Chapter Text
A wise man once said that "All men dream, but not equally." He would then continue by adding that "Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity."
"Such is the way of life, was it not? We often dream to escape reality, to flee from the suffocating weight of the world as it pressed down on fragile shoulders-but escape was never permanent. It was never meant to be.
Every dream has to end eventually."
This was something Seven knew, although why he'd remember his sensei's quotes now of all times was just ridiculous as he slowly crawled through the tower's ventilation shaft, metal scraping faintly beneath his weight with every measured movement. The air inside was stale and warm, carrying the faint scent of oil and recycled breath, but he pushed forward regardless, eyes narrowed and focused.
Seeing that the area ahead of him was clear, Seven carefully opened the ventilation grate and leapt down onto the floor below him, landing in a low crouch that barely made a sound. His left hand was clutched tightly around the handle of his handgun, a Smith & Wesson Model 500, its reassuring weight grounding him as his senses immediately flared outward.
With his right hand, Seven slicked his long dark brown hair back out of his eyes before fishing in his trouser pocket for the tracker his partner had given him before she'd let herself get captured. His fingers closed around the familiar device, its smooth casing cool against his skin.
Now, it wasn't the most well thought-out plan in his opinion-but who was he to deny a chance to save his exotic red-headed partner? The thought alone was enough to elicit a small smirk on his face. Who know's maybe he'd get lucky tonight after saving her and finally getting that kiss she promised him?
Thankfully, the kidnappers were too dumb to realise that his partner had purposely used herself as bait in order to find their hideout. Meaning that aside from a highly probable light body search, they never found the tracker she'd hidden on her body. Sloppy. Predictable. Exactly the kind of mistake they'd been counting on.
"You're in a lot of trouble." A voice calmly noted in German from inside the room ahead. "Any second now, my partner will burst through this room and half of you will be dead before I'm free."
A faint smile pulled onto his face. It was nice to know that his partner had such high faith in him. He exhaled slowly, centering himself, as he slipped the tracker into his back pocket before pulling out a compact smoke grenade and priming its trigger with practiced ease.
Doing a quick mental countdown, every second measured and deliberate, he kicked the door open and tossed the grenade inside.
"Bang." Seven muttered in English with a smile as the small device detonated, spewing thick, dark smoke into the room, swallowing the light and obscuring everyone's sight in seconds. Shouts erupted immediately, confused and panicked, shapes scrambling blindly within the haze.
Not one to wait, Seven immediately rushed into the room, boots pounding once against the floor as he raised his revolver and fired. The weapon roared in his grip, each shot precise and controlled. Three targets went down almost instantly, nailed cleanly in the chest before they even had a chance to react.
True enough, just like Six had said, he'd killed half the targets in the room just as the rope binding her body slipped off, falling uselessly to the floor. Through the thinning smoke, he caught sight of her straightening, already shaking off the last of her restraints.
Without exchanging any words, he pulled out his combat knife and threw it over to his partner. The blade spun once through the air before she caught it cleanly.
"Sorry..." he began as he kicked one of her kidnappers into the wall, the man's body slamming hard enough to crack plaster, "...but I didn't have much time to grab your stuff."
"It's fine." She replied as she flipped into one of the kidnappers, her body twisting through the air with practiced grace before delivering a brutal triple axe-kick to his head, the impact snapping his neck sideways with a sickening crack. "In fact, this is more than enough."
Oh dear.
Seven recognised that tone in her voice immediately, sharp and dangerous beneath the calm. What the hell did these guys do to piss her off?
Seven immediately holstered his gun as he backpedaled away from his partner, boots sliding slightly across the floor as instinct screamed at him to give her space. She charged toward the remaining kidnappers with a psychotic grin stretching across her face, eyes alight with something feral as she closed the distance in a heartbeat.
Yep. She's pissed alright. Seven thought to himself as he whirled around and delivered a powerful bitchslap to one of the kidnappers who had tried to sneak up on him from behind. The blow echoed sharply through the room, snapping the man's head sideways before he crumpled to the floor in a heap.
It was like a dance, Seven idly noted as he moved again, stepping in closer as the chaos of the room tightened around them. A burst of gunfire forced his partner to pivot back toward him, her momentum carrying her straight into his space. Without thinking, Seven caught her wrist and pulled, turning her just as another volley tore through the air where she'd been standing moments before.
He guided her through the motion instinctively, his hand sliding to her waist as he spun her around him in a tight arc, the movement eerily similar to a ballroom turn. Their bodies passed close, almost brushing, before they separated again, perfectly in sync.
Their movements flowed together effortlessly, perfectly timed, as they expertly dodged and weaved through the gunfire surrounding them-bullets tearing through smoke and air where they had been only seconds before as they methodically and brutally slaughtered their way through the rest of the kidnappers.
One by one, the shots grew fewer, the shouts shorter, until the chaotic roar of the firefight began to thin, replaced by the heavy thuds of bodies hitting the floor and the sharp scent of spent gunpowder hanging in the air.
