Disclaimer : I do not own Evangelion, although like many others I wish I did. I own none of the characters. This is a normal Eva fic, not sure about Eva battles because I am trying to focus on Shinji's torment and hopeful revenge, hehe.

Oh update on this stories future – Thinking about making it a three series deal, each series containing 10 episodes. Each will be under a new heading and have three major arcs. This is the last in the 'Developing Dark – Arc'.

Read and Review, I need criticism and I need to know people are reading this garbage. Anyhoo, on with the show!

Right then

'Thought'

"Speech"

"(Actions in speech)"

-

"So what exactly do we do now?"

"Why are you asking me? You are operations director!"

"Well I need to know if it is safe to allow Shinji to pilot the Eva."

"Safe? He'll be in the safest place possible with almost 100 control, it's when he's outside I'm worried!"

Ritsuko and Misato were still kneeling on the floor, staring scarily at the sheets they had in front of them. Maya had stood several minutes earlier and removed Shinji from the tank, letting him leave and get changed. When she returned her two superiors were still trying to figure out what to do.

"We can't have unit 01, trampling around Tokyo 3 or anywhere else without Shinji inside! Can you imagine the devastation that he could create from sitting in his room?"

"Shinji would never destroy NERV!"

"Look Shinji is a different person now, and the old one threatened to do it enough times!"

"I think even in his current condition Shinji would never endanger this facility. Anyway there is no telling what his range is to the Eva, maybe he has to be inside the plug in order to have an effective link?"

"Maya?"

The young lieutenant looked at her instruments and then up at the two girls, checking on their condition she then turned to answer her superior's question. She sighed heavily and allowed her head to drop when she gave the answer.

"We are still showing over 35 synchronisation with the Eva, locators say that Shinji is in the changing rooms."

"That is over a kilometre from the Eva itself and at least 200 metres from the nearest connecting circuit."

"That is a pretty big range, he could probably get the Eva to move from home with that kind of range."

"That is what I have been saying!"

This was certainly a strange situation, Ritsuko could hardly blame her college friend for taking it so lightly but it did pose a problem for NERV. If a pilot could steal an evangelion without even having to get to the cages then it could only end in disaster. Ritsuko pondered on the finer points of the problem before she sat back.

"Maya, erase all data from the computers in regard to this particular occurrence."

"Ma'am?"

"Ritsuko?"

The woman walked over to one of the consoles and bean typing away frantically, Misato walked over and lightly tapped her shoulder.

"Misato, if we leave this on record it will only be a matter of time before someone finds out, then uses someone against Shinji and forces him to act. For the moment I am erasing all data and telling the Magi to ignore signals from the Eva while the plug isn't connected. They don't usually do so anyway, so it won't seem out of place."

"What about Shinji?"

"Well… I guess we just don't tell him, if we do he may experiment, we can tell him about his increased synchronisation but not this."

"I agree, it'll be better if he doesn't know."

"I don't know what?"

Shinji was stood in the door way, he was relieved that he wasn't forced to endure the full two hour torment of the test, so he appeared quite cheerful to the others. They stood straight, Ritsuko waiting until everything was deleted before turning around; it took a moment for her to spot the pile of papers on the floor.

"I am guessing you were talking about me?"

"Yes… well… we weren't going to tell you…"

"How well you did today."

Misato turned to Ritsuko without the knowledge of the conversation the Doctor and Pilot had shared earlier in the day. Shinji's features seemed to darken substantially, he wasn't particularly happy with that result.

"Unfortunately it seems that you have improved incredibly, you almost achieved perfect synchronisation today."

"Perfect?"

"Yes, you maintained 90 synchronisation almost effortlessly, we weren't going to tell you because you might feel obligated to stay… and also Asuka."

"I won't tell Asuka, and I would appreciate it if you didn't either, I will deal with Asuka, and maybe I'll help you in the mean time."

"Help us?"

"Dr. Akagi, I believe the two hours are up."

"Good guess, Rei, you two can exit the tubes, but can you come over here as usual when you are changed."

"Yes Ma'am."

"I suppose."

-

Asuka leant against the wall of the office, Rei stood silently in the centre while Shinji leant opposite Asuka, he looked like he was deep in thought. In truth he was.

'So I'm the best pilot, still. I can't really get out of this, I know that the angels are dead; I know that we are still the main defence for Japan, that is why I have to stick with it. I promised myself, I would stick with the Evas until I was either dead or not needed, then I will focus on living my life.'

Shinji looked up from his internal struggle, remembering the battles fought, a small smile appearing on his face when he remembered the incident in the volcano, the sound of Asuka's voice when Unit 01 grabbed the coolant cords.

