The country bumpkins called Taiyo a town, but the locals knew better. Taiyo was just another way station on the road from Tokyo the Third to the massive Nerv Fortress. The twin citadels, dating from time immemorial, were built, rather oddly, at opposite ends of the Island of Japan. The cult Seele claimed that the citadels were built to destroy the Apostolem, but no one listened to Seele. Locals were content to believe that the twin cities, supposedly alike in every aspect, were the "good" places, where the Apostolem did not attack, and everyone had a full belly.
Suzuhara Toji often wished that he lived in either of the massive cities, and never more often or more vocally then when he came in from the fields after the long summer days. The massive, deeply tanned young man frowned as Aida Kensuke ran by, apparently in a hurry. The pale, timid scholar often travel outside the town walls, looking for god-knows-what. It was generally known that he had increased the frequency of his trips since Seele had opened a church within the town square. Toji tolerated the strange Seele priests, and did his best not to laugh as they preached of the Apostolem and "Apostolos," supposedly the fathers of the Apostolem. No one knew where the Apostolem came from, and simply hoped that they all would soon go back there. Kensuke, despite his ties to Seele, was one of Toji's oldest friends, and it struck the farmer as quite odd that he had neglected to wave, or even stop and have a conversation. The tanned youth put down his hoe and began to jog after the skinny young man.
Kensuke had arrived at the Horaki household before Toji caught up to him, and the young farmer found himself nearly running down Hitori Horaki's youngest daughter, Nozomi, as she ran out the door. Puzzled, the young man entered the house, and utter chaos. Hitori was screaming at Kensuke, and the pale teenager was screaming back. Kodoma, the oldest, and Hikari, the middle child, were both attempting to comfort their mother. Hitori glanced towards the door and cut Kensuke off with a gesture.
"Toji. It is good that you are here." As Hitori spoke, Toji detected a slight tremble in the man's speech.
"Our friend Kensuke claims to have seen an Apostolem." The older man's wife burst into fresh tears as Kodoma gently rocked back and forth with her.
Toji narrowed his eyes at Kensuke. The young man looked sheepish, but met the glare unflinchingly. Hikari cleared her throat as her mother was led out of the room.
"Kensuke, why don't you tell Toji exactly what you thought you saw." Hitori seemed to calm, noticeably, as his daughter spoke.
Kensuke was familiar enough with the Horakis to snort. "I didn't think I saw anything, Hikari. I saw a damned monster walking up that road."
He made sure to meet Toji's eyes before continuing. "I saw a tall, thickly built thing walking up the road to the village. It glowed a sickly green, and gave chase when it saw me. It ran almost as fast as a horse, Toji. No man could do that. I managed to lead it into the woods and confuse it. I don't know if it's following me back."
Hitori burst in. "Kensuke came to me because of my military experience. He claims that I know how to kill it."
Toji pulled out a chair and sat down at the table. "Do yah know how to kill it?"
"Wha-Bah- No! Of course not! I fought men, boy, not demons! I have no idea how you'd kill a monster like that!" The man had punctuated his every third word with a slam on the table.
"But certainly you'se heard tha stories of how dey do it?" Toji was gently rapping his knuckles on the table, trying to think. Hitori remained silent, glowering at the young farmer. Hikari crossed to the window, pulling on her ponytail nervously.
Before either man spoke again, Nozomi burst into the house. The fourteen-year-old girl was yanking a priest of Seele into the room, who was desperately trying to keep her balance. The priest collapsed into one of the remaining chairs and Nozomi took the last one. The hooded young woman buried her head in her hands as she attempted to catch her breath. She slowly began to speak.
"Mein Gott. Your daughter has a powerful arm. Excuse me." The priest coughed once.
"Now then. What is the matter?"
Toji cursed his luck as he picked his way through the dark forest. The priest had nearly fainted after Kensuke described for her what he saw. She actually did faint after Kensuke sketched rough representation of the glowing figure. Upon waking, she literally ran out of the house and returned within fifteen minutes with Seele's ranking priest within the village. After a time of private discussion with Hitori Horaki, a general call went out for a search party to be formed. Kensuke was chosen, as he was the only one who knew where he had left the figure, what the Seele priests were calling an Evangle. Toji and many more were chosen for their strength. Accompanying what the young farmer guessed to be half the village was the entire Taiyo chapter of Seele. The road behind him was alight with torches and lanterns. The Seele priests had told no one what exactly an Evangle was, but everyone had felt their excitement. Toji swore as he smashed his foot against a piece of metal. He instinctively tucked into a ball as he favored the injured foot, coming low enough to examine his assailant. The farmer found it difficult to make out what exactly he was looking at, but by tracing it with his hands, the boy determined the object to some type of gauntlet, though much thicker than those he had seen in woodcuts or on soldiers the rare times they came into Taiyo.