The last few kidnappers faltered, their coordination breaking as panic finally took hold. Weapons lowered, fingers hesitating on triggers as they realized-too late-that there was nowhere left to run.
With a gracious crescendo to end their dance, Seven twirled his revolver in his hand, the cylinder clicking softly as it spun, before firing it at the second to last kidnapper's head.
At the same time, his partner flung her knife with effortless precision, the blade burying itself into the other's skull and dropping him instantly.
Silence quickly followed, broken only by the distant hum of the building and the faint echo of the smoke dissipating.
"Mission... complete." He smirked before turning to face his partner, who was still wrapped up in his arms, a wide smile mirrored on her own face as the last traces of adrenaline slowly bled away.
It took a few moments that their faces weren't that far away from each other and not feeling inclined to ignore their own feelings Sevens head began to pull itself closers to his partner's face as she too lifted her head up to greet him eagerly awaiting their very first kiss.
"Now arriving at Atami Station."
...
Shinji let out a small snort as the train's announcement crackled to life over the speakers, the sudden noise yanking him out of sleep far too abruptly. The sterile voice echoed through the carriage, indifferent and uncaring, and the remnants of his dream slipped away faster than he could hold onto them.
God damn it. He was this close to kissing the literal girl of his dreams again. Why did he keep getting his dreams interrupted whenever he was about to kiss her? It was always right at the moment his heart started pounding, right when things felt real enough to matter.
With a soft grunt, he pulled himself out of his seat, muscles stiff and sluggish from sleeping upright, and quickly exited the train as the alarm signalling an Angel attack blared in the background. The harsh, rising wail cut through the station, setting his teeth on edge as people around him began to move with sudden urgency.
"Ten whole years without a single word and now Father suddenly wants to see me?" He muttered to himself as he made his way over to the nearest phone booth, weaving through the growing crowd. "Yeah right... I can already smell the bullshit from here."
He scoffed as he pulled the photo from his pocket, the edges worn from being handled too much, before grimacing. Judging by the picture alone, he could already tell that his chaperone was probably a playful woman by nature-her smile too easy, too casual for someone working for NERV.
He'd seen enough movies to already now this woman probably had a dark and disturbing backstory to make up for why she acts the way she does.
Hesitantly, he dialed the number inscribed on the photo, fingers hovering for a split second before pressing the final digit, only to be met with an automated message.
"We're sorry. Due to the state of special emergency, no lines are currently available." The message played, its tone flat and mechanical, before unhelpfully adding, "This is a recording."
Shinji scoffed in disappointed annoyance. "Guess we won't be meeting here after all," he muttered as he placed the phone back into its cradle, the plastic clicking softly. "Figures..."
"Maybe I should just go find a shelter and wait it out for a bit until the problem's dealt with." He muttered.
With a deep sigh, he hunched down to pick his bags up, the familiar weight tugging at his shoulders, before he noticed a speck of silvery-blue hair out of the corner of his eye, standing out starkly against the muted tones of the station. Upon closer examination, he noted that the hair belonged to a girl, roughly around the same age as him if he were to guess.
"Huh?"
Before he could investigate further, a flock of birds suddenly took off from the nearby electric poles, wings beating wildly as they scattered into the sky, feathers drifting in their wake as sharp cries echoed overhead. Their sudden panic drew his attention away, instinctively pulling his gaze upward and leaving the fleeting image lingering uncomfortably in the back of his mind, like a half-remembered dream he couldn't quite grasp.
When he looked back, the silvery-blue haired girl he saw earlier had already disappeared.
How mysterious...
He'd have to look into that later, he casually noted to himself, filing the thought away for a time when the world wasn't ending. With a small huff, he slung one of his bags over his shoulder and turned to leave, already mapping out the nearest shelter in his head-
-before a red Renault Alpine A310 skidded to a halt in front of him, tires screeching sharply against the pavement as the car slid sideways just enough to block his path.
Shinji arched an eyebrow, momentarily frozen in place. Was this the part when his chaperone would roll down the window and say-
"Hey!~ You must be Ikari Shinji. Right? Get in."
Meh. Close enough.
Guess he could scratch that off the list then, he thought dryly, eyeing the car with a mix of resignation and mild disbelief at the suspiciously convenient timing. Still, the distant echo of alarms and the unnerving quiet of the station made lingering a bad idea. He quickly ran over to the passenger seat, yanked the door open, and slung his stuff into the back without much care before climbing in himself.
"I thought you were supposed to pick me up after I called?" He asked as he slid into the seat, tugging the door shut just as the engine revved impatiently beneath them. "Or did the angels sudden appearance change things?"
Instead of answering his question, Misato pressed her foot down on the gas, tires screeching as the car lurched forward and sped down the road toward NERV's headquarters. Buildings blurred past the windows, red warning lights flashing intermittently as evacuation signs and abandoned streets streaked by in his peripheral vision.
It didn't take long for him to realise that he should probably let the woman focus on her driving rather than pestering her for answers.
Instead, Shinji leaned back into his seat and let himself drift into the comfortable silence that settled over the car, broken only by the hum of the engine and the faint wail of alarms in the distance. His thoughts, unbidden, wandered to what awaited him at the end of this ride-to his father.
