Fate is a fickle thing; the universe can be twisted, turned, and thrown about in a number of ways, and most often by the most simple of actions. In another world, Gendo Ikari would send a letter to his son demanding his return to Tokyo-3, and his son would comply, later going through months of terror and trauma until he found himself causing the Third Impact. In this world, however, Gendo had himself the slightest moment of sympathy; he always hated the train, so he would simply send a VTOL, piloted by one Misato Katsuragi, to pick up Shinji, accidentally setting off a new chain of events in Shinji Ikari's story.
Shinji desperately clutched the handle of his duffle bag, waiting for Father's appointed time. The letter he sent told him to be in town around 1 o'clock, and here he was, fifteen minutes after, still waiting. He shifted slightly, uncomfortable in his white shirt and black dress pants, as the blazing sun beat down on his back. A small buzzing noise seemed to fill the air, and he waved at whatever insect was beating around his head, but the noise didn't go away. In fact, it got much, much louder.
As the brown-haired boy turned around, he was pelted by hundreds of rocks and waves of dust, as a massive steel vehicle, looking like a cross between a helicopter and a jet, sat down directly in the middle of his hometown. He coughed, trying to get the dust out of his throat, and didn't even notice when a purple-haired woman hopped out of the cockpit and reached a hand down to help him up. He looked up at her, and was momentarily stunned.
"Sorry about that!" Misato exclaimed with a smile. "It's only my third time driving one of those. You must be Shinji Ikari, right?"
"Um… yes, that's me." Shinji replied, as he accepted her hand and got to his feet. "You… Do you work for my father?"
"Yep!" she responded, as she began walking towards the vehicle, waving over her shoulder for him to follow her. "I'm the captain of the Bridge Crew, and I'm in charge of commanding the Evangelions for NERV."
"...what?" he asked, totally lost. Bridge crew, captain; was his dad in the military? He always thought his father was a scientist. "Where are we going?"
"Don't worry, Shinji." She said with a smile as she opened the door on the passenger side, ushering him inside. "Everything will be explained to you in full when we return to NERV."
"What's NERV? Is that who my dad works for?" Shinji asked, as he buckled what appeared to be a seatbelt just as Misato began to take off.
"Him and I both do. Your father is the Supreme Commander of NERV, an organization meant to help prevent the Third Impact." Misato explained, as she carefully maneuvered the rising VTOL out and around the small town they were in. "I'm not sure why I was sent to retrieve you, but I'm assuming your father wants something. Who knows, maybe this'll be fun?"
"Not likely." he grumbled, as he set his duffle bag between his legs. "I don't think Father likes me very much."
"Oh, don't say that! I'm sure things have changed." Misato replied. "Now strap in, we've got a few hours until we're back in Tokyo-3."
Bardiel, Humiliated Son of God, Angel of Haze, and 13th Angel of Adam, only felt one thing nowadays; boredom. At first, when he was born, he felt anger at the Lilim for scarring his father, as much of a jerk as Adam was, and he planned on how to destroy them. He would spend weeks coming up with intricate plans, only for him to still be stuck, alone, in a rain cloud high above the earth, drifting to and fro. After fifteen years of waiting however, he didn't really care much anymore; he just wanted to get out and do something with his life, for God's sake.
Plus, when it happened to get foggy and he would descend to the earth, he had gotten to observe the Lilim's cultures and lives, and he had to admit, he was jealous. Sure, having the Fruit of Life was great; unlimited energy, incredible power, and more, but with it also came crippling loneliness. No two children of Adam were allowed to be active at the same time, and if they finished their goal, then everyone would become one again. If he was honest with himself, he longed to be among the Lilim.
"I miss my siblings." Bardiel mused to himself, as his cloud hovered lowly over Japan. "Well, except perhaps Gaghiel, and Ramiel, and Arael, and… actually, you know what, my siblings suck. I'm just lonely."