'Idiot.'

'I didn't mind being called that then. In fact it was almost pleasant, maybe almost caring.'

Shinji looked up and found Asuka staring at him, his eyes focused on her for less than a second before her head suddenly shifted and she stared towards the front of the room. As the last of the printouts was coming out Ritsuko paced backwards and forwards, knowing full well that Shinji's readings were fakes. She knew she had to make the briefing last the shortest time possible, that way Shinji could get away from the Evangelion and she could stop feeling paranoid that he was going to steal it. So she stepped out before the three pilots and wiped the sweat from her forehead with a handkerchief.

"You all did very well today."

"Was there any doubt?"

"Well Asuka your most recent record left a lot to doubt but you now seem to be going strong again. Even a drop to zero synchronisation to recover is quite impressive, well done."

Asuka wanted to accept her praise in her typical, obnoxious fashion, but it still hurt her to think about the failing. She wasn't sure when she stopped crying, when she got over the problems that held her back but for the time being it didn't matter, Asuka the Greatest Pilot on Earth, was back.

"Rei did well, you even improved several points, if you keep it up you might be able to beat Asuka."

"Humph!"

Ritsuko looked up at Shinji, it was bad enough that he was shaking his head to her; he only knew half of the truth. If Ritsuko said now that Shinji was the best by a long shot and was probably still linked to the Eva at this moment, Shinji would have an aneurysm and Asuka would snap his neck.

"Shinji has improved slightly but is still lower than Asuka, but only by a little."

The smile on Asuka's face was indescribable, Shinji wasn't sure if he found it pleasant or sickening, for her to be so smug, it didn't sit well.

"It looks like us girls will be doing all the protecting from now on, not the invisible Shinji."

Twitch.

'If only she knew the truth, she's be eating those words.'

Shinji hadn't noticed that his hair was going darker and darker with each thought to that effect; he looked over to Rei who was whispering to him.

"What is the matter?"

"Huh?"

Rei pointed to her head, and Shinji noticed a black bang of hair float above his eyes, knowing full well that his hair was brown when he walked into the room he felt annoyed at himself for being so obvious.

'It's going to be impossible to keep any feelings hidden if my body keeps putting on shows for everyone to see. It is bad enough that my eyes change but my hair seems to change at the smallest upset. Wish I just knew why, then maybe I could do something about it.'

"It's nothing really, just a little under the weather."

"Right…"

Rei faced towards the front once more, attempting to dwell on the words that Shinji had spoken, and while her face remained emotionless and still, inside she had her hand to her lip and was looking up for an answer.

'Under the weather, what does that imply?'

Ritsuko had finished going over the specifics of Asuka's greatness, pushing down her own urge to strangle the child. She composed herself and then pointed towards the door.

"Now can you all go down the hall to room 376B, Major Katsuragi should be waiting for you, she will be briefing you on tomorrow's simulation. Well done everyone, see you tomorrow."

"Bye."

The three children left in almost silence, Shinji walking beside Rei, while Asuka moved out in front, not wanting to be associated with the other two pilots. Rei noticed Shinji's hair go darker as they walked, he was getting annoyed at Asuka's holier-than-thou attitude. Rei also made a decision then and there to stop asking Shinji questions based solely on the fact that his hair changed colour, if it changed it was normally quite easy to figure out why. They reached the room after a few seconds and walked inside, Misato was stood with a man in military uniform. Misato didn't seem to like the man, it wasn't hard to see that, Shinji mused that if Misato was like him, she would have jet black hair and red eyes by now. The three pilots took seats at the table, Asuka and Rei either side and Shinji in the middle to try and bridge the gap. The man in question was incredibly tall, well built from what they assumed was years of military training, he stood with every level of medal on his uniform and several large stripes on his lapels. He looked quite stern, he had a stick tucked under his arm that Shinji recognised from old boot camp based films, the fact that he had it worried Shinji a little.

"Okay pilots, this is Colonel Naita, he is here to brief you on the latest weapons that the United Federation of East Asian, has in their arsenal."

"Yes, thank you, Major Katsuragi…"

"Erm. Misato I thought we were allies with the United Federation of East Asia?"

"NO INTERUPTIONS!"

Twitch. Misato watched as even Asuka was sent back by the balling voice of the Colonel; Rei seemed to be put off while Shinji's head just moved down a notch. She left the room while the Colonel gave the report, checking to make sure the preparations were complete on Ritsuko's end.

