Creation began on 05-22-20

Creation ended on 05-28-20

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Talismans: Auntie's Rare Antiquities

A/N: Meet some of the people that don't belong to the rest of society.

As much as she could've shot him to prevent him from leaving, Misato had hesitated because of how much people would react to him being brought back to NERV against his will. And as much as he had challenged her to shoot him, knowing full well that she could've killed him in the process, she knew she was crossing the line by trying to force to do something he didn't want to do, even if the whole universe was at stake. How was it going to look when she had to inform Commanders Ikari and Fuyutsuki that she had the Third Child…and watched him escape from the city? How was it going to be for her when she explained that she couldn't pull the trigger and shoot him somewhere he was vulnerable but not likely to die?

"You do realize that with the Third Child gone," went Ritsuko to her as they walked down the hall to Gendo's office, "we're reduced to just the First Child until we get the Second and Fourth Children here, right?"

"He practically dared me to shoot him, Rits," she told her. "What if I killed him?"

"You could've shot him in the arm or leg. Those are non-fatal places to shoot someone. He would've needed surgery, but he wouldn't have died."

"But then we'd be bringing him back here, and he'd accuse us of kidnapping him, which might've been true because we were looking for him. I understand that it's necessary for the sake of the human race, but there is a difference between doing something willingly…and being forced into doing something. He wasn't being asked to pilot the Eva, he was being forced to do so, and he didn't want to, choosing to leave the first chance he got."

"He only got away because you didn't stop him. But we know where he's going, and he'll have no choice but to return here."

They reached Gendo's office and entered, and Misato felt like she was the one marching towards her execution because of her failure to act.

-x-

Time was ever so slow. Maybe time was such an enemy to those that felt they didn't have a lot of it or had little to do with it, but for Shinji, time was just…shameful to a degree. Shameful in the fact that when he decided to make time to see someone he didn't really want to see at all, but felt obligated to see, the visit, which should've been short, had taken longer than he expected it to be, and cruel in the fact that when he wanted to go somewhere else that didn't take up his time, people he didn't know, that he didn't want to know, stood in his way. And now here he was, in the one place that didn't take up his time, and the one place where it seemed so devoid of trouble from most people that didn't belong.

Ōta of the Gunma Prefecture, the place he came to after he left his aunt and uncle's. He didn't fit in at first with any particular group or person, but at least here, he was away from those Ikaris, those people that either left him or outright despised him just for who he was related to. And it was here that he met Auntie, despite her having never saw him in person before.

The sheep kept people from seeing me, he thought as the train finally stopped a few blocks from where he lived, but she knew I was near, despite not being able to see or hear me. She just knew I was there, minding my own business, which enabled me to get into other people's business without truly being there.

It was in the silence of the night, while he was asleep in his apartment, wandering around in astral form just looking around the city without any fear of getting caught, and he saw her antique shop. He felt drawn towards it because it had several dragon statues around. And then he went inside just to look around at the merchandise; he couldn't be accused of breaking and entering or even stealing because he wasn't really there.

"Do you see anything you like, young man?" He turned towards an aisle and saw the elderly woman, sweeping up dust from the daily walking done in the place, and saw that she wasn't really looking his way. "I can't really see or hear you, but I know you're there. You're young. You must be a little kid."

Even if she couldn't see or hear him, the fact that she was able to know that he was there was enough to disturb Shinji, and he was to flee from this place.

"Please, don't run," she begged him. "Feel free to look around all you want. You may find something you like. My name is Auntie. I have an actual name, but I prefer it when people call me Auntie. We open at ten on the weekdays and ten-thirty on the weekends and close around nine. Feel free to come by any time."

She turned to face him, but even though he was invisible to her, the sight of her eyes had surprised him. Her eyes were a pale blue, as though she were blind or something, but she knew he was there.

"I know what you're probably thinking," she had expressed, "but I see more with these eyes than you can imagine. I almost lost my sight until a noble horse came to me and kept me from losing my eyes."

She then reached into her yukata and pulled out a small object that made Shinji want to look at it. It was a carved piece of stone, identical in shape and texture to his talisman, but with a horse's head depicted instead of a sheep, tied to a cord around her neck.

"Please, come by if you'd like to know more about the talismans," she told him. "There's more to them than you can imagine."

Stepping off the train, Shinji sighed as he looked at the buildings around him.

