Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ A Soul Possessed ❯ Chapter 5

A Soul Possessed

Chapter 5: Triumvirate of the Damned

By: Lord Deathscythe

Special Guest Author: Random1377

Disclaimer: see part 1

It had been five days since Shinji had returned from the hospital after his stay in Unit-01, and almost a month since Asuka had read the notes in his symphony.

She had avoided being alone with him as much as possible, not sure what she would do if they were alone. Would she attack him and beat him to death so he would see how foolish it was to love her? Or, would she jump him and hold him tight so he could never leave her? She didn't know, and that scared her more then anything she had ever known. She admitted it, she was afraid of what could happen between them. There was no way she could deny that after what she had read. The question was what she should do about it, if anything.

Should she see if he would return any sort of advance she made? Should she just go about things like normal and let him make the first move? Should she just come right out and beat the crap out of him so that he would never get the idea to approach her? She just didn't know… and it was driving her crazy.

What was driving almost as crazy as her little dilemma was that Shinji had been acting… differently of late. While he was still a bit shy, he had not apologized for any seemingly small things of late. He had said he was sorry one night to her, but that was because he had tripped and spilt a glass of water on her. Other then that he just let everything go. He wasn't any less polite, just less ready to take the blame for things. Also she had notice his hair was a bit different, the roots had a distinctly black hue to them. She knew he wasn't the sort of person to dye his hair, or to do anything out of the ordinary. There was no real explanation for it. Asuka did know she had seen that shade of black hair somewhere before this; it was unmistakable whose hair it was starting to look like.

It was starting to look almost exactly like Misato's.

What had happened while he was in Unit-01?

Asuka knew something had happened, but couldn't figure out whatever it was that had been. His features were slowly; almost unnoticeable to anyone who wasn't looking, changing. Nothing too extreme, he still looked like the Shinji Ikari she had met on the "Over the Rainbow" but some things were different. All she could do in regards to those changes were to keep watch, and to make sure nothing dangerous happened to the Third Child.

--

Asuka hadn't been the only one to notice these changes; Rei Ayanami had noticed some of these changes as well and did not understand how they could have occurred. Something wasn't… correct about Ikari. Something she just couldn't place what had changed about him.

It was… disturbing.

It wasn't his appearance, the black highlights that had shown in his hair of late, or even the change in his demeanor. Ikari had been changing ever since she had first met him, now the changes had become much more apparent. It was if he were a different person then the boy she had met before the Third Angel had attacked.

The Commander needed to know about this. But would what he told her to do be in Ikari's best interest?

For the first time in her life, Rei knew the commander wasn't the solution for this problem.

I must speak with Sohryu. She lives with Ikari and would have noticed anything out of the ordinary.

Set on a plan of action, Rei left her apartment determined to discover any clues she could from the Second Child.

--

"You're late," Kaji murmured, smiling as he looked towards the door. His smile turned sorrowful as the woman in the doorway slowly brought her arms out from behind her back, levelling her service pistol at his chest.

"Kaji…" she sobbed, leveling the gun, "I'm sorry… I'm so, so sorry…" she drew the hammer back. "Please forgive me… please…"

He sighed, "I know, Misato…" he said, meeting her eyes calmly, "I know you have no choice…"

More tears streamed down her face as she slowly drew the trigger back, never taking her eyes off of his.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a soft voice said from the shadows.

Misato was so wound up that she jerked to the side, pulling the trigger the rest of the way.

To his credit, though the bullet whistled past his ear and buried itself in the wall, Kaji only flinched slightly.

"What's the matter Major?" the voice asked quietly, "You seem a little tense. Could it be that my husband ordered you to kill someone you love?"

Misato whipped the gun around, "Shinji!?" she said with a gasp, "What…?"

"Sorry, Shinji's not in right now, but if you leave your name and number I'll be sure he gets back to you"

The purple haired woman blinked and turned the gun back to Kaji, who was watching the exchange with a look of confusion, "What are you doing here?" she asked the boy, starting to sweat under the strain, "You… shouldn't be here…"

As the small form exited the shadows, something happened. Misato and Kaji both started, their shock greater than seeing Unit-01 go berserk as Shinji's face and body seemed to… shift, until the boy's countenance became that of an older, brown-haired Rei.

"Because I need your help to save my son," came the calm reply.

Misato whipped the gun back and forth between the woman in front of her and the man she loved… and had be ordered to kill, "What's… what's going on?" she whispered, taking another step back.

Kaji frowned, then his eyes widened in recognition, "Misses Ikari, I presume?"

Misato blinked, "What?"

"You know of me Mr. Kaji," the woman said, inclining her head in a slight nod, "I'm flattered."

Kaji shrugged, giving Misato a sideways glance as she continued trying to keep a bead on both of them, "In my line of work, you… see things and hear things people don't want you to. I recognized you from an old Gehirn staff photo."

"But…But Yui Ikari is dead," Misato sputtered, "she's been dead for nearly 11 years now."