He extended his AT field out, lightly enough that he would not set off any alarms, and tried to feel if anyone was flying through his cloud. Nobody had, of course, not for the last fifteen years, but Bardiel never gave up hope. As he unfurled the light of his soul, he didn't sense a thing; disappointed, he was about to close it off when he felt it. A small pinprick on the light of his soul.
"Could it be? Someone, FINALLY, after fifteen years?" Bardiel asked himself, as he raced over to the edge of his cloud. Sure enough, a rickety VTOL was flying along through the cloud, headed downward towards the city below. He gazed inside, seeing two people; a purple-haired woman wearing a red flight jacket, and a young boy with brown hair, dressed altogether too formally for Bardiel's taste.
The angel sat back for a moment, considering his options. His father was Adam, a God in himself. He had commanded all his children to stay put, bide their time, and then avenge him. He had given each of them numbers too, and told them to never act out of order, lest they fail to save him. Doing anything other than biding his time and waiting for his turn would be heresy of the highest order, and would be the greatest act of disobedience since Lilith crashed here millions of years ago.
"You know what, fuck it." Bardiel muttered. "I'd rather commit heresy than sit here for another fifteen years."
He bent the light of his soul, turning himself from a cloud into his true form, a viscous liquid resembling blackish LCL, and threw himself at the vehicle, latching onto the side.
"Good Adam, the winds are much stronger when you're not a cloud!" Bardiel thought, as he desperately inched forward, finally finding a small crevice in the exterior. "Aha, gotcha! All these Lilim tin-cans have a hole in 'em somewhere."
He squeezed himself through, finding himself in the interior of the vehicle. The boy and the woman were sitting up front, and the rest of the jet had been stripped completely clean. He squeezed over on the side of the boy, looking for a place to hide for the moment, and spotted a bag in between the boy's legs.
"Jackpot!" he thought to himself, as he seeped through the material of the bag, finding a nice white shirt to bond himself to. "And now, we wait."
"Ms. Misato, where did you learn how to pilot?" Shinji asked through a clenched fist, as he held his hand to his mouth, trying to avoid vomiting.
"Oh, when I was in the U.N. Military!" Misato exclaimed, as she opened his door for him, allowing the boy to stumble out onto the pavement. "Man, it's good to be home!"
"Home?" Shinji thought to himself, as he wiped his mouth after having emptied the contents of his stomach. He stood to his feet, expecting to see an airport of some kind, and was shocked to find himself in the parking lot of an apartment complex, completely devoid of vehicles and inhabitants, with the exception of the massive VTOL. "What? Where are we?"
"Relax, kiddo." Misato said with a smile. "This is my apartment block. We're stopping here so you can change before you go to NERV. That shirt you're wearing is a little… dirty."
Shinji looked down at himself, noticing that the once-white dress shirt had been colored a faint yellowish-orange by the waves of dust from the VTOL earlier that day. He shuddered slightly; he didn't like to publicly admit it, but he was a bit of a germaphobe.
"You'll be able to wash up and change before we head to see your father tonight." Misato said, as she began walking up a nearby set of stairs. Shinji quickly got to his feet and followed her, catching up with her right as she came to a stop in front of a door and swiping a keycard. "Welcome, Shinji Ikari! It's a little messy, don't mind."
Shinji followed her inside, and was met by the incredible stench of stale beer upon entering the apartment. He gagged slightly, and looked around to see the piles of garbage and refuse left lying about; the trash can was overflowing, and there were cans of Yebisu laying on or next to every surface in the house.
"The bathroom is down the hall." Misato shouted from her room, startling Shinji out of his stupor. "We leave in half an hour, so try not to take too much time in there, m'kay?"
"Yes, Ms. Misato!" he shouted back, before carefully navigating his way around the trash into the hallway. He found the bathroom quickly enough, and shut the door behind him as he entered. He quickly turned on the shower, and washed himself thoroughly with the few toiletries he had. He hopped out, drying himself with a towel and hanging it over a handrail, and went through his bag.
