Creation began on 03-29-24

Creation ended on 04-02-24

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Demon Slayer Evangelion: The Reasoning

There must've been at least fifteen-twenty of them when they started out here, but as Shinji, worn out by the demons, a little hungry from lack of eating and a bandage on his left hand, walked to where the end of Final Selection took place as the morning began with the rising sun, he saw only eight people…and he didn't see Uta. Did she not make it when they parted ways going after different demons?

Where is she? He wonders.

"I…made…it." A tired voice utters nearby, and turns to see that it was Uta, who looked like she needed a vacation as much as he did.

Yes, you did, he thinks.

In front of them were the two people that seemed to represent light and darkness, the kimono-clad children that, despite their age, made Shinji feel like he were in the presence of people that had very little individuality and acted with a singular sense.

From a distance, the twins saw with interest that Shinji had managed to survive all seven nights of danger from the demons…and had gained considerable strength in the process.

He might just have what it takes, thought Death, feeling pride that this Shinji Ikari had managed to deviate from a former fate their parents had tried to force him like so many other incarnations of the forsaken soul.

-x-

It was only starting to sink in heavily around NERV that Shinji was gone and likely not coming back. If any were to ask how Major Katsuragi was feeling as to the fact that the Third Child was declared missing in action, it would be clear that she was beyond upset. And if any were to ask how the First and Second Children were feeling, the responses would be various; nobody knew how to decipher Rei Ayanami's reaction to the deceased boy, other than the fact that he was no longer present, and with Asuka's brash attitude, it was anyone's guess as to whether or not she was elated that he was gone or simply hiding her grief. And as for Gendo, nobody had seen or heard from him since the beginning of the aftermath with the Twelfth Angel's defeat.

No, that was untrue. Someone had been in contact with Gendo, practically the only one that had words of contempt towards him for what happened.

"Was this a part of your scenario, Ikari?" Kozo Fuyutsuki asks Gendo in his office; it had been six months since the defeat of the Twelfth Angel, and nothing had been the same.

"There hasn't been a scenario since Unit-01 failed to return," Gendo states, looking like he hadn't shaved in weeks. "Nothing else has fallen into place."

No scenario? Fuyutsuki thinks as he realizes that Gendo's scenario was dependent on Unit-01 being present.

The mere fact that it was not around meant that everything else prophesied by the Dead Sea Scrolls had likely been compromised by what didn't happen when it was expected to happen.

"And was your son ever part of your scenario?" He had to ask Gendo; the man had treated his son like a complete stranger with no ounce of concern towards his safety, either because he had faith in the Eva or because he simply demonstrated no need to worry.

Gendo looks at him like a line had been crossed…and all that was asked was the question he hated being asked because nothing else mattered to him.

"There's no scenario, anymore," he reiterated, implying that everything he had planned was no longer going to work out for him, and this included the loss of his son, which didn't bode well for him at all.

But Fuyutsuki just wanted to hear it from him. The fact that he refused to made Fuyutsuki ponder if this man was ever capable of owning up to anything he did or didn't say or do.

-x-

Shinji's walk back to the cave he left from was long, and he had only walked for three hours. He felt like the way back was taking twice as long on account of carrying his uniform with him.

How did I really survive this long? He wonders as he leans against a tree. This uniform is very heavy, and it's supposed to be lightweight.

"If I was capable of teasing people," he hears his own voice, albeit devoid of any sense of passion, say to him, "I would be teasing you right now."

He turns to see Death standing nearby, looking at him.

"Question," he asks his dead counterpart, "do you ever exhibit any sense of humor? Or laugh at something funny? Or anything that indicates you have a sense of humor?"

Death simply looks at Shinji with an emotionless expression that makes his living alternate uncomfortable. He had that way of making people feel like they're being looked at in a way that is beyond their standard senses. Instead of looking at someone, he looks past them, through them, into their very soul. And there would be this feeling of hearing…screams from people that were in agony, with fires blazing behind him and the sound of gunfire and explosions, a feeling of Hell on Earth.

"My sense of humor is…either dry or extremely sadistic," he finally says to Shinji. "I've been working on it every now and then. Humor is…that is regular humor, harmless humor…is not something I have a hold of."

"It's not easy to be capable of finding humor when the life you had is one of empty words and meaningless bonds?"