"It's true…" Yui sighed, "I AM dead in the most technical sense of the word…" She smiled ruefully, "It's amazing what a ghost can really do, isn't it Major."

Misato Katsuragi was not the fainting kind… but she came very close at Yui's words, feeling the world go slightly gray, "What?" she repeated.

Yui regarded Misato and Kaji intently, "You know, I should thank both of you. You've been there for my son since he came here. Taking the roles I was stripped of and Gendo abandoned."

Kaji took a tentative step towards the jittery major, "Well," he said coolly, "he's a good kid… I'm just sorry I couldn't do more for him." He took another step, but Misato brought the gun up, now shaking terribly.

"What's going on?" she whispered, looking from one to the other for an explanation, "please… I don't understand…"

"It's really quite simple, Major," Yui said calmly, "And you might want to lower your gun seeing how you're shaking so much."

She stepped closer to the purple-haired woman.

"Remember how Shinji was absorbed by Unit-01?" she waited for the nod of acknowledgment before continuing, "Well lets just say 'Like mother like son'. I was fully absorbed by Unit-01 that day in 2005. During my son's stay inside the Sea of Dirac I was able to link my consciousness with his. He doesn't know I'm in here though." She shrugged as she concluded, "While he was in Unit-01 though I made a slight alteration to him, giving myself the ability to take my old shape for when I give Gendo my final going away present. In simplest of terms, I'm possessing Shinji."

Misato frowned, coming to some sort of grips with the massive amount of impossible sounding data she had just been fed… and finding her focus in anger. "Possessed?" she asked softly, narrowing her eyes, "MY Shinji?"

Kaji recognized that the Major was growing defensive -- the worst possible reaction out of all those possible, and knew he had to try and diffuse her before someone got killed, "Well, Misato," he said as calmly as he could, "TECHNICALLY he was HER Shinji first…"

"It's okay," Yui said calmly, "I understand how you're feeling right now major… but you don't want to shot me."

Misato frowned, letting her anger build, "And why not?"

Kaji took another cautious step towards her, "Because you'd be killing Shinji too…" he answered for the scientist, "she's IN Shinji's body… it would kill him too."

"Now if you would put down your gun," Yui said quietly, "we can start talking business."

Kaji stepped to the side, putting himself between the two women, "Hey, Katsuragi…" he said softly, "if you have to shoot someone… shoot me." he met her eyes steadily, "You were going to anyway."

Yui nodded, commenting, "I would prefer, however, that everyone here remained alive for the time being… that way, we can save both of the Children and make sure that the Commander pays for what he's done."

Misato ignored her, staring instead into Kaji's eyes, struggling to speak. "I…" she began, an intense war being fought inside her mind as love and honor clashed almost audibly, and every emotion conceivable flashed across her face. Finally, the gun fell from her hands and clattered to the floor as she dropped to her knees, sobbing, "Oh Kaji! I didn't want to! Please… I didn't want to!!!"

"I know you didn't," he said, kneeling and taking her in his arms, "it's ok… shhhh…" he stroked her hair as she wept, throwing her arms around him and burying her face in his shirt.

Yui approached the two, dropping to the floor alongside them. She waited until Misato had calmed somewhat before speaking softly, "My husband has done much… harm," she began, choosing her words carefully, "but I think it's not too late to set things right." She sighed, "I don't think I can do it alone… will you help me? I know that you both care for Shinji… if you won't do it for me -- or all of humanity -- will you do it for him?"

Misato wiped her eyes, "For him…" she whispered fiercely, "only for him, and for what he's had to do to survive…" her eyes dropped to the floor, "he's… he's better than any of us…" she whispered, "he deserves more."

Kaji pulled her closer to him. "Well," he said, a touch shakily, "since my calendar seems to be clear -- almost permanently," He grinned at Yui, "and thank you, by the way, there's nothing I'd like better than to help… but it'll need to be from the shadows." He lifted Misato's face to look into her eyes, "And it would be best if you reported your mission successful, eh?" She nodded, frowning slightly as she thought of the countless, loyal NERV replacements that would not hesitate to finish what she had started.

"Good," Yui said approvingly, "because I'll need both of you. Part of what I've been doing has been to try to help my son - I'm sure you've noticed some of the changes, but I'm afraid there is still much to be done." She sighed. "The other part is to try to stop the wheels I set in motion with Unit-01's creation. Luckily my old security codes were never erased and my clearance was as high as Gendos." She grinned, pulling a disk out of her pocket and offering it to Kaji, "It still is in fact." Her smile fell away. "Here's everything I've been able to find so far," she said softy, "and trust me when I say that Armageddon would be more fun then what Gendo has in store for humanity."

Kaji took the disk, eyeing it with a frown, "I'll see what I can do to throw as many monkey wrenches in the works as I can." He pocketed the disk and took Misato's hand in his.

"What do you need from me?" Misato asked quietly, finding herself unable to meet the other woman's eyes.