He quickly found his underwear, dress pants, and socks, sliding them on as he searched through for a shirt to wear. Most of them were horribly wrinkled, much to his chagrin; just as he was about to give up hope, the last shirt was in perfect condition. He pulled it out, and flapped it to make it unfold itself. It was perfectly white, as if he had just bought it, and didn't have a single crease in it anywhere. He shrugged to himself slightly as he shouldered it on; who was he to complain about good fortune?
"I'm ready, Ms. Misato!" Shinji exclaimed, as he cautiously tiptoed his way back out to the front room. The woman in question emerged from her room, throwing an empty can of beer onto the pile.
"Alrighty, let's go see your father!" she exclaimed, leading him back down to the VTOL, which he reluctantly climbed into the passenger seat of. As he moved to buckle his seatbelt, a massive earthquake shook the jet, throwing him out of his seat and onto the floor.
"Ms. Misato, what's happening?" he exclaimed, as he sat himself back down in the chair. He turned to look at the woman, who was paying him no mind whatsoever; instead, she was staring intensely out the window. He followed her gaze, finally realizing what she was looking at; a giant green monster crashed to the ground outside Tokyo-3.
"The Angels have returned." Misato muttered, before quickly turning back to the young boy in the passenger seat. "Buckle up, Shinji."
"I was planning on it." the boy muttered, before letting out a yelp of shock as Misato wrenched the vehicle up into the air; half out of urgency to escape the Angel, and half out of spite for the boy's comment.
As their elevator descended downwards, Shinji kept his eyes glued to the manual Misato had handed him on their way into the Geofront. He pored over everything that wasn't inked out, trying to gain even the slightest of understanding as to why he was here. His reading was interrupted, however, when the elevator door dinged, and a blonde woman wearing a painfully skin-tight wetsuit with only a lab coat over the top was revealed.
"Hey, Ritsuko!" Misato said sheepishly, as the other woman entered the elevator. "Sorry about this."
"Stop playing games, Misato." Ritsuko responded. "You're taking up valuable time and personnel because you don't know how to read a map."
"I said I was sorry, Rits." Misato bit back, before gesturing towards Shinji. "May I present to you; Shinji Ikari, the Third Child."
"Nice to meet you, Shinji." Ritsuko said with a smile. "I'm Doctor Ritsuko Akagi. I work with your father here at NERV."
"Oh… um, hi." he muttered. He turned his eyes away, before feeling a sudden, rippling, sense of discomfort that felt like it was surrounding him.
"Oh, come on, for Adam's sake, you can do better than that." he thought to himself. His inner voice sounded somewhat off; maybe it was exasperation at the situation. He straightened himself up a little bit, and smiled at the woman.
"Nice to meet you too." he responded, reaching his hand out. "I'm Shinji Ikari, but you already knew that." He chuckled, scratching the back of his neck.
"Well, I'm glad that you're here, Shinji." the doctor began. She was cut short by the ding! of the elevator, however, and she turned to face the elevator doors as they opened, revealing inky black darkness. She walked out into the dark room, Misato following, and he quickly bustled along, not wanting to be left behind.
"It's so dark, I can't see a thing, Rits." Misato muttered. "Can't you spare a girl a little light?"
The lights suddenly flared on, causing all three of them to jump. Shinji rubbed his eyes, and opened them to find himself staring at a giant purple… face?!
"Aah!" he exclaimed, as he jumped back. "What is that?"
"That is Evangelion Unit-01." Ritsuko responded, as she faced the machine, her hands linked behind her back. "Mankind's ultimate weapon."
"Weapon? For what?" he asked, before realization finally dawned on him. "You don't mean it's for that giant monster outside, do you?"
"Correct." a terrifyingly familiar voice called out. Shinji turned to the sound of the voice, seeing his father above him. "And you will be it's pilot."
"Excuse me?" he thought, before recoiling a bit inside his head. That seems a bit harsh for him, but… you know what, maybe his father deserved a little harshness.
"Excuse me?" Shinji shouted. "You want me to do WHAT?"
"You will pilot Evangelion Unit-01 in combat against the Angel." Gendo responded, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
"And what makes you think I'll do that?" Shinji shouted. He felt bad for yelling at his father, but his internal monologue was feeding him lines, and he was too angry to back down, and too frustrated to realize the voice in his head was actually one of the creatures he was being tasked with destroying.
