"That was… nerve-wracking." Shinji muttered, watching as Bardiel retreated back within himself at the same time as the LCL began to drain from the entry plug. As the last bits of the orange liquid left the entry plug, the boy let out a cry of pain. "Ow, ow, ow!"
"Shinji, are you alright?" Misato exclaimed, as she helped the boy out of the entry plug. He let out a cry of pain as she grabbed his arm, and Misato let him go for a moment, setting him down on the cold metal next to the plug. She checked his arms, seeing the burn marks that had seared straight through the boy's plugsuit, leaving massive burns on his arms. "Get a medical team over here, stat! You're gonna be okay."
"Thanks, Ms. Misato." the boy groaned, as he laid on the stretcher carried by the medical personnel. "I did good, didn't I?"
"You could've stood to listen to orders a little better," the woman said with a slight frown, before smiling again, "but that's in the past. You did good, Shinji."
The boy gave her a faint smile, before the medics put a sheet up to his chest and began to wheel him to the medical wing. She turned around, planning on heading back up to Central Dogma to finish up a report on the battle, only to see Ritsuko standing there, wearing a nice dress under her lab coat.
"Ritsuko? What's the occasion?" Misato chuckled, as she walked up to the blonde woman. "Are you asking me out on a date?"
"Please." Ritsuko responded. "Don't insult me. The bridge crew is going out and celebrating the victory, and I figured you might want to come along."
"Oh, well…" Misato chuckled awkwardly. "Normally, I'd love to, but I kinda want to be there for Shinji when he wakes up, y'know?"
"You know, it's unlike you to be taking a liking to a boy so soon." Ritsuko retorted, as the two fell into step on their way towards the medical wing. "Should I be worried that you're trying to seduce the young boy under your care?"
"Oh my god, Rits!" Misato facepalmed. "Now that's just creepy, you know I'm not like that."
"Well, your track record of 'getting some' with your roommates is two for two, so…" the woman began, only to have Misato place a finger over the blonde's mouth.
"We do not speak of those times." Misato replied, as she put a finger over her own mouth. "Under no circumstances, you hear me?"
"Alright, fine." The blonde chuckled, turning away from Misato for a moment to address a nearby doctor. "Make sure that IV gets to room 303 as soon as possible, okay?"
"Room 303? Is that where Shinji is?" Misato asked.
"Yeah, he's down this hallway." Ritsuko said, gesturing for the purplette to follow her. They walked a short distance down before stopping outside a steel door. "He's currently being treated for serious burns on both arms, but they're not nearly as bad as we expected."
"Wait, what does that mean?" Misato inquired, crossing her arms. "Is he fine or is he not?"
"He's injured, but the burns are only 2nd-degree." Ritsuko explained. "They're widespread and snake all around his arms, but with a synch rate like he had, I would've expected them to be very close to, if not, 3rd-degree burns."
"Do you think it has to do with the…" Misato whispered, looking around frantically. "Special construction of Unit-01?"
"Perhaps?" the blonde doctor said, as she took a seat next to the door, with the captain sitting next to her. "It's something I'll have to look into on my own time, though; the Commander's already dismissed it as 'irrelevant', but if Gendo finds out there's anything going on with that Eva that he can't deny, even if it helps it operate better, he's gonna bench it."
"Then, what do you say we do a little good old-fashioned espionage?" Misato replied, giving the doctor a smile.
"Woman, I love the way you think." Ritsuko retorted, as she stood and followed Misato to the Evangelion cages.
"Agh, my head." Shinji groaned, as he sat up in the hospital bed. "Why does my… everything hurt so much?"
"We've really gotta stop ending up here." Bardiel replied, as he formed on Shinji's leg, stretching out his arms. "I'm so sore."
"How can you be sore?' Shinji asked.
"Sympathetic injuries, probably." the Angel said, shrugging his shoulders, before he plopped down on the boy's leg. "I tend not to question how it works."
