Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion. All names and other references are owned by Gainax

Before I start I just want to give thanks to everybody who is reading and reviewing my story, and also to ST Pika for pre-reading and support. Here goes:

Renaissance (ren'I-sans',-zans) n.1 A revival: rebirth. –Webster's New Riverside Dictionary

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By the time paramedics had arrived it had begun to rain. Damon Robinson had been loaded into an ambulance and taken to a hospital, once there he would likely be transferred to the NERV infirmary if there was not an immediate emergency. The medical workers had also found a second young boy. His arm had been bleeding but there appeared to be no wounds. When the police showed up to question him he had managed to escape with the use of a special government badge. His face had been somewhat hidden by his hair, but if it were not so he would have been easily recognized by the Tokyo police as Shinji Ikari.

He had just released an enemy whose life had been in his hands. He had been offered the chance to bring his friends back, and had accepted despite what it could mean if he failed in his task. He decided that he should go home and get some rest. Tomorrow would be a big day.

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Rei Ayanami and Asuka Soryu stared in disbelief as the creature they had been fighting suddenly disappeared. One moment it had been there, the next it was gone.

"Where…?" Asuka trailed off.

"Rei, Asuka. This is Misato, life readings from both Wraiths have vanished. It seems like they have returned to Lilith's egg. You are to head back to the city immediately."

Rei bent down to the crumbled Evangelion at her feet. Nishka's connections had been severed to keep her alive while the other two pilots continued to fight. Rei picked up its shoulders and motioned for Asuka to grab the legs. They were still a good ways outside of the city, and it would probably help a lot if they carried Nishka's downed eva back with them.

Thoughts were running through Asuka's mind. "Why had it disappeared like that? Did Shinji kill the other Wraith? Was that the reason?" She wasn't sure, but she knew the faster she got back to base the faster those questions would likely be answered.

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Koaru Nagisa loomed large and ghostly upon the red cross, deep in terminal dogma. A being of love, and of sacrifice, he had played his part in ending the conflict with the angels, as well as bringing Shinji out of instrumentality. He was still a sacrifice, even now, even in physical death. Though he was an angel, Koaro Nagisa had been a lasting testament to the human will to survive. And soon he would perhaps play his final role; for the end, or perhaps, the continuance of the human race.

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Shinji had radio'd NERV to say that the operation had been a success. He had lied of course, the true fate of the mission would not be determined until the following night. He had decided to walk home, though that was hardly what he had done. In truth he had leapt up to the roof tops, and had made his way home using his AT field. It was an exhilarating experience. Even if he did fall Shinji was confident that he would be able to block himself from hitting the ground.

By the time that Shinji had reached home Asuka had already arrived. Misato had ordered them a pizza, and had left a note that she would probably be home late if at all. Everyone at NERV was trying to figure out why the power signals from the two "killed" Wraiths were still reading from the black moon.

When they had finished eating Asuka had said that she wanted to go to bed, but Shinji had stopped her, saying that he wanted to talk. They both sat down on the couch, and waited in silence for a few moments. Shinji was trying to formulate the words to tell her about the deal he had made. However Asuka broke the silence first.

"Shinji?"

He looked at her.

"Do you have feelings for Rei?"

Shinji immediately felt bad. He knew that he had been spending a lot of time with Rei, and had known how this would most likely have made Asuka feel, yet he had neglected to talk to her about it.

"No. Not like that."

"Please don't lie to me Shinji."

"I wouldn't lie to you Asuka."

She nodded.

"Then tell me how you feel about her."

"Asuka, it's important for you to understand what Rei is. She is the only real family that I have."

"Family!?"

Shinji nodded.

"I don't think that I really need to go into the specifics of it, but she was created from the remains of my mother, and Lilith. So I consider her my sister."

Shinji could see that Asuka was struggling with this information, but it wasn't for the same reasons that she actually was. Asuka was angry at herself that she had thought Shinji had feelings for Rei. Her old jealousy was still there, though now she was jealous of Shinji's affection instead of his victories. Then the weight of what Shinji had just told her actually hit her. Shinji and Rei were siblings. She probably wouldn't have believed it if not for the fact that she knew Shinji would not lie to her. However before she could think about it further Shinji asked her a question.

"Asuka, if you could, would you try and bring Hikari and Kensuke back even if you knew that you might die?"

Asuka was shocked by this question.

"Shinji…why are you asking me that?"

Shinji reached out and took Asuka's hand, while avoiding her eyes. In truth he was not sure why he had asked her, and now had wished he hadn't. "Was I just trying to find reassurance?" he wondered.

Asuka could see that Shinji was hurting. Something must have happened while he had been out on his mission. She reached over to him and laid her hands on his shoulders, trying to catch his gaze.

