Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ Inescapable Grasp of Eva, Gather of the Children ❯ Prologue ( Prologue )

Inescapable Grasp of Eva, Gathering of the Children

Prologue

 

It has been well over a year since 3rd Impact, Shinji and Rei are 16, while Asuka and Toji are 15. The three `primary' children live together with their guardian, Misato Katsuragi. However, like all good things, this peace and distance from the Evangelions wasn't meant to last. SEELE has somehow returned, and all 4 old men want vengeance, and do it by means necessary. The four of them, along with 4 new pilots, will pilot the Evangelions, as they fight against SEELE, who will stop at nothing, to destroy Tokyo-3.

 

 

“How disgusting,” mutters the dull and exhausted Asuka Soryu. She laid there on the beach of the new world, as she started at the boy straddling with his hands around her neck, and listened to him mutter incoherent things to himself in disgust. She knew he was spineless, but for her, it was too much to see him in such a deranged state, cowering in his mind. She couldn't stand to see Shinji in such a state, and she hated it with a passion.

 

“Hey baka, get the hell off,” she growls out. Shinji snaps his head up, as their eyes met. Asuka mentally gasps in shock at the sight of the boy's face. His eyes seemed rather distant, dull, hallow, devoid, almost dead in appearance. His once bright cobalt blue eyes were now dark, almost black. His face bore no expression. It was blank, pale, gaunt, and almost sunken-like in appearance. It looked like he had been denied food and sunshine for sometime. Shinji seemed like a soulless shell, in which the body lingers until it meets its own doom.

 

`What the hell happened to him?' she mentally asks herself, in an almost careless manner.

 

`Why am I here? What is this place? Why is the world like this? I…I thought that the world would be back to normal…where's everyone? Where's Misato, Rei, Kaji, where are all my friends? Asuka…why just her…why just the two of us…'

 

Shinji…

 

He immediately snaps out of his train of thought as he brings his head up. He begins to look around, moving in fast, panic-like movements, frantically looking about as he searches for the source of the voice.

 

Shinji…

 

He looks down to see Asuka staring back at him indifferently. Realising that it wasn't her, he tries to calm down as he closes his eyes, listening for the next time the voice called for him.

 

Shinji…

 

He gasps as he turns back to see Rei's split head glowing.

 

“Ayanami?” he breathes out in awe. In an instant, after Shinji whispers her name, it begins to pulse, as a definite and steady thumping resonates throughout the air. As it pulses, the two pieces of the head begin to rise into the air, as they slowly drift closer to one another.

 

Shinji slowly gets up, his face transfixed upon the sight before him, and walks to the edge of the beach. As he continues to watch, he was no longer aware of the world around him. In his mind, there was currently only him, and the floating head of the one he once knew was Rei Ayanami. As the two halves met, the points of contact glowed, as they began to bask Shinji's world in a glorious and fulfilling light. As he reviles in the warmth that light brought him, Shinji sees the silhouette of two people his height, and a child. As they get closer, he begins to make out their form. Two of them had the unmistakable subtle curves only seen on females as they undergo the slow transformation of blooming into the beautiful flower known as womanhood. Between the two was someone who reaches only their knees, and seemed of one who was of no more than 4 years of age. He wonders who they are. As their forms began to be distinguished, Shinji felt a tug in his heart, as he suddenly comes face to face, with not one, but three, Rei Ayanami. Before him, stood the three Rei Ayanami, all the same person, yet different in their own ways.

 

One was of 4 years old, wearing a pink dress, with the face of innocence. She was one who was not sullied by the touch of the Evangelion, of Gendo, of life. She seemed to be of one who never had the chance to live out life. To her left, stood the Rei Ayanami he knew of. There she stood, clad in her school uniform, her right arm was bandaged, and in a sling, as well as her left eye was bandaged. Her face was stoic, almost emotionless, as she seemed to be when they first met. To the right of the little girl stood a naked Rei Ayanami, but unlike the others, who showed signs of life, she bore the face of the lifeless, of the unborn. She, in face and in body, was of one devoid of substance, of life, of emotions, of people, of her soul. She was the one he feared, and the one who brought upon him his damnation. The damnation he awoke into when he ended 3rd Impact.

 

“Ayanami?” Shinji quietly whispers.

 

“Hai, Ikari-kun,” they quietly replies simultaneously, their voices harmonizing as they resonate in his ears, as the subtle and gently sounds of the harp, “We are Rei Ayanami, and yet two of us are not.”

 

“What to you mean?”

 

“Our souls are intertwined, yet our bodies differ, Ikari-kun. Two of us are facsimiles of the woman Yui Ikari, Rei Ayanami, and Lillith. After this moment, two shall cease to exists, while the other carries the name, Rei Ayanami, until her death.”

 

“I still don't fully understand,” he replies, as he slowly approaches the three.

 

“We, Rei Ayanami, our souls shall become one. We shall exist as one. Two shall be discarded, for the soul purpose of allowing Rei Ayanami to exist. There can only be one, Rei Ayanami, or the cycle of replacement shall begin again. We shall destroy the doll known as Rei Ayanami, Pilot of Unit 00, follower of Gendo Ikari. And in her destruction, rises Rei Ayanami, Pilot of Unit 00, First Child, daughter of Matoko and Tomoyo Ayanami, as she was meant to be.”

