NEON GENESIS: EVANGELION REFOLDED

I do not own Neon Genesis: Evangelion or any Neon Genesis: Evangelion-related media, those works are owned and in the hands of Gainax and Hideaki Anno, this is simply an unofficial fan-driven story based on the characters and story present, to be written in a new way for people to enjoy.

Reap what You Sow

"Good night Shinji-kun."

"Good night Misato." Shinji murmured as the light was turned out and the door slid closed.

The warm air tickled him, forcing the blanket off himself quietly as he continued to stare up at the ceiling. "Another unfamiliar ceiling." He muttered to no one in particular

He ran his hand over the bedside drawer, blindly waving it around the varnished top.

After a blind minute of thrashing around for the SDAT, Shinji resigned to himself to continue staring at the blank-white ceiling as the fan spun with his hand hanging off the side.

Shinji forced his eyes closed, leaving him in a blanket of black. He controlled his breath as this world faded away.

Something burned him as he slipped into his mind, he felt warm and stung. Light flashed into his pupils.

The fire of the bright sun scorched his spine as he slowly dragged the hoe across the soft floor of soil and potatoes. It had been five hard-working hours of tending to the supple fields that fed the surviving swine and the remaining residents of the Matzuaki valley.

"Ikari-san, take a break." Came out as a shout from a coarse voice in the adjacent field. "Yes sensei." Shinji replied when he lifted the hoe from the half-done line he had created. "Of course, finish what you we're doing beforehand eh?" The old man stifled a chuckle as he peered in with his glasses over Shinji's handiwork, it was satisfactory in the quality of his work. Shinji nodded as he hastily completed his portion of the field.

The long-winded road, or pathway, led across the rolling hills composed of a mixture of gravel and loose dirt. Prints we're left all over, all in a unique variety of shape and size despite the low population of the farming cooperative. He scratched his itching legs as mosquitoes took a sip of his blood, and evacuate quickly as his hand reached for them, attempting to swat them away, no success.

He passed another farmer, not all too dissimilar to his guardian, he was carrying two buckets of water across his shoulder with a stick, all connected by tight metal wires of broken hangers, he waved gently in his direction as they passed by each other, he was unsure if the small "Hello." was his imagination or the man's reciprocation as the man's mouth did not move as it was uttered.

Shinji sat in one of the many lodges scattered across the valley, this one being perched on the edge of a particularly sharp hill that gave way to a beautiful vista of the farms below, the sight was magnificent. The lodge was slightly cramped with not a lot of space inside but the sparse population of residents outnumbered by their own livestock, living in this town wasn't exactly urban.

Of course, it wasn't too sparse to be lonesome, there was always a couple of farmers and their children resting inside the cozy cabins, mostly the mothers bantered with their daughters and the fathers played with their sons as much as they could. The teenagers, his fellow youth were in their separate cabin of their own volition, Shinji knew he could've gone there instead of the tranquil palace, replacing it with a more engaging world of puberty-induced boys and girls.

"Hey there," Spoke a quiet voice, he couldn't ascertain their identity, forcing him to look away from the sight of fields. "Mind if I sat next to you?" It was a girl, his age based on her stature, her face was painted with an array of moles scattered throughout the equator of her head like mud splashes, her eyes were no different, being a dull brown.

He was absolutely stone-faced. She slightly tilted her head and raised a brow. Coughing into her fist before speaking. "I'm Aki." The greeting was trailed long and ended in a fade. "I'm Shinji..!" He stammered as he quickly replied in a burst before shaking his doubt away. She took the seat next to him, unusually he felt cold as she neared him, only seating a hand's distance away from him.

An uncomfortable silence followed, Shinji was paralyzed in his words as he provided brief and awkward glances to Aki, the fellow parents stared in bewilderment.

"I don't see you a lot." Shinji gulped silently as she spoke in a tranquil voice. "Are you new to the cooperative?". She stared at him, gradually her eyes began to squint, maybe he wasn't a farmer, her skepticism grew as he scratched the scruff of his hair.

"No.." He mumbled out. "Oh, then how long have you been here?" She replied immediately after, her suspicion unchanging. How long has he been here? He wondered as he recollected his vague and foggy mind, picking up the pieces.

"I don't want to go!" Wept the child. The Father did not answer back. "I want to be with you! Please! Please!" He pleaded on his deaf ears as he was handed the small suitcase of clothes. His eyes we're dry, having no tears streaming from his still clear glasses, only an unwavering face of apathy. "I want mommy!" He shouted, angry, grieving as he stomped his foot on the platform.