"I'm home," he expressed, and turned towards the street to reach his apartment.

-x-

"It would seem that my brothers and sisters have made their move upon this world," the dragon statue informed the people in the room.

"You have siblings?" The woman questioned. "Just how many of you are there?"

"There are eight of us, including myself," the statue revealed, "and if they're here in this world, as well, then that means that my son must also be here."

"Will they be looking for the talismans, too?" The boss man questioned.

"It is possible."

"We need to know who these relatives of yours are and what they do, Shendu."

And for once in his despicable life since he was returned to being trapped in this accursed statue form, the dragon demon had to admit that informing his human allies of his relatives and what they were capable would aid in insuring that they would be able to locate the talismans more efficiently than when he had to rely on humans the last time he was trapped in this form because he chose to withhold this information.

"The Demon Sorcerers derive their magic from fire, sky, moon, thunder, earth, mountain, wind and water. We once terrorized the ancient world until we were defeated by the Eight Immortals of China's ancient past and banished to the Netherworld. My son, Drago and I represent fire. Hsi Wu represents sky. Tso Lan represents moon. Tchang Zu represents thunder. Dai Gui is earth. Po Kong is mountain. Xaio Fung is wind, and Bai Tza is water."

"What do you suppose their aim is to affect the world on a global scale?" The woman asked him.

"My best guess is to undo as much of what this Second Impact had caused fifteen years ago, which wouldn't have suited any of us. A world maimed by humans leading to an extinction would be useless, as humans have a large role to play in any demon's agenda."

"And what with the global birthrate declining, that has left very few humans left on the planet with limited space left to occupy," the boss man added. "A global rejuvenation would aid in reversing this genocide and enable the human race to increase their numbers at a steady pace."

"But make no mistake, my brethren wouldn't restore a damaged world out of the goodness of their beings. They only desire what was taken from them, and they'll go to whatever lengths they have to in order to reclaim their domains."

The boss man then looked to his three minions and ordered, "Go find the talismans. We know what they look like. Search the museums, private collectors, research stations. Leave no stone unturned. Do whatever you have to do."

"Yes, sir," the woman and her two partners responded, holding up a torch-like object with four dragonheads on it.

-x-

It was still late in the evening as Shinji reached his building and entered his apartment, locking the door and entering the kitchen, getting something to eat before turning in. He would call Auntie and ask for the day off to recover when the sun came up. But while his body needed rest, he could just use the Sheep Talisman and keep a lookout for anyone that might come here looking for him.

Of course, they'll come here looking for me, he realized as NERV would send people to try and take him back to Tokyo-3. They'll never take 'no' for an answer.

Making himself a sandwich and some ramen, he sat down and replenished his stomach. Once he was down on his futon, he would wander about in astral form and keep watch over his resting body in case of uninvited threats.

-x-

"…I heard Commander Ikari threatened to demote you if we don't find his kid," Hyuga told Misato as they were in Central Dogma trying to assess the global phenomena that was the restoration of the South Pole and the correcting of the planet's axis. "How upset was he?"

"Put quite simply, he wants his son back here, even if it means we have to drag him in, kicking and screaming," she told him.

"I don't see the point in doing so," went Shigeru to them as he was going over the new data received from the NERV bases in China and the United States. "The Angels haven't appeared and that thing that attacked us hasn't been seen since. What would be the point of bringing him back if he's just going to run away again? We can't make him stay and help us if he wants nothing to do with our purpose here, even if we say he has no choice."

"Until the commander says otherwise, we don't have a choice but to go get him. Again."

-x-

When morning came, Shinji awoke to the sunlight slipping through his curtains and felt slightly rested. While physically, he was partially recovered, his mind was alert since his astral form was constantly wandering around his apartment in case someone tried to sneak in during his period of vulnerability. He checked his alarm and found the time to be almost eight-fifteen, and then reached for his cellphone.

Ring! It started ringing, and the name "Auntie" popped up on the screen.

"Hello," he greeted.

"I hope I didn't disturb your slumber, Shinji," he heard Auntie's voice on his phone. "I just wanted to know if you were home."

"I got in late last night after I left Tokyo-3," he explained.

"They had a riot until the trains and buses were running again after a strange creature attacked. I hope you were able to avoid getting hurt out there."

"I did, but that man and his agency will likely come here looking for me to take me back."

"Well, you know you can crash here at the shop if they come looking for you. We got your back. Take today off and recover."

