(Notes to the FFML:
Episodes 1 and 2 of Apocrypha have now been revised; expect
episode 2 to be posted sometime next week, with more to follow as I
complete subsequent episodes.
Pending useful C&C or lack thereof, I still consider this story
under revision. *PLEASE* do not post this, or any previous, version of
this episode on the WWW without checking with me first! And if you have a
copy on a fanfic page right now, please take it down until I can confirm
that this is the final version.
All useful C&C is invited and welcomed; flames will be ignored or
used to toast electronic marshmallows, depending on what I feel like doing
with them.)
AUTHOR'S FOREWORD:
If you wish to contact me by e-mail, my address is:
trmiller@bcpl.net
Warning: Numerous spoilers ahead. If you haven't seen through episode
20 of Neon Genesis Evangelion yet and want to keep the surprises until you've
seen those episodes, save this fanfic - but don't read past this point until
you've seen that much of the series. If you've seen through episode 20, or
don't care about the spoilers, read on. :)
Timeline notes can be found in the Afterword.
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Apocrypha by Tim Miller
Chapter 1:
"Returning Prodigal"
Over the intercom, I can hear the countdown. "10 ... 9 ... 8 ..."
"Ready, Michael?" another voice asks me from the command center.
"I think so," I reply shakily to the unseen voice.
"3 ... 2 ... 1 ... contact -"
And then everything goes white.
My universe is ending.
This can only be Hell; I am going insane - what else can this be?
Something unimaginable, pressing on my mind from all sides - why haven't I
died yet? I shouldn't be able to feel anything!
And then I hear it - no, not hear. Not feel, either. But it's there.
I'm not alone, but that's what terrifies me - I don't *want* to be
with this ... whatever it is! What happened to the others?
{They are dead}
Where am I?
{With me} {Forever}
What happened?
It is not until later that I begin to understand.
Evangelion Unit 04 is alive. It is a fierce, alien life - like the
life of humans, and yet so unbearably different; it is alive, it knows it is
alive, but more than those it knows *what* it is. And it seeks ...
What does it seek?
What do *I* seek?
What do I want?
{can't die} {you won't die} {I won't let you}
It needs me? What can it need?
{together}
I'm frightened ... no, terrified. Evangelion can't help me now.
And yet somehow, it does. The source of my fear acts to calm my fear.
My mind has been shattered many times over; somehow a piece of my
thought stays coherent - that core of myself which my mother would say is my
soul. And I begin to understand, finally, what little I can grasp.
Evangelion awoke to know my presence, and only my presence. This is
Hell to it too, the maelstrom outside us. Something mysterious, terrible, has
happened to us both; all we can do is ride it out.
And Evangelion knows only a little more than I do. I am older than it
by nearly all of my fourteen years - yet only with its (his? her?) help can
either of us escape.
The fear is gone now, but nothing has replaced it. I only know that
Evangelion and I are together, linked, united in something neither of us can
control. Maybe together we can understand what has happened, but our destinies
have brought us together. Whatever happens now, we can only meet it together,
human and Evangelion.
It knows so much more than I do - and yet its questions are as
unanswered, and perhaps unanswerable, as my own. It is sentient, and yet it
is an animal, wild and untameable - uncontrollable. But somehow I know it
will allow me to control it.
How strange ... why should I need to control Eva? It was built for
combat -
Oh. It didn't know that. Figures.
But it'll fight. That seems to have answered one of its questions.
Where are we?
It doesn't know.
Evangelion isn't a machine, it's alive. Did they know what they were
building? I finally understand -
- Blinding white light. Pure light.
Is that ... the sun? Or is it God? Or has something else happened?
Where are we now?
What has happened?
The alarms were going off in Central Dogma. "Report," said Commander
Ikari Gendou as he sat down behind the command desk.
"AT Field detected on the surface," Aoba Shigeru responded from his
console. "We also picked up a Blue pattern, but it's not showing any more.
"We have a visual on the object," Ibuki Maya added. "On screen now."
The holographic display on the "front" wall of Central Dogma showed
static for a moment, then cleared to show the "object" in question.
There was silence in the command chamber for about half a second.
"What's another Evangelion doing here??" exclaimed Major Katsuragi
Misato as she entered.
Ibuki keyed for a close-up of the Evangelion's nearer shoulder, on
which the abbreviation "Eva" was superimposed over a large numeral 4.
"Evangelion Unit 04 ... but that's - "
" - the same one that vanished from the Second Branch," Ikari
finished. "Is it still generating an AT Field?"
"Confirmed," Hyuga Makoto nodded as he looked up from his panel. "But
the Blue pattern has faded; we're reading the standard Evangelion sensor
signature on all bandwidths."