Maybe he'd grovel on his knees and beg Shinji for forgiveness, or take a dogeza position and apologise for how much of a shitty parent he was.
Although, knowing his father, that would never happen. Still, the images played out vividly in his mind, bringing a small smile to his face.
Eventually, his daydreaming was interrupted by the distant but unmistakable sound of an N2 Bomb detonating. Even from this far out, the explosion sent a low, thunderous roar rolling across the city. The car rattled violently as the shockwave caught up to them, windows shuddering and the suspension groaning under the sudden force. Fortunately, they were far enough away to avoid much of the blast-but that didn't stop the aftershock from punching through his chest and knocking the breath from his lungs.
Shinji tensed, his hands gripped the edge of his seat as the car swayed for a moment before Misato corrected their course with practiced ease.
As the rumbling slowly came to a stop, Shinji caught sight of their destination emerging from the landscape below. The city seemed to peel away, revealing a vast, hollowed expanse hidden beneath layers of reinforced earth and steel.
"Huh," he blinked, leaning closer to the glass as the scale of it sank in, "Your base is located in an actual Geofront?"
Misato smirked proudly, one hand steady on the wheel as the other casually adjusted her grip. "It sure is! And it's our last hope against the angels."
...
"Are you certain this will work?" a cold voice asked from the shadows.
"Of course I'm certain." Gendo replied, fingers interlacing as he leaned forward. "I wouldn't have made the necessary arrangements if I weren't."
"I know, but-"
The voice faltered, cut short by the weight of Gendo's stare. His glasses caught the light, obscuring his eyes completely.
"But nothing," Gendo said, his tone firm, absolute. "I know my son well enough to understand how he thinks-"
He paused, the corner of his mouth tightening almost imperceptibly.
"-even if he himself does not."
...
This... was not going well.
Shinji stood a step behind Misato, shoulders slightly hunched, hands clasped around the straps of his bag like it might anchor him in place. He watched her stare at the map with intense focus. Not realising that it was upside down.
Unfortunately for her, he noticed it immediately.
He also immediately decided not to say anything. He knew the trope well, if he said something, all he'd get was a smack for making her seem dumb.
A few seconds passed. Then a few more. She turned the map slightly, frowned, then turned it again.
Shinji swallowed.
'She's got this,' he told himself. She definitely knows what she's doing. 'I'm just-overthinking it.'
Another pause.
"...Um," he started, then stopped. His mouth went dry.
Misato hummed thoughtfully, tapping the map with her finger.
Shinji sighed-quietly, almost apologetically. "I-I might be wrong," he said quickly, already bracing himself, "but I think the map is... upside down."
The silence that followed his statement was deafening.
Misato blinked. Once. Then she slowly flipped the map the other way.
"...Oh."
Shinji winced.
She laughed a little too loudly, waving it off. "Right! Yeah, obviously. I was just, uh-checking landmarks."
"O-Of course," Shinji nodded, a nervous smile tugging at his lips. "I mean, it did look pretty convincing that way. For a second."
Why did he say that.
Why did he always say things right after deciding not to say anything.
Misato shot him a look. "You saying something?"
"N-No! No, I just-never mind." He shrank back, heat creeping up his neck. Temporary confidence. There it goes.
Before the moment could get any worse, a thunderous explosion echoed through the city. The ground shuddered violently, debris raining down nearby.
Shinji flinched hard, ducking instinctively. "S-Sorry-!"
Misato was already grabbing his wrist. "Move!"
She dragged him forward, breaking into a run.
"H-Hey-!" He stumbled, nearly tripping over his own feet as he scrambled to keep up. His heart was hammering. "A-Are you sure this is the right way?"
"Yes!" she snapped, not slowing.
Shinji hesitated, then muttered under his breath, barely audible even to himself, "Y-You didn't sound that sure a second ago..."
Misato glanced back at him.
He stiffened. "-B-But I'm probably wrong!"
She grinned suddenly. "You're a weird kid, you know that?"
"...I get that a lot," he admitted quietly.
...
Ritsuko sighed to herself as she pulled her body out of the lake of LCL.
The familiar, faintly metallic scent clung to her skin as the amber fluid slid away, rippling softly before settling back into stillness. She reached for the towel on the ground beside her, methodically wiping herself dry, her movements practiced and automatic.
'Everything looks normal,' she thought to herself as she worked. Vital signs steady. No abnormalities in density or temperature.
'So why can't I shake the feeling that the LCL is-'
She stopped mid-thought, the towel tightening briefly in her grip.
Ritsuko exhaled and shook her head, forcibly pushing the unease aside. No time for that now... There were always strange readings, always anomalies that refused to be neatly categorized. This was hardly the moment to indulge them.
"I have to make sure the Third Child is ready to pilot Unit-01."
She reached for her white lab coat, shrugging into it and smoothing the fabric down with habitual precision before turning toward the elevator. The hum of machinery and distant alarms echoed faintly through the cavernous space, a constant reminder that time was already working against them.