"Thank you, Auntie."

He then hung up and returned to sleep. Well, at least his body returned to sleep, but his mind returned to the astral plane and kept vigilance over his place.

-x-

Sighing as she placed the phone down on the mantle, Auntie turned to look at one of her employees and uttered, "I need you to do something for me, Juggernaut."

"I'm listening," the man she spoke to, well into his mid-thirties, muscular and with a face like a brick wall, Juggernaut, responded.

"You have Shinji's address. Go keep watch over him in case someone does come looking for him. You have my discretion to use force if absolutely necessary."

"Yes, Auntie," Juggernaut replied and left out of the room.

She didn't like this, but she had grown to care for each of her shop's employees…and in a way, they were like family to her, including Shinji, who shared an interest in the talismans she had locked away in her shop, with the exception of the Horse Talisman she kept on her person. All twenty-four of her workers had nicknames to use in place of their real names that they didn't like to use the majority of the time, and she permitted the use of these names because they became more than just aliases to hide them from people that might've been looking for them while they tried to live separate lives from the ones they had in the past before coming to her shop. Her employment of Juggernaut had reached ten years now, and his reputation as one of the shop's guards was a force to be reckoned with if he were ever provoked, but deep down, he was rather peaceful when you got to know him.

"You know," she turned to see another young man, about eighteen years of age, dressed in a red shirt and blue jeans and black wristbands, pouring a cup of tea, "you could've sent me to do the job. Why Juggernaut? He's not subtle."

"Because he won't take long to get the message heard, Dragon," she told him.

"And should his father send people to come get him?"

"Only if Juggernaut can't prevail on his own, you have my discretion to act."

Dragon sighed and then handed her the cup.

-x-

"…This…wasn't written in the Dead Sea Scrolls," went SEELE 04 to the others in the council, going over the most recent turn of events. "Second Impact flooded much of the world, and now this…phenomena has somehow restored the South Pole and decreased the global ocean levels to a state similar to before Second Impact."

"Not only that," went SEELE 12, "but the moon was somehow pushed further away from the Earth, decreasing the influence on the ocean tides. We do not believe the Angels were behind this occurrence."

"How and why?" SEELE 07 questioned. "What purpose would that accomplish? Their goal is to reach Lilith and erase all human life, triggering the great reset."

"This matter must be understood," declared SEELE 01 to them. "Whoever or whatever was behind this has to answer for it."

"And what of Ikari and NERV?" SEELE 05 questioned.

"Until we know for certain that they had nothing to do with this, leave them be for now," SEELE 01 ordered.

-x-

Sometimes, Shinji had to admit to himself that he was a little paranoid. Paranoid in the fact that ever since he discovered the power of the Sheep Talisman, he rarely ever actually got any decent sleep; since his soul discovered the wanderlust of traveling around in the astral plane, he couldn't feel the sense of needing to sleep. And because of this, he rarely had any dreams while wandering around, leaving his body defenseless. But because of this consequence, he would sometimes wonder what would've been if he had embraced sleep like he used to before he acquired the talisman. Maybe he wouldn't be cautious or curious of what went on around him or away from him.

But this was his current mindset for now. And as long as he had the talisman, he would continue to use its power to learn as much as he could, undetected by people while his body recouped. This led him back to NERV, to the Geo-Front and to his father.

"Section Two has reached Ōta and are heading towards the Third Child's address," he heard the elder say to his father in his office.

"Excellent," he heard his father respond.

"Ikari…maybe we shouldn't do this. With the way things are transpiring, the world suddenly reverting back to a greater semblance of the way things were fifteen years ago, the Eva may not be necessary, therefore trying to make your son pilot is also unnecessary."

"Fuyutsuki," he heard his father respond, "you know as well as I do that unless the Angels are defeated, humankind has no real future. Even if the planet has been returned to a semblance of its previous state with the restoration of the South Pole, everyone is doomed to perish before this year is even over. To ensure we have a future, the Third Child will pilot the Eva."

Son of a bitch, thought Shinji as he found out about this. You just won't quit.

He quickly flew away from the Geo-Front, all the way back to Ōta to get to his body. If it came to it, he would have to crash at Auntie's shop until the heat on him died. But as he reached his apartment building, he saw six men in suits and shades get out of a car and walk into the building, suspecting they were the ones looking for him.

No! He yelled and flew into his apartment.

