Disclaimer: I in fact do not own Evangelion and all of its spin-offs.
A/N: Apologies this chapter is this awfully late.
FIRST IT GIVETH
Chapter 2: Second on the track list.
Misato was currently riding a VTOL though the destroyed streets of Tokyo-03. She kept her left hand tightly clenched around her father's cross and the other on her NERV lunch tray. Her eyes were firmly situated at the blood red sea, caused by the disintegration of the fourth Angel. The young Captain's mind drifted to Second Impact but she quickly avoided the painful memories and focused at Ritsuko.
"The Angel's disintegration has caused a lot more destruction than anticipated. Operations are already being conducted in order to move this large amount of LCL to the sea." She grabbed a cigarette from her pack and lit it with a match completely ignoring the obvious 'No smoking' sign right behind her. She took a drag and exhaled the nicotine filled smoke from her lungs.
Maya looked out of the window with wide eyes. "It kind of reminds me of the Antarctic Sea after the Second Impact." Ritsuko eyed her student sternly with a glare that closed her mouth. Realizing what she said she sank back into her seat and continued typing onto her laptop.
"I'm sorry." She directed her words to the frowning officer opposite of her. Said officer bit her lip and held back tears long forgotten.
She smiled at Maya. "It's okay. The fact that we are still here is a testament that humanity can fight back against the Angels." Maya nodded her head and turned her attention to the faux blonde seated beside her.
"Speaking of which, did you know that Shinji requested a meeting with his Father?" Misato eyes focused at her college friend, wide as they were.
"Really," She started recollecting the other day's events. "Who'd think that the Third Child would make such a bold move against his father of all people?"
Ritsuko finished her cigarette and grabbed her coffee cup, which read NERV in a bright red color.
"If I were him I'd back away. I've worked with Commander Ikari for a while now and if there's one thing you learn about him is that he doesn't like to be opposed" She took a sip of the bitter liquid which resided itself inside her cup.
Misato closed her eyes and sighed.
"He is just so different than the reports suggested. It's almost like he became a different person." She said as she rubbed temples.
Ritsuko ashed the butt of her cigarette. "Well abandonment issues come in many forms you know; it might just be a way for him to cope with things."
Maya finally spoke up. "I think that what Shinji is doing, is completely justified. I mean think about it, you get called by your father who you haven't seen in three years only to find out you are just an asset to him."
Misato resumed looking out the window, thinking about the Third Child.
"I just hope that he knows what he's doing."
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The commander of NERV. Commander Ikari. Gendo Ikari.
Those were words that struck fear into the hearts of men and beasts alike. His cold demeanor and piercing gaze made almost every opponent cower in fear before they could even face him. His rank in the organization gave him more power than any other country on earth individually. And his talent to handle a situation without any pesky emotions clouding his judgment made him a valuable asset, even to those with more political influence than him.
So why was this brat standing in front of him without showing any emotion other than confidence. It puzzled him to no end.
'Relax, Gendo. This is only a small hindrance to the plan. There is still time for me to break him.' Ikari said to himself as he sat quietly at the semi lit room that served as his office, a soft shade of red keeping it as dark as possible without compromising its usefulness. Shinji stood a few paces away from his seated father on what should be his chopping block. The vivid portrait of the "Tree of Life" was placed on the ground, serving as a way of intimidation. The unfaltering figure of the young pilot kept its eyes level with the commander's.
"Pilot of Unit-01, what is it that you wanted to see me for?" The boy frowned at his father's use of his rank in favor of his name.
"I came here to discuss the possibility of putting me and the other pilots on the payroll." If Gendo was surprised or offended by that statement, he didn't show it.
Shinji crossed his hands in front of his chest. "Furthermore, I want all legal rights as a guardian to be transferred to Misato Katsuragi." Once again NERV's iron leader retained his usual attitude.
"And tell me, Third Child, why would I conform to your requests?" Gendo replied to his son as he moved his gloved hands away from his face.
Shinji smiled. He could tell that he had taken him out of his comfort zone. "Well, risking our lives in order to save humanity calls for a fair day's pay for a day's work, don't you think Commander?" He said with great emphasis on the last word.
The Commander narrowed his eyes. "Your demands will be taken into consideration. You are dismissed."
The boy didn't move though. "I don't want them to just be taken into consideration. I want them to happen, if you want me to continue piloting for you that is."
Gendo Ikari snorted. This was not just a request; it was an act of rebellion against his authority, a direct attack to his position. He grinded his teeth together and pressed a button to connect him with the Sub-Commander. "Fuyutsuki, please provide the pilots with a monthly payment equal to that of every other employee of NERV." He turned his head slightly to see his son with his head held high, his lip confidently curved upwards as it was. "And take care of the transfer of all the legal rights of the Third Child to Cpt. Misato Katsuragi." He pulled his index finger away from the button, thus ending the communication with his college.
The young boy chuckled quietly as he turned on his heel and started heading for the door. "Wait a minute Third Child, who told you to leave?" The Commander said swiftly. "Since you are on the payroll you now answer to no one but me, which means your disobedience of my orders will have the resulting consequences."