"I don't have time for you." Gendo said gruffly as he turned to leave onto the passing train. Walking away slowly as Shinji fell onto his knees and cried, through the flood of tears he didn't even see a waving hand, not an ounce of acknowledgment.

"Eleven years." He replied curtly. He closed his eyes as he held back the flood crashing against his pupils. Gradually after pushing the memory as far as he could into the faded background, he blinked himself awake from the nightmare, waking to nobody. He grunted as he looked around, only a single child remained inside the lodge.

They stared at each other, the boy's eyes were unfocused and drifting apathetically. "She left." The boy mumbled as he saw Shinji continued to look around wildly. The jittering rotations came to a gradual stop, Shinji sighing as he waved a hand to the boy before leaving the cabin.

The sun dipped into the rolling hills, the crown of its head burning defiantly in a faded amber, the wind blew harshly against him, briskly touching his exposed labored arms, in return: shivers and chills ran down his thin bones.

Shinji brought up his wrist to his face, eyeing the time. 7:23. "Crap." He thought as he took the advantage of being alone, meaning no one could see you. He ran down the winding paths, only catching brief glances of signs as he made quick lefts or rights.

The darkness didn't help either, it obscured most of the pathway and signs, leading to him becoming even more lost now. The wind bore deep with stinging colds as he continued to run faster, and faster.

He was on the floor now, tumbled into a side ditch. A groan was heard, and not his own.

"Watch where you're going..!" Someone muttered, someone in front of him.

He readjusted his neck, looking up to an upright seated girl, her silhouette was the only discernible part of her aside from her voice. Shinji took a few blinks as he laid flat, readjusting to the darkness of the night.

"Shinji?" She muttered out, his blinks affirmed her assumption. "What are you doing out this far from the farm?" Again, stone-faced.

Aki sighed as she crossed her legs, Shinji following, they sat face-to-face in the small trench smelling of fertilizer and dirt. The shelter was of no use to his freezing predicament as he clenched his teeth as they attempted to chatter. "Oh, you must be cold." She undid her scarf, handing it over to Shinji. "Okay, we're gonna head to my house and see if we can call your parents there." He raised a brow as the solution was served. "The farm is literally two mountains away." She quickly replied. Really that far? Shinji wondered to himself as he retreated his eyes to the stars.

He stood up not long after recovering from the scare, carrying up the startled Aki and continued on the pathway at a less preferable pace. She gently tugged him along, with his hands warm in that small embrace against the infinitely colder night.

"Will your family mind..?" Shinji anxiously inquired.

"Of course not, we don't get visitors often." Aki answered reassuringly. "It's nice to have someone over for a night."

"Do you have any pets?" He asked, tucking his hands into the thinly coated trouser pockets, breaking her grip on his wrist.

"Do you?" She asked excitedly. "I have a dog, he's a smart one too, his name is Mako."

"Mako? As in the shark one?"

"Yeah, but I'm sure he won't bite you." She paused. "Unless you give him a reason to, that is!" She chuckled awkwardly. Shinji followed along with his own anxious giggle.

The lights shined like a boxy lighthouse, guiding the pair into the small yet cozy abode. Smoke from a chimney gently rose through the evening air. She knocked on the door like a gentle crashing wave. "I'm home!" She shouted, the door quickly became ajar.

"Hello sweetheart, how was…" A father directed his eyes to Shinji. "Ah, hello." He offered a handshake, Shinji would reciprocate, both firmly shaking hands. The man tilted his ear towards the boy. Shinji stared, stone-faced.

"His name is Shinji, and he's lost and cold, he needed someplace to stay, is that fine dad?" She quickly answered, the father mumbled before nodding his head. The pair entered inside the small hall filled with warmth.

"You wanna eat something first?" She offered, he shook his head, "No thanks, I'm fine." The pair headed down the narrow corridor, stopping at a sliding door. 'AKI' the sign read.

She slid open the door, finding Mako sniffling to himself.

The dog quickly jumped excitedly on Shinji who shrieked as he tumbled onto the floor. The dog was much heavier than what to what he was expecting as it licked his face furiously.

"Tsch. Tsch. C'mere Mako." Aki went down a knee as Mako circled back to his owner, who rewarded the dog with a lot of belly rubs.

Shinji was breathing a little harder now, seeing the dog… being a dog. New experiences and all that, huh?

After a couple minutes of cooing and giggling, Mako settled down, laying soundly on a blue carpeted bed with a charcoal-black dog print on it. "He's cool." Shinji complimented the dog's unusual black and brown coat, gently caressing it as it slept.

"I know right? He likes to do that to everyone, y'know jump people?"

"Like I did?" Shinji mumbled.

