
"Asuka, Shinji," she motioned with her hand for Asuka to get off of the young Ikari and stand up.
"Both of you get in the car immediately! There is a situation at NERV.
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Before Shinji knew what was going on, he found himself being loaded into his cockpit, and inserted into unit 01. He thought that he would never find himself in this situation again, but here he was.
"9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Launch!," The countdown was over and he felt the G-force of his Eva being vaulted up the elevator shaft to the surface. The doors opened soon afterwards and Shinji found himself standing in the center of Tokyo 3.
"Shinji can you hear me!" Shinji glanced at his monitor to see Misato speaking to him. He could also see that Commander Fuyutski was present, as was Aoba, Hyuga, Maya, the rest of the staff, and Asuka.
"Yes I read you Misato."
"Good, we are detecting a massive energy source currently on its way towards you."
"Roger that," Shinji said in response. It was late at night, and he couldn't see very far due to the darkness. He noted that Lilith's egg was looking more ominous than usual.
Inside the command center Misato was becoming increasingly worried. Shinji's sync ration was at a perfectly flat 0%. And on top of that, the command center was receiving no readings of any kind from unit 01. Shinji, however, had never before felt so comfortable in his Eva. It felt like he was in perfect control. He darted forward, ducked, and then darted left again, testing his mech's responses. It was then that he saw it.
It was about the same size as an Evangelion, maybe a little bit larger. Its arms were large and dangerous looking, while its legs were tall and skinny. It was armored entirely in black, except for its shoulder blades and its hands which were white. What really set it apart from anything Shinji had ever seen before was its face. It looked as if the creature was wearing a samurai style kabuki mask, made entirely out of what appeared to be a purple fog. Its eyes were large black slits where the gas did not pervade. There was one thing about it though that Shinji did immediately recognize, the tell tale red jewel on its upper chest. It stopped walking when it spotted Shinji.
Shinji reached for his knife, pulling it from its sheath and holding it ready to strike. In response, the creature reached behind its back and produced a long spear. Shinji took a deep breath. Things were about to become interesting.
The creature began to charge and Shinji followed suit. It was like a game of chicken. Once it was in range the beast took a colossal swing of its spear, aiming for unit 01's right temple. Shinji countered with his knife, deflecting the blade to the ground. The creature stumbled from the transfer of inertia and force, its blade hitting the pavement. Shinji took advantage of the moment, dealing a sharp kick to the monsters ribs, sending it flying. Shinji stood his ground and watched as the creature pulled itself back up. Hoisting up its spear, it took aim squarely at Shinji. The beast pulled back and let the spear fly, like an arrow. Shinji could see what was coming and was ready, he held out his arm, extending his AT field. However no AT field came, and the spear impaled itself through Shinji's left arm.
Shinji screamed from the pain, unit 01 falling to its knees.
"What happened to my AT field! Command can you hear me!"
"Yes Shinji we copy."
"Why doe-"
That was all Shinji managed to say before the creature planted its knee in Shinji's face. Shinji crashed into a nearby building. He looked up in time to see the next blow coming this time, and nimbly rolled to the side, the creature crashing into another building. It turned around and both combatants were now on their feet. Shinji's left arm hung limp off of his body, useless. The creature charged with a vicious right hook. Shinji countered it with his right arm, and then ducked a punch from the creatures left. With the creature off balance Shinji violently twisted his body to the right, allowing his limp arm to swing around and whip the creature in its neck. The beast bellowed, and Shinji gave it a vicious kick to the jewel in its chest.
For a moment Shinji was able to collect his thoughts as the beast again was sent sailing through the air. "Why did my AT field malfunction?" he asked himself. The most probable reason dawned on him as the beast re-entered the fray. "Unit 01's AT field is probably now activated the same way that I activate my own."
The creature managed to get its claws into Shinji's right shoulder. Shinji let out a scream as much from pain as from adrenaline. He reached up and grabbed the creatures arm, pulling it free from his armor, and then twisting it around. Shinji hit the creature in the face with its own fist, but was unable to block the beast's roundhouse kick. It hit him directly in the side of the face and he hit the pavement.
"Shinji get up, quick!" he could hear Misato yelling over the intercom.
Shinji extended his arm to push himself back up, but it was too late. The creature grabbed him with his right arm, putting him into a suffocating headlock. Shinji couldn't move a muscle. There was nothing he could do. Nothing except die. Die in battle, it was an honorable death. Shinji quickly dashed the thought from his mind. "I'm not done yet, I cant die, I wont, I must live, for her.
"Misato!"
"Yes Shinji?"
"If I were to be ejected, how far could you launch me away from the creature?"
"Well we…"
The creature tightened its grip and Shinji felt his neck and shoulders begin to give way.
"HOW FAR!" Shinji was screaming now.
"About 2 miles max if we use your Eva's reserve energy."
Shinji nodded. "That would be enough," he thought to himself.
The pain was now becoming nearly intolerable.
"When I say so I want you to eject me, understand?"
"Yes, I understand."
"Shinji!" he could now hear Asuka's voice over the com, "Don't die Shinji, oh God please don't die!"
Shinji could see Asuka over the intercom screen, she looked frightened beyond reason, as if she was about to die alongside him. Shinji would not let this be the last time he would see her.
"I love you Asuka," Shinji said, his vitals beginning to fail.
"EJECT NOW!" Shinji screamed with the last of his energy. He thought only of Asuka, focusing all of his energy on her, surrounding his plug with his own orange AT field.
The force of being ejected at such a high velocity shocked Shinji's system as his plug, protected with the very life force of its pilot, was launched out of his Eva, through his assailants red Jewel, and into a nearby department store, where it finally came to rest.
The creature howled with the pain of being pierced by the AT field hurled through its innards. It fell to its knees, both hands covering the hole in its chest. Then, mere seconds afterward, the beast erupted in a massive, fiery, death.