Record That

DISCLAIMER: DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN EVANGELION, NOR ANY OF THE SONGS! DON'T SUE ME!

Chapter 2: Inevitably

Crying, Shinji was crying. He felt so sad after he felt something touch the side of his face. The tears streamed down his chin for a while, until he heard a voice.

"I feel sick."

The voice was so judgmental, yet true. As Shinji lowered his hands down from covering his face. He looked at someone he couldn't make out. Though he could tell it was a girl with long red hair. And while looking at her, all he could say was.

"I'm….."

Shinji then woke up. He had somehow fallen asleep. Despite listening to the album with the graves on it. This was the heaviest thing the boy had ever listened to, yet he fell asleep on the instrumental track.

"Well, I don't really like metal to begin with."

The train then made an alarm noise to indicate that it was approaching the next station. Shinji took the time to put the cassette tape back into its box. While looking at them, he found it weird how quickly he had fallen asleep. He was just hanging out a window, while his reflection was singing to him just a moment ago. Yet here he was, for the most part relaxed. About to get off at Tokyo-3.

When the train passed through the tunnel everything went dark. This put Shinji on edge, he expected at any moment for the reflection to appear again. Though when the train slowed down and the sunlight shined through. Doing it's ever so diligent task of nearly blinding Shinji everytime. There was nothing, absolutely nothing there. The boy was alone and the train had stopped.

The doors opened and now Shinji had another option. He could stay on this train, he could wait for the lady who was supposed to pick him up. She could find him here and if not he could just see where the train took him next. Except, he remembered an old phrase.

'You're so very special.'

What did that mean? After listening to the song, Shinji could tell that the phrase was meant somewhat sarcastically. The reflection was actually mocking him, but why? What did he ever do wrong? What was it trying to tell him?

"It could've at least tell me what the rest of the lyrics ment."

Shinji begrudgingly stood up and walked out onto the platform. He knew that if he stayed here, the reflection would come to torture him so more. Its smile was burned into Shinji's brain. The last thing the boy wanted was for it to come back. After all, it wanted him to get on the train. It forced Shinji not to run away.

The threat of death was a terrifying yet fascinating one. When one looks into the eyes of the thing that wants to kill you. So many questions flood through your head. Questions that are probably already answered, but need to be told twice to be understood. Though there was one question that couldn't be answered by looking into a predator's eyes.

"What the hell happened?"

Shinji looked across the empty streets. It was full of knocked over things and abandoned cars. There must have been some kind of mass evacuation, but if that was the case. Why weren't the trains stopped? If there was about to be an Earthquake or a Tsunami, all traffic heading to this area would've been redirected.

Was it the work of the reflection? It must be, who else could've known besides Shinji's father and his staff. They would've stopped the train to keep the boy safe. That's what he wanted to believe, that's what made him feel comfortable. Except, as Shinji made his way through more of the town. He realized just how much trouble he seemed to be in.

"They must've known I was coming." he said, trying to comfort himself, though it didn't work.

Shinji made his way down what looked like the main street. It was strange, he didn't feel like his life was at risk right now. Though, at least when that happened, he felt something. His adrenaline was pumping, he felt alive. Now, he was wandering an empty road. Nothing has exactly changed from where he used to live.

He wanted to put on his headphones again, but he already listened to the three tapes he had. They were all decent, but the only one he might have actually really enjoyed. Has now been forever sullied by the memory of his reflection. He would be better off never knowing what those songs ment. If every song was about how worthless you were.

"Where's some classical music when you need it? Isn't there any positive rock and roll? Or is it all sad depressing slogs? Like me I guess."

That's when Shinji accidentally kicked something. Which was strange, since the street was completely empty. He could've seen a pebble coming from a kilometer away. Yet somehow he kicked something down the road without noticing at first. When he looked down to see what it was. He was a little shocked to say the least.

It was another cassette tape. Ever so faintly, Shinji felt the all too familiar feeling of being stalked. He froze up and didn't know what to do. If he grabbed it, the reflection might appear on the box case. Though, standing here would only make him an even bigger target. The reflection could get angry at him for not doing what it wanted. Eventually, after a while of just standing there and looking around. In which he clearly found nothing.

"God damn it, why do I even bother?"

Shinji looked back at that cassette tape and decided to pick it up. Surprisingly, he recognized it, or at least he remembered the image. Four men walking down the crosswalk. It was, if he remembered his English pronunciation correctly, the Beatles. It was here that Shinji felt really stupid.

The reflection did this just to mess with him. Was it really a predator? Or just a weird cosmic deity prankster?

"Well, at least it's a good album. Going off of what people say."