"That life, those people that were no better than the scum of society that I hunt down to condemn for their sins against the innocent, was as empty as a cheap glass cup. But what I enjoy most about being this way…is that I have all the time in existence to learn what I was denied in life. And that I am able to live more than I have ever lived in life. Dying can really change your whole way of thinking about many things."

"No offense, but…I hope that I don't die soon."

"Believe me, you have lived longer than I did before I died. If you're fortunate enough, you might just survive to see yourself in your sixties."

Death then offers his right hand to the young man, lightening his load.

"Thank you," Shinji praises, handing over his uniform.

"Shinji Ikari, Demon Slayer. You have yet to begin, but I'm already seeing greatness in your future. I look forward to seeing you work. There is more for you to see and experience in your life than you can possibly imagine."

-x-

"…So, Uta," went Mako as he stirs the pot of curry in front of Shinji and Death. "You didn't catch her last name during the Final Selection?"

"She made me promise that if we saw each other again in the future, she would tell me who she was," Shinji explains to him. "If it's any consolation, she doesn't know who I am, either."

"To know only one's given name will leave a drive to know who the person you meet is," Death states. "But question: Is Uta appealing to your senses?"

"Appealing? What do you mean by that?"

"Did you fall for her?"

Unfortunately, Shinji was limited in his vocabulary regarding social interaction; he didn't know what Death was asking him.

"What Death is asking you is," went Mako, "do you have personal feelings toward this Uta?"

Shinji found the personal question to be a bit more direct than he was used to. The only difference between the twins questioning him and people from his past asking him was that they weren't trying to tease him about it. While Mako was more light-hearted and subtle in his interactions with him, Death was blunt and without much of the friendly charm that his brother demonstrated due to being forced to survive in an environment that offered no form of acceptance that a child needed to develop properly. Still, maybe Death's approach to his feelings toward the girl he met during Final Selection was somewhat like what someone would ask someone else, just not as unfeeling.

"Mako, you're burning the food," Death says to his twin, surprising Shinji, as he didn't smell anything burning.

"What?" Mako responds, and then notices that he forgot to continue stirring the pot. "Aw, crap!"

-x-

Even though Shinji was gone, the Angels didn't stop coming; the Thirteenth Angel appeared three months after the Twelfth Angel did, and even that was an obstacle with only two Evas. Initially, there were plans to include two more Evas from overseas with two new pilots, but Unit-04, an experimental version that was supposed to be similar to Unit-01, was caught up in a sabotage incident that resulted in an implosion that nearly killed two-hundred workers in the Nevada branch in the US. And Unit-03, the only other production-model Eva…was possessed by the Thirteenth Angel and had to be taken out. The pilot for Unit-03, to Asuka's horror, had been Hikari Horaki, and she was almost killed when Gendo ordered for Unit-00's Dummy System to be used after Unit-02 was disabled. While the girl had been fortunate enough to survive unscathed, it didn't help NERV's reputation by nearly doing a repeat of what had tarnished them to begin with.

Hikari immediately resigned after the failed sortie with Unit-03.

Now, with the Fourteenth Angel steadily approaching the city, Asuka and Rei were all that stood between the people losing their homes and the world coming to an end.

And again, that idiot is not here to help do anything, Asuka thinks as she arms Unit-02 with dual rifles while Unit-00 arms itself with a large rifle. What else can go wrong?

But she might as well have answered her own question, because there was a lot that could go wrong with this Angel as she saw more of its features. It was big and ugly, roughly humanoid, had a malformed skull-like protrusion with these empty sockets, and its core exposed for the world to see. As much as she wanted to believe this time would be easy, the redhead found it unlikely to be anything but easy, and they didn't have Shinji to help them out or even save the day at the last minute.

Shinji, if you're even watching us right now, we could certainly use a miracle, Asuka thinks hopelessly as she takes aim at the Angel.

-x-

"Is there a Shinji Ikari here?" A man holding a wrapped bundle in his arms asks as he stands outside a cave. "Hello? Shinji Ikari?"

Shinji comes out of the cave and greets the man.

"Yes, yes," he greets, bowing his head to him. "My apologies."

"I am Ryuhou Masafune, a swordsmith in service to the Demon Slayer Corps."

"Sir."

"I have your sword ready for you."

"Many thanks, sir."

"Oh!"