 

“You mean that…”

 

“No, I shall not exist,” replied the 4 year old, her voice, dominating the other two despite all three speaking as one.

 

“Then…how will you live?”

 

“We shall discard the child, and the 3rd, and stripe the 2nd of Lillith, and Yui Ikari. She shall be free of her chains as mother of the Angels, and reminder of Gendo Ikari. She shall become Rei Ayanami once more.”

 

“Does that mean that she'll be normal?” Shinji asks hopefully.

 

“We do not understand your question, Ikari-kun.”

 

“Well,” he pauses as he struggles to find the words, “Will you be able to feel emotions? Will you be able to understand humans? Would you be able to express yourself?”

 

The three pauses for a moment, as they ponder upon the questions now lay before them, “We shall be restored of our humanity, however, she will not understand them. She shall be restored her feelings, her emotions, but she shall require time, to learn, to understand, and to express them herself. When she awakens, she shall be as she was before the 16th, but she shall remember all.”

 

“What to you mean by, remember all?”

 

“She shall gain the memories of all three. She shall remember her two deaths, her actions that initiated 3rd Impact, her interactions with the others, and her teachings of Gendo. We shall be as we were when the 2nd existed. We are not capable of destroy the bonds developed to Gendo Ikari. You must assist in destroying such bonds, in order for her to develop. Do you understand, Ikari-kun?”

 

“Yeah, I think I understand.”

 

All three nods, as the injured Rei Ayanami stands before them, “We're home,” she whispers. All three begin to glow brightly, forcing Shinji to shield his eyes. He looks through his fingers, to see two additional people standing on either side of the 2nd. To her left stood the woman Shinji knew was his mother, and to the 2nd's left stood a woman with blue hair down to her waist, and red eyes and a red orb below her breasts. Although not to familiar with the 2nd Angel, he concluded it was the one called Lillith. Moments later, the two beings disappeared, as the bright light dimmed.

 

Shinji puts his arms down to see before him, the 2nd, striped of her clothes and bandages, and 3rd, fair skinned, and their once gaunt; malnutrition bodies were replaced by a slender, graceful body, no longer showing signs of bones that threatened to break by the simplest of breezes. No more was she the porcelain doll she appeared to be, as the 2nd turned around to reveal that broad smile she showed him after their battle of the fifth.

 

“I have returned, Ikari-kun,” the 2nd quietly whispers before turning around, and hold her arms out wide. The other two nod and close their eyes, only to glow an ethereal white, as they soon became translucent images of their former selves. They walk up to Rei, and step into her as they merge their souls with her. Rei suddenly cringes in pain as she drops to her knee's and hugs herself, as she feels the pain of three separate memories, blending into one, unified mind, as the experiences become one. She struggled as she tried to sort the images, the feelings of the three as her soul began to transform, from three separate beings, into on unified soul.

 

Soon the pain stops, as Rei falls down. Shinji rushes up to her, and holds her in his arms, as he supports her neck and shoulders as he did when her first met her. He checks her to see her simply sleeping. He smiles as he looks at the sleeping girl in his arms. To think, only a few weeks ago, he wouldn't dare talk to her for finding out what the 2nd and 3rd were. But now, she was human, and no longer genetically related to her. He found it funny how now he was allowing himself to even look at her, despite that her two previous bodies contained his mother's DNA, and that she was naked.

 

“What the hell is Wonder Girl doing in your arms?” Asuka's voice suddenly cried out, cutting him off from his train of thought as he gasps and looks around to see himself once again on the beach, ahead of him the sea of red, the night sky above him, and the crater that one contained half of Rei's head. He spins around to see Asuka standing there, her face with a bit more colour, her weight on her right leg as she rested her hand on her hip. He looks down to see Rei was still in his arms, sleeping soundly.

 

“Well, answer me,” Asuka demanded, getting impatient, and annoyed at the fact Rei was drawing all of his attention.

 

“I don't really know,” he calmly replies, “Last thing I remember was watching Ayanami's head fuse, then it glowed brightly. Next thing I knew, I saw three Ayanami's they formed into one, and I picked her up, and then you suddenly asked me what she was doing in my arms.” Although he did cover what had happened, he kept all details, even the general detail to himself, as he wished to keep that memory to himself.

 

“What…” she replies, in a somewhat dazed manner, “But…you were only…HOW THE HELL DOES THAT WORK? WE WERE BATHED IN LIGHT ONLY FOR A MOMENT BEFORE I OPEN MY EYES TO SEE WONDER GIRL IN YOUR ARMS!” she screams.

 

“Asuka,” he hisses, as he steps back a few steps, nearly tripping as he does, “Keep it down,” he quietly hisses, “You'll wake her up.”

 

“Ugh.” Both pilots suddenly gasp in silence as they heard someone moaning. They both look at Rei's sleeping form, only to see her still soundlessly sleeping, her chest gently and rhythmically rising up and down, as she breathed. They hear the moan again, only to look down to the ground to see something moving. Both pilots panic, and tried to move, but fear kept their feet anchored to the sand underneath them as they watched the person rise from the sand.