"Yeah, that was funny." She paused herself as she pulled a box over. "Like dude, how can you possibly crash into someone on an open field?" She paused as they sat down quickly. "Like, it's an open field!". She stretched her arms out dramatically.

"And trample over some poor guy's crops?" Shinji bowed his head down as he scratched his head.

"I'd be mad about getting jumped but when I think about it, it's funny to think about." She stuck her head into the box.

"Sorry." He replied automatically, still looking down on the bamboo flooring.

"Don't be, I'm pretty sure you didn't mean it, right?" She looked up from the box, smirking, in confidence or in fear, he couldn't tell.

"I don't have a reason to do that, do I?" He answered as he met her eyes.

"I don't know, you tell me." She continued to smile before continuing to rummage through the box, pulling another to herself. Pushing away the other one towards Shinji.

"Pretty sure I don't." He said, hearing her chuckle as her head was out of view. Shinji shared the laugh again.

Aki had spent at least five minutes rummaging through the cardboard box. "Okay, I got the phone." Blindly tossing the brick onto Shinji's foot, it also weighed far heavier than he expected, lots of surprises he carelessly thought as he grabbed the thing when the pain subsided. He slowly dialed in his guardian's number, noting how Aki stared at him bizarrely, mesmerized by the automated dial-up sounds and shiny screen.

"Yes, hello? Who is it?" An old man shouted from the other end, though no indications of frustration could be noticed.

"Hello sensei, this is Shinji."

"Ah yes! I've been trying to search for you but the weather's taking a toll on my brittle bones." He let out a dry laugh that faded away slowly. "Anyways, where are you now so that I may find you in the morning, alive?" Shinji could imagine him re-adjusting his glasses despite the lack of evidence for it, just pure experience. He glanced towards the side where Aki sat patiently, holding a palm to her face as she masked a giggle. The 'Alive' part didn't catch him until after he done looking at the stifled laugh of Aki.

"I'm at…" He covered the microphone as he twisted his face to Aki, "I didn't catch your address earlier, what was it?". She was still laughing, this time her face planted into her bed. He shared the laughter, blending in more to her own. "Sorry, sorry." She snorted. "It's in between the mountains, just follow the northern access trail until you see the one-story house with the 556 post-box."

"The house in between the mountains, its connected to the northern pathway and its a one-story house." Shinji dully replied.

"The no Vern? What's a Vern?"

"Northern.." Shinji coughed into his fist, "NORTHERN."

"Ah yes, Northern - Apologies. I'll try to get you in the morning but I can't guarantee that." His guardian coughed into the phone, Shinji could feel the spit drip.

"Okay, thank you and sorry sensei." He bowed his head as he reached for the end-call button.

"I will see you when I see you Ikari-san." The man hung up before he could.

Shinji sighed as he looked at Aki, both more at ease now as they sat leaning on the walls.

"'Alive' The weather can't be really that bad? And Northern, ha!" She said as she rummaged through another box, perplexing Shinji as he set the phone down.

"Wanna play something?" She asked, passing a Wii Controller over to him from the box, hitting him square in the face.

"Sure." He answered as he grabbed it, laughing gently, and Aki booted the small and slim TV on the floor. The pair shared a moment as they continued to laugh.

"Mario Kart?" She asked as she raised a brow anxiously. "Mario Kart." Shinji replied back reassuringly.

After a night's worth of video games, talking and singing, they were fast to bed, Shinji being provided an extra mattress three-fourth his size, his ankles rested on the bamboo floor. Aki snored adjacent to him, forced into the crevice of a corner inside the already cramped room, Mako slept parallel to him, gently huffing as the room was filled with warmth of their combined bodies.

"Another unfamiliar ceiling." Shinji murmured as he stared up at the blank ceiling, only a fan with its light cut, spun slowly. He smiled as the thought of a new day approached him, maybe the world could be brighter.

Light cut into his view, blinding him.

Beep. Beep. Beep. "The time is…" Shinji slammed his fist into the alarm clock. It raised him up from his bed and he stared out the window, seeing a blend of gray and a wind of chills from the open gap.

He looked towards his alarm clock, breaking his trance from the rising daylight. "7:23AM". He averted his gaze to the ceiling again, a blank-white ceiling with a fan slowly spinning.

"Crap." He said slowly as he stood up, preparing himself for another late morning.

Notes: got my chapter structure down, though 2k words feel a bit too short to read through, im unsure if its the right one.

just gonna keep on rolling through, an asuka-centred chapter is next, inshallah it'll be good.

Misato's dad is an NCO yes, though hes a stuck like that until i decide whether or not if hes alive or not.