Ryuhou backs away upon seeing the twins behind Shinji, who sighs and looks down.

"It's complicated, sir," he tells the swordsmith.

"No, it isn't," Ryuhou replies. "They've been around here for at least four years, and it's still hard to get accustomed to their presence, especially the pale one."

Shinji turns to face Death, who, by his appearance alone, was paler than most. To learn that they had been around here for four years was still something he found unusual; if the twins had a nomadic lifestyle to some degree, they wouldn't have lived in any one place for too long.

"I once saved his sister from a demon," Death expresses. "He was shocked to learn that I wasn't a demon when he tried to decapitate me, mistaking me for a demon. While I couldn't fault him for believing such a false belief, I still have to remind him that his assault on me still hurt."

"And you will never let me live it down," Ryuhou says, unwrapping the sword for Shinji. "In my defense, Death, the Endgame, you fight like a demon would, only your style is more refined and open-minded. As a reminder, your Nichirin weapons have been on reserve and await your arrival to be picked up."

"And I'll get them when I need them. I am forever grateful to you for holding onto them for me."

The Nichirin Sword was sheathed in a standard scabbard, with the hilt seemingly modeled after cherry blossom petals. However, as Shinji was told, the blade was capable of changing color to represent the owner's potential, whatever colors they would represent, but until he held the blade for the first time, the blade was a standard color that all blades were. After some verbal prodding from the twins and the swordsmith, Shinji unsheathed the sword and held it up in front of them.

Whoosh. The blade changed colors to represent what Shinji's potential as a Demon Slayer would be in the future.

Instead of red, blue, yellow or black, the front of the blade was a reddish shade of orange while the back was a dark shade of purple.

"Whoa," went Mako; he suspected that the colors were representative of how this Shinji, like almost every other version that he and Death had encountered before this one, were disturbingly tied to the Evangelion because of their parents and their persistence in making sure he had no choice in the matter.

"I've never seen a sword that was both orange and purple before," Ryuhou states.

"I take it that this is bad?" Shinji asks them.

"No," Death expresses, undoubtedly put off by the colors of the new sword. "Black blades are viewed as omens due to none of the owners tending to live long enough to fully demonstrate all that they are capable of. But this…is completely unprecedented…even though I recognize what these colors represent. However, they are tied only to what you are capable of as you progress, not relating to your past, whether it was blessed or damned."

Shinji had to guess that Death was beyond disgusted by the colors on a personal level due to how they likely reminded him of LCL and the Eva, something Mako had explained was a sour point for any of them because their parents, almost all the time, regardless of whatever existence they resided in within the vastness of the multiverse, chose the Evangelion over them, something that they couldn't be forgiven for, even though they had a choice between a false god they made and an actual child of theirs they saw more as a resource, not family.

"Maybe I was damned from the start," he suggests, re-sheathing the sword.

"Even so," Death states, "those who are damned are not damned by any choice on their part, but on the part of those that chose to damn them. It is up to those who are damned to take the negative they have been dealt and turn it upside-down, to make it a positive, and become blessed to undo the damnation."

"What does that mean?"

"You have your own sword. You're a Demon Slayer now. Whether you live or die is up to you and how far you're able to go on the path you're on. You have the tools you need to survive. Use them and carve your own legend. In the words of a righteous man that joined a small band of righteous warriors, 'Make your own future. Make your own past. It's all right now.' It's your story. You're the author with the quill in hand. You can exclude the past as you know it…and write a completely different beginning that is only as true as you yourself allow it to be."

"Because in the end," Mako adds in, "it will be true to those that choose to believe."

To be continued…

A/N: Even though Shinji is informed that it is not his fault, Death is reminded that their pasts are inextricably connected to the Evangelion, something they resent because of their parents' choices, and they need to escape from it, however long and difficult it may be. So, yes, Shinji's sword colors are based on LCL and the green pieces of Unit-01, but in the future, I will want the sword colors to change over time, representing his maturation away from his past that he is now free to remake for himself. As for NERV and everyone else, they are on their own without Shinji and Gendo's scenario is permanently ruined, leaving SEELE's open to possibility…unless something happens to screw theirs up, too. Instead of using Toji or Kensuke like in the previous stories, I went for Hikari because she hadn't been used as much, but after one mishap, she's out of the game with her life still hers to live because NERV screwed up. What do you think so far?