Unravel

by Homer's Disciple

Shinji rejected Instrumentality, but he made so many mistakes. He has one last chance to set things right, to unravel everything and save what matters. A retelling or altering of the series, an altered version of Shinji with an altered past. Life takes a different path, but do all paths lead to the same destination? Is Shinji doomed to never know happiness?

44. Tabris

Hey guys, back again after a hiatus.
It's a very character-focused dialogue-heavy chapter—another entry in the final arc of Unravel.

Here's chapter 44: "Tabris."
Warning. This one may be controversial for some readers.

---

"All of this started there. The thing that sent SEELE on their path in the new world. Project Tabris."

"It was the beginning and it is the end. A lie, a deception that shook the world."

"... Did you know? That it would happen the way it did? Or even at all?"

"... I suspected. It wasn't until later that I knew for certain. After. It made your life so much harder. I regret that. It made it hard for both of us."

"What you did kept me alive. They needed me. If nothing else, I'm grateful for that."

- Shinji Ikari and The Broken Man.

---

Nerv.

Ritsuko Akagi signed the digital paperwork.

The transportation workers labeled the cargo, a large coffin-sized container sealed shut, with a rush order. The item was listed under the classified black budget allocated by Gendo Ikari himself, before being placed in a Nerv truck. The men had learned long ago not to ask questions about such orders and were accustom to Ritsuko handling the logistics for classified equipment.

The package would not exist on paper or elsewhere, and the expenses would be carefully hidden, just like the rest of Ritsuko's work.

"Get it to the warehouse for storage. ASAP," Ritsuko told the transport staff.

"Yes, ma'am," they answered her simply.

Then without another word, they took off with the cargo, driving out of the Geofront and disappearing off into the distance.

Ritsuko watched the truck go. This was the easiest part of her role, sending it off. The next part would be for the others.

Shinji, both of you, be careful, she thought.

---

Part 1: Shinji.

Tokyo-03.
Early morning.

The car moved steadily through the traffic grind. Up ahead, far into the entrance of the highway, lanes were being cleared for them, to the woe of the civilians.

The common people were still leaving the bunkers after the last Angel attack, what remained of them filling out into streets as life moved on.

Shinji Ikari sat between two armed men.

The boy glanced at the tinted windows of the car and then to the men in black on either side of him.

"You're heading the wrong way. Nerv HQ is on the other side of the city," Shinji said, breaking the silence. He kept his voice calm and neutral, anything to hide the sweat on his palms.

"Observant lad, aren't you. Apologies, we aren't heading to HQ. There's a new testing site. We don't know the details, but your presence is required," the driver called back to him.

That one is different. The driver is calm.

And the other two? My guards?

Shinji once again glanced between them. He felt his hand move slightly, heading for the seatbelt before he stopped himself.

"Please remain seated. For your safety," one of the guards told him abruptly.

The man spoke a little too loud, too quickly, and it proved that he was watching Shinji.

They're nervous.

They're scared.

Of what? I'm a teenager for god's sake.

Of me.

Shinji saw the truth in that. However nervous he was, the adults were too. If not more so. That helped him; it calmed him—a light breeze in the fear and anxiety that ran deep in his veins.

The boy nodded to the men, leaving his seatbelt on, and turned to watch the road ahead.

We're getting closer to the highway. It has to be soon. What's taking so long-

Kaji knows what he's doing. He was waiting for them to take us.

You're right… he's following us right now. He has to be.

So many thoughts passed through him at that moment. That he was just a child, without his Eva, he was just a boy. He was vulnerable, and these men had guns.

The car made a sharp turn. The Shinji(s) heard tires screeching.

Now.

The driver was shouting. Both of the armed guards beside him cursed.

Shinji stared straight ahead and braced himself as the impact came.

People shouted from the street. Honks flooded his ears a split second before the collision.

CRASH.

A taxi car emerged into the world framed by their car's front window. The taxi crashed headfirst into their car's side, striking the engine and forcing them all back.

The bulletproof windows cracked, the world around them shook, glasses flew from the faces of the men in black. And throughout it all, Shinji Ikari breathed.

Time slowed down for him, a single moment stretched into an eternity, his heart beating in his ears, reality coming into hyper-focus as controlled adrenaline entered his system. It threatened to overwhelm him, to send him into a panic, but his Other was there with him.

Shinji Ikari closed his eyes. The Broken Man opened them.

"Nerv business! Leave now!" the driver was shouting to the car who had hit them.

The men on either side of the boy were groggily recovering from the collision.

All in that same second that followed the impact, the Broken Man moved. He moved with the wisdom of age and experience from a world reduced to ruin.

The Other unbuckled the seatbelt and shot up from the seat. He slammed a closed fist into one of the guard's throat.

The guard gagged in shock and pain, taken by complete surprise.

The Other flew across the car, unlocking the door and shoving it open.

"No!" the second guard shouted.

The Shinji(s) almost made it out the door, but a tug on his leg reeled them back in.

Whatever else the Shinji(s) were, they were still in the body of a teenager, and it was no match for a grown man.

The Broken Man whirled, and using his free leg, he landed a kick to the guard's face. Hard. Blood flew in the confines of the car. More curses followed.

The first guard got over their shock and, with one hand, reached for their gun whilst with the other reached for Shinji himself.

The Shinji(s) stabbed their thumb into that man's eye.

"Ah!"

The driver got his act together and began driving, pushing past the stunned civilian traffic around them, leaving the taxi and the car crash behind. Honks sounded as the car zoomed past a red light, one door open the entire time.

The Shinji(s) kicked their way free and slid out of the car; they rolled across the street floor as they landed. The boy glided across the middle of a street, and cars came to a screeching halt around him. People were shouting and gasping.

Gah! Young Shinji thought as his arms and back burned. He felt bruises emerge from the fall even as his Other rolled to protect him—light burns from sliding over the street pavement after jumping from a moving car.

They had caused a scene. People were staring and traffic, both automobile and on foot, was stalled.

The Broken Man ignored the pain and kept them going. He rose without so much as breathing and broke into a full sprint heading for the crowds and alleyways, heading for where the cars could not follow.

"Target has escaped!" one of the Nerv men shouted into their comm.

The driver was backing up and turning to give chase. The other two left the car and followed on foot.

"Help! I'm being kidnapped!" Young Shinji shouted hysterically. He didn't bother trying to hide his fear; he let it wash over him and mix with his words.

Civilians gasped, and Shinji ran past them.

The men in black chased after him. He heard someone try to stop them, a man saying that they would be calling the police.

SMACK.

Whoever had been trying to help him was punched.

"Nerv business! Get out of the way!" the men in black called.

Shinji ran and ran, pushing past his limits with his Other by his side. He left the car behind and entered into the alleys behind a commercial sector—a cramped pathway behind a series of closed bars.

Listen, the Broken Man rasped.

Click.

A gun was being unholstered.

Now!

The Shinji(s) whirled and raised a hand a split-second before the sound erupted into the alley.

BANG

BANG.

Two shots rang out. Both rounds stopped mid-air and fell to the floor.

An AT Field stood between the boy and the men in black. A wall that protected his entire body.

Shinji Ikari stood, holding his ground, and the adults backed up in fear. Fear not of the boy, the pilot who was nothing without his Eva, but the 'thing' in front of them that wielded power that they knew not.

"You should not have done that."

The Broken Man ran forward, coming for the men in the confines of the alley.

BANG.

BANG.

BANG.

The men in black fired their guns to no effect. Bullet after bullet slammed into the AT Field to no avail.

Shinji followed the moves he had learned from Eva piloting, using the wisdom that had been bled into him by his Other. He slammed the AT Field into one man, the lights flared, and the man flew back, slamming into a wall with an audible thud.

The second guard tried to run, but the Shinji(s) struck him with the AT field in the leg, hard.

SNAP.

"Ah!" the man gasped as his leg broke.

It was tricky to do this. The AT Field was strong enough to dismember limbs; the Shinji(s) had to concentrate and keep the power from killing these men. Their shield was the Alien forces thought only accessible by an Evangelion channeled into his 'real' body.

The same shield that had stopped an N2 mine, that had severed Angel flesh, only smaller and with no intermediate required.

The Broken Man raised the AT Field over the fallen man's head and gave him a light tap. The man groaned knocked out.

When it was over, the Shinji(s) let the AT Field drop, and the boy fell to his knees.

Vomit came out of his throat and onto the street.

Young Shinji gasped, panting like a madman as his heart started pounding away. His lungs took in the air only to release it a moment later in a wheeze.

They were going to shoot me! They were… they had guns on me!

We're in the big leagues now. Take a moment to breathe. We can't linger.

Young Shinji nodded and slowly rose to his feet.

He limped over to the man he'd sent flying into the wall. He hoped he hadn't injured him too severely; that blow might have broken bones.

The boy reached for the man's gun, put the safety on, and pocketed it. He turned and reached for the man's belt going for the extra ammo.

The man snapped his eyes open wildly, his arm coming for Shinji. A taser emerged, and the boy gasped as the device hit him in the gut.

The Broken Man leaned into the blow, not even trying to avoid or block it. Instead, the Other placed a hand on his attacker and let the taser hit them both. The guard's eyes widened as he realized what would happen.

"Ugh!"