"I found something!" Toji stood and stretched his foot.
As a few lights detached from the road and poked into the woods, a green shimmer ran along the armor's length. Toji shuddered as two priests ran up.
"Och Mein Gott."
"Lylla be praised."
The purple gantlet seemed to react to the voices, glowing green lines embedding themselves along the length of the armor. The flowery designs were ornate enough to have been of a royal suit. Toji frowned as the torchlight came closer.
"Is that blood?" The priests followed his finger to the ground ahead of the gauntlet.
"Was someone supposed to have been wearing this thing?" Toji squinted, trying to see ahead into the gloom.
"The legends do not say." The priestess bent down to touch the gauntlet. The green glow dampened as her finger drew closer, fading as she made contact.
The fade of the glow spurred Toji into action. The young man surged to his feet and ran after the blood trail, dragging the priestess by the arm for the first hundred feet until she managed to get her feet working again. The two ran until the lights from the road grew dim, and still the blood trail would not end. As they paused for breath, Toji opened his mouth to voice the question he felt they both were asking. Before he could speak, the ground shook.
"HELP ME! Somebody HELP!" Toji snapped his mouth shut and began sprinting forward as the priestess did the same.
At least fourteen feet ahead, a tree forked in two. The same glow of the gauntlet faintly illuminated the cherry blossom's smooth curves. Toji turned around the right side of the tree ad the priestess the left. On the right, Toji had to grab onto the tree to keep from plunging into the river running lazily beside it. On the left, the priestess was nearly knocked to the ground by a skinny girl in ragged clothing. Toji's eyes widened as he heard a terrific scraping sound. The priestess froze, one arm around the girl.
"D-dn't. Tu'ch. Siste." The fingers stopped working as the single glowing gauntlet fell to the ground, sinking deeply into the earth.
The glow slowly faded from the limb, remaining only on the purple breastplate. Toji turned to begin a trip back when the priest from before almost ran into him. The river of light from the road had stretched into the forest.
Shinji found himself not awakening, but simply coming to full alertness. There was no sleepy, slow period in between physical and conscious waking- Shinji was simply aware. And that awareness was a terrible thing. For the second time in as many days, the young man burst into tears. Pain that his perceptions had denied flowed to the forefront of his consciousness. He couldn't even move, lest he disturb his heavily bandaged shoulder. The youth's itching skin told him the same about his eye. Slowly, the boy became used to the pain, and regained a modicum of composure. On a whim, he recalled the sensation of warmth seeping up from his legs. He remembered the sensation of it flowing into his chest and through his arms, and what it had done fo- A sharp tearing sound broke the young man's focus and he bit back a scream as the pain in his shoulder magnified. For a brief second, he felt the tissues of his arm burst free from the skin before stitching together and sinking beneath. The skin bubbled and became uniform. Shinji slowly reached up to his shoulder and removed the remains of the gauze; wincing each time his fingers grazed the raw flesh.
Toji almost spat the cup of water he was drinking across the room when the young man they had pulled out of the purple armor staggered out of his room. Chiyoko squealed with delight as the man winced and pressed a thumb against his bare chest. He coughed, deeply, and spat a globule of blood into his other hand. By then, Toji was in motion, and had managed to maneuver the stranger into a chair before he collapsed. Orome slapped the young man on the back with a laugh before settling into his chair.
"You'll have to forgive my daughter. She has utterly convinced herself that you are a brave and handsome knight, come to rescue her from the drudgery of one more day in Saiyo." The man's tone was jovial and his rolls of fat suggested prosperity.
Shinji grinned in response. "I'm flattered. Really." He winced as he tested his right knee with a finger.
"Is there a chance I could see my sister soon? Is she alright?" Orome waved a hand.
"The albino, correct?" A nod from the former farmer. "She is doing better than you are. Up and about yesterday, if Hitori tells it truthfully. I hear she and Nozomi are getting along quite well."
Shinji allowed himself a smile. "Thank you for your kindness."
