Creation began on 06-10-15

Creation ended on 07-20-15

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Sword of Destruction, Sword of Life: Desire

The remains of Unit-03 were being collected and disposed of, but Misato was unsure of how to address the situation with Shinji, whom she was sure was being detained for his alleged insubordination against the possessed Eva in fear of harming his friend.

"Should you be up so soon with your injuries?" She heard Ritsuko ask her, sporting a bandaged head.

"I can still work," she responded. "This is awful. A total loss."

"Yeah."

-x-

"…Well, your tests all came back in the green," a physician told Toji, having had said boy put through a battery of tests to determine his medical condition more thoroughly. "You're good to go, Mr. Suzuhara. Just fill out this release form."

Toji took the clipboard from the physician and signed his signature and gave it back.

As he stepped out of the room, he bumped into Hikari, who seemed flushed at the sight of him.

"Class Rep," he greeted her by her designation.

"Suzuhara," she greeted back.

"What are you doing here?"

"Following my school duties as Class Representative."

"Oh."

"So…you're alright, I hear."

"Yeah. The doctors all say that I'm lucky."

"That's good to hear."

"Class Rep?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks."

-x-

Shinji closed the door to his locker in the men's room, hoping he'd never have to go through it again as he gathered his personal effects and stepped out into the hallway. He had resigned from NERV, unwilling to pilot the Eva again if it meant that his father was going to activate an autopilot system that would take control from him whenever he was against fighting an Angel when an innocent life was in the crossfire. And the worst of it was that his father was completely indifferent to the possibility of killing people so long as the Angels were dealt with, viewing the lives taken as meaningless. But Shinji wasn't going to be a killer simply because his father was in charge of NERV, as he now viewed that fact as a major mistake on someone else's part, since the guy was unable or unwilling to allow the possibility of saving someone from the Angels.

But now, now he had the means to ensure that people could be saved from the Angels…and his father. He had the means to ensure that the Eva wouldn't be needed again. Maybe he was crazy to believe in such things, but he saw the Tenseiga revive his friend, and that was enough to convince him that the swords were powerful and could be used to actually save people more than the Eva.

-x-

"…Erase the Third Child from all records," went Gendo to Ritsuko over the phone. "The First Child is the designated pilot of Unit-01…with the Dummy Plug as a backup."

Fuyutsuki, who was present when Shinji was brought into his father's office, was surprised at the boy's confidence in not wanting to pilot the Eva any longer if it meant having to listen to his father and take an innocent life…and wasn't as surprised by Gendo's indifference towards this conclusion.

But Gendo, on the other hand, wasn't too concerned with his son's departure. He was confident that, given the next Angel's arrival, the Third Child would return to pilot the Eva. There was no belief or faith in something drawing the boy back, but just the weight of humanity being forced onto his shoulders that would simply make him realize that he needed Unit-01.

-x-

"…He seemed relieved," went Toji to Hikari, talking about Shinji as they walked into the trauma ward to see the former's sister.

"Relieved?" Hikari questioned, confused.

"After he saw me in one piece, after he resigned from NERV, Shinji looked…relieved after leaving."

"But how can he seem relieved after everything that happened?"

"Probably the thought of never having to see his father again. Although, that's just a possibility. Since I met him, Shinji has never been close with his old man. Actually, it's the complete opposite."

"His father's not close to him? That's awful."

"From what Shinji says, his old man's a complete jerk."

They entered a room…and saw a little girl in a bed with a bandage on her head.

"Hey, sis," Toji greeted the girl.

"Big Brother," the girl greeted back.

-x-

Looking at the Tessaiga on his bed, Shinji hoped that it was what his dream had showed it to be, and picked it up.

Okay, he thought, unsheathing the sword, seeing that the katana blade, looking better than the previous time he examined it, started to glow brightly. Whoa!

Its blade grew in height and length, becoming a large, curved blade that was identical to the one he saw in his dream. But what surprised him the most was the lightness of the sword. It felt liked it weighed next to nothing, but from the look of the blade, it could cut through almost anything.