The electric current from the taser flowed, striking both the Shinji(s) and the guard together.

One last scream filled the alley as the already bleeding and injured man lost consciousness. The taser fell to the ground spent.

The Shinji(s) wobbled on unsteady legs. The Broken Man hissed and brought forth the healing sorcery. They shook it off, blinking through teary eyes.

That… that was dangerous, Young Shinji thought.

I took the pain so you didn't have to.

I'm sorry. I thought he was down and-

You need to be careful. We can heal, but we're not immortal.

A door opened nearby, and a worried shopkeeper peeked outside with a phone in hand and what sounded like the police on the other line. The woman took one look at Shinji and the men around him and bolted back inside.

We need to get out of here.

Young Shinji tried to nod and found it hard. His limps weren't responding very well; they were sluggish. The hit took something out of him, healing or no.

The Broken Man took over, shaking his head and running onward. They stopped to take the ammo from the other guard as they fled.

Outside the alley, the Shinji(s) spotted the car they were looking for, parked close by with a familiar-looking man waiting patiently.

Young Shinji breathed a sigh of relief. He checked both ways and crossed hurriedly.

Kaji drove the car and met him halfway, unlocking the door for him. The spy had adopted a hat and pair of sunglasses since the car crash from earlier, leaving behind the taxi and the jacket he'd been wearing.

"Sorry for the wait. Had to steal two cars to save your ass," Kaji said dryly.

Shinji got into the backseat and laid down, keeping out of sight. "Did they see you?"

"No. They were too busy with you. Taxi owner is gonna be pissed," Kaji answered him.

The spy reached behind and threw a blanket over Shinji. The boy took the blanket and wrapped it over himself as the world was enveloped in black. He laid there, hidden in the back of the car.

Kaji drove them.

Police sirens sounded off, and he heard the chaos and panic in the streets. Cars were driving away, people leaving the scene of a potential crime, driven off by the sounds of bullets.

Kaji drove past them all, just another civilian getting out of the way. The spy even passed the Nerv driver that had failed to extract Shinji.

---

Later.
Safehouse.

The room was spacious, dimly lit and it held no windows at all. It had electricity, a bathroom, a refrigerator, as well as a small stock of canned food.

Kaji showed him around saying, "it'll be your home for now."

"Is it safe?"

Kaji stilled, the Broken Man's voice still unnerved him.

Director Ginoza knew what he was doing, the spy thought.

"The Agency uses houses like these. They're for witnesses and high priority assets. Lay low, don't leave unless I say so, and you'll be safe."

Shinji looked around the room saying, "I understand."

Kaji moved onto the bag of clothes he'd left behind when he'd set the place up. He heard Shinji wandering around the safehouse carefully.

The spy donned his latest disguise, grabbing the warehouse jacket and the fake credentials. He slipped the Nerv hat on and found the boy sitting in a corner.

"You doing alright?" Kaji asked.

Shinji glanced up at him. "I'm worried about the others."

Kaji watched the boy. Hard to believe the mastermind behind all this was an old man and a teenager. The world truly was a strange thing.

"You're in more danger than the rest of us combined. Both of you. Worry about yourself," Kaji told him plainly.

"… and what about you?" the boy asked hesitantly.

The spy considered that. He was alive, which was more than he'd imagined only a few days ago.

"You've got to be ready to die in my line of work, kid. This is the old man's plan. Your plan now too. What did you expect?" Kaji asked him not unkindly.

Shinji looked away. "I don't like sitting it out like this. Misato… Asuka… Mari… Rei… all of them. What must they be thinking?"

Kaji knelt down to the kid.

"What's important is that they're safe for now. We do our part, that's all we can do," Kaji said.

The spy watched the boy, he saw the hard look flash over the eyes. Shinji was old before his time. There was a grizzled nature there, eyes that had had to grow up very quickly and they didn't belong to the Other.

"Then go. I'll be fine," the boy said.

Kaji almost reached for a cigarette. The more time he spent with the boy, the more he realized just how truly messed up all this was. Child soldiers, adults that wore the faces of the young, it was something he had never wanted to see again.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out another burner, another prepaid cellphone courtesy of Ritsuko, and handed it over.

"I'll be back for you after I've picked up the package and stashed it away. Someone gets in here without signaling, they're not me. Shoot them," Kaji said.

The boy took the phone and glanced at the gun he'd taken from his captors.

…

Shinji watched as Kaji rose and walked off in his latest disguise of a warehouse worker. He watched the spy disappear from the safehouse.

---

Part 2: Gendo's tale

Nerv HQ.

Gendo fumed silently as Section-2 reported in.

"He went willingly. And your men still failed," he said at last over the phone.

"Sir, there were complications. A car crash, we suspect foul play. And footage from my men's body cameras is… disturbing."

The officer sounded genuinely terrified when he reported in.

"Forward it to me. I would see it myself. Continue the search. I will arrange for support," Gendo said.

He didn't wait for an answer, he simply disconnected the call.

Gendo exhaled harshly, leaning on the railing on the upper levels of the hangar. The Adam Sample implanted into his hand was stirring, and he opened and closed his fists. Breathing and slowing down his heart rate. He had many contingencies to handle all at once.

He peered down and noticed Dr. Ritsuko Akagi issuing out orders below, taking up precautions for the war to come. Engineers and emergency staff were on standby. Section 2 Security Forces were present as well, setting up defenses throughout the facility.

SEELE's wrath was approaching with every hour. Ritsuko truly was a worthy investment, one of his best workers. He had given her space since ordering her to dispose of the Rei Copies, it seemed she had thrown herself into her work.

A phenomenon that he was not unaccustomed to himself. Gendo watched her down below with a modicum of respect.

Evangelion Unit 01 stood imprisoned in the dura-bakelite, locked within its launchpad. A titan engulfed in a diamond-like structure. The orange crystal prison encompassed a large portion of the hangar. The entire procedure when completed stood taller than Eva Units 00 and 02 on either side of 01.

The Director of Nerv stared coldly into the eyes of Unit 01.

Shinji Ikari 'the Freak' had escaped. His men had been incompetent. They pushed too hard at the apartment, they had let the boy escape from a moving car and had failed to neutralize him.

"Sir. What are we going to do? SEELE… they're still out there. They're going to find out that Shinji got away. It's only a matter of time," Kozo Fuyutsuki said suddenly.

His second in command stood off to the side. The elderly man was quiet and withdrawn, his recent traumas were taking their toll on him. The kidnapping and the rescue, and his task of helping Dr. Akagi with the corpses.

"SEELE won't move against us until the Freak is dealt with. That buys us time, the only benefit this failure gives us. I need to contact the city officials. I'm getting the police involved," Gendo said suddenly.

Fuyutsuki stared at him, seeming to snap back into the world.

"Sir… the police? What are we going to tell them?" the old professor asked, clearly startled.

"That Shinji Ikari is now a person of interest. Considered highly dangerous. Wanted for questioning by Nerv. Inform the police whatever they need to hear in order to join the search. We must flush the boy out," Gendo said.

Fuyutsuki only stared.

"He couldn't have gone far. Whatever else he is, he's still in the body of a teenager. Given enough time, we'll get him," Gendo continued flatly.

Fuyutsuki took a moment to gather himself, the man seemed so small these days.

"… yes, sir. It will be done," Fuyutsuki said slowly.

Thank you, professor. You have no love for me, yet you have always been at my side. For this, you have my gratitude, Gendo thought.

He listened softly as Fuyutsuki took his leave of him, the man had to contact the local government. The entire city would be turned against the boy, it was the only way.

Gendo returned his gaze to Evangelion Unit 01.

It had all started with 01. The day the Eva was 'born', the day his world changed. That single moment had set the course for the rest of his life.

The memories made him equal parts bitter and sad, filled with regret for how things had come to be. At how he had failed both Yui and her son so long ago.

---

Years ago.
Day of the Contact Experiment.
One minute after the Unraveling.

Gendo Ikari ran through the testing chamber. The lights flickered on and off as the backup generators kicked in, slowly restoring power after the blackout. Steam and smoke had filled the chamber, remnants from when the machinery had short-circuited and malfunctioned.

"Yui!"

Evangelion Unit 01, a mesh of machinery and cloned Angel flesh, lay before him. Warning sirens boomed overhead, someone in the control room had activated the release now that power had returned.

People were shouting at him, telling him that it wasn't safe, to stay back, and others were calling for a medic.

Gendo ignored them all.

Unit 01's Entry Plug landed with a harsh thud.

Gendo reached the metal tube first. It was cold to the touch, and it burned his hands as he operated the manual release and forced the bay doors open.

Yui!

His wife, his entire world, the only one who had ever truly seen him for what he could be, the lone light in his life. His heart froze in that moment when the doors to the cockpit opened. His mind raced with what he would find, a corpse, a withered husk of the woman, his wife injured and damaged. His imagination produced only nightmares.

It didn't have to be you! I could have found someone else! I could have forced them!

When reality hit him, it left him stunned and breathless. It was worse than anything his imagination could render. It was nothing.

Nothing at all.

The Entry Plug was empty. Not a single cell of Yui Ikari was left. Not a single atom of her clothing. Only a cockpit with damaged electronics.

Gendo forced his way in, looking for what he knew not. Only that this couldn't be how it ended.