"What's wrong Shinji?"

His eyes finally met hers. She could see that there was fear in them; that there was doubt. Shinji couldn't seem to find the words to tell about the deal he had made. Instead he looked away from her. She could tell that he didn't want to talk about it, and if he wasn't ready that was fine with her. She would be there when he was. So instead of pushing the question she simply pulled him close, resting her head on his shoulder. He appreciated her not continuing to question him, and wrapped his arms around her back, enjoying the moment. Eventually Shinji broke off the hug and laid down next to her on the couch. They faced each other, looking into the others eyes. Asuka rested her hand on the side of Shinji's face.

"Asuka. If I don't make it back home one of these days-"

She shook her head, cutting him off.

"Please don't say things like that."

Shinji nodded. He moved closer to her, so that there faces were only centimeters away from one another. Asuka couldn't bear to think about what life would be like if Shinji died. He was all that she had, even Hikari was now gone. She felt like crying. It was almost like Shinji expected to die soon. It was all over him; this horrible sadness, this remorse. She kissed him as her tears began to slowly fall. It was like she would never see him again, though she could not figure out why. The kiss was soft and long; like both of them feared that if they let go the other might be gone for good.

When the kiss finally came to an end, they both simply laid there. Shinji held her, and she rested her head on his chest. Both of them were soon asleep.

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Shinji soon became aware that he had begun to dream. He was in a vast room of darkness, with water glistening on the floor. He could here Bach playing in the background, and soon became aware of Koaru's presence. He gave the fifth child a sad smile.

"Shinji, from here on out things are going to change again."

Shinji nodded.

"Tomorrow night your renaissance will be over, your rebirth complete. You will have to choose your future," Koaru said, smiling back with the same sad expression Shinji had given him.

"I know."

"Have you found your answer Shinji? You had so many questions the last time we met. Have you found you purpose? Your meaning? Have you decided what tomorrow night will bring?"

"I have."

"I am happy for you, Shinji."

Shinji nodded back.

"When you awaken things will be different. You will be able to see things with greater clarity; things that you may have been unable to understand about yourself will become more clear. You will be able to understand the decision you have chosen, and the meaning behind the things that have changed your life," Koaru said.

"Thank you Koaru. Thank you for everything."

"You do not need to thank me Shinji. If anything I should thank you. You gave me meaning after all."

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Shinji returned to the beach in his mind. The white sand around him, the LCL sea beyond, the girl beside him. In fact he was watching the event take place from another viewpoint, watching it all again. He could see Rei in her school uniform standing on top of the water next to him, he made no effort to speak to her and she made none to him. He just watched. The Shinji on the beach had not woken up yet, though the Shinji watching knew what would soon take place. While he was waiting he began to see other things, the things that had driven him back here; the things that had pushed him to ask "why". To understand. His entire life was passing before his eyes. All that he had ever loved and all that he had lost, all that he had felt, was sprawled out in front of him. It all came flashing instantaneously past his eyes. He could see the moment he decided that Asuka was the only one that could help him, the only one who could save him; the incident at the hospital, then, waiting under the stairs with the JSSDF ready to kill him. His refusal to pilot unit 01, the thing that might have saved Asuka, even though he had decided that only she could save him.

Then he was in his eva in the sky. The pain had become so intense. Then Koaru had appeared. Soon he had lost touch with reality and journeyed through his own mind, searching for his truth. Then he was in the kitchen with Asuka. Begging her to help him, begging her to save him. And then it came. The shove, the coffee pot, the words, the final rejection. And with those words the change had come. The last ounce of Shinji Ikari's psyche had hit the wall; the last piece of his heart had hit the floor.

And then with that it happened. His mind had simply let go. The words of Asuka's final rejection at last pushing his conciousness over the edge. His mind no longer ran, it no longer begged for help. It asserted itself, in its rage, stood up for itself. And in the twilight of its sanity did the only thing it felt it could. Kill. If it was to be rejected by all then there was no point in others existing. And then Shinji's wish had been made. He was there floating in the sea of LCL. Rei was on top of him, looking at him calmly. This was the place where everyone existed and no one existed. Yet now it was no longer his wish. Shinji now saw that at its very essence, the human instrumentality project was simply an elaborate form of running from the problems of the world. It was completely symbolic of humanity giving up; of humanity running away. Instead of people trying to continue to learn about each other (a task that Kaji had told him, and that he knew was impossible to ever truly do), they had accepted instrumentality and given up by becoming both one and nothing.

However at this point Shinji's mind had changed. It no longer ran. It knew now that running was pointless, for in the end the problem was not solved. Running was no longer his answer. His mind would rather feel the pain of life and solve the problem (even if the solution meant the death of all), then hide from the problem with the idea of the pain forever looming behind it. Rei knew now that his wish had changed, and soon he was lying against her on the ground with Kaoru. They had told him that he could return to the world and end instrumentality. They had said that as long as everyone could find truth in their hearts they would be able to return.