Opening his eyes, Shinji quickly got up and grabbed his travel bag; he didn't have time to change out of his pajamas. The sooner he got away, the more distance he would've put between him and the suits. Reaching for the door, he pulled it open and saw Juggernaut sitting outside.

"Juggernaut," he spoke, "what are you doing here?"

"After you called Auntie, she told me to come here and make sure you stayed where you were, which is here in Ōta," he answered him.

"Six men in suits and shades, inside the building coming here."

Ding. They heard the elevator, indicating that they had less time to get away.

"Close the door and lock it," Juggernaut told him. "Don't answer until I say so."

Shinji closed the door and did as instructed; ever since he met Juggernaut and learned about him from Auntie, he had to give the guy credit for working security for the shop. But then he used his talisman once more to vacate his apartment; his body was still locked inside, so he was technically obeying Juggernaut.

"May I help you gentlemen?" He asked the six suits.

"We're looking for Shinji Ikari," one of them responded. "We were told he lived here."

"Shinji Ikari…Shinji Ikari… Oh, yeah, that kid. He left out an hour ago and didn't say where. I think he found a new apartment or something. You know kids these days, they're always getting into trouble with people and looking for a solution to resolve their issues."

The suits looked at each other and then approached Juggernaut, moving him out of the way.

"Hey, what's the big idea, dumbass?!" He called them.

"We know he lives here," one of them said as they walked through Shinji's astral form and stopped at his door. "He's coming with us now."

"No, no, no," Juggernaut told them. "He doesn't know any of you, so you can't just come here and say he's going with you. I've seen the cop shows. Unless you have authorization to even go into his home, you can't violate his civil liberties."

One of the suits took out their guns and aimed it at Juggernaut.

"Really? You wanna shoot me? You wanna shoot an unarmed man for stating the truth?!"

"Get out of here before I do shoot you," the guy said as another one knocked on the door.

"I already told you, he's not there."

"Break the door open," another suit ordered, making Shinji panic.

Then…Juggernaut's body started to glow red.

"I'm sorry, gentlemen, but you brought this upon yourselves," he told them, and Shinji saw his whole body covered in…in red, shaggy, metallic armor modeled after a bear, complete with claws and fangs. "Juggernaut!"

He ran over to them…and all Hell broke loose! The men were sent flying and being tossed around the hallway as he grabbed them and pulled them towards himself, unsure of how he was doing any of this because there was no way he could take all six of them on without backup. Then one of them was slammed hard against a wall, leaving a crack in it while another suit was thrown up against the ceiling!

BANG! One suit managed to shoot him, but the bullet didn't even hit his face, just hitting the air in between them and falling to the ground.

Juggernaut then punched him in his chest with his left arm that left these claw-like tears across his suit.

"First and only warning," he told them as they groaned while trying to get up, "if there's any of you suits that don't want to die… GET THE HELL OUT!"

Damn, Shinji reacted; Juggernaut had to be a real gangster if he wanted his threat heard.

The Section Two agents got up and ran back to the elevator.

"This ain't over!" They declared.

"Oh, yeah? It is for you."

When they were gone, Juggernaut looked over at Shinji's astral form and smiled.

"If we'd been outside," he told him, "they would be dead."

I believe you, Juggernaut, Shinji responded; because of this ability of his, Juggernaut could see and hear Shinji's astral form.

"We need to go to Auntie's now."

-x-

"…Hold on, what do you mean, you were all forced to retreat by one man?" Misato asked the agent on the phone as she was trying to understand why they were unable to get Shinji. "This one guy stopped you…and one of you shot him…and the bullet never touched his head?"

She even received information that seemed unreal how one hit from this guy left these rips in one agent's suit. But nothing that was said made sense to her; every agent in Section Two was well-trained and able to intimidate people into telling them what they wanted to know about anyone they were looking for, and this one guy that seemed to know Shinji…made them look like minimum-wage security guards at a strip mall…with his bare hands. Unless the guy used steroids or was on PCP, there was just no way that he could beat six agents and force them to leave the building where the Third Child was located.

"Section Two was bested by some guy?" Ritsuko asked her.

"I think the Third Child has a guardian angel or two associated with that antique shop he works at," she told the faux-blond.

"This won't do at all."