Impossible!

It broke the law of conservation of matter and energy. His rationale spoke up for him. There couldn't be nothing. There had to be a trace of the woman he had loved. The universe could not be so cruel as to deny him that.

He was a madman searching for a woman that had disappeared.

"Gendo!"

He was lost to the world, kneeling in an empty cockpit with nothing left to live for.

"Gendo!"

Still, he did not respond.

Men appeared. Medics by the look of them, and they pulled him out only to be just as baffled by the 'nothing' in the cockpit as he was. No corpse of Yui Ikari. No injured body or remains… not a single trace that she had ever been inside Unit 01 at all.

A man was in front of him speaking, but the words distilled into white noise.

"She's gone, Kozo. She's gone..." Gendo said breathlessly.

Kozo Fuyutsuki frowned deeply at him. A hint of tears lay in the old man as he glanced back at the empty Entry Plug. Then the old professor steeled himself up and grabbed Gendo by the shoulders.

"Gendo! It's Shinji!"

Shinji… Yui's son… Yui's son! He thought. That single moment brought clarity to him, and he stirred back into the world at a hazy pace.

He straightened and finally listened to his old college professor.

"What happened to Shinji?" Gendo asked flatly.

"I'm so sorry. He's had a seizure," Fuyutsuki told him.

"What?" Gendo breathed, going pale.

"It happened when things started to go wrong. Shinji fell to his knees screaming and then he fainted. His eyes rolled to the back of his head. There... there was foam in his mouth," Fuyutsuki said.

Gendo took in the news and the world shifted before him. People were still moving all around him, engineers and scientists, medics, all of them moved about like he was in a dream. A false reality that there was no escape from. But no, only the real world could be so unforgiving. So cruel.

He found his footing and immediately followed after Kozo, and he watched as the medics stabilized the young Shinji.

Gendo reeled from the sight of it.

A toddler wrapped up in a stretcher, dead to the world.

When the helicopter came to airlift the boy out to a hospital, they asked him if he wanted to come.

"I..." Gendo hesitated.

Yui was always the one to handle these things.

The thought of his wife nearly brought him to his knees. And so Gendo turned away saying that he would stay, telling them to keep him up to date. The medics hadn't said a word to him after that, they headed off with his son in tow.

…

The days that followed were hollow and empty. Yui Ikari truly was gone.

He went to an empty bed every night in an upscale spacious apartment, barely able to stand the sight of it. He worked with the researchers for hours on end trying to discover what had gone wrong. The disturbance that was what they called it.

A rush of electromagnetic activity that had damaged all the computers and machinery. Peculiar gravitational anomalies had also been detected. Whatever the case, Yui was officially declared dead less than 24 hours after her disappearance.

He had sat stone-faced as the Gehirn organization declared it a tragedy. The higher-ups announced that they would be investing in increased safety measures. That no one would attempt to activate or pilot an Evangelion Unit for at least one year.

And as for Shinji? The boy stayed in the hospital, trapped in a prison of his own body as he lay in a coma.

Gendo never visited. He wouldn't have known what to do even if he had gone. What was the point in talking to a boy destined to die in his sleep? What comfort could he give either his son or himself?

So he stayed away and filled his life with his work. Writing reports and answering to SEELE directly about the events. Keel and the others showered him with false sympathies and platitudes, all the while encouraging him to continue his wife's legacy. To let her spirit live on through her work.

As if! Keel feels nothing but the loss of his asset. The greatest mind of the last century. The world is figures and numbers to him, nothing more and nothing less.

Still, Gendo did his duty. He continued their research. Not for Keel and his bloody dreams of immortality. No, he wanted to know what happened to his wife. He demanded that the universe give him answers. 'Nothing' was unacceptable.

And then one day a miracle happened.

A call from the hospital came that Shinji had woken from his coma.

…

"Where is mom?"

Those were the first words Shinji asked when Gendo came to pick him up.

He knelt down before the boy and answered him. "Mother is dead. Her funeral was lovely. I'm sorry that you couldn't attend."

The words left his mouth flat and empty, very much like himself most days.

The little boy stared at him, wide innocent eyes peering through a mop of adolescent hair. Scared and lost, the boy took the words like a punch to the gut.

No. Don't do that. I was never good at this. Please, don't-

Shinji began to cry. The lonely little boy wept and Gendo watched the tears run down his face.

He didn't know how to comfort him. He didn't know how to comfort himself.

Gendo put stiff awkward hands on the boy's shoulders and tried to hold him. The boy kept on crying, sobbing for his mother.

"I miss her too," Gendo whispered and felt the phantom of tears himself. He had no other words to say. He sat there with Yui's son and wished he knew what to do.

…

They drove home in silence. The boy hadn't spoken since the news of his mother's death. The silence lingered.

The family ate wordlessly. The boy barely touching his food, and Gendo eating only out of necessity to his bodily functions.

Little Shinji looked at him from time to time. Wanting something, anything, but finding it in absence.

A family in name only.

…

In the days that followed, Gendo hired a caretaker for the boy. A teacher who would take Shinji to live with him, away from Gendo and his failures as a parent.

He saw the boy off and gave him a SDAT player, a final gift from Yui. Then he had said goodbye, watching as the caretaker took Shinji away via train.

The boy had watched him with sad eyes the entire way.

I can't help you, boy. I can't even help myself.

Gendo looked away, coldly content in knowing Yui's son would be cared for and given an education. It allowed him to focus on his work. To force the universe to answer his question.

He threw himself into research for the incident and the mystery of his wife's disappearance. And he reached a theory that no one else had.

The Evangelions, whilst clones of Adam and Lilith, lacked an Angel Core. They lacked a 'soul' for all intents and purposes. A spark of life.

Gendo became convinced that Yui was not truly gone. That she couldn't have been. Matter cannot be created or destroyed. Only changed from one form to another.

He started spending hours a day staring at Evangelion Unit 01. Convinced of his theory. That the Eva had absorbed Yui into itself. That his wife lay trapped as the Ghost in the Machine.

That was the only hope Gendo could cling to.

He researched, day in and day out, on a way to pull a soul out of its vessel. To pry open the Evangelion and bring back a woman.

He hit the wall of the unknown each and every time. Until the answer came to him. It was Keel's idea really, to fully master the nature of souls and the body. The Human Instrumentality Project.

SEELE only wanted immortality for themselves and their chosen. But it could be twisted even further, altered into other paths. Gendo realized then that he had to change SEELE's design, for all the pieces were already there.

Instrumentality could be used to bring her back. His love. The only one who had ever seen him.

Shinji got in the way.

The caretaker started sending in reports and pleading for assistance. Shinji was having 'difficulties'. Nightmares and other strange habits that his caretaker had no answer for.

"He talks to someone that isn't there. He has nosebleeds in his sleep, and other times it's like he's seeing things that aren't there." – reports from Shinji's caretaker.

Gendo started scheduling doctor's appointments when suddenly, he had been ordered not to. Ordered by a sudden command issued from SEELE themselves.

It had shocked him to his core. SEELE had known that his son was having trouble, they had known when he tried to find a doctor for the boy. Instead, he was ordered to meet with Keel himself on one of the man's private islands.

---

Meeting room.

The tropical island air was lovely this time of year. The room was a luxurious platform with a roof by the shore with a nice view of the beach, filled with comforts that must have cost a fortune to implement.

In another life, he would have loved to have taken Yui here.

Instead, he was furious. An emotion he kept hidden. Hours on the plane led to this moment, and he kept his face neutral as he was escorted to the leader of SEELE by armed security.

"Gehirn is being disbanded," Keel said in greeting.

That stopped Gendo in his tracks. The organization could not finish, it just couldn't be. The Eva Program was needed. SEELE had already started the war. It would doom the human race and leave them powerless in the face of the threat to come.

And without Gehirn's resources, he would be unable to continue his work, unable to twist the Human Instrumentality Project and bring Yui back.

Keel held up a hand, stopping his outburst before it came.

"It will be reorganized into a new organization. Nerv. It will have more involvement with the United Nations. We have arranged for more support, both financially and politically. You will lead this operation as its director on the international stage," Keel explained.

Director? That's a title you would have given to Yui. So I am what you must make do with, Gendo thought bitterly.

If that's what SEELE needed him to be then fine. He'd be their puppet. It didn't matter in the end, he needed resources that only Keel could provide.

"I understand. Is that why you called me here? To promote me? A phone call would have sufficed," Gendo said.

Keel shifted dangerously at that, straightening himself.

"You forget yourself. You do not speak to me with that tone."

Gendo winced inwardly, taking a step back. Keel was right, he was letting bitterness make a fool of him. He had to learn to keep such childish things in check.

"… of course. I apologize. It was a long flight and after everything that's happened these last few months… forgive me," Gendo said. He bowed his head low, respectfully.

Keel nodded. Leniency. Gendo would be sure not to count on it a second time.

"Are you watching my son and I?" Gendo continued, cutting straight to business.

"Of course," Keel said. The man didn't even hesitate, he leaned in and his voice grew cold as he continued.

"My people have been watching your family since we employed you. The amount of resources that I provided. Did you think it would come with no strings attached? No oversight?"