"There's no umbilical cable," Misato noted. "How's it generating - "
She stopped, remembering. "Scan for the S2 engine."
"Scanning," the technicians chorused. A moment later, Hyuga nodded.
"S2 engine confirmed. Evangelion 04 is self-powered."
Ikari Gendou folded his hands, staring at the primary display. "It
doesn't seem to be moving ... status of our Evas?"
"Shinji's still recovering from his ... ordeal," Misato answered.
"So Eva-01 is out. Units 00 and 02 are still out of commission as well, from
the damage inflicted by the 13th and 14th Angels."
"Is pilot Ikari still physically injured?" asked Gendou, not looking
at Misato.
"When he emerged from Eva-01's core, he was completely intact -
physically," responded Misato, looking intently at the commander. "But he
shouldn't be piloting Eva again until we know he's stable mentally."
"If he's alive, he can synchronize, and we need another Evangelion to
stop Unit 04 if it makes any aggressive moves." Gendou looked towards Misato.
"You have your orders, Major."
Misato bit her lip, and turned to carry out her orders. As she did so,
Akagi Ritsuko stared up at the display from her place behind the technicians'
consoles. (We thought Evangelion Unit 04 was lost,) she thought silently.
(What is it doing in Tokyo-3?)
Minutes later, panels slid apart, making a square opening in the
street near Eva-04. A pair of rails extended upwards from the opening, and
within seconds, the launch platform carrying Evangelion Unit 01 slammed to a
halt, delivering its cargo at ground level.
Ensconced within Eva-01's entry plug, surrounded by oxygen-bearing
LCL, a fourteen-year-old boy looked out at the "sister" unit to his own mecha
- and Ikari Shinji doubted.
"It's generating an AT Field, as detected," he said quietly. "But
that's all it's doing - it's not even standing upright." He checked a readout,
and added, "The entry plug is in place and occupied - there's someone inside
Unit 04."
Far below, in Central Dogma, Ritsuko turned to look at the commander
of NERV - and the father of the pilot of Eva-01. "Whoever's inside Eva-04 may
have answers to our questions," she noted to him. "And with two of our
Evangelions still down for repairs, we could use Unit 04."
"Agreed," nodded Ikari Gendou. "Shinji," he spoke into the comm
system, "attempt to make contact with Eva-04's pilot."
Unseen, Shinji relaxed almost unconsciously. The last time he'd been
face-to-face with another Evangelion, it had been Unit 03 - under the control
of the 13th Angel. One of his classmates - his friends - had been inside the
entry plug, and control had been taken from him as -
(No!) Shinji forced the memories back, wrapping his mind around the
task of controlling his Eva as he guided it off of the launch gantry, walking
it towards the other Evangelion. "Eva-01 to Eva-04," he said quietly, keying
his comm system over to an external transmission. "Do you read? Over."
Within Eva-04's entry plug, I look up as I hear another voice. It's
not speaking English ... but Japanese.
'Eva-01 to Eva-04, do you read? Over.'
Eva-01 ... I close my eyes for a moment, then look up as the display
projected on the inside walls of my entry plug clears, allowing me to see the
almost-familiar form of another Evangelion. Eva-04 is quiet around me, at
least for now. I can only assume that this city is Tokyo-3, the main base of
operations for NERV and the Evangelions.
There - the comm system controls. I reach back for the memories of my
Japanese lessons as the other pilot repeats his message.
"This is Eva-04," the other pilot responded, and all but two of the
occupants of Central Dogma's command chamber sighed in relief. Vice-Commander
Fuyutsuki Kouzou, one of those two, looked over at Gendou silently. Gendou
returned the look briefly as he ordered, "Continue, Shinji."
Shinji nodded, and spoke into the comm again. "Eva-04 pilot, please
identify yourself and prepare to exit from your Eva."
There was a moment of hesitation from the other end. Shinji's hands
tightened on his Eva's control grips as he thought he saw Eva-04 move
slightly, as though starting to straighten up. Finally, the response came.
"I ask that you identify yourself first. Please."
"That's an American accent," Misato noted in Central Dogma. "I didn't
know the Second Branch was approved to select Eva pilots."
"It wasn't," Fuyutsuki responded as Shinji's voice sounded over the
comm system again.
"This is Ikari Shinji, pilot of Evangelion Unit 01. Now identify
yourself, pilot of Eva-04."
On the screen, Evangelion Unit 04 drew itself up, finally standing
fully upright under its own power, just before its eyes dimmed and the plug
hatch on its "backpack" opened, the familiar white cylinder of the entry plug
being extruded from the Eva's back. A moment later, the hatch slid open and
up, as a human form emerged from the entry plug.
