Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion, support official release
Gendo's Office
"Man, was that job ever a pain in the ass?" A suave voice said. He is a man with brown hair wearing a ponytail,and has a constant chin stubble. He is wearing a blue shirt and a red tie along with black pants and shoes. "In the end, both Unit-05 and the Third Angel have been disposed of as expected and the cause has been labeled an accident by SEELE with the Bethany Base being put under indefinite suspension. As for SEELE's current activities-"
"We have already looked over your report. The progress on the Mark. 06's construction has been very helpful, Kaji." Gendo said, an armored briefcase lays on his desk. Fuyutsuki has his back turned overlooking the artificial greenery of the GeoFront.
"Good to know." The man, Kaji, gives Gendo a smug look. "Wanna look at the item you asked for? It wasn't easy sneaking it out of the base with an Angel around, that's why Unit-05 served as the perfect distraction. You must be pretty eager to see it." Mechanical noise can be heard as the case opens letting out a loud hiss as frozen air overtakes it. Inside the case is what resembles a miniature human nervous system with the neck attached to the stylized key-like device frozen in bakelite. "The metaphysical twining between God and the Soul."
"And it will open the door to human instrumentality." Gendo smirks. "Nebuchadnezzar's Key."
"Then if that's all, I got other business to attend to." Kaji leaves the office.
"...Chief Inspector Ryoji Kaji." Fuyutsuki began as he turned to look at the commander. "Are you sure he can be trusted?"
Meanwhile
Shinji and Adam are making their home on foot. Adam was busy grumbling about the redhead's attitude. "Who the hell does she think she is!? Acting all high and mighty just because she pilots an EVA. What a joke." Adam huffs.
'Asuka Shikinami Langley. It's like she's happy to pilot an EVA…' Shinji thought.
They arrive at the apartment but as soon as they open the door, they are greeted by dozens of sealed boxes that barely fit in the hallway. "What the hell!?"
"Ahhhhh!" Shinji yells as he sees his room full of random personal belongings. "Whose crap is this!?"
"That is not crap. Those are my belongings." A familiar voice states. The two turn to look and see Asuka wearing a nightgown and drinking milk.
"Oh, hell no!" Adam points at Asuka. "What the hell are you doing here!?"
Asuka finishes her milk. "God, you two are idiots." Her expression just drips with arrogance. "Isn't it obvious? You two have been replaced." She walks toward us. "Yeah. I'm guessing Misato wanted a more competent pilot as her roommate and not whatever the hell you wonder twins are supposed to be."
"You're joking…" Shinji mutters.
Adam arches an eyebrow. "Wonder twins?"
"Yeah because you two look almost identical like twins, what else would you be?" Asuka closes and opens the door constantly. "I'm surprised at how small Japanese rooms are. And there's no locks. How can you have doors but don't have any locks?"
As she keeps closing and opening the doors, they don't notice Misato is right behind them. "We don't see the need for them. We believe in consideration."
"GAH!" The trio yelp at the sudden appearance of their guardian. "M-M-M-Misato!?"
"When did you get here!?" Adam asks.
"I just got here. Also you three are so loud I could hear you outside." Misato said.
"Whatever. Now get your junk out of here so I can unpack." Asuka grumbles.
"No, no. No one's kicking Shinji out." Misato said.
"What!?" Asuka chimes from Shinji's back.
"Look, if the two of you are going to work together then you need to learn how to communicate." Misato explains. "You two are fellow pilots now, so you're going to live here together and learn to act like it."
Shinji and Asuka look at one another before Asuka gives Shinji a huff and looks back while all Shinji can is give a nervous chuckle.
"Um..." Everyone turns to Adam. "I don't wanna burst your bubble but where am I going to sleep? This place is just too cramped for the four of us." He points at Pen-Pen with a beer can. "Five if we include the penguin."
Pen-Pen tilts his head before going back to his beer.
"No need to worry." Misato smiles. "I have the perfect solution to that."
"This has got to be a joke." Adam thought as he stood in front of demolished apartment complexes caused by the fight with 6th Angel, duffle bag in hand. He looks down at the hand-drawn map in his hand. "Either she's a sick practical joke or she genuinely didn't know this place was destroyed."
"Adam?"
Adam turns to see Rei walking up to him in her school uniform. "Rei? What are you doing here?"
"I came to pick you up per Colonel Katsuragi's orders." Rei turns around and begins to walk. "Follow me." They walked together until we made it to her apartment. The apartment is exactly as it was when Adam first came here with Shinji: filthy, disorganized with signs of mold growing in places. "You can stay here for the time being."
"Thank you." Adam puts his bags on the floor as Rei walks to the kitchen. "Hey, Rei?"
"Yes?"
"When was the last time you cleaned this place?"
"... I do not know." Rei walks towards me with a cup in hand. "Here you go."