Gendo remained silent. He was a fool to think so indeed. To continue his own plans, Gendo decided that he must build his own network from within SEELE's. He must keep the group small; he would have to plan around Keel and his interference.

But that was for another day. Today, he was a servant and nothing more.

"Leave Shinji out of this. He's sick and I plan to get him help," Gendo said at last.

Keel sat back in his seat with a bemused smile.

You enjoy this, don't you Keel? Watching me and my family suffer. First my wife and now my son.

"Oh yes, he is sick indeed. Has it never occurred to you that your son fell ill at the exact moment that Yui disappeared? That waking from his coma, he has been having strange dreams."

Gendo did not like where this was going.

"Sir. Shinji is but a boy. His mother's death has traumatized him. I would not expect-"

"And then there's this. Shinji's caretaker had the boy draw one of his dreams for me. A relic from his nightmares," Keel said suddenly.

Gendo nearly fell as Keel pulled a slip of paper from his coat. A neatly folded child's drawings, done in crayon.

"You… you… my son's caretaker… he's one of yours," Gendo said through clenched teeth. He had to fight to stop himself from shouting. He felt his hands curl into fists and so he hid them behind his back.

Keel sighed as if he was bored. "Yes, Shinji's teacher is one of my agents. You should be used to this by now. SEELE is everywhere. Has he not been an adequate caretaker? Are you dissatisfied with his service? If so, then we'll find you another."

Gendo fumed, forcing his emotions down. His wife had been right when she'd said he was an open book to men like Keel. Never again, he resolved to never be so weak in their presence. He calmed himself. Breathing in and looking away.

"… No. Your agent has been more than an adequate caretaker," Gendo answered.

Keel handed him the paper; the drawing made by his son. It was a crude thing, simple and basic, yet it was a child's illustration of a Giant of Light hovering over the arctic. Followed by rudimentary depictions of buildings and people fleeing in terror.

"Your son drew the First Angel. He drew Adam in the exact moment before the Second Impact," SEELE's leader proclaimed.

Gendo stared at the paper for a long time. Once again, the world was shifting around him. The impossible made possible.

"He is a child. You're reading too much into it-" he began.

"No. There are too many coincidences. The boy is special. I feel it in my bones. I've arranged another of my Agents for him. You will hand over the boy for testing," Keel interrupted.

Yui… if I refused… I would lose access to SEELE and its resources. And they would take him in the end anyway. The project… I need Keel's help. One day you will understand. One day, you will forgive me.

But perhaps there was a compromise.

"… I don't want him to be just another lab rat. I want real doctors on his case. I want Shinji to be treated like a patient… I don't care what lie you tell," Gendo said quickly.

That surprised Keel. SEELE's leader looked him over curiously.

Gendo knelt before the man on his knees.

"For her sake, for the sake of Yui's son. Let Shinji be a patient. You have the means. Companies you own. It's nothing for someone like you."

"It seems a lot of work for little reward. He would be treated well regardless. He's your son," Keel said slowly.

He's your insurance on me. I'm not Yui and you don't trust me fully.

"It would make it easier in the long term. Easier to fake medical files, easier to roll him in and out as needed," Gendo said speaking far too quickly.

Easier for you to run your experiments on him. Easier to keep your hold on me, a gesture to prove your power over the little man under your thumb.

Keel mulled it over. Making a show of considering the idea. The man enjoyed it, his little games and making others wait.

"Very well. I own several medical and healthcare companies. I'm sure that we can find one for Shinji. A special patient. The voices in his head, we can say he is mentally ill. He may believe it himself," Keel said at last.

"Thank you," Gendo wheezed.

SEELE's leader waved a hand, gesturing for Gendo to get off his knees and rise. Gendo did so, moving to stand before his boss again.

"Prepare for your role as the Director of Nerv. I will make the preparations for Shinji. Whatever has happened to him, he is seeing things that he should not. I would know why," Keel said finally.

The meeting was over.

Gendo prayed that his wife would understand in the end. He did what he could for the boy, and that would have to be enough.

---

The Present.
Safehouse.

Shinji Ikari sat in the windowless room.

The stolen gun held in his hands with the safety on.

"You're quiet."

Shinji looked up and found the mental projection of the Broken Man standing nearby, the illusion that allowed his Other to interact with him on a higher level.

"Still feels a little funny. The taser I mean. A numbness," the boy answered.

"It'll fade with time. I took the worst of it for you. We heal, but I try not to tap into the power any more than we absolutely need to."

Shinji gave a quiet chuckle at that. It was an odd feeling, humorless, and rather a kind of reflective thought about where he was in his life. 14 years old, hiding in a safehouse whilst Gendo's top scientist betrayed him, and their spy went about his work foiling plans.

"I never did say thanks. For always doing that. You're always taking the pain for me, as much as you can. The Eva's different, here… here it feels so much more real," the boy said slowly.

The Broken Man regarded him; hollow eyes framed by a hard-lined face.

"It is the least I could do. For all the suffering I have caused you."

Shinji scoffed at that.

"You did what you had to do. Our lives were fucked up since before either of us were born," the boy said slowly. He felt so much older in that moment.

It was easier when I was out there doing things. Fighting the Angels. Coordinating with Ritsuko or else telling Kaji what we needed. Here… I'm useless.

The Broken Man moved to 'sit' across from him. A harsh aged reflection of himself.

"Waiting is the hardest thing I ever had to do. I understand. I still need you. Be patient," the old man told him.

Shinji nodded.

"How are things at Nerv?"

The Broken Man stilled for a moment, deep in concentration. Young Shinji felt it, he felt his Other reaching out into the distance.

…

Evangelion Unit 01 lay imprisoned in the hangar. The material had hardened and crystalized around the titan, locking it in place.

The Broken Man reached to where his physical body resided. Where it had been locked away since the day he had leaped backward in time.

The Eva's eyes were now his. The Eva's ears too. Through the inhuman senses of sight and sound, he observed Nerv even from here when he was with the boy. Effectively being in two places at the same time.

He saw worried and nervous staff moving throughout the compound. He heard people talking, snippets of their conversations. Gendo's office was too far as were the underground levels. Yet he had eyes and ears inside the heart of Nerv.

The best way to hide is right out in the open.

…

"Gendo is keeping a tight lid on things. The employees are nervous. They don't know what's happening and rumors are spreading about why Unit 01 was locked up. There's talk about you," the Broken Man said dryly.

"… what are they saying?" the boy asked.

"They're wondering why you were labeled a person of interest. Why the city has been mobilized to find you."

Young Shinji raised his eyebrows. "So, you were right. Gendo got the city involved. The police."

The Broken Man nodded, returning his full attention back to the here and now. Back to the current conversation.

"You're in more danger than the rest of us combined," Shinji said, quoting what Kaji had told him earlier.

The boy glanced back at the gun.

"All of this for us. Because of what I am."

"Because of what we are."

Shinji looked up at his Other.

"Because of what you did that day."

The Broken Man tilted his head, eyes saddening for the briefest of moments.

"Because of the one that you replaced. Project Tabris."

---

Part 3: Keel's tale.

Private island.

Keel sat by the beach, enjoying his tropical paradise as the reports came in. Private staff attended to the manner's needs and armed security was present.

Shinji Ikari has escaped captivity.
Gendo has brought in the police and city government, placing the boy as a person of interest and labeled 'highly dangerous'.

That brought a chuckle to the elderly man. Gendo had gotten sloppy. The extremely well-paid moles within Nerv had reported that Mr. Ikari was slipping. Making rash decisions and losing his edge.

Keel had no idea why, but it cost him nothing and gave him another advantage. It wouldn't last. Gendo would regain composure and control soon if the man hadn't already.

The boy labeled as highly dangerous? Oh, without a doubt he is, Keel mused upon reading the report.

Footsteps approached. Dr. Page arrived along with a squad of mercenaries and devoted followers all with private military training.

"He sent a small team of Nerv's Section Two for the boy. The 'men in black'. Did you know that?" Keel scoffed.

Page and the men waited patiently.

"Gendo does not have your resources, sir. He built himself a private security firm and staffed it with loyalists. But they are at best a private police force. He will suspect we'd learn about his failure," Page said, taking the invitation to speak.

Keel shook his head in disappointment. He had expected more from Gendo.

The leader of SEELE stood.

Page spoke up saying, "we are ready to depart at your leave, sir. The first team is already in place. The JSSDF can also be deployed within hours."

And the MP Evas have been ready for weeks now. Excellent.

Keel nodded. Things were going quite well it seemed.

"Send the first team in. They may act when they deem fit to do so. We will be departing immediately," Keel ordered.

Page and the soldiers fell into stride with him as they headed for the small airstrip that SEELE had built on the island.

They boarded the private jet and Keel took his seat in the cabin, the entire room to himself with every possible luxury. He received constant updates on the situation, and ground forces were already in the city along with pawns to be called upon.

He gazed out the window enjoying the view as they took off, his personal guard in the next room over.

"Shinji Ikari… the boy who started it all," Keel mused aloud. Thinking about the day this mess had all started.

The day SEELE had been forced to rework Project Tabris.

---

Day of the Unraveling.
Minutes before the disappearance of Yui Ikari.

Keel found the trip to the facility relaxing. The contact experiment was in the finest hands possible, the Eva Programs were looking promising and well worth the expenses.