The boy did not turn to answer but instead kept his eyes locked at the door in front of him. "I understand sir. Now if you may excuse me." He opened the door and closed it behind him as he let out a breath he had seemingly been holding forever.
He took a seat at the chairs that served as a waiting room for any potential visitors of the commander and gripped his chest. His heart was pounding. His head was spinning. And boy did he feel good.
The secretary was quietly filing some paperwork only providing Shinji with a quick curious glance of her green eyes.
He quickly got up from the chair and rushed to get to the main bridge.
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In the control room where the three main bridge bunnies lay dormant in their posts, the door burst open causing all of the eyes inside to bolt to a certain Ikari.
The boy looked around and spotted Makoto Hyuga.
"Hey, Makoto you have a motorcycle don't you?" The technician looked at the young boy with a raised eyebrow and took a small sip of his coffee.
"Yeah I do what about it?" The boy smiled a suspicious smile and quickly run up to him.
"I was wondering if you could drop me off somewhere." The glasses wearing man was more than a little bit confused as to where someone who had just moved to Tokyo-03 would want to go.
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"Thanks a lot." Shinji said as he got off his peer's Vespa. He took off the white colored helmet and passed it at Makoto who put it on his head.
"No problem, but what did you want to do here? It's not exactly a shopping district." Shinji looked at the overhang which loomed over the city of Tokyo-03. The sunset complimented beautifully with the city's grey tone.
Shinji took a few steps away from the rider of the motorcycle and gazed at the endless horizon.
"Nothing, too important. Just tying up some loose ends." His voice was more distant than usual Makoto failed to notice.
The mechanical sound of the engine kick starting to life filled the air. Shinji looked over his shoulder to see a smiling Makoto making a mocking salute at him.
"Well I'll be seeing you around." He said as he took off leaving the pilot of Unit-01 on his lonesome.
He gripped the ancient SDAT player residing inside of his pocket. The old plastic felt weak against his fingers. Worn out with passage of time… just like him. He took it out, put on the earphones and pressed the second track of the cassette tape.
"The Ode to Joy…" He murmured to himself as his head was filled with the soft notes of Beethoven's ninth symphony. There was a feeling he hadn't felt in a while.
Nostalgia.
Probably because he had nothing worth feeling nostalgic for. But now, for the first time in his life he felt in control. In control of himself, in control of the situation, in control of his future.
But there was one thing that held him back. One measly little detail that he couldn't overlook. He pressed the pause button and squeezed even harder at the SDAT.
He took a deep breath, pulled back his body and threw the cassette player from the overhang; as far as he possibly could. He heard a faint clang sound as his trustworthy companion, of sorts, kissed the hard ground.
He wore an unreadable expression as he closed his eyes. For a second he took in the silence; his previous actions washing over him.
"Why did you do it…?" A familiar feminine voice sounded, but not one he was particularly happy to hear. He didn't bother to turn around, there was no need to.
"I had to. To convince myself that the old Shinji is dead." This time he turned his head. "But you would know, wouldn't you Rei." His eyes met with the blood red ones of Ayanami. "Or, should I say Lilith."
The greenish colored school girl outfit of the Angel swayed in the warm breeze. The pale white skin not dissimilar to the actual Rei Ayanami. The creature smiled a toothy grin, revealing its pointy fangs. "I'm surprised that you recognized me."
The young pilot sighed heavily. "What do you want? I am kind of busy right now."
The Angel wearing a human's skin took only a step closer. "You mean I don't have the right to visit one of my most priced children?" Lilith, the all mother, said as her hair danced with the wind.
Suddenly Shinji's cell phone went off driving their attention onto it. He took it out of his pocket and answered the call. He was immediately bombarded by the voice of Misato Katsuragi.
"Shinji, tell me, why did you make the commander transfer your legal rights to me? Do I look like a person who can support a child? Why didn't you at least ask me first? Christ, I can barely manage with penguin and myself, but now I have to take care of 14 year old kid as well?" An audible breath came from the other line as the Captain regained her composition. Well… somewhat.
"And if you think I'm gonna let you get away with this, you're dead wrong mister. Not only will you help inside the house but you'll be paying your cut of the rent, you got that?" He was surprised she had been able to keep going for that long.
"So, umm…" Shinji started hesitantly in order not to provoke the sleeping beast once again. "Misato, could you come pick me up." He continued.
The phone closed.
"Damnit," Shinji muttered under his breath and placed his cell back inside his pocket. "That did not go as planned."
Suddenly he felt slender hands move around his waist, they joined together and brought him a tight hug. The young boy was only slightly surprised at this turn of events. Lilith on the other hand rested her cheek on Shinji back, her chest lightly touching him. She breathed in and out melodically.
"You know that this is a lost cause, right?" She said as she got too close for comfort to his ear. "This world you're trying to save is a flawed one, different than the one you came from." Shinji didn't say anything. "And when you fail I'll be there watching you."
She licked his ear lobe sending shivers down his spine. He quickly tried to pushed her away but she held on with surprising strength.
"Shinji, you here?" He heard Misato yelled followed by the sound of the car door closing. He whipped his head around to only find empty space where the blue haired girl should have been.