Gendo frowned at his son's response. This was nothing like what the detailed psychological profile he had done on the boy predicted; everything he was told described the boy as a meek, self-effacing, and mopey boy. Responding like this wasn't only concerning; this meant the entire psychological profile was wasted.
"You'll pilot it because you're the only one who can." Gendo said, settling on his course of responses. "If you don't, all of us here will perish."
"Why am I the only one who can pilot it?" Shinji asked, his voice straining at high volumes. "Why call me back now? Why never talk to me until you need me to pilot some robot?"
"A need arose, so I sent for you." Gendo responded coldly.
"Bastard." He thought, then he stopped for a moment. Again, that's a word he wouldn't ever dare say or think; maybe high stress situations caused his instructor's insistence on not swearing to lessen a little.
"That's all I am to you?" Shinji muttered, looking directly at his father. "A need?"
"Either get in the EVA or get out!" his father shouted, drawing the looks of all the NERV crew members and engineers around the room.
"Don't run away, don't run away, don't run away." Shinji thought to himself as he stared at the ground, clenching his fists as tears began to well up in his eyes. His knees felt weak as he shuddered, repeating the mantra in his head. "Don't run away, don't run away, don't run away."
"Of course you're not gonna run away." Another voice spoke. "You're gonna get in the damn robot, and you're gonna go kick Sachiel's ass to show your father who's boss!"
"Wha… who is that?" he shouted in his mind. The voice that spoke up this time was very distinctly not his. "Why are you in my head?"
"I guess I'm your… uh… guardian Angel. Yeah, that's it!" the voice responded with a snigger. "Now, you're just gonna have to trust me, Shinji; get in the goddamn robot."
Shinji shuddered; he felt slightly better about himself now that he knew he was not, in fact, slipping into cursing as a habit, but that relief immediately tapered off into the fact that there was a voice in his head talking to him.
"I'll do it, Father." Shinji responded, choosing to listen to the voice in his head, whether out of naivety or out of hope. "I'll pilot the EVA."
"Defrosting process is complete!" a voice called out, as Shinji took a seat inside the large metal tube Doctor Akagi called an 'entry plug.' "Bindings on the right arm are fully repaired!"
"Um, Doctor?" Shinji asked, as he sat down, and tried to make himself comfortable. "Is this really… well, safe?"
"I won't lie to you, Shinji." the blonde said, as she tapped in a few digits on a tablet she carried. "This Evangelion is finicky at best, and downright stubborn at worst. But Commander Ikari believes you're the one; all we're asking you to do is sit in the cockpit and see if you can synchronize with the EVA."
"Oh… okay." he muttered, as the hatch closed itself, and he felt the entry plug lurch forward. "That wasn't very comforting."
"Commence LCL injection into entry plug!" the voice said, this time echoing from inside the plug. Shinji shuffled uncomfortably in the chair, until suddenly the plug began filling with an orange goop.
"AH! What is this stuff?" Shinji exclaimed.
"Don't worry, Shinji, it's just LCL." Ritsuko explained. "It's fully oxygenated; let it fill your lungs and you'll be able to breathe through it."
Shinji took a deep breath in, shuddering as the goo filled his lungs. "This is so gross."
"Gross, are you kiddin' me? I LIVE for this stuff." the voice in Shinji's head chuckled.
"All initial contacts are a go." Ritsuko said, as she looked over at the boy's chart. "Synch rate is… 41.3%! That's fantastic, Shinji!"
"Do I have your permission to launch, Commander?" Misato asked, turning to face Gendo.
"Of course. Our defeat of the angel is imperative for the continued survival of humanity." Gendo responded
"Evangelion Unit-01, launch!"
The lift lets out a massive clang as it slams to the surface, bringing Shinji Ikari and his Evangelion with it. He fidgeted slightly in the cockpit, his brain racing at a million miles per hour, as the restraints retracted, leaving the robot freestanding in the middle of the city.