Adam takes the cup and sees that it is tea. "Thank you." He drinks the tea but quickly spits it out. "Argh! What the hell is this!?"
"Tea." Rei replies.
Adam gives her a look. "Rei, this isn't tea. It's just boiled water." He walks to the kitchen and checks the cabinets. "Do you have any tea bags?"
"...no." Rei said, sounding almost sad.
Adam checks all the cabinets in the kitchen only to find nothing. "This can't be right." He then opens the fridge and recoils as the stench of rotten food travels to his nose. "Oh my god, this stuff's all rotten." He closes the fridge and looks at Rei. "How do you live like this?"
"NERV provides me with the essentials for my needs." Rei states.
Adam walks up to her. "Well, NERV is clearly doing an awful job if they're letting you live in this dump." He then gets an idea. "Say, doesn't NERV pay you or something?"
"EVA pilots get a considerable compensation for their services along with other benefits. Why?" Rei asked.
"Rei, get your coat. We're going shopping." Adam exclaims as he puts his shoes on.
"But the temperature is not sufficient enough that would require the use of a coat." Rei explains.
"Just put your shoes on." Adam groans.
Supermarket
Rei is pulling a shopping cart as they walk through ailes. "Why are we here?"
"Simple Rei, we're here to buy cleaning supplies." Adam states as he puts a couple of bottles of liquid soap into the cart.
Rei tilts her head in confusion. "For what purpose?"
"Isn't it obvious? We are going to clean your apartment." Adam states. "No offense Rei but your apartment is unbearable. No one would want to live in a place that is filthy; it's unsanitary."
"I live there." Rei states.
"Yes and your apartment's in that state because you don't care about it. However, I can't stand living in a place like that so that's why we came here." Adam picks the last of the cleaning supplies and they head towards the register. Sometime later, they arrive at the apartment with bags full of cleaning supplies and put on their gloves, face masks, and eye wear.
Adam turns to Rei. "Ready?"
Rei nods.
Hours Later
After hours of pain-staking cleaning, their labor has been rewarded. The apartment is completely spotless, no signs of mold or trash anywhere. The fridge is empty as they got rid of all the rotten stuff inside and put it in a bag which lays outside the complex among many others.
Adam and Rei can be seen in bed, fast asleep and exhausted after the hell of a clean up they undertook.
*BEEP, BEEP*
Rei groans as she snoozes the alarm clock. She looks at Adam and moves him a little. "Adam, you must wake up."
"Nooooooo." Adam groans. "Let me sleep."
"No, it is time for school." Rei states.
"And? Let's just skip school for the day. I'm sore all over." Adam groans out.
"That is unacceptable. We must go to school."
Adam gives Rei a sour look. "You really are a model student. Fine, give me a second." He sluggishly rises from the bed and makes his way towards the shower.
Rei walks up to the door and opens it. She sees a tray of food wrapped in plastic and takes it inside, the loud noise of water running down can be heard as Rei puts the tray on the bed and starts taking off her clothes.
After a while, the shower stops running and Adam walks out. "Shower's youuuuuuuuuuuuurs." He slurs as he sees Rei standing in front of him butt naked causing him to blush.
"Thank you." Rei walks beside him and makes her way to the shower and immediately turns it on.
Adam stands there frozen still processing what she just witnessed. 'Does that girl have no shame!?' He goes to his bag and takes out his uniform and puts it on. As soon as he finishes, Rei comes out with nothing but a towel gently covering her breasts. She walks up to the cabinet and puts on her underwear then quickly moves to put on her uniform. The same uniform she wore when we were cleaning meaning that it likely stinks from sweat.
Rei takes the tray and removes the plastic wrapping. She takes a spoon of scrambled eggs and puts it in front of me. "Here."
"Um..." Adam asked.
"Is something wrong?" Rei asked.
"No, nothing. It's just…" Adam blushes in embarrassment. "I don't eat eggs."
"I see." Rei eats the eggs and then takes a spoonful of potatoes. "Here."
"I'm fine with potatoes, but…" Adam stops.
Rei looks at me perplexed. "What is it?"
'She doesn't understand that she's giving me an indirect kiss!' Adam thought and then his stomach made a light rumble. 'Looks like I have no other choice.' Adam leans in and eats the potatoes. 'They're bland; no flavor at all.'
"Do you like it?" Rei asked.
"It's fine for what it is. I'm not going to complain." Adam tells her. "But how about after school we go to the supermarket and buy groceries, eh? You probably want to try something homemade after eating this stuff for so long."
Rei's eyes widened a little. "That sounds… good."
Adam gives Rei a toothy smile.
Rei returns the smile with her own.
Class 2-A
After the drama from yesterday and the massive undertaking of a lifetime, Adam thought he could relax in school, maybe take a nap while the teacher goes over his infamous lectures about the Second Impact.