Shinji waved it around to test his ability to move it, and wondered if he could live up to the previous owner of the sword.

"Shinji?" He heard Misato outside his room, and he quickly re-sheathed the sword and put it away with the Tenseiga. "Shinji?"

"In here, Misato," he called her, and she slid the door open to see him.

When he saw her, he was surprised to see her arm in a cast and her face bandaged.

"They wouldn't tell me if you were hurt or not," he told her.

"I'm likely to recover in about a month's time or less," she explained the recovery time of her arm. "I was told that you resigned."

"Yeah, I did."

"Why?"

"I'm sure you already know the answer to that."

"Because of what happened with Suzuhara?"

"That's right."

"But he survived."

"No thanks to that man. He almost made me kill him, just to defeat the Angel. I couldn't and wouldn't do that, not while there was a chance to save him."

"But if they hadn't used the Dummy Plug, you might've been killed, Shinji."

"That's not the point, Misato. And even if it were so, I'd rather it be my life than someone else's. I'm not going to pilot the Eva again if it means I have to come close to being forced to harm someone when I'd rather save them."

-x-

Alarms were going off like crazy when the next Angel arrived. People were evacuated to the shelters…except for Shinji, who had gone to the hillside of Tokyo-3 with his swords.

Whatever he thought he was capable of against the Angel, he just hoped that he could stop it on his own without the Eva, just these two swords.

The sight of the new Angel was enough to make Shinji almost wet his pants. Almost. But as much as he wanted to run right now, because he was just a civilian and not an Eva pilot, he couldn't do so just yet, not when he needed to see for himself if he could save the people on his own.

"Here goes," he uttered to himself, unsheathing the Tessaiga…and its blade grew to its true form. "Whoa, boy."

-x-

"…Position Unit-02 in front of HQ," went Misato, wishing the Angel hadn't penetrated so many layers of armor in a single blast.

However, before the technicians could carry out the order, before anyone could even carry out the desire to worry in excess over the Angel's impending intrusion into the Geo-Front, the external cameras picked up a large, blinding light from somewhere…and it enveloped the Angel. When it faded, the left side of the target had been incinerated, exposing its innards and various muscles and nerves.

"What was that?!" Ritsuko demanded.

"An unknown energy signature appeared out of nowhere," one of the technicians explained as best they could on the monitors.

-x-

Panting from the exhilaration of his first swing with the sword, Shinji dropped the oversized blade to the ground as he caught his breath.

"Whoa," he gasped, feeling like it wasn't just the blade that attacked the Angel, that it was him that punched it around before dousing it in gasoline and lighting a match. "I gotta end this quickly."

Raising the blade up for the second time, a gathering of random currents of wind surrounded the young man's body like before. He focused solely on defeating the Angel, protecting the people from it, and preventing extensive, collateral damage to the city.

As the Angel appeared to begin the process of regenerating its loss and damaged tissues (and because its core was intact), Shinji willed himself to finish what he started.

"Wind Scar!" He shouted, and swung the blade, unleashing another stream of destructive energy towards the Angel.

It enveloped the enemy in light…and left nothing behind when it faded away.

He'd done it. He'd defeated the Angel.

-x-

"The…the target's…gone?" Ritsuko questioned.

"There's no trace of the Angel's signature," went Maya.

Gendo, however, was infuriated over this discovery. The Eva hadn't gone up against the Angel, and the Third Child hadn't come back to pilot Unit-01.

-x-

Laying on the grass as he recovered, with his swords re-sheathed and at his side, Shinji looked up at the calm sky, content with his achievement.

"Hey, kid, you should be in a shelter," he heard a woman say to him, unaware of the Angel's status as deceased or that the danger had passed. "Kid?"

"If anyone asks," he responded to her, "I'm just taking a nap."

To be continued…

A/N: Zeruel has been dealt with by two Wind Scar attacks, NERV never got its chance to intercept it, and Gendo was stood up by Shinji and his swords.