As a middle-aged woman who Shinji deemed the mother of the house walked into the dining room, carrying a wooden plate of corn cakes, a shadow fell across the man's face.
"You understand that I have no way to repay you for this." He slowly reached for a corn cake.
Orome laughed, filling the house with his baritone. "Do you think we country folk are as thick as the oak trees? Someone's seen every inch of you and your sister's body, my boy, and we've known from the start that you had no coin."
Shinji found himself unable to keep from smiling in the man's company. "The start? How long have I been here?"
Orome shrugged. "A day or two. Chiyoko would know better than I."
Toji cleared his throat at Shinji's confused look. "I'm Suzuhara Toji. The chick with the busted thigh," he stabbed a thumb at Chiyoko as Shinji frowned, "is my sister, Suzuhara Chiyoko. The laughin' man is our father, Suzuhara Orome, and the nice lady fetching you a shirt is his wife, Suzuhara Kitori. You've been here two days."
Shinji bowed his head. "I am Ikari Shinji. My sister is Ikari Rei. We thank you in advance for your current and future hospitality."
With the formalities of country folk out of the way, Shinji found himself able to relax around the family. The shirt he had been provided with was much too large, but few men Shinji's age were as narrow in the shoulders as he was. After breakfast had been concluded, Shinji had been persuaded to wait to go to Rei until the priests of Seele had finished with him. To the Suzuhara's surprise, the congregation sent only a single priestess who went by the name of Mayumi Yamagisha. Shinji had managed to embarrass her by kissing her hand when he was informed of her role in dispelling the rumor that he was an Apostolem. The last person he was introduced to within the house was Aida Kensuke, a young scholar who had arrived with both a better-fitting shirt and profuse apologies. He had arrived half-way through Shinji's interrogation by Mayumi and stayed until just before the noon-day meal.
"Chiyoko," Toji was preparing to take the young man to visit Rei when Shinji saw the crude cast on the youngest Suzuhara's left leg, "would you mind terribly if I took a look at that leg?"
Toji chuckled and folded his arms as he leaned back against the doorframe. Chiyoko blushed and pushed her plate away. The fourteen-year-old girl awkwardly pushed her chair out and slid her bandaged leg forward. Shinji knelt in front of her and gently placed his right hand on her left thigh.
"Now, I believe this is going to hurt, but I need you not to jerk away from me. I don't know what will happen if you do." Chiyoko grinned and nodded. Shinji weakly returned her smile.
He had felt the power he had used to heal his shoulder growing within him throughout the morning, and almost cried out when it reached a peak in the middle of the noonday meal. It was almost like pain, deeper then he could feel pain. He had felt steadily better all throughout the day and had discovered that his knee had mended itself when he excused himself to the outhouse halfway through his talk with Kensuke.
"Just hold still." Shinji roughly seized her thigh with his left hand and let the power loose as the girl cried out.
The power he released had a stronger revitalizing effect then he had anticipated, powering the tiny girl's muscles with enough strength to knee Shinji directly in the teeth, removing his hands from her leg and allowing Chiyoko to seize the writhing appendage with a shriek. Orome opened his mouth but was cut off by a loud crack as the girl's femur forcibly realigned. As the bone twisted back into place, the muscle followed suit, tearing free from the girl's flesh and cast and catching her next scream in her throat. She sagged in the chair as blood sprayed the chair and table around her. Within a second, the muscle was back under the skin and the flesh was bubbling. Two seconds after that, the excitement was over and the tattered remains of Chiyoko's cast fell to the ground.
Toji warmed up to Shinji after that. On the way to the Horaki home, the tanned man hadn't spoken of Shinji's seemingly mysterious powers or of the strange armor. Instead, he spoke of the Apostolem and of Seele, explaining to Shinji what he knew of the church's mysterious origins.
"Seele's supposed to be dah work of Houses Sorhyu and Langley, across the water." Shinji nodded.
Even in his home village, people were not generally ignorant of the outer world. The Germanic kingdoms, though existing across the sea, was deeply linked to Japan through the identical Nerv citadel within the walls of Berlin. As Shinji and Toji understood it, the city acted as a neutral zone, where representatives from the kingdoms could meet and Japanese coming through the trans-continental portals could be assured of a safe arrival.
"But, I hear from soldiers passin' through, and someof them ahr German, that Lorenz Kihl ain't takin orders from nobody."