Here, in SEELE's own lab apart from anything that the Ikari family knew of, he found the chamber he was looking for.

Scientists, bio-medical researchers, geneticists, and the world's leading experts on cloning, all cleared the halls for him. The staff escorted him to the subject's room and the metal door opened silently.

"Hello there. You've grown since last we talked," Keel said in greeting.

The elderly man smiled and entered the room. He took a seat as the metal door closed behind him, leaving him alone with the subject.

The room was sterile and clean. Toys and various children's books from a range of ages were organized in a series of bookshelves. A simple wardrobe lay to the left filled with clothes of many ages and sizes, all for boys.

A piano lay to the right.

The house of the subject as it were, the living space dedicated to SEELE's greatest creation.

Keel watched as the subject turned from his spot on the floor, book in hand, to greet its creator.

"Hello again, Mr. Keel."

Project Tabris stared at him with calm red eyes. Kaworu Nagisa had grown indeed.

Despite being born two days after the Second Impact, the silver-haired boy had already reached the biological age of a pre-teen. Closer to age 10 than 4. Having gone from newborn baby to walking and talking in a matter of weeks.

The accelerated aging had continued until he reached this current state. Then, Kaworu had begun aging as a normal human would have. Slower, if the theory was to be believed.

Four years old… and already the body of a pre-teen. The mind of an adult. Incredible, Keel pondered.

More than a clone of the First Angel, Project Tabris was a vessel for Adam. Created by harvesting both the DNA and fragments of Adam's soul and then mixed with a template of SEELE's design to unprecedented results.

Kaworu Nagisa – SEELE's artificial Angel and their trigger for the Human Instrumentality Project.

"What are you reading?" Keel asked.

Kaworu looked down at the book in his hands. "It's a book on Beethoven. I particularly like his Ninth Symphony. His sense of music was beautiful."

He learned to read at the age of 12 days. Now he already reads on a university level.

Kaworu gestured to the piano in his room. "Thank you for the gift. I've enjoyed trying to match Beethoven. I don't think I'm half of what he was."

"More than half, dear boy. You are better than him, better than us. Better than we can ever be," Keel said truthfully.

Already, SEELE's trigger showed vast amounts of intelligence, empathy, emotion, reasoning, and even a sync rate prowess. The boy would be easily rolled into the Eva Programs one day, the day that the boy would fulfill his duty.

"… why?" Kaworu asked suddenly.

"Why what?"

"Why do you think I'm better?" Kaworu asked simply.

"It's in your nature, boy. Look at all you have been able to do in your short time here," Keel said.

Kaworu considered that. The boy moved to study the books on his latest bookshelf here in the compound, books on the arts throughout human history.

"I know what I am, Mr. Keel. I am not human; I merely wear the face of one."

Keel watched the boy curiously.

Kaworu smiled sadly, and a distant look emerged on his face.

"I am a tool. I know my duty. The Human Instrumentality Project continues. Yet here I am until then. There's so much I don't know… so much I don't understand about you… you real people," Kaworu continued.

The artificial Angel pulled a book from his shelf, a piece covering the writing and art pieces from the renaissance. SEELE had been generous with the boy's access to education and information.

"Humans…" Kaworu said slowly, wistfully, and lost in an enigmatic trance.

"Your art shows you for who you are. All of you. You love, you hate, you sorrow, and you joy. You are all so lonely and so together all at once. I have the words but lack the feelings. I have but a taste, nothing more. You humans, you Lilin, are so fascinating."

… He is growing too fast. Too open-minded. The programming ensures he will do our bidding, or does it?

That dangerous thought brought Keel's mind racing, though his face betrayed nothing. He would have to begin planning for contingencies.

As if the boy knew what he was thinking, Kaworu turned back to him.

"Do not fret. I understand why you created me, Mr. Keel. I will do it; I will be the harbinger of Instrumentality for you. Until then, I will enjoy my time here among the rest of your kind," Kaworu said with a sad smile.

Will you or will you not? Such free will and curiosity… does it help or does it make things worse for us? Perhaps we will watch you more closely from now on.

"I came to visit because I wanted to let you know that the Eva Programs are well underway. In a few years, you will be ready," Keel said at last.

Kaworu nodded. "That's good, they will know too. I hear them. The natural-born children of Adam. The enemy of Mankind."

You can hear the other Angels? Keel thought. A momentary crack in his demeanor emerged, a worry at unexpected outcomes.

"… you… you are aware of them? You can sense Adam's Children?" Keel asked, calming himself.

Kaworu nodded, and the 'boy' stared up at the walls as if seeing through them. Peering deep into the beyond, past the skies and further into the heavens.

"There is a bond between us all. My kind and there's. A network that connects us. I feel it, I feel them. A web that all Angels share. Even me. They're on their way. They'll be here in a few years. You should have time for your Evangelions to be finished. I look forward to helping you stop them," Kaworu said dreamlike.

"… there's no need. There will be other pilots that we can risk in your place. You will have your role only at the end," Keel said waving away the thought.

Kaworu frowned. "A pity."

Keel rose, leaning on his cane for assistance, and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "I'm impressed with you, Kaworu. I just wanted you to know that."

And the leader of SEELE meant it. The boy was near perfect, a secret kept from even the Ikari family.

Kaworu nodded at him… and then his frown deepened.

Keel froze.

Kaworu blinked and stumbled back nearly falling over.

"Kaworu?"

The boy gasped, winded like he'd been punched in the gut. He struggled to breathe and Keel watched in shock as the boy fell to his knees.

Kaworu screamed. An agonized blood-curdling scream that no child, human or otherwise, should utter.

…

At the same time.

Far away from SEELE's facility, inside the cockpit of Evangelion Unit 01… the Unraveling began.

The Broken Man slammed into the Entry Plug alongside his mother, space and time bent and warped for him as he used all of the combined power of the First and Second Angels.

Yui Ikari watched in stunned horror.

"Ahhhh" the Broken Man hissed as he emerged into the new world with his skin burning. Using all of his powers nearly ripped his body apart from within.

"You're always leaving me behind. Ah... why?" the Broken Man asked his mother.

…

SEELE's facility.

Kaworu screamed and screamed. Blood fell from his eyes and red tears slid down his face. The boy grasped his hair and pulled so hard that patches were pulled from his scalp.

RIP.

Keel whirled and the door to the subject's living space opened. He called for help and medics came running along with the researchers.

When he turned back to Kaworu, he found the boy on his back writhing on the ground.

Red eyes, filled with blood, turned and turned, moving from place to place rapidly as if seeing things only he could see. Lost in a hazy reality that was not their own.

Foam emerged in the boy's mouth and Keel's face grew hard.

Men stormed into the room coming to Kaworu's aid.

Keel watched as the support staff tried to save the project. He watched as millions of dollars and hundreds of hours' worth of effort writhed on the floor screaming their head off.

One word. That's what Kaworu screamed in the end. Over and over.

"Blowback!"

Karowu gargled one last time, gasping for air that never found its way to his lungs and he broke into a seizure. The boy's skin twisted and contorted, burning from the inside. The veins blackened and writhed visibly.

Silence filled the living space as Karowu closed his eyes. Bloody tears staining his face and pooling onto the floor.

Keel stepped aside as the medics panicked and hauled the pale boy off in a stretcher.

…

Kaworu Nagisa was pronounced dead within the hour. No one could explain what had happened.

The incident had not stopped with the boy's death, which had been violent and eerie. The entire body had turned against itself, skin burned and died from the inside, organs had shut down, the brain had withered.

Every single cell in Kaworu's body had died in a span of 55 seconds. The deterioration of the corpse came rapidly as well. The remains fell apart turning to dust before their very eyes.

Scientists had tried to take samples, to separate the dead tissue from the corpse and freeze it, but it hadn't mattered. Even frozen, the flesh had crumbled to ash.

There was nothing left of the body by the end. Not a single workable trace of SEELE's artificial Angel, only ashes.

It was as if some unseen force had turned the entire universe against Kaworu, rejecting him from the world of the living and leaving nothing behind. It broke all understanding of biology, even what limited knowledge of the Angels that they spent decades uncovering.

Keel pondered on Kaworu's last words. Blowback?

---

That same day.

SEELE was furious at their private researchers and scientists.

Keel himself came down upon them for not having a single method of recovery. There was nothing left for them to clone of Kaworu. Not a single strand of DNA had survived the incident.

SEELE briefly considered creating a new Kaworu from scratch, but ultimately, they knew it was too dangerous.

It had taken the Spear of Longinus to stop Adam the first time, and the God-like monster had killed two billion, a full third of the human race before he had been stopped.

In order to get the necessary DNA and soul fragments, they would have had to let the First Angel heal. Would have been forced to let Adam recover from his injuries and that was not a risk they were willing to take. Not so soon after the world was recovering from the Second Impact.

Not with the Spear of Longinus still missing. They were left with no answers, no viable solutions to create another trigger for their Instrumentality.

Keel even considered bringing Yui and Gendo Ikari in on the matter for their help. Ultimately, he decided against it. It was safer to let the underlings know only what they had to.

"We will have to find another way," Keel had told the others. The projected images of the stone monoliths that were SEELE's avatars.

…

The day only grew worse when the reports came back from the Ikari(s). The contact experiment, the activation of Eva Unit 01, had been a failure.