 

“Ah…my head,” the person says as she forces herself out of the sand, and supports herself on her knees, and one hand as she rubs the back of her head with the other. Both pilots gulp as they looked at the person again, to realising that it was Misato, the long mop of purple giving it all away.

 

“You baka,” Asuka viciously states, “You stepped on Misato's head!”

 

“How was I supposed to know she was there,” he hissed out, as he tried to keep his voice down, “She was buried under the sand.”

 

“Shinji, what's Rei doing in your arms and…why the hell is she naked?” Shinji looks down to see Misato was looking at him curiously, as she tried to clean out some sand from her hair. He then looks down to realise that Rei was indeed naked, as he starts to blush a deep crimson, only now fully acknowledging the face she was there, sleeping in his arms, and completely naked.

 

“I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-” Shinji incoherently stutters as he tries to come up with an excuse of why she was in such a state.

 

“Apparently, the baka had the 1st Child dumped into his arms when Wonder Girl's head recombined and glow,” Asuka nonchalantly states.

 

“I see,” Misato states slowly, slowly turning her head towards Shinji again, a mischievous grin appearing on her face, “Were you planning to get some alone time with her when she wakes up?”

 

“What?” Shinji screams out uncontrollably, completely taken aback from the comment.

 

“Pfft,” Asuka scoffs, “That pervert would probably do it too if I had a chance.”

 

Shinji opens his mouth when a soft voice interrupts him, “Ikari-kun?” Shinji looks down to see that Rei had woken up, and seemed to be extremely dazed as she was looking about as she tried to orient herself.

 

“Ayanami,” he calls out, “You alright?”

 

“I am well, Ikari-kun,” she calmly replies, as she reorients herself, “Will you put me down?” Shinji compliantly lets her down, and turns around, blushing madly, as the last thing he saw as he lowered her had just happened to be her jewels.

 

“Ikari-kun, are you well?” Rei asks him, with mild curiosity.

 

“I-I-I-I'm fine, Ayanami-san,” Shinji weakly replies, then trying to change the subject, “Do you remember what happened?”

 

“Hai, I remember the fusion, my role in 3rd Impact, everything,” she turns to face Asuka, “Are you well Pilot Soryu? I last recall you were declared comatose.”

 

“I'm fine for your information, Wonder Girl,” Asuka growls out, as she crosses her arms.

 

“Uh Rei,” Misato calls out as she takes of her jacket.

 

“Yes, Colonel?”

 

“Here,” giving Rei her jacket, “You put this on. It'll at least cover your top.”

 

Rei takes the jacket, yet frowns, “Why do I require wearing this jacket? This is my natural body.”

 

“Rei, simply put, there is a little something called modesty,” Misato replies, as she wipes her hands across her face, “Just put it on please. We don't want people seeing you topless.”

 

“Very well,” she quietly replies. She quickly puts the jacket on and zips it up. Soon after, they hear the familiar whirring of a helicopter. They look to the horizon, to see a squadron of helicopters, and VTOL's approaching them fast.

 

“What the hell?” Misato states, “Those are…” and then it dawned upon her, “Those must be from the US Branch that was lost during Unit 04's testing. This is great. Help's on the way.”

 

“Finally,” Asuka groans out, “I need a change of clothes, and to see what the hell the Eva series did to me. I mean, just look at the fact I woke up, outside of my Eva, in bandages!”

 

“Hmm…that is strange,” Misato comments.

 

“Misato-san, can we worry about how later? Let's just worry about getting their attention,” Shinji states.

 

“Good idea,” she then starts to wave her arms, yelling at the top of her lungs, “HEY!! OVER HERE!! WE'RE DOWN HERE!”

 

“Misato, what point is that? It's not like they'll hear you,” Asuka blatantly comments, as she watches Misato wave her arms like a raving lunatic.

 

“Hey, the yelling might not get their attention, but the waving will. Plus I just wanna yell. It makes me feel more comfortable.”

 

“Whatever you say,” Asuka replies as she starts waving her arms as well.

 

“Sir, down there on the beach, I think I see some survivors,” the co-pilot calls out.

 

“I see them,” the pilot replies, “Alright, let's head down there and get them the hell outta here.”

 

“Hey, I think they see us,” Shinji points out as one of the helicopters begins to descend towards them.

 

“Hey, you're right for once baka,” Asuka comments as she watches the helicopter descend.

 

“Well, not a bad way to start the day after 3rd Impact eh guys?” Misato asks. All three merely nodded in agreement, as they watched the relief force fly over the remnants of Tokyo-3. This was the beginning of a new day. The angels are finally destroyed, SEELE is no more, the Eva series were either destroyed or no longer needed. This was the beginning of the rest of their lives.

 

Well, I hope that you enjoyed my prologue; I'll be submitting Chapter I soon. I hope that this sets the mood, or at least gives you an idea of what happened before my story started in the original version. Don't forget, I plan to make this a 4 part story. Well anyways, that's all from me.

 

Cheers ^^ Ja ne