Kihl was the supposedly immortal leader of Seele. Shinji was of the personal opinion that there had been many Kihls, as the man (or woman) was rarely, if ever, seen in public. Toji believed Kihl to be truly immortal.
"Both soldiers and locals agree, however, that Seele's crazy stories of Apostolem and Apostolos are just that: total batshit."
Shinji chuckled. "Careful, my friend. The sane are often mocked as crazy until it's too late."
Each Seele chapter, no matter the remoteness, was equipped with ancient and priceless means of high-speed communication. Fully aware of these two facts, Mayumi slid down to her knees alongside the High Abbot with no little nervousness. As had been pointed out to the girl twice before, she had gone into the forest to find the holy armor, and had been the one to convince the Abbot to consider Kensuke as more then a raving loon. She still felt a stab of nervousness as the messaging device activated, bathing the chamber in white light. She felt a stab of nervousness as a background slowly began to resolve out of the light. And the poor girl almost fainted as one of the most recognized faces within the Seele hierarchy resolved out of the blurry lines to lock eyes with her.
Nagisa Kaworu found himself smiling as the priestess in Japan squeaked as the pair leapt into focus. The Abbot bowed, respectfully.
"Thank you for agreeing to meet with us, Sir Nagisa."
Kaworu waved a hand. "It is no trouble. And your first broadcast made it sound as though Taiyo had discovered something interesting."
The Abbot relaxed, though the priestess still looked on edge. She began to relax as she told her story, however, and even began to blush as Kaworu's interest slowly became obvious. As the light faded and the chamber was again given over to darkness, Kaworu felt an electric stab of energy each time he repeated the name, the name that his white armor remembered. Shinji.
Kihl Lorenz smiled warmly as his only son entered his conference room. The boy of yesteryear was already showing signs of the man of tomorrow, already inheriting his father's wide shoulders and seemingly endless stamina. The boy would need all the energy he could get if he persisted in wearing the plate armor as he did. A sharp rap on the table from his guests forced the old man's attention back to the present. Kaworu slid into a chair without a sound as Kyoko Sorhyu gave Pieter Langley a dirty look. The aged nobleman remained unperturbed, however, and steeped his fingers underneath his nose.
"I would like a return to the discussion at hand." The man's voice could cut glass.
"Discussion? Your daughter ran off with my son!" Kyoko pounded the table, red hair dancing.
Pieter smirked behind his hands. "My daughter's hatred of men is well known. And I'm certain any of your Sorhyu tramps would be happy to spread her legs for your precious boy."
Kyoko Sorhyu spasmed before collapsing off her chair. Kihl would have been amused if he didn't need the cooperation of the two as badly as he did. Many would have considered it an incredible feat that Kihl had managed to get the two most powerful nobles in Germany, and, with the exceptions of Houses Robertson and Augostino, the entire continent, under one roof. But Kihl knew better. He still did not fully understand the relationship between Kyoko and Pieter, but knew that the animosity between the two went far past Kyoko's simply being a foreigner. It had never been hard to get the two together, but had proven nearly impossible to persuade the pair to stop arguing for over an hour at a time.
"There is news from Japan." Three pairs of eyes shifted to the young man in plate mail.
"The Apostolem have, it seems, entirely destroyed a small village." Such attacks, while not unusual, did not ordinarily lead to the destruction of an entire village.
Kihl allowed himself a smile as his son stepped into the conversation. Talk of Japan could usually be trusted to pull Kyoko's attention off of whatever disaster she had been chewing on. The mutual disappearance of the Langley and Sorhyu heirs was not a unique occurrence, as the two had managed to forge a friendship out of their parent's many visits to Seele's fortress. Being little more than children, the pair often abandoned their duties for days or even weeks, always turning up unharmed, for the most part.
"What was mostunusual about this attack, however, was the appearance of a very interesting artifact at the gates of another, slightly larger village less than a day later. An artifact interesting enough to catch the attention of the local Seele chapter."
The young man set a miniature on the table with a faint click. Kihl felt his heart leap into his throat as Kaworu slid the figure forward with a single plate-clad finger. Kyoko stiffened and Pieter looked as though he had actually become interested.
"T-the Shogoki Armor has been awakened?" Kihl fought to keep his breathing under control. The Beast had been set free?
"Yes. But that is not the best part." Kaworu seemed to enjoy the discomfort of those around him.
"The Armor is piloted by an Ikari. Ikari Shinji."