Yui Ikari was dead too.

Kaworu and Yui both gone in the same day. Keel hadn't felt frustration like that in decades.

…

In the days that followed, Keel pushed them all forward. SEELE continued with the Human Instrumentality Project, looking for a new trigger. A new solution to the problem and more precautions for the Eva Program.

Gendo Ikari was not his wife. He didn't have her brilliance, but he was the best they had and so the Evangelion research continued. Keel gave the man an acceptable amount of time.

He learned that Gendo's son, a young child himself, had had a seizure during Yui's disappearance. No doubt due to the trauma of the boy watching his own mother die.

Keel allowed Gendo his space. But reports came in that the man was acting strange. Gendo's son was in a coma of sorts, but the man himself threw himself back into his work. A new theory that he was looking into.

SEELE kept an eye on all of its operatives and Gendo was no different. When Gendo's son was released from the hospital, the man began looking for a caretaker.

Keel made sure that Gendo found one. A teacher and caretaker for Gendo's son, an extra pair of eyes on the man that SEELE had entrusted to lead the Eva Programs. With the advantage of a card to play if the man proved inadequate at his job.

It came as a complete surprise when reports came in of the boy, Shinji Ikari his name was, showing strange symptoms following his recovery.

The agent, the boy's caretaker and teacher, had asked Shinji to draw one of his nightmares out of curiosity. The results had startled the man so much that he had reported to his superiors. That report had made it all the way to Keel himself.

This boy… this 'Shinji Ikari' who was hearing a voice in his head, having nightmares, suffering nosebleeds, had also drawn the moment of Second Impact.

Keel checked the records himself.

Shinji Ikari had had a seizure at the exact same moment. Down to the same minute that his mother had 'disappeared' and Kaworu Nagisa had died.

All three events had occurred simultaneously. That was no coincidence.

Keel made the decision. Gendo would be promoted to Director of the soon to be re-organized Nerv, and he would hand over his son for testing.

…

Keel met with Gendo and agreements were reached.

Shinji would be turned over to one of SEELE's medical corporations as a patient, a cover for them to run their tests and experiments. Gendo had insisted on such things, he hadn't wanted Yui Ikari's son to be another lab rat.

It was easy enough. They formed an entire branch in Japan for the boy. They set up a fully staffed compound with real mental patients, all to be kept separated from Shinji of course. The boy was too special to be allowed to mix with the others.

Keel selected another of his Agents, a Dr. Page, to lead the research into Shinji Ikari.

What they found surprised them.

---

The next meeting between Gendo and Keel.

Nerv had officially been formed.

Gendo was doing well as the face of the operation on the international stage. The UN was actively supporting them publicly, getting other nations to play along with the Eva Programs.

It was after their business with various world leaders had concluded for the day that Keel summoned Gendo once again.

He arranged for the Director of Nerv to get on a six-hour flight.

"There has to be a mistake."

Those were the first words Gendo said upon seeing the data for himself.

"It is no mistake. We ran the test for months. It's gotten worse if anything. We are changing the drug dosages, finetuning the medications for the boy," Keel said, his tone business-like.

Gendo paced the room back and forth and Keel let him. A courtesy for his service.

The Director of Nerv held his emotions much better now. He was becoming a living breathing statue. Tinted glasses and fixed postures.

Even now, even in the face of monstrosity, Gendo was controlled in his unease.

"Surgery. There has to be a way. Reduce the size as if it were a tumor. Chemotherapy or-" Gendo began. He was clinical, detached from the world. A scientist through and through these days.

"There is no hope for surgery. We both know that. Look at the MRI. The infection has spread along too much brain tissue. Dr. Page informs me that it has woven itself in on the genetic level. Beyond anything that mankind could ever undo."

Gendo paused at the words. He turned finally and fixed his gaze at the printed brain scan on the desk before him.

Shinji Ikari's MRI. The scan revealed the presence of a foreign construct growing alongside the boy's brain tissue. Angel DNA to be precise.

Gendo took the printed scan within his hands looking it over. His eyes traveled up and down as if searching for something, anything he could cling to. A puzzle without a solution.

"… what happened to him. What did this thing do to Shinji?" Gendo whispered.

Keel tilted his head.

"You already know, don't you? You must have theorized about it. The day Yui died was the day he had his seizure. It was when his symptoms started," Keel said flatly.

The same day that Project Tabris died. I watched as Kaworu screamed and screamed. It all happened in the same minute. Regardless of distance, Keel reflected.

"But what is it? An infection from what?" Gendo said. The man seemed to shrink visibly at the revelation.

"You've seen the readings. Traces of Adam. The boy has become another vessel. A trigger," Keel said.

And he killed our former trigger. The tool we designed to control the Third Impact. Millions of dollars and countless hours destroyed by a boy.

Gendo was silent. His thoughts and emotions an enigma to even Keel himself. The Director of Nerv stood still and near lifeless as he learned the truth about his son.

"… what do you plan to do with him?" Gendo asked at last.

Keel took a sip of his expensive liquor. He poured a glass for Gendo, but the man made no move to take it.

"When the time comes, you know what we must do. The Dead Sea Scrolls left us with the sequence. The ritual can only be performed when all the other Angels have been dealt with."

Gendo turned to look at him. Stone-faced and expressionless.

"You don't have a trigger anymore. A way to control Instrumentality. Do you?" Gendo asked suddenly.

Keel raised his eyebrows. Clever boy. He knew we had one, despite never being told. No, Kaworu was classified even from the Ikari family.

"We have explored other methods."

"Which are?"

"Methods that are not your concern, Director Ikari."

Gendo nodded. The man was quickly learning his place, but there were times when he needed to be reminded.

Keel rose to his feet, leaning on his cane for assistance, and handed Gendo a glass of liquor.

Gendo reluctantly took it.

Drink, boy. You will need it. I am not cruel when it does not serve my purposes.

"You have to understand. This 'thing' in the ward, this Freak of ours. It is not Shinji Ikari. Not anymore. It is a hybrid. Neither Angel nor man. A trigger that must be controlled," Keel said.

Gendo took the news well. He turned away, eyes downcast, and took a long drink of the alcohol.

Keel saw the unthinkable. He saw a crack in the mask that Gendo Ikari wore. A momentary weakness where the man was a withered shell. A man without a wife or child. Left completely alone in the world.

A glimmer of a tear emerged in the man's eye and Keel let Gendo turn away from him. The Director of Nerv stared out the window into the luxurious view of the city outside.

"When will we do it?" Gendo asked.

"At the end. When the natural-born Children of Adam are gone. The way the Scrolls foretold," Keel answered.

"Until then, what will you do with him?" Gendo asked.

"I plan on making him an Eva Pilot when he comes of age. His records show a great aptitude for it. Yui wanted him to be one."

That surprised Gendo, the man wobbled at that news.

"It's dangerous. The infection will be there. Right up until the end," Gendo said.

Keel waved away the concerns. "The medications we developed can keep it under control. Shinji, whatever remains of the boy, may not even know what he is. That works for us. He has been taught to distrust the voice. We can turn him into another asset. We can turn Adam's vessel against his children. I find this most profitable."

Gendo nodded. He knew better than to argue with SEELE's leader.

Something almost like pity found its way into Keel's aged and withered heart. A man who lost so much. A wife to the Evas, and a son to the Angels themselves.

It started to rain outside. The skies darkening.

"We failed them. Yui and her son… we failed them both," Gendo said suddenly. The words came heavy and slow, the weight of the world shouldered by a mortal man.

SEELE needs you. We have invested far too much for you to quit.

"But her legacy remains. The Human Instrumentality Project continues in her name. That is what we are working for. Stay the course, and SEELE can offer you a place in the heavens. We can grant you immortality. Life everlasting. Honor your wife's sacrifice. Do not let it be in vain," Keel said solemnly.

Gendo was silent for quite some time. The rain splattered against the window, the clouds overtook the day, and the wind blew outside.

"Yes. Of course, sir. It can't all be for nothing. For Yui and her legacy," Gendo said, raising a glass in salute.

There was a moment there, Keel would have missed it were it not for his visor, the technological advancements that kept his eyes alive. A flicker of the mask returning to the wearer.

You have your own reasons for doing this, don't you Gendo? No matter. Our profit is your profit. Stay the course, and you will be rewarded.

"To Yui and her legacy," Keel said, returning the salute.

Both men took another drink of the alcohol.

---

Part 4: Declassified.

Present Day.
Nerv HQ.

Misato stormed through the halls of the hangar, Asuka nervously following closely behind. The German Girl had been ordered to put her plugsuit on. She had been placed on standby and was expected to pilot once more should the need arise.

Asuka turned to the launchpads, once again taken aback by the strange prison surrounding Eva Unit 01, a mixture of odd diamond or crystal-like structures woven together. It was uncanny… to see the marvel of engineering locked up.

She didn't like it. It made her nervous. And where the hell was Shinji? The news couldn't be right. It just couldn't be. That idiot… that kind boy. What the hell was Nerv playing at?

Misato strode right up to Ritsuko in the hangar, brushing past the engineers and security forces and grabbing her old friend by the arm.

"Remember that talk we were gonna have? Now's the time. Cut the shit and tell me what the fuck is going on?" Misato breathed.

