Reign of the Tabri
Warning: This is if Shinji choose to die. Remember, this is only one possibility.
Chapter 23: In the Left Hand Lay…
"…the left hand."
He felt nothing.
Logani made it clean, through the center. Shinji didn't even realize that it was coming.
Logani drank deeply from the souls that tried to flee Shinji's body. They had no warning; he simply captured them using his AT-field.
If they could get to no body they were weak.
But if they did…
Logani fled the scene. No one would be happy to find what had befallen here. There would be crying. There would be anger. There would be no finding of the killer.
Only speculation.
Logani used all of his power to get back to Unit 01 and its carrier. He stopped and looked up into the sad mother's eyes. She starred back at him before ejecting the plug.
Logani climbed in and powered Unit 01 up. "I'm sorry I didn't think of it sooner," he whispered to the soul of Yui Ikari. Unit 01 did not react.
The carrier powered up and took off. 'Thank you Gendo,' he thought sullenly, 'for including orbital rockets.' Soon he was hovering high above the city, then out of it, then blasting off for the great emptiness.
Logani, and all the Angels souls, left Earth forever.
They found the body within the hour. Asuka collapsed onto her knees and let out a scream of pure despair. Her tears fled her eyes, as if afraid of the sadness that lurked behind them.
Touji sank down next to her, eyes lost starring into nothingness. Asuka turned and wept into his shoulder, Touji did not notice, nor care.
Rei stared at the vivisected body for a long time. When she did finally break her gaze she took off, as if following some trail only she could see.
"Who would do this?" Asuka sobbed into Touji's shoulder.
"I don't know," whispered Touji, "But whoever it is, Rei will find them. And if she doesn't, I will. I swear it."
Asuka looked at him for a moment, and then turned back to her crying.
The authorities arrived shortly later. They were greeted by Touji shouting at them to put a cover over Shinji.
Or what was left of him.
She followed the trail to where it stopped, back at were Unit 01 had been. In the distance she could see a blast of fire, and feel something escaping Gaia's embrace.
"Logani," she spat, "Why?"
It was that question that would haunt Rei for the rest of her life.
She would search the Tabri enclaves in North America, the continent of Antarctica and all the NERV locations for why Logani had killed Shinji Ikari.
It would continue to haunt her until beyond her death.
She never completely got over it. After it became obvious that no one was going to pay for what had happened to Shinji she returned to Germany.
Once there she moved back in with her father and step-mother for a few months. After that… she left them in search of something else.
She wanted to find someone like him; someone who would care about her but needed her as well. Someone weak, but someone that she knew could call up inner strength when he needed it.
Someone who she could shape to take the place of Shinji Ikari.
But whenever she found someone like him she would become too caught up in remembering Shinji. She could not love someone unlike him, but she could not bear to be near anyone who acted like him.
It hurt her.
Not only had he stole her heart, he'd kept it with him when he left this world. She could therefore give it to no other.
Her life was long and pointlessly drawn out. Without Shinji she forgot all of her ideals, her beliefs. She never fought in a giant, uniting war. She never fought for anything again.
When Shinji died she'd wanted to lie down next to him and die there. But she'd forced herself to get back up.
When she really did lie down to die she wished that she had stayed next to Shinji then.
He had promises to keep.
He'd promised to bring back Hikari, somehow. He'd promised to find Shinji's killer, somehow.
He went to the University of Tokyo-3 and graduated with distinction. He went on to receive his master's degree in physics and logic. There really was a reason he was picked as the Third Child.
Hikari would've been proud.
Hikari, and Shinji, would not have been proud of what he did next.
He moved into a small apartment and, coordinating with Rei, began research on soul theory. He got a small payroll from the government, the rest came from illegal drug trafficking.
He needed lots of money for research, and bills didn't pay themselves. One day he just started doing it to cover his costs.
His soul theory got him little. A few new advances, just enough to stay on the payroll of the government.
Neighbors and friends would always comment on how he was wasting his life, trying to bring back two dead friends. He continued anyway, hoping to prove them wrong.
He nearly became Frankenstein.
The cops caught him drug smuggling only a few days before what he swore was going to be the greatest find in soul theory history.
The government let him practice his play art in prison. New guards and systems kept him from breaking free with his AT-field.
When Rei was questioned she would deny having communicated with him for years.
When he died it was as a beggar, having been freed from jail without any property or means to survive. It was of no consequence, he would be with Hikari soon…
He traveled in Unit 01 for an eternity. His mind was closed off from all thoughts. Thinking too long, in an environment like Unit 01's plug, would lead to insanity.
Or worse, a decision to return to Earth.
He never died, but never truly lived again.
Was that the price the heroes of NERV had to pay for their victory? Was this their prize?
Logani tried not to think about it.
Insanity would come for him eventually. He could only hope he was ready for when he truly lost his grip.
It came off almost as depressing as I wanted it to be. Next chapter is already up, if you want the happy ending.