"That's… smart, I guess." the boy replied, before laying back down. "How long do you think we'll be stuck in here?"
"Well, that depends…" Bardiel mused. "How long do you want to be stuck in here?"
"Preferably, not at all." the boy grumbled. "I hate unfamiliar ceilings…"
"Then let's leave!" Bardiel replied.
"Lea… bu… Bardiel, I've got burns all over my arms!" Shinji said. "I can't just get up and leave."
"Shinji, my poor Lilim friend." the Angel chuckled as he walked over to Shinji's arm. "You've got me, remember? Do you trust me?"
"Um…" Shinji thought for a moment, musing back on the past several weeks. Bardiel had been a steadfast friend and advisor, and had helped him with so many things. He had new friends, he was a member of the swim team, and he'd even learned how to use his A.T. Field! "Yeah… of course I trust you."
"Awesome… now, sit still." Bardiel said, before grabbing the arm of the boy's hospital gown and flowing all over the material. The gown turned dark black, before it suddenly rippled, and seemed to turn liquid, stretching and covering him from head to toe. It flowed over his head, causing the boy a sudden panic before he realized he could breathe through it, and he let out a gasp of relief. "There, done."
Shinji pulled the sheet from overtop of him, looking at his arms in shock. He got out of the bed, and walked over to the full length mirror. He took a look at himself, and his jaw dropped. He was coated head to toe in inky black, and he looked exactly like Bardiel looked when he manifested; however, while the Angel still had the distinctive shoulder pylons and robotic look of an Evangelion, Shinji simply looked like a completely black humanoid, dark as tar, with the only identifiable features being two white eyes, just as Bardiel had.
"Why do I look so..." Shinji whispered, before looking back at himself. "Creepy?"
"I'll generously choose not to take that as an insult." The Angel chuckled. "This is our first full-level bond outside an Evangelion. I'm bonded with all of you right now, from head to toe."
"But… but won't people be able to see you?" Shinji asked. "I mean, I know they can't see you on cameras, but they can see you when you manifest, right?"
"When we're fully bonded, it's a bit different, because I can do this." Bardiel said, before suddenly the inky black flowed back, turning pale as it formed itself back into the hospital gown he was wearing only a moment ago. "They can technically still see me, but I can take on the appearance and feel of pretty much anything."
"How… how come we couldn't do this before?" Shinji inquired. "Like, the whole body, super suit thingie?"
"You've got Shamshel to thank for that." Bardiel replied. "Another kill means more absorbed powers, and Shamshel's the Angel of the Morning."
"What does the morning have to do with bonding?" Shinji said, confused.
"She's also called the Angel of Light, and the A.T. Field is the 'light of the soul,' Shinji." the Angel explained. "Because of her ability to manipulate A.T. Fields precisely, which is how she manifested and moved those whips by the way, I can now exactly overlap our A.T. Fields. If I had tried to do the whole 'full body' thing before, I would've registered on the Lilim's scanners as an Angel, and then we'd both be dead."
Shinji gulped in fear at the thought of staring down dozens of NERV personnel, his family and friends, all waiting to kill him. "Um… go on."
"Because of Shamshel's A.T. Field powers, I can overlap my A.T. Field with yours, which means no matter how much I use, I'll never show up as a Pattern Blue." Bardiel finished. "So, now we can do all the cool stuff much easier!"
"Wow…" Shinji muttered, before pulling himself up straight. "Let's go home then… could you, um, mimic some bandages on my arms, so it looks like I was wrapped up?"
"Oh, that's smart." Bardiel said, before flowing out of Shinji's arms and forming himself into tightly-wrapped gauze from the boy's hands to his shoulders. The boy pulled the door open, looking left and right and not seeing anyone, before creeping out into the hallway. "Good thinking, Shinji."
"Thanks." the boy replied under his breath, as he approached the secretary at the front desk. "Um, ma'am? Am I… can… I'm allowed to go home?"