The men in black began to close in on them, but Ritsuko gestured for the security forces to stand down.

Asuka watched the scene in disbelieving mixtures of horror and awe. She could hardly believe what had happened in the last 24 hours.

The last of Adam's Children had arrived and been defeated, Rei was acting strangely, Shinji had been taken away for 'testing', and the boy had pulled her close as he was leaving to whisper a secret.

Then, minutes ago. Nerv had summoned them back on emergency status. It was on the way to headquarters that Asuka and Misato had noticed the news articles and alerts from the city popping up everywhere. From their phones to billboards and even local tv and the internet.

Misato held up her smartphone and shoved the screen into Ritsuko's face.

It was an alert from a local news app. The headline read:

SHINJI IKARI WANTED BY NERV. Considered highly dangerous. If seen, do not approach. Call the police immediately. Please report any and all sightings.

Below the headline was a picture of the boy in his school clothes. How the hell the police or the city had gotten the photo was a mystery.

"Not here," Ritsuko said quietly.

"This alert is all over the whole goddamned city! Everywhere!" Misato cried.

Ritsuko stood silent, looking torn herself, struggling internally with her own issues. Misato glared and absolutely refused to let go when her former friend tried to pull away.

"Where is he? Where is Shinji?!" Misato shouted.

Heads turned around the hangar. Section 2 forces eyed the scene carefully.

Asuka looked around and then back at Eva Unit 02 still in its launchpad. Why did they want her here? And what the hell was she supposed to pilot against?

"… Shinji's gone… isn't he?" Asuka said suddenly. The words left her mouths slowly, and even Misato glanced back at her.

"We don't know where he is. That's why Gendo did what he did," Ritsuko answered at last. Her voice came out quiet and stiff.

"So, you call out a search party. You don't send the police after him. You don't mobilize an entire city to-"

Misato was angry, upset, and maybe a little scared. Asuka could tell, she stopped listening to the argument between the old friends and instead watched the scene all around them.

She saw Eva Units 00 and 02 standing tall in their launchpads. Saw the small army of engineers and emergency staff, the security forces and their guns. Everyone was on edge, filled with tension and racked with nerves.

Nearly all of the adults knew something that she and Misato didn't. It left her with a horrible feeling in her stomach. A weight in her chest that made it hard to breathe for a moment.

Shinji's last words to her echoed across her mind.

"You can't trust Nerv anymore."

Asuka shivered inwardly, putting on a brave face here armored in her red plugsuit.

"Where is Rei?" she asked suddenly.

No one seemed to hear her. Asuka turned to Ritsuko and Misato and their argument. She repeated herself more forcefully, grabbing both women's attention.

Shinji and Rei… what happened to them, Asuka thought. In her mind's eye, she saw them. The first Eva Pilots and both currently missing.

"Rei is in the medical wing. She's sick and is currently unfit for piloting duties," Ritsuko answered quietly.

Misato scowled. "And Shinji?"

Ritsuko looked away again. "... I can't say."

"Can't or won't?!" Misato shouted.

"Katsuragi!" a voice called from above.

The shout pulled everyone's eyes upward and the argument stopped.

The Director of Nerv himself was watching the scene from above. Gendo stood peering down at them from the railing of the upper platforms.

Misato reluctantly released Ritsuko and made to speak, demanding to know what was going on and where Shinji was.

"I will answer your questions. All of them," Gendo interrupted suddenly.

Asuka narrowed her eyes. Even Misato crossed her arms. That was not what they were expecting.

"It's time you were briefed. Report to my office. Ms. Sohryu, you will join us," Gendo informed them.

Without another word, Gendo turned and left them all behind stunned.

Misato turned to glare one last time at Ritsuko, before she walked off. Asuka followed and together they headed for the Director's office.

Asuka glanced back as they left, she noticed Ritsuko turning away from everything and everyone absolutely absorbed in her work.

---

They found the Director of Nerv already waiting in his office for them, alone. He had several documents on his desk and was working on his personal computer.

Misato strode into the room practically radiating frustration. Asuka stiffly entered alongside her. She had never been in here, in the office of Nerv's leader.

It was big and spacious. But bare-bones with no personal effects of any kind. Not even a window.

"Sit," Gendo commanded without looking up.

Misato scowled but did as she was ordered. Asuka followed suit.

"I want answers. I'm tired of being kept in the dark-"

"You will have your answers in this very moment," Gendo cut in flatly

To their surprise, he finally looked up at them. He took off his tinted glasses and the sheer state of the man shocked them. His eyes were hollow from sleep deprivation and exhaustion.

It was the first time either of them could remember ever seeing Gendo Ikari without his glasses.

"What I'm about to tell you is above top-secret level information. Even Dr. Akagi was only recently briefed. It's time you were brought into the fold. Both of you," Gendo said, looking to Misato and Asuka in turn.

The Director of Nerv sighed and pulled free a single document from his desk and handed it over to Misato.

Hesitantly, Misato took the report and Asuka leaned over to get a look.

The document was a medical report, heavily sealed and recently declassified by the looks of it. Records from a young patient, complete with blood work, psychological evaluations, and a brain scan from an MRI.

Misato froze at the sight of the MRI. Asuka did too. They didn't need to be neurologists to see the foreign construct alongside normal healthy-looking brain tissue.

"What am I looking at? A tumor? Cancer? Why are you showing us this?" Misato asked, growing more uneasy by the second.

The next words left both women utterly speechless.

"That is a scan of Shinji's brain from when he was a child."

Misato whirled, her eyes widening in absolute horror. Her hands shook and the paper almost fell from her hands.

"… what?"

"It's an infection. It's been with him for a long time now. Growing. Spreading," Gendo explained.

Misato stared openly gaping at the man.

"You mean… it's still there inside him?"

Gendo nodded.

"We need a surgeon! Why haven't you-"

"Because it is inoperable. This is not a tumor. It is an infection. That construct has woven itself in on a genetic level. Even if we could cut it out safely... it would just grow back," Gendo answered.

The man sounded tired. As if he had already had this exact conversation before multiple times.

Misato's face fell and she shivered as she looked at the MRI again.

Asuka only sat there unblinkingly. Not able to understand with this meant. There was an infection, a construct, inside of Shinji's head.

"We had the brain analyzed with MRIs throughout the years and we found a blue pattern there. Angel DNA," the Director of Nerv continued.

Stop talking… just stop. Why are you doing this? Asuka thought. A sickening feeling was beginning to form in her stomach. A lingering sense of dread.

Gendo leaned in, and without the tinted-glasses to hide his expression, they saw the grim sorrowful regret in his eyes. Human after all. Old and defeated.

"Shinji Ikari is the final Angel."

The Director of Nerv made the proclamation and the world stopped. It took seconds for the impact to be felt. The announcement sent their ears ringing.

It couldn't be true. There must have been a mistake. Asuka found her mouth agape but couldn't remember opening it. She turned to Misato looking for help.

Misato's face fell into something beyond denial. She peered up at Gendo and shook her head speaking in a low quiet murmur.

"No… no… that's not possible. That's just not," the woman stammered, her voice a low croak.

Asuka felt her lips tremble and she found herself shaking.

"He's an Eva Pilot. He kills the Angels, he's not one of them," the German girl said trying to sound firm and confident.

Gendo regarded them both with pity. He slouched back into his chair saying, "I didn't want to believe it at first either."

Asuka rose from her seat nearly shouting, "Adam's Last Child came yesterday. We saw it happen! That was the Last Angel!"

Gendo regarded her slowly.

"That was Armisael. It was the Last Child born from Adam. But Shinji is not a spawn of the First Angel. He was not born what he is, but made that way," Gendo said.

Asuka seethed. This wasn't right. It couldn't be.

"We don't know how it happened. Only when. It started when we activated Eva Unit 01. The First Contact Experiment. It was the same day his mother, my wife, Yui died. In that exact moment when she disappeared… our son had a seizure. The first sign of his symptoms.

He recovered but he started having problems. He began to hear 'a voice' in his head. He started to see things that weren't there. He started having dreams."

On and on, Gendo spoke. And the more he talked the more the world stopped making sense.

Gendo opened a folder on his desk and spread the printed scans around for them to see.

The prints were scanned drawings made by a child. Crude and quickly made, the child's drawings showed a series of images and the Angels.

Asuka recognized them. She saw the tank-like Angel that had breached Nerv, the ocean monster that had attacked the Pacific Fleet, the flying monstrosity that had reached into her mind, the Angel that had infected an Evangelion Unit during the Five Angel Crisis, and more.

Every single Angel with the exception of the Beast was there. All drawn in coloring pencil.

"Shinji made these when he was only a boy. We had people in the ward watching over him and they asked him to draw his nightmares. He dreamt of the Angels. Adam's Children. Because that's what the infection is. A piece of Adam latched itself onto the boy. He is a vessel for the First Angel," Gendo continued.

"You're wrong!" Misato shouted suddenly. She flew to her feet as well, pointing accusingly at Gendo, eyes wide in disbelief.

"Adam, Ms. Katsuragi. The Dark God that murdered your father. That killed two billion people, a full one-third of the human race."

Misato stumbled at the mention of her father. She wobbled with tears forming in her eyes.