"Final safety locks disengaged." Ritsuko shouts to the bridge, as she activates the microphone to Shinji's plug. "Alright, Shinji, just focus your mind on walking. The Evangelion will do the rest."
"Walk." Shinji muttered under his breath, and he felt the earth lurch under him as the Evangelion began to move towards the giant green monster, which had just turned around the corner. "Walk. Walk."
"It's walking." Ritsuko said, awed by the video feed in front of her. "It's really walking."
Suddenly, Shinji felt a jerk in his right foot as the Evangelion lost balance, and tumbled face first to the ground. The EVA's ceratopsian horn clanged as it slammed into a telephone pole, and Shinji found himself stuck on the ground.
"Shinji!" Misato yelled. "C'mon, just focus on standing, that's all, just stand up and then you can fight!"
"Move!" Shinji yelled, as he yanked against the controls. "Please, just move!"
"Shinji, I can help you, but you gotta trust me." the voice echoed in Shinji's head. "Let me help you."
"No, I… I don't know you!" Shinji shouted. "I don't… I don't know what's going on!"
"Shinji, what's going on?" Ritsuko asked. A blast of static echoed out, and she cringed away from the microphone. "I've got no visual or audio inside the plug, and the psychograph is going haywire!"
The Third Angel regarded the Shadow of Lilith curiously; the Lilim seemed to have covered it in all sorts of peculiar trinkets, for what purpose it didn't know. It cared not, however, as it continued its call to Adam's duty. It grabbed Unit-01 by the face, and felt a deep thrum as the lance jutting from its elbow armed, before slamming into the Unit's visor.
"AAH!" Shinji screamed in pain, as he clutched his right eye. "Stop! Please, stop!"
"Goddamnit, little Lilim, let me help you!" the voice yelled in Shinji's head.
"Please, make it stop!" Shinji howled.
"I choose to take that as a request!" the voice shouted, before mentally cracking its knuckles. "Shinji, I'm going to have to ask you to PLEASE not freak out."
As Shinji howled in pain, he felt his shirt rustle and move on its own. He looked down with his one good eye to see his shirt had transformed into a strange black goo, and had sprouted a dozen tendrils which had grabbed ahold of each of the controls. Naturally, Shinji did the only thing that he could think to do at that time; scream at the top of his lungs.
"Dammnit, I told you NOT to freak out!" the voice yelled, as it grabbed ahold of the Angel's arm, pulling it off of Unit-01's face. The EVA crashed to the ground and took a few steps backwards. The Angel simply looked at Unit-01, it's birdlike face seemingly confused.
"Dr. Akagi, Shinji's synch rate has increased to 70.7% and is rising rapidly!" a male voice screamed, as frantic typing filled the comm channels. "But the A10 nerve connection isn't degenerating!"
"What does that mean, Ritsuko?" Misato asked, thoroughly confused by the technobabble.
"It means that the Evangelion isn't going berserk." Ritsuko replied. "Shinji's experiencing some sort of greater form of synchronization with Eva, greater than we've ever observed."
"Alrighty, we're taking the kiddie gloves off now, Sachiel!" the voice exclaimed, as the Evangelion crouched down on the ground, before lashing out both arms like whips to grab the Angel's wrists, extending further than the Evangelion was tall. A loud crack echoed through the city streets as the Angel's wrists snapped, spraying blood all over the streets.
"What… how'd you do that?" Shinji asked, his fear having been overruled by pure shock.
"This big lug can do all sorts of neat stuff." the voice said, withdrawing the tendrils from the controls, before wrapping them around Shinji's arms. "Now, the reins are all yours, Shinji. Kick the Angel's ass."
"I… I can't do that." Shinji replied. "I don't know how, I… I can't do anything!"
"Yes you can, Lilim, because I'm gonna help you." the voice responded. "You take the controls, and I'll help you."
"Alright." Shinji said, before grabbing the controls. "What do I do?"
"That big thing in the Angel's chest is the Core." the voice explained. "Destroy the Core, and the Angel dies with it."