… but he was wrong.
"My name Asuka Shikinami Langley, remember it well!" Asuka announces to the entire class wearing the girl's school uniform.
Shinji blankly stares at the redhead while Adam simply slams his head on the desk. 'Me and my big mouth.'
After the excruciating lecture, break time finally arrives. Everyone in class is doing their own things: Shinji is talking to Kensuke and Toji while Asuka is kicking her latest victims who tried to ask her out in the face and quickly goes back to her game. Rei is simply staring blankly at the window, silently letting time run its course.
Adam walks up to her. "Hey, Rei." Rei turns her attention to her roommate. "I'm going to buy something for lunch. Wanna come with me?"
Rei stares at Adam. "I am not hungry."
Adam puts his hands on his sides. "Well, you can't just stare at the window all day. You gotta live a little." He grabs Rei by her hand. "C'mon!"
Shinji, Toji and Kensuke look on as Adam drags a confused Rei out of the classroom. "Where are those two going?"
"Don't know. You think they're dating?" Kensuke asked.
Toji lets out a laugh. "Them, dating!? The Captain, maybe but the Ice Queen? I severely doubt it."
Kensuke laughs a little. "You got a point there."
Asuka looks at the Three Stooges. "Idiots." She goes back to her game.
Later, Rei's Apartment
"We're being invited?" Adam said while putting the groceries in the fridge.
Rei nods. "Shinji wants us to go on a field trip held by Chief Inspector Ryoji Kaji."
"Ryoji Kaji." Adam says the name out loud as he closes the fridge. "Do you know anything about him?"
"From the NERV reports, he was stationed in the Bethany Base before an Angel broke through their defenses." Rei explains. "He was able to get away just before the Angel was defeated by Unit-05 though both the base and the EVA were lost in the subsequent explosion."
'So there were more Angels out there? Either NERV doesn't know this or they're hiding something.' Adam thought. "Anything else?"
"He has a past with both Colonel Katsuragi and Doctor Akagi." Rei states.
"I see." Adam takes a seat on the bed. "So what do you want to do? Go on this field trip of Kaji's?"
Rei ponders for a minute. "I do not see why not. It… would be a nice change of pace."
"Then it's settled." Adam falls on bed. "We're going on a field trip!"
A ring of red stains the lunar surface and on it, the words "Tabgha Base" can be seen on the roof of the base.
Gendo and Fuyutsuki are on a shuttle looking through a small window at what's happening. "Here we are, not even a hundred feet over Tabgha Moon Base and yet they still won't allow us to land." The shuttle passes through a giant humanoid strapped and bound as mechanical parts are being grafted into it. "SEELE can be nasty when they want to."
"They are clearly using a new method of construction for the Mark. 06. Just confirming that is enough." Gendo states.
"I didn't realize there were any more plans for construction after Unit-05." Fuyutsuki said, slightly confused.
"For all we know there could be further undisclosed apocrypha. SEELE clearly intends to follow the Dead Sea Scrolls." Gendo said.
A large obstruction is being carried away by smaller ships. "But SEELE can't be oblivious of our plans. They must be aware of NERV's true intentions by now."
"They most likely are but we can't allow that to alter the course of our path, even if that ultimately means going against the word of God." Gendo then notices something on the EVA's fingers, there was a naked boy sitting on it.
Fuyutsuki follows Gendo's line of sight and sees the boy. "A person without a spacesuit? Surely not."
The boy turns to look at the shuttle as if he had heard their entire conversation from there. The boy's smile never ceased. "Nice to meet you… Father."
The next day, the group arrives at the Japan Marine Ecosystem Preservation Research Organization.
"Awesome! This is so damn cool!" Kensuke exclaims with his camera recording it all. "It's amazing how a place like this even exists. I mean, to preserve the remaining marine life and all the research to return the oceans to their original state!? And they're actually letting us tour this top-secret facility!? This is the coolest thing a friend has ever done for me!"
"Ahem!" Adam clears his throat.
Kensuke sweat drops. "Hehe… aside from you of course."
Shinji arches an eyebrow, what did he mean by that?
Toji wraps his arm around Shinji's shoulder. "Thanks for inviting us, man."
"You should be thanking Mr. Kaji, not me." Shinji told him.
From a window, Kaji waves at us. "Alright kids, it gets a little complicated here."
"?" Everyone said.
Sometime later
After being subjected to three different types of decontamination (which shall not be elaborated on any further than this), the group is finally allowed inside the facility where they have all sorts of marine life stored here.
"Wow!" Shinji looks like a kid at a candy store. "So this is what the ocean looked like before the Second Impact."
Shinji, Kensuke and Toji go around exploring every nook and cranny of the facility while Pen-Pen is asserting his superiority to the other penguins (at least that's what it looks like).