"It's alive. It's sentient. And it's been slowly taking control of Shinji for years. Eating away at him."

"Why are you doing this?! He's your son and you… you always hated him. You never treated him well. You never loved him, and he never loved you!" Misato said, her voice cracking the entire time.

Gendo turned the computer monitor around for them to see and played a video.

The feed displayed a timestamp from a few hours ago.

"This is footage from a secret body camera that Section 2 uses," Gendo explained flatly.

The video showed one of the men in black's perspective as he ran through a crowded street. Shinji's figure was visible amid a small sea of people, running as fast as he could.

Asuka found herself glued to the screen, mesmerized at the scene playing out on the monitor.

Shinji ran into an alley behind a series of bars away from the crowds and Section-2 followed him, she watched as one of the men drew their gun. Her heart stopped as they pulled the trigger, and the boy whirled with his hand raised.

An AT Field erupted into existence from Shinji's hand. No Evangelion. All on his own.

She heard Misato gasp and together they witnessed Shinji using the shield like a battering ram, mirroring his movements with the Eva, and take down two grown men with guns.

Gendo stopped the footage with a stony expression on his face.

"I ordered Section 2 to escort the boy to an isolated base. There he was to wait whilst all staff was evacuated and an N2 mine detonated underneath his room."

Asuka flinched at the news. An N2 mine… Nerv had been planning to bomb Shinji to death.

"It was the only way to be sure. We could not predict how powerful he has become. We thought to overwhelm his defenses before he could protect himself," Gendo said, expression downcast and cold.

The Director of Nerv took a small breath, staring at his gloved hands.

"This world has been cruel to me. I lost my wife in the blink of an eye. And I had to watch our son be corrupted from within. I had to watch this Abomination grow underneath, a walking nightmare that wore the face of my only child.

There were moments… times where I allowed myself to be deceived. Where I thought that Shinji would break free, that he would fight off the infection. But deep down I knew the truth. There would come a day when it would assume complete control.

So, yes, I was cold to the boy. I was harsh and severe. I put up a wall between us. I'm Director of Nerv, and it is my responsibility to defeat the enemy of mankind," Gendo said, his voice weary and old.

Something very painful was happening to Asuka. Her memories of the boy came flashing by to her, darkening, twisting. Her partner, the idiot who had slowly become her friend and dare she say… family.

In her mind's eye, she imagined a shadow lurking underneath the boy's head. A monster hiding in plain sight. A creature, a parasite, living off of one of the kindest and warm people she had ever met.

"Even as a child, Shinji showed a high aptitude for piloting. The Angel DNA inside him gave him a prowess, a connection to the Eva, that he barely had to work for. And Nerv had successfully produced a drug that could slow the infection down. It brought Shinji moments of peace, and we lied to him and the world to protect him.

We told him that the 'voice' in his head and the visions were a mental illness. We faked medical records to ensure the secret was kept.

Nerv turned the Angel's power against them a second time. With the drugs suppressing the infection, we made Shinji an Eva Pilot. He fought the Angels and he won." Gendo continued.

Asuka remembered hearing rumors of Shinji on her way to Japan. Of how the boy had achieved a 91% sync on his first piloting run. At how the boy had seemed to be on par with her or even at times surpassing her without putting in even half of the work that she had. She had been a prodigy, but Shinji had been something else.

It had unnerved her to no end. That such a strange 'spineless' boy, or so she had thought at the time, could be so good at piloting. Her rival.

"But it could never last. The infection could never truly be stopped, not even with his medication. As long as the Abomination remained then the world would never be safe. Shinji came back changed after his two months in the Eva. And he's always had strange behavior. Moments where he seemed not himself," Gendo said eerily calm.

Asuka remembered standing on the balcony of the apartment, watching as Shinji stood with his eyes closed and hands held up as if in prayer. She had tried to mess with him only for the boy to grab her hand in the blink of an eye, she remembered how he had seemed different that night.

She remembered him always being sure to take his medicine. At how she had hurt him by calling them his 'crazy pills'.

At how Shinji had been the only one to break free of the Nightmare.

Asuka fell to the chair, gasping for air, and held her head in her lap. She ran her hands through her hair as more memories came flooding past, a dark shadow coming upon them.

Shinji sneaking out at night. To see Mari? Or something else?

Shinji screaming for his mother at night. Having nightmares so bad that he woke her up across the hall.

"You let this continue… you let him be your weapon… all the while you were planning to kill him in the end. You had him raised like a pig for slaughter…" Misato wheezed breathlessly.

The words hit Asuka harder than if she had been punched.

"I did what I had to. To see that we had the best Eva Pilots there could be. You know Shinji has always been strange. Things that he never shared with you. I'm sure you noticed," Gendo said, voice hard as steel.

Misato blinked back tears, a hand covering her mouth.

Since the beginning… Nerv planned to kill him. His own father… Asuka thought.

She remembered that day at the park when he had been the one to help her. When the boy had called her dad for help.

In her mind's eye, she imagined her friend from that night. Sitting beside her on the swing, sad and aged beyond his years, but warm and kind.

"You're so lucky, Asuka. So lucky, and you don't even see it," Shinji had said with his heart bleeding into his words, genuine and vulnerable.

"Your dad loves you. He really does… I'd give anything to have that. A father who cared."

She felt tears in her eyes and remembered Peter.

The image of Shinji that she had simply didn't match what Gendo was telling her. She... she cared about him. He had jokingly called her 'little sister'. He had put up with her when she was still learning to be nice.

He had risked his life to save her and been punished for it. The sad lonely boy who she hadn't truly seen until she had almost been broken herself.

"The piece of Adam knew what was coming. It has control of the boy. Shinji is long gone, and in his place stands the First Angel come again. Mankind's greatest enemy. He would bring about the end times. He may return here to get his Eva. I've had it imprisoned as a precaution," Gendo continued, unabated.

Gendo got to his feet and put his glasses back on. The Director of Nerv had returned, calculating and pragmatic with no emotion left.

Misato slouched into her chair, peering up at him with bloodshot eyes.

"That's why you're here. Now you know the truth. Even without the Eva he is dangerous. If Shinji makes it back to Nerv than you will stop him, Ms. Sohryu," Gendo ordered.

Asuka shook her head slowly, numbly. As if someone else was doing it.

"I can't do that," she whimpered.

"Oh yes you can, Ms. Sohru. You've been killing Angels since day one here. What's another?"

Asuka stared at him with a blank expression.

Misato wouldn't look at her, she wouldn't look at anyone.

"Take some time to process this. But I forbid you to leave. You're on call. The world is at stake," Gendo told them.

…

They left the Director's office in a daze. Neither speaking.

Shinji…

The thought played across both their minds.

Asuka shook her head not wanting to believe it. All the pieces were there, declassified information from the Director of Nerv himself. The MRIs. The footage of Shinji using an AT Field.

But then she stopped in her tracks.

"You can't trust Nerv anymore."

Shinji's last words to her.

"He knew…" Asuka whispered gasping.

Misato turned to her, still lost herself.

He knew that Nerv was coming for him. He KNEW that they'd ask me to kill him.

Asuka whirled storming off. This wasn't right. Things didn't add up, she just knew it. There was more to the story, they're had to be.

She needed time to think.

Misato raised a hand reaching out to her. But Asuka was already gone.

---

Elsewhere.
Safehouse.

Shinji paced the windowless room. It felt good to stretch his legs and not think about everyone out there whilst he hid here.

The Broken Man had told him to be patient, but he could only wait for so long.

When the message came on the prepaid phone Kaji had given him, he opened it immediately.

It's done. I'm outside. – K.

"He did it," Shinji breathed, relieved.

The package was stashed away safely. Good. Now we can move on.

I can finally help and stop risking the others.

Shinji double-checked the stolen gun he had; the safety was still on.

"No more hiding. It's time," the boy muttered. He walked the halls of the safehouse and left the confines of the windowless chamber and locked the door behind him.

He breathed the outside air once again and made his way back into the world, leaving the abandoned buildings behind. The clever deception that spies had set up and that he had used for their own ends.

Kaji, he thought spotting a car coming for him in the distance.

Shinji walked forward planning on meeting the spy halfway when suddenly… he stumbled.

He found his body wobbling and he wasn't sure why. Half a second later and he had trouble breathing.

Get to cover!

Shinji tried to gasp but found that he couldn't. His knees stopped working properly, and he started falling to the ground.

He glanced down at his shirt and saw a patch of red. It was small but spreading lightly around his chest. Time slowed for him and he felt nothing but the cold, the absence of heat.

The world slid into the dark and what little he could see blurred. The noise vanished, and all in the silence, he felt his Other rippling inside him trying to take control but struggling. Still in that same half-second, he felt his heart pause mid-beat.

I… It can't end here… not yet…

He had been shot.

---

This was a hard complex chapter to write.
We're seeing multiple perspectives on past events, and they overlap. A lot of threads come together in unexpected ways.

I don't think anyone guessed the 'Tabris' aspect of Unravel, and I kinda feel proud about that. All the pieces were there. The blowback effect and subtle things in the very first 20 chapters. The way Gendo and Keel spoke about Shinji, etc.

What did you think? About Gendo's reveal? Keel? Poor Misato and Asuka.

Thanks for Reading and please Review!