"As I was saying, you will be briefed on the pros and cons of facing the advanced mobile weaponry that the UFEA have been creating over the last couple of years. You will be trained to face…"

"What are we doing here? We are supposed to fight angels…"

"SILENCE, THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING!"

Twitch, twitch.

"You are being drafted into the military as special officers, so you little kids listen hard and listen good! You are going to be in charge of defending the capital from invading forces from all sides. You will be put through a gruelling military training exercise and…"

"I didn't sign up for this, where is Misato?"

"I SAID SHUT UP!!"

Shinji watched the man's right arm reach across for the stick, Shinji could have predicted the future but applied psychology was so much easier. It was easy to see that this man was a drill sergeant at heart and he had no problem with getting is point across physically. Normally Shinji wouldn't have had a problem with this, but not against a girl, and certainly not against one of his girls. Shinji's eyes were focused on the man's hand before he had even grabbed the stick, the boy could see Asuka's eyes close and her body move backwards. Rei had also spotted the incident but was unsure of how to act, she knew she wanted to launch herself at the man but at the same time, she had to follow orders. Right now was not the time for pointless arguments, but it was far too late for Rei to act, even with her exceptional physical ability she could not get to the man in time to stop him. The man brought his arm up and down swiftly, he had every intention of putting a long red bruise or even cut across the disobedient girl's face.

'I won't allow it.'

SNAP. There was the sound of the stick hitting flesh but not the flesh it had intended, Rei had closed her eyes as Asuka had, neither wanting to see what happened, but the Colonel had his eyes open. He watched clearly as the depressed boy in the middle's hand shot out and grabbed the stick from midair and held it in place so tightly that the Colonel himself snapped the stick trying to force it downwards. He held half of his whipping stick in his hand, looking at the frayed edges, then at the other end that was still held tightly by the boy in question. Asuka opened her eyes to find a hand floating above her head, with the stick visible out of both ends, the flesh was red and the veins were popping out at the wrist. When she followed the arm along to Shinji she wasn't sure what to think.

'What is he doing? Is he scared of what will happen to him? Is that why his head is down? What is going on with his hair?'

Rei had also noticed that Shinji's hair had now gone such a deep shade of black that it almost seemed to be sucking the light into it from all around the room. When the Colonel stepped back he was physically shaking.

"You! What do you think you are doing!? You are supposed to sit there like the depressed child in the report!?"

Shinji's head twitched again and Asuka heard the straining sound of wood, looking down she saw Shinji crush the stick in half again then releasing the now quarters of the original stick on the floor. She couldn't see the boys face and part of her didn't want to. Shinji continued to move towards the Colonel until he was less than a metre away. The man went to bring his arm towards his holster but Shinji had already seen it.

"Don't even think about it Mr. Naita, firing a gun at an Eva pilot in the middle of NERV would be a very bad idea."

"Stay back!"

"Okay, just as soon as you apologise to Ms. Soryu."

"Apologise!?"

"Yes, you were very rude and I hate to think what sort of state a man of your heightened military rank would come out as if you hit a 15 year old girl."

"I would never apologise to such an ill-mannered brat, she deserves to be beaten from here to Sunday for her behaviour."

"You're right, she should."

Asuka got incredibly cross at Shinji at that moment, backbone or not he was supposed to be defending her.

'Stupid Shinji, you are supposed to be defending me… defending me…'

Shinji was now right in the man's face, he was so close he could feel the man's shallowed breathing on his hair. The Colonel was about ready to bring his gun out and shoot the boy in the chest, then call it self-defence, but Shinji's head began to roll upwards. Up until now it was scarier that Shinji hadn't even looked him in the face yet, he hated enemies who hid behind masks. But he was far more scared when he saw Shinji's face, the red eyes. He had seen the report, he was ready for the girl with red eyes and the boy with blue, but these blood red eyes, they were so still and calm there was no hesitation in them. This was not Shinji Ikari, he had long since left the room, this was someone entirely different, and in fact when the Colonel refused to apologise a hand lifted him in the air by his collar. Asuka and Rei stood in shock as Shinji lifted this 16 something stone ( about 110kilos / 220 lbs) up into the air by his collar, using only his left hand. No one had even noticed that Shinji had removed his cast, he was supposed to keep it on for two weeks. But he had already removed it, Ritsuko had noticed this and wondered if this was why he was crying this morning, he had smacked his right hand on the table so hard it caused pain. But Shinji was smart enough not to use his hand on this guy, he left it by his side although it was still held in a tight fist. The Colonel was practically pissing his pants, he was holding himself on Shinji's arm, wondering how a 15-year-old boy could be holding him up like this.