'Let's just hope Katsuragi hasn't gotten herself lost again,' Ritsuko thought dryly.
As the elevator doors slid shut and began their slow descent, she pulled out the information sheet she'd been given on the Third Child. Her eyes scanned over the neatly printed text, absorbing details almost unconsciously-name, age, compatibility data, background notes.
Ikari Shinji.
Her gaze slowed as she reached the section detailing his early childhood.
...Redacted.
Ritsuko frowned slightly.
Several entries dating back to when he was six years old had been aggressively blacked out, far more than was typical even for classified material. Not censored summaries-entire blocks of information removed entirely.
'That's... unusual,' she noted, a quiet edge of curiosity creeping in despite herself. Even for Commander Ikari, this level of omission was excessive.
What the hell could a six year old have done that would warrant this level of redaction?
Before she could linger on the implications, the elevator chimed softly and the doors slid open.
Ritsuko looked up.
Misato Katsuragi stood just outside, hands awkwardly behind her back, posture stiff in a way that immediately set off alarms. Beside her was the Third Child.
He looked exactly like the photograph in his file-slender build, guarded posture, eyes that darted just a fraction too quickly to take everything in at once. The only real difference was his hair. It was a bit longer than the image suggested, dark and neatly styled in a way that framed his face and gave him an unexpectedly sharp silhouette.
Shinji stood there, shoulders slightly hunched, clearly aware of where he was and deeply uncomfortable about it. His gaze flicked toward her lab coat, then to the floor, then back up again as if rehearsing eye contact and failing halfway through.
"...Uh," he began, then stopped, lips pressing together. "H-Hello."
Misato cleared her throat far too loudly. "Dr. Akagi! Great timing. I, uh-found him."
Ritsuko raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "I can see that."
Shinji flinched almost imperceptibly, then straightened again, as though correcting himself. For just a moment, something different crossed his expression-resolve, maybe, or a practiced calm that didn't quite belong on the face of a 14 year old boy.
"I'm afraid he's just like his father." Misato remarked earning a strange look from the boy before adding, "The gruff and unfriendly part that is."
...
"Battle stations level one."
The announcement echoed through the elevator, crisp and emotionless, its weight settling uncomfortably in Shinji's chest.
"There we go..." Misato muttered as the elevator slowly ascended.
Shinji shifted slightly, the floor's faint vibration humming up through the soles of his shoes. He wasn't sure what level one actually meant, but the way Misato's noted
"Sounds pretty serious," Ritsuko stated, glancing at Shinji for a moment as he continued reading the instruction manual.
He didn't look up right away. The pages were dense, filled with diagrams, terminology, and procedures that felt far too large for him to be responsible for. Still, his eyes moved quickly, skimming headings, memorizing layouts-habits drilled into him by long nights of pretending he was someone more capable than he felt.
"So how's Unit-01 coming?" Misato asked.
Shinji flipped through yet another page, a small frown forming on his face as he tried to piece together how all of this was supposed to fit together. Nothing in the manual told him why he was here. Just what he was expected to do in case of emergencies.
"It's currently undergoing refrigeration using the B-Type equipment," Ritsuko explained.
That made Shinji pause. He lifted his head slightly, eyes flicking between the two women as he tried to match the words to the diagrams he'd just seen.
Unfortunately, whatever they were talking about wasn't covered in the manual. Unless he somehow managed to miss a page, but that was unlikely.
"Does it really work?" Misato questioned. "It's never worked before, has it?"
"The possibility of activation is 0.0000-"
Misato waved her hand dismissively, cutting Ritsuko off mid-sentence. "Yeah, yeah. Let's just avoid the semantics here."
Shinji winced faintly at the interruption, glancing back down at the manual even though he wasn't really reading anymore.
Ritsuko sighed. "Around here we just call it the O9 system."
Misato tilted her head. "Does that mean it doesn't work?"
Shinji's grip tightened slightly on the booklet as he waited for the answer. He wasn't sure why he cared, after all he didn't even know what they were talking about in the first place.
The question caused Ritsuko to scoff. "Don't be insulting. It's O9 as in oni. A Japanese devil."
Shinji hummed quietly in curiosity, finally pulling his attention away from the booklet to listen properly. 'A devil,' he repeated in his head. 'With a name like that, things are guaranteed to wrong some how.' He mused
"Well anyway, I suppose it's a bit late to say sorry it doesn't work," Misato stated.
The doors opened, and the trio stepped out onto an inflatable motorboat.
Shinji froze for half a second before carefully climbing aboard, his balance wobbling as the strange lake of LCL sloshed beneath them. The material flexed uncomfortably under his weight, every shift sending ripples across the surface below. The lake shimmered faintly, its crimson hue reflecting distorted lights from above-unnatural and unsettling, nothing like water should be.
He swallowed.
As the boat sped forward, the cool air rushed past his face, tugging lightly at his hair. The scent of LCL grew stronger the farther they traveled, sharp and metallic, clinging to the back of his throat. Shinji hugged the manual closer to his chest as though it might anchor him, his knuckles whitening around its edges, eyes fixed straight ahead.