The boy was about to put it in the cassette player, but then he froze again. He realized that if he put that album on, he'd just be falling for this thing's tricks again. Maybe it was a stupid prankster. And that it wore an aura of a predator like a person wears perfume. Shinji wanted to toss the album on the ground, but it was something new for him to listen to. Perhaps he'd listen to it later, when the sense of the reflection being nearby was gone.

Shinji then put the tape in his bag. It was here that he noticed something else on the note the woman sent him, a phone number. He had walked pretty far from the train station, but it was pretty hard to miss a moving car in this kind of place. As well as another person. The sun was shining down on the entire town, how could she not miss him?

"I better give her a call."

He made his way to the closest phone booth. Then he noticed the two see through pieces of glass on the side. Now, Shinji wanted to turn and run away. Except, that's exactly what the reflection didn't want him to do. If he stepped too much out of line, it would appear and nail something in him. Possibly something that could help seal his coffin.

Though, the boy wasn't going to play this game of cat and mouse. If he could, he'd make sure that the reflection had nothing to appear in. Granted, that wouldn't stop it from appearing right across from him like at the train platform, but it was better than nothing. Shinji then grabbed a nearby rock and chucked it through the glass.

It was a surprisingly good throw, as it went through both of the sheets in one throw. Shinji was surprised that he managed to pull that off. Except, he heavily doubted that he could do it again. That feat came out of a place of need for survival. Fear was an all too familiar antithesis to it. And it overwhelmed Shinji yet again, as he carefully tried to pick up the phone without cutting himself.

"Sorry, but due to the ongoing emergency. All lines are down. We apologize for the inconvenience." the monotone recording said over the phone.

"Damn." Shinji sighed. "Well, if she's not showing up anytime soon, I guess I should find a shelter."

The boy was about to turn to look out towards the hills. When he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. When he turned to look, it's exactly what he thought he saw. A girl, in a school uniform, standing down the street. Looking at him with hollow red eyes, with unnaturally blue hair. Shinji didn't know what to make of it.

Nor did he expect her to still be there when he blinked. He thought that this was a hallucination, or something he thought he saw because of how barren everything was. Except, no, she was still standing there, looking at him. After a few seconds, she even realized that she was still there. The girl began to look around, wondering what was going on. It was that perplexed look that she gave as she observed her surroundings that filled Shinji with dread, because he realized exactly what was doing this.

His survival senses didn't even kick in, before it appeared. The reflection, mimicking Shinji in every single possible detail, from his clothes down to the marks on his skin. Appeared out of nowhere and slowly walked up to the girl from her side. She didn't even notice that it was approaching until it was right next to her. The girl let out a gasp when she finally noticed it.

As the reflection sized her up with that devilish smile. Shinji realized just how much danger she was in.

"Run!" he shouted, his voice echoing down the street.

The girl looked at Shinji with a panicked expression, but cold imitation fingers cupped themselves around her chin. Making her look back towards the reflection. Her terrified eyes only made the reflection's sinister smile grow bigger. Then, it closed the gap and began to kiss her. The girl went wide eyed and tried to break away, but the reflection only wrapped its arms around her.

The struggle and noises she made, drove Shinji to involuntarily start running towards them. He needed to save an innocent girl. Whatever this thing was had business to do with him, not her. When the reflection noticed he was running, it broke the kiss and turned to face Shinji. It squeezed the girl in parts that made her scream. Then, it flashed the typical evil grin, and then they both vanished.

Shinji watched as they disappeared right in front of him. Right as he reached them, he ran past their position as if they were never there to begin with, but the scream continued to echo through the town. Shinji looked around, he was panicked and angry. He didn't care if he died, that girl was in danger. That thing needed to be stopped.

"Where are you!?" he shouted.

"Right here." the reflection said, appearing right behind the boy.

Shinji gasped in surprise and quickly turned around. Sure enough, it was there. It's smile was closed, but the eyes still stared into his soul. It sent the boy into a frightened state, Shinji could barely stand just looking at this thing. Though through sheer force of will, he continued to face it.

"Where is she?" he demanded, his voice broke and destroyed whatever intimidation he tried to put on.

The reflection simply laughed.

"You're so fucking special." It eventually said.

That phrase hit Shinji in the gut. All it seemed to be doing was toying with him. Biding its time and waiting for when it was bored to finish the job. The boy tried to think of a way to fight back, but aside from physical punches, he had no ideas. This thing was like a deity and Shinji was but a mortal.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, trying to intimidate each other. A contest in which the reflection was obviously winning. It was then interrupted by the sound of helicopters and an unearthly screech. Shinji quickly turned around to see said helicopters, along with the biggest creature he had ever seen. It was like something out of a nightmare. A black lumbering mass of boney lanky flesh, with a bird skull mask. Gliding across the ground, hardly making any footsteps.