"Shinji… Ikari… put me down or… I will have… you up on charges…"

"I'm sorry Shinji Ikari is not receiving any calls right now, but you can talk to Dark if you want."

"Dark…ack!"

"Now maybe you will apologise to the nice Ms. Soryu before you find out what my other limbs can do?"

"Sorry…"

"She can't hear you."

I'm sorry, Ms. Soryu…"

"Very good, monkey can sit down."

Dark threw the Colonel so hard against the wall they heard the board hanging from it snap, Asuka and Rei weren't about to hang around in the room alone, so they followed Dark out. They watch him walk down the hall, but they didn't follow him further, it was one thing to be left alone with the psycho-Colonel, but it was worse to be stuck with the psycho-Shinji. They watched him get all the way down the hall, unwavering, his shoulders broad and his strides incredibly defined. But he reached the end of the hall when he turned and punched the solid metal as hard as he could with the other hand. When he was done they could just see that his eyes were blue again, his hair went to a lighter black, edging towards dark brown when he disappeared around the corner.

-

"Misato, why couldn't you just pick me up from the physical exam? You were in NERV for the sync-test, I got half way back before you came for me!"

Asuka walked into the apartment looking quite tired, week or not, she was still fresh from the hospital, so she wasn't in complete working order yet, although she wouldn't admit to that being the problem. She walked in and immediately got the vibe that something was different, but it took a few moments for her to realise what it was.

"Misato, has Shinji finally taken that stupid sign off his door?"

"No it's still on his door."

Asuka looked at her quizzically, then she began to step towards the door, looking closely she couldn't see it and when she went to check the other side she slid the door open. The other side was empty, no bed sheets, no clothes, bedside lamp, books or cello. Shinji was gone.

"Has he finally run away?"

"No, he wished to be moved to another block, with his recent erratic behaviour he was worried about hurting people."

"Yeah he was pretty scary today, I never thought he would scare me like that."

"What was that Asuka? Were you scared…?"

"NO! He just caught me off guard, is all."

Misato continued to taunt Asuka while Shinji unpacked his things, there seemed to be a strip of land that was marginally untouched by the attacks, it was about a five minute walk from Ayanami's and about fifteen to Misato's. He looked around and it was certainly an Ayanami class building, a thought which he chuckled to.

'Ayanami class building, decrepit, dank and falling apart.'

He placed his cello on a stand in the corner, he cleared away the floor and put up some bright curtains to make the room seem nicer. He cleaned the floor and found underneath the grey that the carpet was red, he scrubbed almost all through the night cleaning the room and when he was finished he wasn't half surprised by himself. He had turned Ayanami's room (minus the beaker of water and bandages) into a place nicer than Misato's. He walked over to the bed and lay down, he felt the sheets crumple in towards him as the weak springs in the bed began to lower him half way to the ground. He felt he blanket collapse in on him and he just looked at the ceiling, he didn't even think 'unfamiliar ceiling' he just thought…

'Typical.'

He had set his alarm and he knew he would only get about three hours sleep, he had just caught the time as he slid into the bed. He was very quickly in a deep sleep, he didn't dream about anything in particular, he usual nightmares had been absent of late, another plus of having an outlet. As he slept the clock ticked ever so closer to 8am, that fateful moment when the room would be filled with the sound of a ringing bell. As the sun rose over the hills and filled the curtains with light, the arm of the clock reached the number 8.

DDDDRRRRRRIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!

Shinji immediately tried to break free of his prison, still too disorientated to realise where he was he pushed so hard that the springs broke completely. Shinji was left lying underneath the bed frame, he looked up and saw the four legs and the frame, then looking either side he saw the mattress and the old springs lying beside it. His hair turned from brown to a dark brown as he got up and banged his head, he was still far too tired to start smashing things, so he made his way to the bathroom, he brushed his teeth and was about to comb his hair when he stared at it.

"If I comb you, do you promise to stick?"

Almost as if answering him a piece of hair dropped into his face, he sighed and began combing it off his face. Once he had each lock tucked firmly behind his ears, he wandered into his apartment and got out a set of clothes that reflected his new lease on life, a t-shirt and some jeans, not the usual school uniform. He walked out of the door ready for the day's simulation, one he was not looking forward to, he opened his door and walked outside. He got down the stairs and out of the building, he got past the shelter of the wall before a large gust of wind hit him. At first he wasn't bothered, until he felt the familiar brushing sensation on his forehead. He checked the first window he saw, and true enough the wind had blown his hair into its now usual state of disarray.