The cavern seemed endless.
Then he saw it.
A strange platform rose from the blood lake ahead of them, vast and industrial, its edges lined with heavy machinery. Looming behind it was something even more imposing-
A door?
Before he could ask, before the thought could even fully form, the massive blast door slammed shut with a thunderous clang, the sound echoing violently through the chamber. The lights cut out all at once, plunging everything into absolute darkness.
Shinji's breath caught in his throat.
For a heartbeat, there was nothing but the low hum of unseen machinery and the distant echo of his own pulse in his ears.
Then the lights came back on.
Shinji found himself standing before a very familiar massive metal face.
It loomed over him, partially obscured by restraints and scaffolding, its expressionless features carved from cold steel. One eye reflected the light faintly, lifeless and yet somehow watching.
His eyes widened in surprise as he stumbled back with a sharp gasp, his heel catching on uneven ground. The manual slipped from his hands and clattered uselessly against the floor as he reached out blindly, fingers catching onto Ritsuko's lab coat to keep himself upright.
His chest felt tight.
"This is man's ultimate fighting machine," Ritsuko announced evenly, her gaze never leaving the towering form as she steadied him without comment. "The synthetic lifeform known as-"
"Evangelion..." Shinji muttered.
The words left his mouth raw and unsteady, as though pulled from somewhere deeper than memory. His face twisted, pain flickering across his expression as the realization fully settled in.
Ritsuko froze.
"...How-?"
Before she could finish, anger flared sharply across Shinji's face, cutting through the shock like a blade. His hands curled into fists at his sides as he stared up at the machine.
"Is this my father's work?"
The question came out tight, almost accusing, as if he already knew the answer and hated it.
"Correct."
The voice echoed down from above them, cold and familiar.
"It's been a while."
Shinji's head snapped upward instantly, eyes burning as they locked onto the shadowed figure overlooking them.
"Not long enough if you ask me," he shot back, the words spilling out before he could stop them.
"We're moving out," his father ordered, completely ignoring what Shinji had just said.
The dismissal hit harder than any insult could have. Shinji's jaw clenched as the conversation continued without him, as if he were nothing more than another piece of equipment in the room.
"Moving out?!" Misato protested, her voice sharp with disbelief. "But Unit-00 is still in cryostasis!"
Her eyes widened as the implication struck her. "Wait a minute! You're going to use Unit-01!?"
"There's no other way," Ritsuko replied, her tone clipped, eyes cold as she looked back at the Eva.
Shinji felt his stomach twist.
"Now wait! Rei can't do it yet, can she?" Misato pressed. "We don't have a pilot!"
"We just received one."
Oh dear...
Shinji didn't need to look around to know they were all turning toward him. He already knew where this was going. His chest tightened as the realization settled in, heavy and unavoidable.
This is the part, he thought numbly. This is the part where I'm forced to pilot the giant robot in front of me, isn't it?
"Shinji Ikari."
He flinched.
He hated the way she said his full name. It made it sound official. Permanent.
"You will pilot it."
He fucking knew it.
"But even Rei Ayanami took several months to synchronize with her Eva," Misato argued desperately. "It's impossible for him to do it. He just got here!"
Shinji barely heard her.
Maybe it was the suddenness of it all. Maybe it was the way his father hadn't even bothered to look at him when issuing the command. But it felt like something inside of him had died.
The sound of Misato and Ritsuko arguing faded into a dull, distant noise, like voices underwater. Their words blurred together, stripped of meaning, as Shinji's gaze drifted back to Unit-01.
It didn't move.
It didn't react.
And yet it felt closer than his father ever had.
"Fuck you! Is this all I am to you?!? A tool you can use and then abandon at a moments notice?!?"
His voice tore through the chamber, raw and shaking, the words spilling out before he could stop them. His chest burned as he spoke, breath hitching between sentences, years of bitterness clawing their way free.
Silence fell in the chamber as everyone stared at Shinji in shock, but that didn't stop him.
"We haven't seen each other in four years and the one time you actually reach out is for this?"
His hands trembled as he scoffed, turning sharply and gesturing toward Eva Unit-01, its sheer size suddenly feeling obscene.
"It's pathetic."
For a moment, it almost looked like the words might have landed.
Almost.
"I see..." Gendo muttered, adjusting his glasses with a calm, mechanical motion. His expression didn't change, not even for a moment. "Bring her in then."
The order was delivered without hesitation, completely unperturbed by Shinji's outburst.
"Her?" Shinji muttered.
The word tasted wrong in his mouth. Confusion flared first-then something sharper, darker-as his father's indifference settled in. Before he could press further, before the full implication could take shape, a low mechanical hum echoed through the chamber.
Shinji turned.
A stretcher was being wheeled into the open space.
A pale girl lay atop it.
She had blue hair with skin as pale as snow. Bandages were wrapped tightly around her arm and torso, her body frighteningly still beneath the thin sheets. Medical equipment followed close behind, each quiet beep sounding far too loud in the silence.
Shinji's throat went dry.
She looked breakable. Fragile in a way that made the cavernous chamber feel cruelly oversized around her. This wasn't a pilot. This wasn't a soldier.