"Smooth." Bardiel whispered in his ear. "A real lady-killer, this one."
"Shut up, I'm working on it." Shinji retorted.
"Oh, Mr. Ikari!" the woman exclaimed, as she grabbed and shuffled a few sheets of paper. "I wasn't expecting to see you out of bed so soon."
"Oh, well, I was feeling much better and had my arms wrapped, so I decided to go home and get some rest." the boy said. "If that's okay?"
"Of course, Mr. Ikari." the secretary said, before she put a paper and pen on the desk in front of the boy. "Just sign on that line and write the date, and you're free to go."
"Thank you very much." Shinji replied, as he took the paper and scribbled down the necessary information, before handing it back to the woman and bowing. "Have a wonderful day."
"You as well, Mr. Ikari!" she replied, as she watched him walk out the door. "Such a sweet boy."
"That was close." Shinji muttered under his breath. "I thought she was gonna suspect me and keep me there."
"Well, to be fair, you've got the charisma of a lame cow." Bardiel responded. "I'm not trying to be mean, man, but you've gotta get some confidence, some suaveness, some… you know what, there's a lot to work on."
"Tell me about it." Shinji grumbled, before stopping still in the hallway. Voices echoed from up ahead, and one of them sounded eerily familiar. "There's people, right up ahead!"
"Ceiling!" Bardiel exclaimed, as the gown flowed back out, covering the boy fully, and Shinji leapt up, clinging to the ceiling.
"It's irrelevant." Gendo said, as he walked under Shinji. "The changes to Rei's medical regimen will be more than enough to quell this new interest in establishing friendships."
"First of all, Ikari, you need to find a new word." Fuyutsuki noted. "You say 'irrelevant' too much. Second of all, why is Rei establishing friendships so bad?"
"Because, if sufficient loyalty to others is established, Professor, her loyalty to me will suffer." Gendo remarked. "And that cannot be allowed, for the sake of the Scenario."
"Hmmph." Fuyutsuki replied, as the two began to leave the hallway. "And here I thought you were growing soft in your old age."
"Wow, that was… interesting, to say the least." Bardiel commented, as Shinji descended from the ceiling on a dark tendril, before dropping to the ground, and finding himself back in his hospital gown. "No wonder Ms. Ayanami acted like a fish out of water if she was raised by that guy. Also, your dad's a dick."
"Tell me about it." Shinji whispered, as he made his way to the garage where Section 2 would drive him home. "Medical regime… They must be giving her medicine to make her listen to them?"
"They're drugging her." Bardiel said. "Forcing her to obey them for something… 'the Scenario,' I think they called it."
"I've got a bad feeling about this." Shinji said, as an agent pulled up inside a black sedan, gesturing for the boy to enter.
"Me too, buddy, me too."
"I'm home!" Misato called out, as she shouldered off her jacket and hung it on a hook near the door. The woman let out a long groan as she stumbled into the kitchen, following the delicious scent of food emanating from the kitchen.
"Welcome home!" Shinji shouted in reply, as the woman took a seat at the table nearby. "How was your day at NERV?"
"It was long." She grumbled. "I waited at your room for a while, but you didn't wake up, so I went off and did some paperwork for a while. I was planning on staying late, but when I got the notification you had signed yourself out, I decided to head home."
"Sorry about that." Shinji replied sheepishly. "I just thought that you'd want to have some fresh dinner when you got home, and I didn't really want to stay in the hospital any longer than I have to."
"Oh, don't worry about it." his guardian said, waving a hand. "I hate hospitals too, so I get it." The woman leaned back for a moment, stretching, before her face suddenly turned more serious. "Hey, Shinji?"
"Yes?" the boy asked, as he scooped some of tonight's dinner into two bowls, setting them on the table as he sat across from the woman. "What's up?"
"Do you… know what was going on, today?" she asked carefully. "With Unit-01?"