"Everything has a mind of its own now!"

"Well I don't think the window has a mind of its own."

"Rei!?"

Shinji jumped out of his skin once more, his chair quickly jumping into light brown mode, it seemed that this girl calmed the feelings of turmoil in Shinji's heart. She turned and saw that the girl was also wearing different attire from usual, she was wearing a sort of skirt and a coat on top, it was certainly different for the girl. Shinji was mesmerised for a moment before he snapped out of his trance before another side of Dark had a chance to come out.

"Ayanami, I was just on my way to meet you!"

"How convenient, I was informed of you change in domicile and was going to make sure you reached today's test."

"Thanks, I thought I would surprise you."

"Well I am marginally surprised, but let us go, we do not wish to be late, I don't think Major Katsuragi will react so well to being lifted by the collar."

"Right."

Shinji blushed when Rei mentioned Dark's escapades, so far no one had really talked about it, Misato congratulated Shinji on showing the Colonel where to shove it, right before he moved, but otherwise people were silent. After a few minutes walking Rei turned to Shinji and forced him to stop walking.

"What is it Ayanami?"

"Pilot Ikari… Shinji… who is Dark?"

Shinji went silent, he felt the wind blow through his hair, he looked across at Ayanami and after her initial humour, she seemed truly scared by the prospect of this shady character lurking in Shinji's subconscious.

"I guess… he is an outlet."

"An outlet?"

"For all my emotions, I have hidden my problems and feelings for so long that I couldn't really figure out how to use them again. Once I came to terms with them some became a little too strong, Dark is the product."

"Is he someone else?"

"No, he's still me, it is still my personality, I am still in control but I have other emotions guiding me."

"What about your hair and eyes?"

"I'm not sure, apparently my hair has been getting darker since the issue with Kawouru, I think it has become a sort of gauge for my emotions, the darker it is the more negative I feel. I'm still not sure how it happened, whether my DNA got messed up inside the Eva or what but I think I may be a sort of end product."

"End product?"

"Of instrumentality. To better understand the feelings of others, to have your emotions on your sleeve as it were, you can easily understand how I feel because it has been made visible. As for the eyes, I think they are the same thing but the eyes are the windows to the soul, so that is why they reflect specific emotions more."

"I think I understand…"

"Good because I confused myself half way through that!"

At this point Rei looked at his smiling face and felt the undesirable urge to laugh, and she did so, Shinji watched as her lips curled up at the ends and her mouth opened letting out the daintiest laugh he had ever heard. It was not like Asuka's cackle, it was like a snow princess laughing over tea and biscuits, for an instant that was the image he got of her. After a few moments of Shinji staring at her, mouth ajar, Rei shut her mouth and went red in the face.

"I'm sorry, that was inappropriate of me."

"No Rei, that was perfect."

The two teenagers blushed heavily and then silently continued on their journey, they reached the great gates of NERV together, slashing their cards, they entered the complex. Several guards were amazed when they saw the two, they appeared almost like boyfriend and girlfriend, Shinji especially as he spent the entire journey trying to overcome the fear of holding Rei's hand. At one point in the journey his eyes had actually turned light pink, he was so afraid, he had felt his eyes change, as he did with each emotion. He checked a window to see the pink, and sighed heavily trying to think of something else. When they finally made it to the sync-test area they could only sit around for about ten minutes before they knew Asuka would arrive, so Rei sat down to remove her coat. Shinji walked over to the can dispenser.

'Okay, I'll buy her a can, that doesn't seem too hard.'

Shinji put in enough money for two cans, then got Rei's orange juice and his own lemonade, he handed the girl her drink as she rummaged through her coat looking for her purse. She looked up and Shinji and smiled in the same way she had before, the way that made Shinji melt. Shinji felt his eyes change as he stared at her, to what colour, he was unsure. Rei stared at his eyes for a moment before leaning back.

"Pilot Ikari… Shinji, were your eyes always so blue?"

Shinji looked at his reflection, and while they weren't as close to sky blue as Asuka's they were pretty close. He wasn't sure what this meant but he had already associated red with rage and pink with fear, he mused for a moment.

'So what is blue… is it love?'

-

Author note : How about that for a reason! I read Elijah's review (thanks, I'm quite honoured) I actually got quite worried about how to explain Shinji's physical attributes changing, but then the idea of instrumentality came in. So now Shinji is the vessel of instrumentality, he is he embodiment of emotions, he physically changes to show others how he feels. Although I said that this excludes episodes 25 and 26, I will be referring to them now on. How they fit in will all be part of the story…