"Destroy the core." Shinji muttered to himself, as he pushed the controls forward. "Got it!"
Unit-01 lunged forward, tackling the Angel to the ground, and slamming its fists directly into the core. The restraints on the jaws seemed to crack slightly, as a guttural howl echoed out from the Unit's throat. As the Evangelion rained blow after blow down on the Angel's core, the creature remained completely motionless, seemingly accepting the attacks.
"Almost there, Shinji!" the voice exclaimed. "Just a few more!"
"Stay down!" Shinji yelled, as he threw another haymaker into the monster's core.
Suddenly, the beast lurched forward, wrapping both of its broken arms around the Evangelion, and the core began to glow brightly.
"Oh, shit!" the voice exclaimed, before Shinji felt the black goo cover him from head to toe. "Duck and cover. Shinji!"
The boy covered his head with his hands, before feeling the entry plug shake like an atomic blast had gone off, before suddenly… silence.
"The Angel has detonated!" Ritsuko shouted, as she raced over to a nearby terminal to check a readout. "No readouts from the pilot; everything has gone static!"
"Shinji!" Misato yelled, turning to one of the bridge bunnies. "Get me visual on Unit-01!"
"Drone C11 is in the area, feed coming back on in two seconds!" one of them declared. The viewscreen was suddenly filled up with the feed from the drone, and the entire crew took a collective gasp.
Unit-01 appeared a ghastly-black as it trudged forward, the bright-red core of the Angel, matching the glowing red highlights where once had been glowing green, cradled within its palm. The demonic visage on the Evangelion's helm seemed to smile as it held up the core over its head, crushing it within its palm. The red crystal seemed to gush, like a severed heart, as it flowed down the Evangelion's horned head, covering the monster's helm and torso with crimson. It reared back, letting out a guttural roar of rage before finally leaning over into a hunched posture, powering itself down.
"Unit-01… has powered down." a crewmember muttered, waking the inhabitants of Central Dogma from their stupor. "Pilot life signs are normal."
"Get a rescue crew out there now!" Misato bellowed. "Pilot recovery, first priority!"
"This wasn't part of the scenario, Ikari." Fuyutsuki muttered.
"No matter." Gendo replied. "It's well-enough within the parameters of the Scenario."
"Are we still talking about the same Scenario?" Fuytutsuki asked.
Shinji's eyes flew open, and he looked around, trying to figure out what had happened. He found himself lying in a hospital bed, the clinical smell of freshly-cleaned linens filling the air. There was a massive set of windows lining the wall, and the entire room was empty, save for a chair next to the bed, and a small cart with some medical equipment positioned on the top of it. He sat up, and felt a dull throb in his head right above his eye. He instinctually rubbed it, trying to get the pain to go away.
"You're lucky, Shinji." The mysterious voice from before said. "If it wasn't for yours truly, you would've been much worse off!"
"Wha… who is that?" Shinji shouted. "Who are you?"
"Ah, crap, I've forgotten that I haven't introduced myself." The voice said, as Shinji heard rustling and noticed a sudden weight on his shoulder. He looked over to see a small black figure, only about a foot high, sitting on his shoulder as if it was a bench. It had raised shoulders, almost like the Evangelions, and a pair of bright white eyes, but other than that Shinji couldn't make out any details; the entire shape was a flat, inky black. "My name is Bardiel, Angel of Haze, 13th of this Earth, and the, quote, 'Humiliated Son of God.' Nice to meet you, Shinji Ikari."
"You're… you're… you're an ANGEL?!" Shinji wailed, before attempting to swat the figure off of his shoulder. His hands simply passed through, but the inky black clung to the backs of his fingers, reforming back into the humanoid figure who was now clinging for dear life as Shinji shook his arm, trying to dislodge the creature. "Get off me!"
"For Adam's sake, would… you just… set me down… for a SECOND!" The shoulder Angel exclaimed, as he felt his grip slipping. "Lemme explain myself!"