"Oh, um, well, not really?" Shinji replied awkwardly, as his heart raced a million miles an hour. "I was just… really scared, and kinda panicking? I just wanted to be able to do something, and then the Eva said something about… Instrumentality?"
"Instrumemory." Misato pointed out.
"Yeah, that's it." Shinji said. "And all of the sudden I had these weird spikes in my arms and I used them to smash the Angel."
"That's what I figured." Misato said, as she grabbed a beer from the fridge. "Ritsuko wanted to know if you had intentionally done something or not."
"No, sorry." Shinji replied, trying to ignore the bead of nervous sweat working down his temple. "That's all I know."
"Don't worry, Shinji." Misato chuckled, as she finished off the beer, throwing it in a perfect arc into the trash can. "Who knows, maybe this weird Instrumemory stuff will help you beat the Angels?"
"God, I hope so." Bardiel replied, causing Shinji to chuckle slightly as he dug into his meal.
Shinji slapped a hand against the wall of the pool, letting out a deep breath as he hauled himself out of the pool. He laid there for a moment until the coach of the swim team offered him a hand, and the boy took it.
"53 seconds, Ikari." the coach said, marking down the time on his sheet. "That's the best hundred-meter on the team by quite a margin."
"Thank you, sir." Shinji replied, as he dried himself off with a towel. "I just want to do my best."
"Well, normally I would say 'keep doing what you're doing.'" the teacher commented, as he led the boy over to a bench by the pool, watching as the other members of the team practiced their respective races. "Our first meet-up is going to be next weekend, and right now you've got the best time of the prospects by at least six seconds."
"I won't let you down, sir." Shinji said, giving the teacher a smile.
"And that eagerness is exactly the problem." the teacher replied, causing Shinji's smile to drop. The teacher gingerly grabbed the boy's arm, lifting it up slightly. "Kid, you've got 2nd-degree burns all along your arms. They've been healing for a couple days, I know, but you still shouldn't be swimming in them, you're gonna hurt yourself."
"So I'm… not allowed to swim until my burns heal?" the boy asked, already feeling his nerves set in. He had joined the swim team after his first day of school, and had been to a couple of practices before Shamshel attacked. This was his first time back since his injuries at the hand of the Angel, and he might be kept out of the running. Although the boy didn't even know how to swim a few weeks ago, tapping into Sachiel's power had given the boy the knowledge, and now he found that swimming was a fantastic way to keep his mind off his father, and allowed him to talk to Bardiel without anyone bothering him.
"I'm not going to forbid you from practicing OR from competing." the coach said, as he stood up. "But I am recommending you ease up a bit. You're pushing yourself way, way, way too hard for somebody your age. I'd love for us to win, but if you hurt yourself in the process it's not worth it, kid."
"Um, okay… I understand, sir." Shinji replied, taking a deep breath to try and collect his thoughts.
"Good boy." the coach smiled, before gesturing towards the open pool. "Why don't you just relax for the last fifteen minutes of practice, okay? Just do some casual free swimming, don't strain yourself."
Shinji didn't reply, instead simply walking over to the open water and diving in. He plunged into the water, slowly swimming from one side to the other while he tried to relax.
"You literally just dried yourself off, and then jumped into the water again." Bardiel noted, as the boy continued to swim. "You Lilim confuse me sometimes."
"People won't bother me when I'm swimming." Shinji said. "So the two of us can talk in peace."
"Ah, smart." the Angel replied, before falling silent for a moment. "What's on your mind at the moment?"
"I'm just… nervous, about the future, y'know?" Shinji mused. He'd found himself slipping into using slang and shorthand in his thoughts since he'd been bonded with Bardiel, probably as a result of the slight personality overlap. "I've got friends here, I've got a team that I compete with, and I've got people I care about. I guess I'm just a little nervous that fighting the Angels might… ruin that?"
"I understand what you mean, Shinji." Bardiel said. "I can't deny I'm a bit apprehensive at the thought; my brothers and sisters are very, very dangerous, but we'll axe the lot of 'em together, alright? Things will work out in the end."