She was a child. No older than he was from the look of things.
Shinji whipped his head around to face his father. "You wouldn't..."
The words barely made it out of his mouth before hanging in the air at the sheer disbelief at what his father was willing to do.
"This is a war. Sacrifices must be made for the greater good," Gendo retorted coldly, his hands still clasped behind his back.
The answer hit him like a slap.
Shinji bit back a snarl, his teeth grinding together as anger surged up again, hot and bitter. His hands curled into fists, his whole body trembling as he searched for something-anything-to throw back at him.
Then the room began to shake.
The tremor rolled through the chamber violently, lights flickering as alarms blared to life. Steel beams rattled loose from their gurneys, crashing down in a deafening cacophony of metal and sparks.
"Get down!" someone shouted.
Shinji didn't think.
He moved.
Racing forward, he grabbed the stretcher and yanked the girl free just as one of the massive steel beams slammed down where she'd been lying moments before. The impact rang out through the chamber, sending fragments skittering across the floor.
He stumbled as he landed, cradling her instinctively, absorbing the shock with his own body. She let out a pained sound, her face tightening as the movement jostled her injuries.
Shinji froze.
Seeing the girl's expression-her pain, her vulnerability-something twisted sharply in his chest. His anger faltered, collapsing inward as understanding settled in with sickening clarity.
'This is what happens if I refuse.'
Slowly, carefully, he lowered her to the ground, making sure she was supported before pulling his hands away. For a moment, he just stood there, staring down at her, breathing unevenly.
Then he straightened.
'Fine. If that's how you want to play, then I'll play your stupid game.'
The thought burned with quiet resentment as he turned away, each step heavy as he began walking toward Unit-01. The Eva loomed closer with every pace, its massive frame waiting in silence.
...
With a deep breath, Shinji slid into the plug and closed his eyes before taking a deep breath.
The metal interior sealed around him with a heavy, final clang, cutting him off from the cavern outside. The space felt tight, claustrophobic, the walls close enough that he could almost feel them pressing in. He forced his shoulders to relax, hands resting stiffly at his sides as he tried to steady his breathing.
This was going to suck.
He just knew it.
And his suspicion was proven right almost immediately as the strange orange liquid began to spray into the plug, jets of it hissing from hidden ports before rapidly rising around his legs.
"Gah-!?! What the hell??!?" he exclaimed, panic flaring as his head jerked upward, instinctively trying to keep his face above the rising liquid.
The LCL climbed quickly-knees, waist, chest-warm and oddly thick against his skin, clinging to him in a way that made his stomach twist. His heart hammered violently in his chest as the liquid kept rising, far too fast for comfort.
Before he could shout again, a strange thought cut through the panic.
Why would the plug fill with liquid if a pilot was going to use it?
The question forced its way in, grounding him just enough to stop flailing. His mind latched onto it desperately, clinging to logic the way he always did when fear threatened to overwhelm him.
Did they usually wear some sort of specialised suit with a breathing apparatus when they did it?
That... didn't make sense.
No. That couldn't be right. Otherwise, why would they have wheeled that injured girl into the room still dressed in her hospital gown?
The memory of her-bandaged, broken, helpless-flashed through his mind, and something clicked.
His breathing hitched.
Taking a deep breath, Shinji took a mental leap of faith and dunked his head into the LCL, forcing himself to exhale deeply.
The sensation was wrong. Completely wrong.
The liquid pressed in around his face, warm and invasive, seeping into his mouth and nose as he let the air leave his lungs. Every instinct screamed at him to pull back, to thrash, to get out-
But he didn't.
Surprisingly, he didn't begin immediately drowning as soon as he took a breath.
The LCL filled his lungs smoothly, effortlessly, the panic easing just a fraction as his body accepted what his mind still struggled to understand. His chest rose and fell again, slower this time, the liquid moving with him as naturally as air ever had.
Shinji hovered there in stunned silence, suspended in orange light as his hands tightened around the Eva's controls.
...
"Quickly. What's his sync ratio?" Ritsuko demanded, already moving, her heels striking sharp, frantic echoes across the gantry as Unit-01 began its ascent.
Misato grabbed her by the back of her lab coat mid-stride. "Ritsuko, command center-now!"
They barely made it through the doors before Maya's fingers froze over the keyboard.
"I-It's over," she said slowly, re-running the calculation. Then again. Her voice cracked. "No... that's not right."
She swallowed and read it aloud anyway.
"Sixty-nine point nine percent."
The room seemed to lurch.
"What?!" Ritsuko tore free of Misato's grip and sprinted back to the console, shoving Maya aside just enough to see the screen for herself.
"That's impossible," she breathed. "He's a first-time pilot! He didn't get any training let alone-!"
Behind the glass, far above them, Gendo Ikari stiffened.
His fingers tightened imperceptibly against the railing as the figures flashed across his own monitor. Fuyutsuki noticed immediately.
"I take it," the older man said carefully, "this was not within your predictions?"
"...No," Gendo replied after a moment, his voice lower than usual.