Shinji stopped flailing, instead opting to awkwardly let his hand float in mid-air. Bardiel let out a slight huff, and crawled down Shinji's fingers like a ladder, before dropping to the hospital bed below. He dropped into a crouch, then stood back up to face Shinji.
"Look, yes, I'm an Angel, just like Sachiel." Bardiel started. "I know you've been told that we're…"
"Who's Sacky El?" Shinji asked, confused.
"Big guy we just beat up together?" Bardiel replied, cocking his head. "Green skin, weird bird face, long arms with pointy sticks in the elbows?"
"Ooh." Shinji said, leaning back slightly in his bed. "So all the Angels have names, just like you?"
"Yep, and they all have their own distinct personalities, if you could call them that." Bardiel replied with a huff.
"Oh, what was… um, Saggy El like?" Shinji asked.
"Good Adam, we've gotta work on your pronunciation." Bardiel said, before plopping down on the hospital bed. "Sachiel was a big asshole. Always thought he was better than everyone else because he was Adam's firstborn, even though he's a twig."
"So… aren't you going to try and kill me?" Shinji asked, inching away slightly.
"Pfft, hardly." The inky black angel responded, before he stood up, putting his hands on his hips. "I'm the Humiliated Son of God for a reason; I've always thought that we should team up with Lilith, because two Progenitors are better than one, right? Siblings weren't a big fan of that, and Adam REALLY hates Lilith, so I got mocked and reduced to being the 'weakest Angel.'"
"Wait, back up." Shinji said. "What's a progenitor?"
"You don't know what a Progenitor is, kid?" Bardiel asked, only to get a shake of the head in response from Shinji. "Adam? Lilith? Moons?"
"I just got here the day the first Angel showed up." Shinji replied. "I don't know who Adam or Lilith are."
"So they made you pilot that massive robot against my brother, without ANY knowledge of what's going on?" Bardiel inquired, incredulously. Shinji simply nodded in response. "Man, the guys in charge here are major assholes."
"I thought Angels were supposed to be, um, holy?" Shinji awkwardly asked. "Where did you learn to swear?"
"Before I found you, I was in a cloud." Bardiel explained. "Big drop in pressure caused me to spend a week floating around America; I spent most of it in Cleveland."
"Oh, that'll do it." Shinji muttered to himself, before shaking himself to focus. "So you're not gonna hurt me?"
"No way!" Bardiel replied, as he climbed up on Shinji's arm and began making his way up to the boy's shoulder again. "All of my brothers and sisters suck, and Lilim are MUCH more interesting than Angels anyway; plus, I kinda already bonded to you anyway, so we're pretty much stuck together at this point."
"B...b... BONDED?" Shinji exclaimed, looking down at his torso and then back at the little figure on his shoulder. "Are you part of me?"
"Mmm, well… yeah, pretty much." Bardiel explained. "Remember how I told you I ended up being the 'weakest Angel?" Shinji nodded. "See, I don't have a form of my own. I have to either destroy someone, letting me inherit their powers, or bond with someone, and then I can combine their powers with mine."
"So you chose… to bond with me?" Shinji asked. "Why?"
"To be honest, you were the first person I've encountered in the last fifteen years." Bardiel shrugged. "But you seem pretty alright, so I'm cool with it."
"Well, um, okay." Shinji muttered, before turning back to the little figure on his shoulder. "I'm not 100% sure I totally trust you yet."
"Wouldn't expect you to, but I'll promise ya, I'll earn your trust." Bardiel replied, before standing up on Shinji's shoulder and extending a hand to the young boy. "So, what do you say, Shinji Ikari? Friends?"
As the young boy considered the proffered hand, his mind was racing. A strange monster had apparently bonded with him, and was now apparently residing in his brain or his lungs or something. He should have been terrified; he probably should've yelled and screamed and ran for help, but in all reality, Shinji didn't think either of those things. Most of all, Shinji was so incredibly lonely, and so desperately longing for friendship, he didn't even consider it for a moment.
"Friends." Shinji said, smiling awkwardly as he raised his hand to meet Bardiel's.