"I hope so." Shinji thought, as the coach began signaling for the team to leave the pool and head home. "I guess, if the two of us work together, anything's possible, right?"
"Oh, absolutely." the Angel replied. "By the way, you've got a blueberry on your six."
"Shinji." a voice said quietly, right as Shinji was exiting the pool. "How are you?"
"AAAGH!" the boy wailed, as he fell backwards in shock. He surfaced, only to see Rei Ayanami standing next to the pool, clad in a one-piece swimsuit. "Oh, um, Ayanami! Um, hey… how are you?"
"God, you need help." Bardiel groaned as he mentally facepalmed. "Remind me to show you a John Stamos film when we get home to teach you how to flirt. Or Matthew Mcconaughey."
"I am well." Rei stated, as she set her towel down by the pool. "You never answered my question."
"Oh, yeah, I'm doing good! Great!" Shinji stammered, trying to avoid looking at Rei in her skintight swimsuit. "Just finishing up swim practice… actually, that reminds me, what are you doing here?"
"The practice is over. The pool is free." Rei said, as she stood a few feet away from the boy. "Is my presence unwelcome?"
"O…o… of course not!" Shinji stuttered, turning carefully to face the girl, and making a point to only look her in the eyes. "I was just wondering why you were at the pool?"
"I… enjoy swimming." Rei replied lightly. "It is the only place I feel at home, besides the Evangelion."
"I know what you mean." the boy chuckled. "Sometimes I spend hours in the water. It's… comfortable, I guess. It's a nice place to think and dream, y'know?"
"Dream…" the girl whispered, before sitting down next to Shinji. "Do you… dream, Shinji?"
"Yeah, of course." Shinji replied. "I have lots of dreams and hopes and wishes. They're all kinda the same thing, I guess."
"Wish… what do you wish for, Shinji?" Rei asked, as she turned to face Shinji. He returned the gaze, and he could've sworn something about Rei's face seemed… familiar.
"I guess my greatest wish is to just live through all this madness with the Angels." Shinji said, as he raised a hand to his chin in thought. "I hope I can grow up, and go to college, and… be a normal kid, I guess."
"I doubt I will survive the conflict with the Angels." Rei commented, staring forlornly into the water as she bared the slightest bit of her soul to her first friend. "But I am okay with that."
"You're… okay with dying?" Shinji asked, incredulously. "How?"
"Because I am expendable." Rei replied, her face forlorn of any emotion. "I can be replaced."
The girl was about to continue, until she felt a strange warmth on her hand. She turned to see Ikari, who had moved his palm over to rest on top of hers. His hand felt warm and inviting, something she had never felt on the very rare occasion someone else, like the Commander or Dr. Akagi, made contact with her.. It was… nice. She sat there for a few seconds, enjoying the feeling, until Shinji spoke up.
"Please, never say something like that." Shinji said, as he gave the girl an earnest and kind smile. "You are not expendable, not to me or to anyone else."
Rei was silent for a moment, before awkwardly doing her best to return the embrace. "...thank you, Shinji."
"Hmm, not bad, kid." Bardiel mused to himself. "Maybe you don't need John Stamos' help after all… you need Kevin Bacon's. We're gonna go watch Footloose when we get home."
"I'm kinda in the middle of something here." Shinji retorted. "Save it until we get home."
"Why are you so kind to me, Shinji?" Rei asked, as she turned to face the boy. "I am… unused to such niceness."
"Because we're friends." Shinji smiled. "And that's what friends do."
"I am still becoming accustomed to the unfamiliar idea of friendship." Rei replied. "But I am attempting to educate myself as to how it works."
"Friendship isn't something you can read from a book." Shinji said. "You kinda just have to… reach out and grab it, I guess."
