Evangelion is property of Studio Khara and GAINAX.

Street Fighter and Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist are property of CAPCOM.

NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: SENSHI NO MICHI

One week earlier

Shinji's world was a mess of blurred lights and muffled sounds – he struggled to make words out through the dull haze of pain, and his eyes refused to open. He couldn't find the strength to move, his muscles lethargic and his arms aching from the strain of having channelled so much hado. He felt something in his hand, soft, like a thin slip of cloth.

He was vaguely aware that he was being carried, on some kind of bed or stretcher. His world jolted violently for a moment, and his hearing was suddenly clear for a few brief moments.

"-watch the road, damnit –"

"-one klik out from the hospital-"

"-possible concussion-"

Already, he was falling back into unconscious oblivion. Unable to resist, Shinji slipped back into blackness, only aware of the narrow scrap of cloth clenched in his fist.

Shinji awoke again, this time to an unfamiliar ceiling – the uniformed white tiling of the NERV hospital. He craned his head to glance out the window, watching the vivid orange sky of the Geofront's artificial sunset.

"Hello?" Shinji called out, voice weak. He glanced down at his bedside table, and found a button that would signal a nurse. He pressed it once, and waited for someone to come. When no one did, he pressed it again, and again, until he finally gave up, collapsing back against his bed with a sigh.

Looking towards the door, Shinji slowly sat up in bed again, before slowly pulling the bedsheets off himself. He swung his legs over the side of the hospital bed, and set his feet on the floor. He walked towards the door, clad in a hospital gown, and reached out, sliding the door back.

He was suddenly buffeted by a powerful wind, and he winced, holding an arm in front of his eyes as he staggered out, blindly feeling for a wall or railing. The grass was wet and dewy underneath his bare feet.

Wait. Grass?

Shinji dropped the arm from his eyes, and looked down. He was outside, but not in the Geofront, instead on the bank of a wide river. He was wearing his gi and gloves, and he felt the cloth of his headband tied tight around his head.

Shinji glanced behind himself, looking back at an expansive, dense forest.

This is the river. This is where I used to train with Asuka, every morning…

Shinji inhaled, breathing in the warm, humid air. He closed his eyes, basking in the warmth of the sun and the comfortable familiarity of the river, but a small voice at the back of his mind whispered that something was inherently wrong. He strained to see anything out of the ordinary, failing to hear anything abnormal. He then realised that was what was bothering him. Shinji couldn't hear anything.

There was no birdsong, or rustling of leaves, or even the whisper of the water – the river was abnormally still and undisturbed. Shinji walked over to the water, feeling a chill creep up his spine. Kneeling on the edge of the river bank, he gazed into the water, his reflection staring back at him.

He blinked.

Suddenly, the reflection was warped – vivid red eyes and hair, sharp teeth and dark skin – and Shinji scrambled back in shock, falling onto his rear on the grass, which crumpled and cracked underneath him. He stood again, and looked around at a field of dead, dry grass, any trace of green swallowed up by all-encompassing brown. Shinji looked back at the forest again, only to find bare, bent skeletons of oak.

Someone gasped, and Shinji whirled around, looking for the source of the noise. His eyes fell upon Hikari, in a dusky yellow plugsuit, and atop her, with his hands around her neck, Shinji's own twisted reflection, strangling the life from her.

Shinji's eyes widened, and he dashed towards the two, reaching out, but the faster he ran, the greater the distance between him and them grew. Hikari thrashed in the grass, pulling weakly at her attacker's arms.

"Stop!" Shinji screamed, pulling his hands to his sides and summoning a Hadoken. He threw the blast of ki with all his might, but it broke harmlessly over his doppelganger like smoke. Shinji fell to his knees, watching in horror.

Among the silence of nature, the resounding snap of Hikari's neck was deafening.

Shinji fell onto his back, defeated, and looked up at the blood-red sky, rigid with shock. He heard the crunch of dead grass beside him, and watched as a tall, wide figure, shadowed by the sun, stood above him.

"No," Shinji rasped, barely able to hear himself over a low, unending tinnitus.

Red eyes peered down at him, and Shinji struggled to move away, desperate to escape their gaze.

"Stop," he gasped.

A massive hand reached out, inching closer and closer –

"Stop!" Shinji screamed, and Asuka pulled her hand back, eyes wide as she watched Shinji sit up in bed with a start.

"Shinji! What's wrong?" The redhead said, watching with concern as Shinji looked around frantically, breathing fast.

"What?" Shinji murmured, blinking and trying to calm himself. "I – I don't…bad dream."

As the haze of the vivid nightmare retreated, Shinji looked Asuka over, looking at her scorched, damaged plugsuit, and her hair, matted with LCL and falling loose over her shoulders. He was suddenly aware of the intense ache above his left eye, and he collapsed back against his pillow. Shinji buried his face in his hands, struggling to piece together the events of the battle with the Angel.

"What happened?" Shinji gasped. "Did we - did we win?"

"We're still here, aren't we?" Asuka replied, smug. "I finished it off. You were knocked out, your head was cracked open. I patched you up and got you to Misato..."

Shinji glanced down at his bedside table, and grabbed the red ribbon that rested there.

"Here –" Shinji murmured, but his hand was gently pushed away by Asuka.

"No. Keep it," Asuka grunted. Shinji raised a questioning eyebrow.

"It's…something to remind you I can't be there all the time to pull your ass out of the fire," Asuka said, slowly, and offered a small smile.

Shinji returned the smile, nodding and clasping the ribbon in his hand. "…Thanks."

Something out of the corner of Shinji's eye caught his attention, and he glanced towards the door. Misato peered into the room, before pushing the door aside and walking in. Shinji opened his mouth to greet her, but the person that followed Misato in had Shinji's words dying in his throat.

"Sensei!" Shinji enthused, his smile widening. Gouken moved out from behind Misato, and knelt beside Shinji's bed. The boy reached out, and Gouken moved in, the two hugging as Misato and Asuka looked on.

"I'm sorry I didn't come sooner," Gouken murmured, before pulling back. "But I'm here to stay."

Shinji nodded, his eyes shining. He hesitated, before reaching out for another hug, which Gouken gladly provided. Behind them, Asuka rolled her eyes at the two of them, only for Misato to lightly smack her on the back of the head.

"Hey, what gives?" Asuka murmured.

"I seem to remember you getting all misty-eyed when we left the dojo," Misato replied, smirking.

"That –" Asuka's cheeks flushed red with embarrassment. "That's not – nevermind."

Shinji laughed quietly into the crook of Gouken's neck, secure in the knowledge that for now, everything was alright.