Asuka clicks her tongue in annoyance. She takes a seat at one of the pipes and pulls out her game. "They're acting like children. Idiots." She notices Adam and Rei looking at a glass container before going back to her game.
"So, happy you came with them? If I remember correctly, you guys never got to see the ocean when it was normal." Adam said.
Rei looks at Adam. "Have you seen the ocean when it was blue?"
Adam gives Rei a smirk. "Time traveler, remember? I've seen the ocean when it was still blue plenty of times."
"Mm." Rei turns to look at the tank.
"It looks cramped in there. They should turn the fish loose on one of the bigger tanks." Adam comments.
"They can't. They wouldn't make it outside, they can only survive here now." Rei explains. "They're like me that way."
Adam looks at Rei not sure how to respond.
Lunar Orbit
Gendo and Fuyutsuki are looking at the planet from their shuttle.
It's hard to accept that that's supposed to be our home." Fuyutsuki looks on from his window in disgust seeing the ramifications of the Second Impact visible from space like a tumor. "It breaks my heart to see it in such a state."
"It's even worse knowing that there are other human beings who wanted this outcome. To see the extinction of humanity in order to cleanse the Earth of its Original Sin." Gendo states.
"I prefer the living chaos of man over this living wasteland of death." Fuyutsuki remarks.
"Chaos is merely a human construct, the world only knows its own law of harmony and order." Gendo said.
Fuyutsuki turns to his colleague. "So you're saying that it's the human heart that throws the world into confusion."
Outside
After a tasty lunch courtesy of Shinji, they explore the outside of the facility. Adam is leaning in on the guard rails, taking a deep breath. "Ah, the smell of putrefaction. I never thought I'd smell sea water again."
"Nice to see that you are enjoying yourself."
Adam turns to see Kaji walking up to him. He leans on the guard rail facing the other way. "So what do you think of the trip?"
"It's nice, I can't believe they let a bunch of teenagers into a facility like this." Adam comments.
"They owed me a favor and besides you kids are fighting for the sake of the human race. You deserve a reward for your efforts." Kaji states.
"Maybe, you're right." Adam smiles a bit as the birds fly by.
Kaji glances at Adam. "Say I don't think I ever got your name, kid."
Adam looks at him. "Oh, it's Adam. Adam Ikari." He said using the last name Misato gave him.
"Adam Ikari…" Kaji tests the name. "So I'm guessing you're Shinji's twin brother."
"What? No, we're not siblings, we just happen to look alike." Adam responds. "Seriously, why does everyone keep saying that?"
"Hehe, yeah I guess you're right." Kaji chuckles. "Hm… you know, this kind of reminds me of a poem I've read once."
Adam arches an eyebrow. "Really?"
"The night is quiet, the streets are calm,
In this house my beloved once lived:
She has long since left the town,
But the house still stands, here in the same place.
A man stands there also and looks to the sky,
And wrings his hands, overwhelmed by pain:
I am terrified – when I see his face,
The moon shows me my own form!
O you Doppelgänger! you pale comrade!
Why do you ape the pain of my love
Which tormented me upon this spot
So many a night, so long ago?"
"What was that?" Adam asked.
"That was a poem I ran into while I was stationed in Germany. It's called Der Doppelgänger by Heinrich Heine. He was known for lyric poetry." Kaji explains.
"Right, so what does that have to do with Shinji and I." Adam asked.
"Even though you two are not related by blood, you are both spiritually intertwined that it's difficult to discern the two of you apart." Kaji takes a cigarette and lights it up. "You both live similar lives that I can't help but compare to a mirror, yet you somehow manage to become your own person.
Random memories play out in Adam's head, remembering his times with his father. "Whenever my dad looked at me… I could tell that he was looking at someone else through me." Kaji glances at him. "I didn't like it so I tried to be different. I let my hair grow out, read a lot of different books and started doing things that shouldn't be possible for a kid back then." Adam sighs. "In the end, my dad sent me to a boarding school where I would spend most of my life like a caged bird."
"Sounds like your dad wanted you to be someone you're not." Kaji remarks.
"Yeah, I honestly thought he forgot about me but then one day he called me." Adam said. "He actually called me and asked if I wanted to see what he has been working on this whole time."
"And? Did you find out what he was working on?" Kaji asked.
The atmosphere turns grim as Adam tenses up. "Yea… I did."
Before Kaji can say anything, his phone rings. He takes it out and answers the call. "Yes?"
"..."
"Alright then." Kaji hangs up the call. "That was NERV, looks like another Angel has come to pay us a visit."
Author Notes
Der Doppelgänger by Heinrich Heine (1797 - 1856)
And done. I thought to use this chapter to expand upon Rei and Adam's relationship as well as reveal more of Adam's past. The poem is there to refer to the spiritual resemblance between Shinji and Adam.
Like always, leave a comment/review.
Peace~