Bardiel snorted in response to that, causing Shinji to giggle slightly. The two sat like that for several minutes, simply watching the slight waves lapping in the pool, until Shinji stood up, helping Rei up with him.
"How about we have a race?" Shinji mused. "We'll both pick a lane, and the first person to make it there and back wins."
"What does the victor 'win?'" Rei asked.
"Who knows?" Shinji smiled. "That's half the fun."
"Okay." Rei replied, before she picked a lane and immediately dived in.
"Wait up!" Shinji giggled, before leaping into the lane right next to hers, taking off as fast as he could.
Gendo shut down the television monitor viewing the swimming pool at the high school, and reached below his desk again for what had become his closest friend in the past few weeks. He poured a double shot of the expensive whiskey before throwing it right down his throat, and filling his glass again. He smashed a hand against his table in rage, as tears of frustration began running down his face.
"Why?" Gendo cried, as he laid his head sideways on the table, his tears forming small pools on the steel desk. "Why won't you just let me see Yui?"
Ever since his son had shown up, everything had fallen apart. Unit-01 had apparently developed innate mutating powers. Dr. Akagi said that it had something to do with it being composed with Lilith, but Gendo didn't bother to read the report, too deep in a drunk stupor at the time. Now Rei was breaking through her mental conditioning, reaching out to befriend none other than his son, and the Doctor had refused any adjustments to her medical regimen on the grounds of 'endangerment to her short and long-term health.' And now SEELE was lauding heaps of praise on his son, as they considered basing the Dummy Plug off his clearly superior combat prowess, further embarrassing Gendo. Why couldn't it all just end?
"It's… all... Shinji's fault…" Gendo said, quietly. He would never let anyone see himself like this; his door was locked tight and the office was soundproof. Every morning and all throughout the day he was perfectly composed, a statue, but at night he turned to his vices and let his emotions leak out. But he wouldn't even be like this if it weren't for his son ruining everything. "It's… Shinji's… fault I can't see Yui… damn him…"
The man's body-wracking sobs were heard by naught but two people; the man who produced them, and the white-haired professor listening through a bug in the Commander's office. If he was in his right state of mind, Gendo would have traced a microphone instantly, but he was too drunk to care.
"And it all proceeds according to the scenario." Fuyutsuki chuckled, before reaching over to pick back up the book he had been reading. "God is falling from his pedestal, and soon all will be right with the world."
Author's Note: Ahaha, I love this story! It's a damn pleasure to write. For all of those who have noticed the similarities to Venom, that received a nod in this chapter, along with a reference to one of my favorite movies; I try not to make ALL of my jokes pop culture references, but they slip through sometimes. Besides, Bardiel is obsessed with Lillim culture, so it makes sense. We get more Shinji and Rei here, so I hope the Rei fans are happy; be forewarned this is NOT a Shinji/Rei pairing story, they're being built up to be very close friends. Just wanted to get that out of the way as to not disappoint people. The pairing in this story isn't inbound for a while yet, because I'm still flip-flopping around between a few options. Also, I'd just like to say that your reviews, your criticisms, your compliments, and your ideas are what inspire me to keep writing. I've got a notorious track record for running out of steam on fics, but having people willing to respond and review is very inspiring, so thank you to those who do so! :)
hys8892: Fuyutsuki most definitely IS planning! :)
SheriffJohnStone: I'm also excited to introduce Asuka! I'm gonna change up some things with the way she's introduced; after all, it's probably become fairly obvious at this point this is more of an AU than a 'for a want of a nail' story. I'm not really huge on just changing one thing and then rehashing canon exactly, so I like to change up several things to keep it fresh. Asuka and Mari's intro to the story will be part of that, so keep an eye out for it!
BigBlueSmile11: Thank you! The similarities to Venom weren't originally quite so significant, but they grew over time and now I've kinda leaned into it. Building Bardiel and Shinji's relationship as friends is my favorite part of this fic, besides writing Fuyutsuki's scenario. I hope you enjoy this chapter!