Shinji again saw himself lying next to Asuka on the beach. It was at this moment that the irony hit him. Everyone could return if they could find truth in their hearts. Yet in the whole world only he and Asuka had returned. Shinji could now see through the eyes of his double on the beach. He was now feeling what he had felt then. His mind grabbed onto the first thing that he now knew. "You did it," it said. "You did not run away and you have returned." Shinji knew that he did not want to run away any more. Asuka had rejected him, and she was the only one left, it was now pointless for her to live. He would not run from her either.

Shinji stood and rolled on top of Asuka. He clasped his hands to her throat and squeezed. This would make him the only person on the planet.

Then he could see his mother talking to commander Fuyutski. He was a child in her arms. She said that as long as one person existed then eva would be a testament to the fact that humans existed. Only one person was needed. Why had two then returned? It didn't matter. She would be dead in moments.

Then her touch came. Caressing the side of his face. That look of knowing in her eyes. His rage was now gone. Was this the truth? The one real truth? Was this the truth that had brought her back? If so, was it not also the truth that had allowed him to return? He could see the truth plainly now: True love conquers all. It envelops the mind and blocks all else out. In that one instant, that one touch had driven from him all of the doubt and all of pain. It had stopped his urge to kill, prevented his insanity. Nothing else mattered.

So that was it. Was this God trying to show him the way? He understood now. It did not matter if there were millions of people trying to understand each other, or just two people. Was this why only he and Asuka had returned? As long as there are two people left to understand each other, then the chance of happiness, of love, of understanding still existed. It didn't matter that people can never truly understand each other; all that mattered was that people tried to understand each other. As long as the attempt is made the truth could be realized. And in the end, understanding was impossible, because understanding was not the truth. The truth was love. And love could only be reached through the attempt to understand, the want to understand. When those attempts were realized it did not matter that understanding was not achieved, because it resulted in love, the opposite of understanding. Love had no boundaries, no reason, no logic, no purpose other than to be. Just like God. And instead of trying to realize this truth, man had given up. Man had tried to make itself a God through instrumentality, thus not having to experience the pain that the attempt at love might bring. But man was not God. And therefore could not create a new purpose nor a new truth. That was why Instrumentality was just an elaborate way to run; And Shinji's mind no longer ran.

"I understand now. Thank you."

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Revolution (rev'o-loo'shen) n.2 An abrupt overthrow or radical change in a system or state of affairs. –Websters New Riverside Dictionary

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Shinji Ikari awoke on the couch where he had fallen asleep. Asuka was still there sleeping quietly, her head still resting on his chest. Shinji could see Misato groggily leaving her room and walking to the bathroom. After several minutes Misato re-emerged from the bathroom wearing a towel and now freshly showered. Asuka stirred, and opened her eyes. She yawned and attempted to squeeze herself in the crack between Shinji and the back of the couch for warmth. That is, until Misato made her presence known.

"Well hello their," she said with a smile.

Asuka immediately sat up straight looking flustered and embarrassed.

"So did you two sleep well?"

Asuka's face was starting to get very red as she searched for something to say. Misato opened her mouth to crack a joke at the two young pilots, but stopped when Shinji hugged her tightly.

"Shinji…"Misato did not understand. He had never hugged her before, and when she had hugged him he had always become extremely embarrassed. Shinji reached his hand behind her head and laid it upon his shoulder. He held her there for several moments, with both females in the room very confused (and one slightly jealous).

"I'm sorry about Kaji. I know what he meant to you," Shinji whispered into her ear.

And with that he broke off the hug and headed to the door, leaving Misato in complete shock. He was still in his clothes from the day before, and decided that he did not need to change. Shinji opened the door of the apartment and soon after disappeared from sight.

Back at the couch, Misato's face had grown pale, her eyes staring blankly. Then Misato Katsuragi began to cry.

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"And what of Robinson? I understand he took a fall off of a motorcycle."

The commander was in his office speaking to Dr. Sagura.

"Yes he did. Nothing is broken, and there is no serious damage. The skin on his back suffered some minor lacerations, but he was wearing a heavy leather cloak at the time along with some Kevlar armor, so the damage was minimal. He will receive some scarring at worst," The doctor concluded.

"Good. I'm glad to hear that nothing serious has occurred. Can you give me a time frame for his recoverey."

"It should only be 3 or so day's maximum in the hospital. But he should probably take it easy until the skin completely heals."

Fuyutski nodded.

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Damon Robinson again found himself lying in a hospital bed, though this time Rei was next to him of her own accord.