'What the hell was that about?' He thought as he went up to his newly pronounced guardian.
"Hey Misato." He started as she took a few steps towards him. "How did you know where to find me?" He asked the displeased Captain.
"Your phone is always being tracked by Section-02 in case of an emergency." She stated as she escorted the teen back to her blue Renault. "It wasn't that hard to figure out where you were."
Shinji scoffed. "So in between giant robots and blackmailing, NERV also likes stalking." The both of them got inside the car. Misato started the engine up and looked at the pilot.
"Shinji, I don't want you to think that this is done for no reason. We are doing this for the betterment of mankind. For your future." Shinji frowned and looked outside the window as Misato put the car into gear and pressed the pedal.
He still couldn't believe the Captain's ignorance at this point.
"Sure you are."
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The rest of the ride to Misato's apartment was silent with Misato desperately trying to find a way to break the ice.
Now as the two of them were climbing the stairs of the building she could feel his eyes burning into the back of her skull.
Judging her.
As if it was her fault. She had to find a way to make this right. To make him like her, trust her. Maybe it was just her conscience talking but she felt compelled to let him stay at her home. More than she would like to admit.
"Alright, it seems that they already moved your stuff here." She laid her eyes on the boxes rested against the wall.
She opened her apartment door letting the odor of beer and instant food hit both of their nostrils.
The woman stepped inside the kitchen and left her key on the counter. Shinji took off his shoes and looked around as Misato took off to her bedroom.
"Sorry if this seems a little messy. I'm just settling here, myself." The boy feasted his eyes upon the large amount of garbage, empty beer cans and other assortment of items scattered around.
"Did a hurricane pass though here or something?" He asked with a grin. He wouldn't tell her anything, but he was more than happy to see this once again.
The random placement of used tissues and Yebisu bottles might as well have been modern art to him.
"Did I hear you say something?" Misato peaked her head from the doorframe and looked at Shinji.
"No, Madam." He quickly retaliated while he opened the fridge. He struggled to find a spot to fit the newly acquired groceries as the fridge was already filled with beer and Doritos. (Hideki Anno: Can we have our money now…?)
Misato finished putting on her pajamas consisting of yellow tank-top and blue shorts.
The scantily clad woman came out and took a step closer to Shinji. "Alrighty, now it's time for the party to commence."
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Apparently what Misato meant by "party" was chugging down beer by the gallon. But, who was he kidding, he already knew her definition.
"Oh, yeah that hit the spot." She said as she downed half of the beer can. "I'm telling you, it's moments like this that make it all worth it in the end."
Shinji, who was sitting opposite of her with his head rested on his elbow, watched as his roommate let the bitter liquid drift down her throat once more.
She looked at him already feeling the after affects of the alcohol. "Hey, aren't you going to drink?" She said as she offered him an unopened can.
"No thanks." Shinji put up his in disproval. "I would rather not drink myself to death."
She eyed him and gulped another mouthful of beer. "Are you suggesting that, I drink too much?" She put the can back down with a lot more force than needed. Shinji unintentionally recoiled backwards, as Misato almost climbed on top of the table and towered over him.
He had to force his eyes not to look down at her exposed cleavage. "Well, are you?"
He knew that there was no real intention of physical harm behind all her words but he still retaliated with nothing but a measly "No." letting a little of that old Shinji out of his shell.
Misato smiled at him. "Good." She took a seat and started drinking away once again.
"You know what you need, is a nice hot bath." The lavender haired woman said as she crushed her can under her fingers and threw it at the pile. "You just have to wash those worries down the drain."
He rolled his eyes. "Yeah…" He rested his head onto his fist "Sure."
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The nothingness that surrounded him was broken by the laptop screen of Dr Akagi. Her newly lit cigarette shone upon her face, revealing the bags under her eyes.
Gendo Ikari stood in front of the destroyed window overlooking the unmoving Unit-00.
The blonde scientist typed for a few seconds, then took a drag of cancer filled smoke and looked at the tall figure before her.
"Unit's-00 repair status is still unprecedented, but the repairs have been advancing at moderate speeds."
Gendo turned and looked at her. "Excellent."
None of them spoke for a bit. Ritsuko exhaled the smoke from her lungs and dropped her cigarette on the ground, crushing the butt of it with her foot.
"So, how did the meeting with your son go?"
Gendo turned at her and started unbuttoning his jacket.
"No reason to have that information shared with you, Dr Akagi" He said in almost mocking tone. Like he implied she would never be worth as much as she was.
She hated him, so why did she find herself underneath his body all the more often.
He started moving to her, as she dropped her lab coat.
Doesn't matter right now; all that did was right in front of her.
And she hated that fact.
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A/N: So this chapter was… something. Um, I don't know why it came out this weak. I had no mental juice while writing this one (The Red Bull had run out.). It may be better than I give it credit for, but I'm just not as happy as I could have been with this one.
Also, obligatory super late mini-review of Evangelion 1.0: It was good, but it lacked character development. Not to mention the fact that it is basically the original series until the end, I like the original so that's not that big of a problem, but still…
Thanks for taking the time off your life to read my atrocities and Goodbye.