-x-

One of the good things about Auntie's shop…was that it was bigger underground than it was above ground. It had four sublevels that she used to house other items that were valuable and to serve as living spaces for her employees when they needed to hide from others that were looking for them. This was the case for Shinji for now, as he sat on a futon in his quarters.

"Sheegwa will be by your place to collect your mail," Auntie informed him.

"Thank you," he praised her.

"Something else on your mind?"

"Yeah. Before I left Tokyo-3, before the rioting… I was attacked by a woman that I don't believe was just a woman. She used water in ways that you only see in cartoons and hero movies. She wanted the Sheep Talisman, even though she claimed it was useless. And she turned into a monstrous mermaid. I think her name was…Bai Tza. Have you ever heard of that name before?"

"Bai Tza? That's the name of demon from ancient China's past. And she wanted your talisman?"

"She did. She claimed it belonged to her brother named Shendu, too."

"Bai Tza… Shendu…"

Shinji looked at Auntie and wondered if something was wrong.

"I put everyone in danger by being here, don't I?" He wanted to know.

"No, Shinji," she assured him. "Right now, Ōta is perhaps the safest place to be. And we have time to do research on whoever is behind that phenomena that set the planet back on its axis. Whoever or whatever this Bai Tza that you encountered is, she may be the same one from ancient China. Rest up for now. I'll be back with dinner later this evening."

"Thank you."

Auntie left him alone then and went to her own room under the shop, where she kept the most valuable of relics that she kept safe for her employees that were saving up to buy them off her at the reasonable prices she set to test their conviction to earn them. Opening a vault, she looked down at a case that contained the other eight talismans that she showed Shinji the day he came to her shop, finally mustering the courage to meet her in the flesh and know more about them.

"Hello, ma'am," he greeted her.

"Hello, sir," she replied. "How may I help you today?"

"I…I would like to know about…talismans, please?"

"Talismans? What kind of talismans?"

And then he showed her his talisman, putting on a stern face. That's when she showed him the one she had been using since the day she nearly lost her sight and gained the ability to sense the presence of other spirits without needing to see or hear them.

"According only to ancient legends, these two talismans are part of a set of twelve," she taught him after she showed him the other eight she had in her shop. "Each one represented by a different animal of the Chinese Zodiac. Supposedly, the talismans embody the different powers belonging to an ancient demon that held dominion over ancient China, but other sources say that these talismans embody the powers of twelve noble animals that were claimed by the same demon. I searched for as long as I could for all twelve talismans…but sadly, I was only able to find nine of them."

"Nine out of twelve. It's still most of them. What would happen if you had all of them?"

"Nothing would happen to any one human that possessed them. But some believed that if the demon they belonged to were to ever regain possession of them, he would return to power and reclaim dominion over all of Asia."

She remembered Shinji's fascination with the talismans she had in her possession, seeing him look at each one, but then sighed at the price she had set on them.

"You want them, don't you?" She had asked him, seeing that he was thinking about them. "If you like, I need more help around my shop. Those that desire something from here can work here to earn that which they covet while learning about them at the same time. Interested?"

And since then, Shinji joined the workforce at Auntie's Rare Antiquities. The price for the talismans she had there were set at the equivalent of one-hundred US dollars per talisman, including the Horse Talisman, meaning Shinji would have to save the American equivalent of nine-hundred dollars if he wanted to get all of them. When he subtracted his bills from his earnings, he had saved enough to buy at least five of them, but felt he needed all of them…and he actually liked working at her shop, employees and all, despite their quirks. It was the only place where he actually fit in.

"One talisman I wouldn't mind being able to use just once is the Dog Talisman," Auntie sighed as she closed the vault. "What trouble is brewing that dares to threaten my kids?"

One other thing about Auntie that her employees respected most was how she was protective of them, willing to lie for them or even go out of her way to ensure they were kept out of danger, which made them protective of her, as well.

"What do you think of when you can't sleep at night, Auntie?" One of her female employees, Desdemona, asked her one time.

"I think of how much of a great swell of pity I would feel towards any poor soul that comes to my shop…looking for trouble," she answered, which was a rarity; hardly anyone came here looking for trouble.

And then she reached towards a book on her shelf and began to research all that she could on ancient demons.

To be continued…

A/N: Can anyone guess what Juggernaut was able to do since it will be part of this story's plot? I love it when those looking for trouble can't understand what's going on around them. Based on what was revealed, can any of you guess which talismans Auntie doesn't possess that Shinji is working to buy off her?