When it looked in Shinji's direction, the boy fell to the ground in fear. He thought that the real predator had now come. It would consume both him and his reflection. All while staring into his soul with no eyes. At least his reflection had pupils. And speaking of that thing. It walked past where Shinji had fallen. Looking at the massive creature with a look of disappointment.

The creature knocked a helicopter out of the sky. Sending it flying above the two. The wind from it nearly blew Shinji away. While all it did to the reflection was simply send its clothes flapping in the breeze. When the explosion happened behind them, it sent Shinji flying into the reflection. To which, it caught him by the shirt.

To the boy's surprise, the reflection placed him back down standing up. It then waved its hand in front of Shinji, and a breeze came and blew away all the debris and dust that covered him. Shinji didn't know what to make of this. And the look the reflection had made it even more confusing, its soul piercing gaze was still there, but its face was that of concern.

It then looked back to the creature, which continued to swipe at the helicopters. The reflection then lifted its hand and made a flicking gesture with its index finger. It aimed right at the creature.

"You're too early." It said with its tone angry and voice deep.

When he flicked it's finger. A gust of hair so massive flowed through the air. Nearly sending Shinji flying again. But the giant creature was on the receiving end of it. So it went flying instead, and it went far. It was but a speck in the sky before it started coming down. And it hit the ground with a distant boom.

The boy was wide eyed, mouth agape and had no idea how much power that took to do. Yet the reflection did that all with the flick of its finger. It then turned back to Shinji, the smile slowly returning. He now knew that he stood no chance whatsoever fighting this thing. At any moment, this clone of him could crush him before he even knew what hit him.

Shinji almost started to piss himself, but he noticed that the reflection was looking past him. Soon, there came the noise of a car driving down the street at top speed. The reflection looked back to Shinji one last time.

"Don't let her stop."

In the blink of an eye, the reflection disappeared. Though before Shinji could take in what just happened. He heard the sound of a car coming upon him. So he spun around to see a blue sports alpine swerve and drift over to him. Stopping just a few meters away. The driver's door then flew open, and out came a very surprised woman.

The same woman who was supposed to pick up Shinji. She was looking off past the boy into the distance. Where the creature had been sent flying. Shinji almost joined her, but he was more taken aback by her beauty. The photo of her didn't do her justice, or maybe it did, he was just more annoyed by the bad humor. Up close, she was absolutely gorgeous, from her purplish hair to her perfectly fitting dress.

When she looked at him, he was almost scared. He never thought a woman as beautiful as her would look his way.

"Did you see what just happened!?" she asked, nearly shouting.

"Um, yeah." he responded, nervously.

She noticed she was freaking him out. Which she was embarrassed by, so she quickly straightened herself out.

"I'm sorry, you've clearly been through a lot. The name is Misato Katsuragi, you must be Shinji Ikari I presume?"

She bowed and then held out her hand. Shinji didn't do anything, instead he looked down and put his hands to the side of his head. Contemplating what his life had now become. He would've started crying and freaking out, if it hadn't been for Misato coming over. Putting her hand on his shoulder, causing him to jump, but comforting him a little.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm here to take you to safety." Her tone and look was new to Shinji. Because of that, he didn't know how to respond.

Though, what he did know to do, was to run into the car when he heard the roar of the beast in the distance. Misato followed suit alongside him. When they got in the car, she hit it into fifth gear and they took off. Shinji then noticed in the right side mirror, a cross shaped explosion in the distance. Though, he didn't see it burn out, as his reflection in the mirror then turned to look him in the eye.

"Don't stop." It said, with another smile.

Shinji turned away quickly to look ahead at the road.

"You don't have to tell me." Misato said.

"What?" Shinji asked.

"I'm not going to stop, don't worry." Misato confirmed.

She and Shinji then shared a look of confusion. Until she realized something.

"Wait, were you the one who said that?" she asked.

Shinji then looked away, he knew that no matter what he said. She wouldn't believe him, so he just remained silent. Misato saw pain in his expression, but understood that the boy had just been through so much already. So, she simply focused on the road.

"Well, don't worry. I'll get us to HQ in record time. I have no idea what caused that angel to go flying like that, but it's good nonetheless for us."

The boy began to shiver at words that came out of her mouth. She had no idea what she was talking about, and maybe that was for the best.

Right now, I want all of you to knock on wood right now. Because I'm starting to get into the flow of writing this. I hope I can complete this version and not just delete it a week later.

I hope you all enjoyed that chapter. I might play another song before I get to everyone's favorite Radiohead one. Though, it will be for a good reason, I assure you.

In the meantime, due to a lack of interactivity on my poll I put up. I'll decide whether or not I'll play a few more songs from Pablo Honey. Maybe I'll do another poll in the future, but in the meantime.

Thank you for reading.

I hope you all enjoyed the story.

And if not, I'm sorry.