His Synch ratio was far to higher than what he had initially expected. Far to high.
All the reports he received on his son since he sent him off to live with his teacher had all been the same. All pointing to the same thing.
Shinji was supposed to be a loner.
He was supposed to be shy. Lacking a backbone and any sort of confidence needed to disobey him but the boy in the Eva Unit was far from the reports he'd received.
Sure he was still fragile and very much an introvert from the looks of things, but most certainly had a backbone and he was very much upset at Gendo for his abandonment.
Something was very wrong.
If Shinji Ikari could synch with Unit-01 this easily, then the Scenario was no longer as rigid as it was meant to be.
"Eva preparing to launch!" Ritsuko called out, forcing herself back into motion even as unease coiled in her stomach.
The main monitor flared to life just in time to show Unit-01 locking into position, restraints snapping free as the massive form was hurled upward on a column of light and steam.
"Surface in thirty seconds!"
"Seven minutes until Angel contact!" Misato added, snapping back into command mode, jaw tight, eyes sharp.
High above them, the Evangelion broke through to the open air.
And somewhere deep inside its core, a boy who shouldn't have been ready clenched his fists and braced himself-fully aware that whatever confidence he felt right now wouldn't last.
...
"Just focus on walking Shinji." Misato adviced him through the Eva's Comm system.
'Yeah, right. We'll be doing more than just walking ' Shinji thought to himself with a smile as he slicked his hair back.
Something about him had changed, he'd noticed as soon as the Unit 1 began heading for the surface. He'd say up straighter and there was a confident smirk on his face.
It was like any fear he had, had melted away. Replaced with a cool feeling of confidence that he'd only felt in his dreams whenever he became Agent Seven.
«Remember, your mission is to defeat the angel.»
Hearing his orders, a smile slowly began to crawl up his face and almost habitually, he brushed his hair back with his right hand and muttered, "I'm on it." in English.
The words rolled off his tongue naturally, as if he'd said them a million times before.
«What was that?» Misato's voice cracked over the Eva's Comms, equally confused and surprised at his unexpected response.
The question caused Shinji to roll his eyes as Unit 1 slowly clenched its hands into fists, the massive fingers grinding against armored palms with a metallic groan.
"I said, I'm on it." He repeated in English.
After that, he immediately muted his Comms as he returned to focus his attention on piloting the Eva.
"Now then. Let's see what you can do."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Unit 1 immediately began sprinting towards the angel, each step shaking the ground hard enough to fracture asphalt and rattle the reinforced buildings nearby. The Eva's right arm pulled back, armor plating shifting as synthetic muscle fibers tensed beneath the surface, ready to throw a powerful haymaker.
The angel stood motionless.
Up close, it was even more disturbing. Its elongated black limbs hung unnaturally low, joints bending at strange angles. Pale, bone-colored armor flared from its shoulders like enormous, distorted masks, each marked with hollow, staring holes. At the center of its torso rested that skull-like face - long, beaked, emotionless - and beneath it, the red core glowed faintly like a heart waiting to be pierced.
Oddly, the angel didn't block the attack nor did it try to dodge.
In fact, it didn't even flinch.
Instead, it simply stood there as Unit 1 delivered a powerful punch to the face in the center of its body.
The impact detonated across the battlefield.
A thunderous crack split the air as the Eva's fist connected with the Angel's skull-like mask. The force of the blow sent a visible shockwave rippling outward, shattering already-weakened windows and kicking up a violent cloud of dust and debris.
Sachiel's upper body snapped backward, its long limbs briefly lifting off the ground as it was driven several meters back, heels carving trenches into the asphalt before its frame slammed into the side of a nearby building. Concrete crumbled under its weight, raining down in chunks the size of cars.
Before the angel could recover, the Eva quickly followed up its attack with a powerful uppercut-unfortunately, that seemed to be exactly what the angel had wanted. Sachiel's skull-like mask tilted ever so slightly before its left arm snapped upward. A beam of blinding white light erupted at point-blank range and tore straight through Unit-01's head.
Inside the entry plug, Shinji felt the impact like a spike driven through his skull. His scream ripped free before he could stop it, raw and unfiltered, as feedback surged through his nervous system. The world around him dissolved into static and blinding pain.
Outside, Unit-01 staggered violently, fragments of armor and molten plating spraying outward as smoke poured from the ruined side of its helmet.
With the Eva temporarily stunned, Sachiel began its own attack as it took hold of Unit-01's left wrist and crushed it, causing a loud crunching sound as purple blood began to spray out. The armor split under the pressure, bone-like structures beneath collapsing with a sickening snap. The Eva's arm hung uselessly, twitching.
Shinji felt that too.
Not just the pain-but the violation of it. His own wrist spasmed as if it had been caught in a vice. The LCL churned around him as his breathing turned ragged and uneven, panic clawing at the edges of his thoughts.
Sachiel didn't relent.
Its elongated right arm shifted, the flesh along its forearm splitting apart as a blade of condensed light formed at the edge. It drove the weapon forward without hesitation, impaling Unit-01 through the shoulder. The blade punched through armor and deep into synthetic muscle. Purple blood poured freely now, splattering across the ruined street below.