They had been talking for about an hour now. He loved to hear her talk about life. She was like a child talking about the first time that she had done something. Like everything was still new and exciting. She would tell him how she felt about something, and then he would tell her his experience about it. They were currently finishing up on the topic of ice cream. Damon laughed. He hardly cared what they talked about as long as they were talking.

Rei finished what she had been saying and smiled at the boy in front of her.

"You know you really should be more careful. You might not be so lucky next time," she said to him in almost motherly tone.

"I suppose. The important thing is that Shinji killed the Wraith."

"Are you so sure? I would have been just as sad if you had been killed as I would have been if everyone had died."

Damon shook his head.

" No, it's better for me to die and save lives, then for many to die and for me to live."

"Really? I would think that it is equally bad if anyone dies. No one deserves death, and no ones life can be said to be more important than someone elses."

"I don't know Rei…"

"Well. If you had the option to cure all of the worlds disease and save the lives of all of the sick people, but in order to do it you had to kill one innocent child, would you do it? What if you had to kill yourself instead?"

"I…Don't…I wouldn't be able to kill the child," Damon said.

"What about yourself?"

Damon looked at the ground.

"Damon, you shouldn't be so ready to throw your life away. You never know who that could hurt, or the implications of what it might do."

Rei could see that her words had hit home. She glanced at her watch. In a little bit Damon would leave to get his bandages removed, and if need be, reapplied. She remembered when this predicament had been switched around when she was to go to her surgery.

"Damon?"

The boy looked back up from the ground and into her eyes. She walked over to him and leaned down closely to his face.

"Don't be sad. I'm not mad at you. I just don't want to lose you."

He made a half hearted nod. Then Rei placed her hands on the side of his face and began to kiss him. Damon had not expected a kiss. Especially a kiss like the one she was now giving him. He leaned forward as best he could with his injuries, trying to return the feeling with the intensity that it was being given to him. Then after several moments she pulled away from his lips, though she still kept her face close to his. Damon opened his eyes and could see that Rei was smiling widely. He smiled back, and opened his mouth to say something, but she placed a finger to his lips.

"That was for good luck," she said, remembering what he had told her on the day they had met. And with that she waved good bye and exited the room.

Damon lay back down onto his bed in disbelief, still grinning. He reached over to his bed side table and grabbed a toothpick which he put into his mouth and began to chew.

"Wow."

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It was still raining when Shinji reached the front entrance to the Fujahara building. It the held the offices of one of the biggest law firms in Tokyo 3, along with several other businesses. It took him only moments to scale the immense building with his AT field and he was soon at the top.

As he had expected the Wraith was already there, his long white hair flowing in the wind and rain.

"You're right on time," The Wraith said to him.

"I know."

The Wraith nodded.

"I brought them as you wished."

He motioned upward at the sky, and Shinji followed with his gaze. He could see Kensuke and Hikari floating side by side, attached to two glowing crosses.

"As promised they will return if you defeat me."

Shinji nodded.

The Wraith reached back into his cloak and produced a sword.

"Shall we?"

Again Shinji nodded, this time summoning his blade from his right hand.

"The humans are mine, Wraith. I will kill all of you if that is what it will take to lead them into the future," Shinji said, his voice and tone unwavering.

The Wraith smiled back at him.

"I have a name you know."

"Oh?"

"You can call me Shiro," The Wraith said, with satisfaction in his tone.

"Shiro?" Shinji repeated, "Shiro means fourth son does it not?"

Shiro nodded in return.

"I suppose that's fitting considering you're the fourth Wraith," Shinji concluded with a biting edge in his voice.

Lighting flashed in the background and the rain began to intensify.

Shiro began to remove his shirt, revealing a red jewel on his chest, as Shinji did the same.

"I have to say I've always wondered Ikari. I've always wondered why you stopped third impact."

"I refused to run anymore," Shinji said back without hesitation.

Shiro laughed.

"Is that what you think this is about? Running? I, we, what was it you called us, the Wraiths? Yes that was it. We are here to save the humans from themselves. You of all people must know that humans are far too corrupt and selfish to ever bring about an understanding with each other. And because of this they will only continue to torment themselves and the ones around them until they bring about the end of their own accord. Why make them suffer like this? They might as well receive peace now and spare themselves the pain," Shiro finished, now standing with his sword at the ready.

"You're wrong," Shinji said, "Your simply running away. And no matter how far you run the problem will still be there, still unresolved."

"Fine Ikari, think whatever you want. It makes no difference if you're dead. But let me ask you one more thing: If we are the part of the human being that wishes to run as you say, then what does that make you?," Shiro said with malice glinting in his eyes.

Shinji entered his battle stance.

"That makes me the part that is willing to fight."