"I need you to do what you've been doing," the woman answered, "helping my son. You're like the mother I never had the chance to be. And I want you to keep an eye on Dr. Akagi. I'm not sure, but she might suspect something is going on. And if she does, who knows what she'll do." She frowned. "She's too much like her mother for my tastes."

Misato looked at her in surprise at the unexpected compliment, "Th-thank you…" she said, blushing slightly as she went on, "I… he's been like a son to me… I hate seeing him hurt…"

Kaji cleared his throat, "Well, if there's nothing else, do you think you might excuse us, Doctor Ikari?" He smiled broadly, "Since I won't be able to see the young Miss Katsuragi here very often, I'd like to take advantage of this quiet time to… discuss a few private matters…"

Misato tried to give him a frown, but the corners of her mouth twitched up, "Very subtle…" she mumbled, making Yui laugh.

In spite of the Major's words, Yui noticed the way her arm slid around Kaji's waist and pulled him against her side… and the way she leaned closer with a barely audible, content sigh.

She smiled, Maybe there IS hope after all… she thought, these are good people…

"Of course," the woman said ironically, "I'll see you at home Major, but you won't see me." She shook her head, "I need to put Shinji here to bed," she concluded with a bit of humor in her voice

As she turned to leave Misato callout, "Wait!" Yui turned back as Shinji's guardian rose to her feet and stood in front of her. Slowly, she extended her hand, "Thank you…" she said quietly, "thank you for stopping me…"

"You're… welcome," the other woman answered, suddenly awkward.

With that, she departed.

As she stole out of the dark warehouse where this new alliance had been formed she reverted back to Shinji's form. "I think things will be just fine," she thought with a trace of hopefulness, "Shinji will be in good hands when this is all over… I just hope no one gets hurt in all this…"

She knew this was a vain hope. In a battle of espionage, betrayals, and switching allegiances, there were bound to be some casualties.

And though it struck her as selfish just then, her only prayer at that moment was that her son… was not one of them.

--

As the night went on, Asuka could find no center in her mind. Everything was a raging storm with no calm place to find shelter from. The First Child's appearance at her door had not helped any, and had in fact added to her internal conflict. What Wondergirl had wanted was shocking to say the least, but in a way was a relief for Asuka. At least someone else was noticing the changes in Shinji.

That wasn't what bothered her though about the visit. It had been what Rei had said.

"I advise you to keep watch over Ikari. This change may not be by of his own accord, and it could be very dangerous for him."

Rei's warning was like so many things the pale girl said, infuriating. Unfortunately, she was also right. They had agreed that something had happened to the Third Child, but neither had any idea as to what that was. The only way to find out was to keep an eye on him at all times when they could. If something were happening that was bad though, it could already be too late.

This entire event still didn't help Asuka with her earlier problem, the notes she had read. The more she thought about it, the harder it was to keep her self from admitting to itself that she may have felt the same for him.

She tried to harden the wall she had around her heart again, like a soldier fortifying a wall against an enemy. She couldn't let it crack or someone would hurt her again. She never wanted to be hurt again. But that wall had cracks, large cracks that were starting to crumble. Eventually, she wouldn't be able to protect herself anymore. Not like that.

All because of a few words scribbled on a piece of paper.

The front door opened, bringing Asuka out of her thoughts. It was a short respite as the person who entered had in fact been Shinji. She didn't want him to think she was looking in on him, so she simply listened to the door. She could hear him moving to the bathroom, and decided that he was about to go to bed. Asuka moved away from the door and headed to her own mattress when she heard something. Something that would haunt her dreams that night.

A scream filled with complete, soul killing terror.

Asuka ran out of her room as fast as she could. If something had happened it might have taken it's toll on him already. It could be too late to save Shinji from what ever this was.

As she got to the bathroom, she stopped. What Asuka saw left her almost speechless. Even then only two words left her mouth in a horrified whisper.

"Mien Gott…"

Before her stood Shinji, but his appearance had changed more dramatically then she could have imagined. His hair had gone from the chestnut brown it had been to a dark black. Not only that but it had grown down to his shoulders. On his face, she could see the shadow of facial hair that had grown. It looked like he hadn't shaved in two days. The fact that it had grown at all was amazing as Shinji had never needed to.

Shinji turned his head towards Asuka to look at her, revealing the most stunning change.

"What's happening to me?" Shinji said, his voice full of fear. The fear that Asuka could see in his eyes…

His bright green eyes.

To be Continued…

Authors notes: Been working on this one for a HELL of a long time. Had to go through and scrub the Gendo Bashing as much as possible, which took forever. Also had to get the Yui/Kaji/Misato scene just right. Random did a lot of helping with that scene. A HELL OF A LOT! Good on you Random. HOOAHH!

I'll start work on the next chapter as soon as possible, and it should be good. Got the 15th coming next… there is a nightmare to write for.

As always, C&C to webmaster@darkscribes.org

Later,

Lord Legato Deathscythe

Prereaders: SDB, Random