Unfortunately, deep inside the Eva, Shinji felt something inside of him shift and before he knew it, his conscience began to fade and his eyes slowly became half lidded.
Sachiel attempted to pull its blade free, but Unit-01's remaining hand shot up and seized the Angel's forearm. The grip tightened with unnatural force, halting the motion mid-withdrawal. Concrete beneath their feet fractured as pressure mounted.
The Eva's head, still smoking from the beam strike, slowly lifted.
Its lone visible eye flickered-and then glowed brighter.
With a guttural roar that reverberated across the battlefield, Unit-01 twisted violently. The Angel's arm tore free at the shoulder in an eruption of pale fluid and splintered armor. The severed limb crashed to the ground below, gouging the asphalt.
The shift was immediate.
Unit-01 lunged forward, tackling Sachiel with enough force to flatten what remained of the street beneath them. The impact sent a shockwave rippling through nearby buildings, windows shattering as the two giants slammed into the ground. The Eva mounted the Angel and began hammering down with its remaining fist.
Each blow landed heavier than the last. Bone-like plating cracked. The skull-mask dented. White Angelic blood mixed with the Eva's purple as it splashed violently with every strike. The punches weren't precise anymore. They weren't strategic.
They were vicious.
Sachiel fought back, its legs snapping upward and driving spear-like feet into Unit-01's abdomen. The spikes pierced deep, armor splitting as they embedded themselves into the Eva's torso. Purple blood poured down in thick streams.
Unit-01 didn't stop.
It didn't even recoil.
Instead, its hands moved from striking to gripping. Fingers dug into the Angel's chest, clawing through layered armor with brute force. The sound was wet as the Eva's fingers tore through the angles body. Its flesh parting under sheer strength. Sachiel's core began to glow brighter, light building rapidly within its chest cavity.
In the command center, alarms began to scream.
But on the battlefield, Unit-01 leaned forward and bit down into the Angel's shoulder. Armor shattered between its teeth. It tore away a chunk of flesh, flinging it aside without pause. Its hands finally found the core-glowing red and pulsing beneath fractured plating.
And squeezed.
The core cracked under the pressure.
Light exploded outward in a violent flash as the Angel's body convulsed beneath the Eva's grip. The glow flickered, fractured-and then collapsed inward as the core shattered completely.
Silence followed.
Smoke drifted upward from the ruined crater where they lay entangled. Sachiel's body went limp, its form already beginning to dissolve.
Unit-01 remained crouched over the corpse, chest rising and falling in heavy, uneven motions. Blood dripped from its jaws. Its eye still burned with unnatural intensity.
...
"Is- is this the true form of Eva?" Ritsuko muttered as she held a hand over her mouth, horrified by what she'd just witnessed. Was this really what her mother helped create?
The words barely made it past her lips. On the main monitor, Unit-01 was still crouched over the Angel's remains, its massive frame heaving as if it needed to breathe. Steam rolled off its armor in thick waves, mingling with the smoke rising from the ruined city block. Its jaw hung slightly open, streaked with purple and white, and its single visible eye burned with a light that looked far too alive to belong to a machine.
Around the command center, no one spoke. Technicians sat frozen at their stations, hands hovering uselessly over keyboards. The earlier shouts and overlapping reports had died completely, replaced by a suffocating silence broken only by the distant hum of equipment and the faint crackle of residual energy dispersing across the battlefield feed.
Ritsuko's fingers trembled slightly against her lips as her eyes scanned the data pouring in. The synchronization rate which still sat at a surprisingly higher rate than anything previously recorded. The strange neural feedback. The anomalous readings spiking beyond projected thresholds. None of it aligned with standard operational parameters. None of it fit with what she'd learned about the Eva's since she first began working with them.
Was this really what her mother helped create?
The question lingered heavier than the horror on the screen. This wasn't a weapon behaving unpredictably. Nor was it a malfunction.
This was something waking up and she wasn't sure how long NERV would be able to keep it under control.
_______________________________________________
Okay, and finished! What do you guys think? A bit longer than my usual style but I really wanted to put the effort in. I do think I lost traction near the end of the chapter but all in all, I think I did a decent job.
When I do update this, the next chapter will have Shinji Henshin into Zeztz. Sorry of you guys were expecting him to Henshin in this chapter though.
Personality wise, I'm still trying to balance Shinji's personality while also keeping him similar to his canon self, not identical just similar enough to draw some parallel while keeping him different from the OG version. Oddly, his Seven persona was easier to write but his conscious persona was much harder.
Here's a question, did any of you guess who agent Six was? I'm pretty sure I left some decent hints on who she is.
Any way, I said I'd update Emerald Fairy than Earth's Mightiest Aliens then Aliens of Justice before following up with an update to Heroic Decade which I haven't updated in a long while.
Also, had a new idea for a Fanfic, a Fate/Kamen Rider Blade crossover which I got from reading "Journey Through the Kaleidoscope" by Fury Cutter. Which you guys should definitely check out.