Shinji and Ibuki both keyed for close visuals at the same moment,
revealing a young boy in a dark green plug-suit. His skin was of a slightly
darker hue than Japanese, his hair straight and pitch-black. Eva-04's pilot
reached down to the external intercom panel, and spoke into the handset.
"This is Michael Theseus Fire Hawk, NERV Second Branch, Evangelion
test pilot."
Another sigh of relief seemed to emerge from the command staff of
Central Dogma, again excepting the two highest-ranking officers. "Mr. Fire
Hawk," Gendou spoke into the comm system, "return to your entry plug. Eva-01
will show you to the nearest retrieval platform."
"Understood," responded the test pilot as he complied with the
commander's instructions. In less than a minute, the LCL surrounded him once
more and the touch of Eva-04 once again stroked against his mind.
(Patience,) he thought. (Let's find out what's going on first.)
It took far less time than the new arrival would have expected before
Eva-04 was locked down, the latches securing it in the Eva hangar - ironically
enough, in the place which had once been reserved for Eva-03.
It took rather longer than that before he could exit, though.
"It's not accepting the signal," Ibuki Maya reported. "The hatch isn't
opening." She looked up from her console. "I don't understand it ... "
"Mr. Fire Hawk," Gendou spoke, "please try again to eject your entry
plug."
"Acknowledged," Michael replied as he extended his will once more. (I
have to leave for now,) he thought to the Evangelion. (Will you allow me to
leave, knowing that I'll return?)
{don't trust them}
(We're on the same side.)
{you and I} {not them}
(I will return. I swear it. They won't stop me.)
{they can't}
The "backpack" hatches opened, the LCL was drained, the entry plug
slid out and the pilot hatch opened smoothly.
"Mr. Fire Hawk," Ikari Gendou inquired over the intercom, "what was
the delay?"
Michael laughed silently. "Eva-04 didn't want to let me go. I don't
blame it for being wary; we've been through a lot," he said as he climbed out
of the entry plug and onto the waiting walkway.
Misato and Shinji were there waiting for him when he left the Eva
cage. "Major Katsuragi Misato, director of strategic operations," Misato
introduced herself. "All of the Eva pilots are effectively under my command."
"A pleasure to meet you, Major ... Shinji," Michael responded with a
nod to each. "You'll have to forgive me; my Japanese isn't very good yet."
"This way, please," Misato gestured, and the three of them headed out
of the cage.
Over five hours later, Misato made her preliminary report to Ikari and
Fuyutsuki. It wasn't very encouraging.
"Michael claims to know absolutely nothing about the disappearance of
Eva-04 and the Second Branch," she told them. "He wasn't cleared for combat,
just sitting in an entry plug and synchronizing with an Evangelion for
activation testing. Obviously, the Second Branch was attempting to activate
Unit 04 with the experimental S2 engine."
"What about the events following the disappearance?" Ikari asked.
"He knows even less about that," Misato responded, "unless you believe
him when he says he and Eva-04 went through Hell together."
"How much has Shinji told you about his experience with the 12th
Angel?" Ikari inquired.
"Very little," Misato admitted. "But what I don't understand is how
Eva-04 could return to the physical world *here*, thousands of miles from the
place where it disappeared - even if a Sea of Dirac was involved, what
generated it in the first place?"
"Possibly Eva-04," Fuyutsuki suggested. "Was this the first time that
Eva-04 had been activated?"
"Yes," Misato nodded. "That was the first time Michael was in a real
entry plug and a real Evangelion, too." She hesitated for a moment. "However
... there's something else you ought to know."
"And that is?" Ikari looked at her from behind his dark glasses.
Misato hesitated again. "Michael claims to have bonded with Eva-04."
The silence from Ikari and Fuyutsuki spoke volumes.
After taking a deep breath, Misato continued, "He says he thought he
was going insane in those first moments after ... well, after the activation
and the disaster that occured with it. The Eva's mind -"
"They don't *have* minds," Ikari interrupted. "The Evangelions are
under our control."
"Or at least that's the idea," Misato shot back, briefly forgetting
who she was talking to. "But may I remind you that Eva-01 has moved *without*
power on three occasions, one of those leading to its becoming fully self-
powered? And on the first of those occasions, there was no entry plug in
place, occupied or otherwise!"
"Major." Ikari's voice had a warning tone. "The Evangelions have no
minds of their own."
"How do you explain the fact that Eva-00 has gone berserk twice, and
Eva-01 as well?"
"Major, please continue with your report. We need to know if Eva-04
and its pilot can be placed on the combat roster."
Misato's shoulders slumped in defeat. (So close to the truth,) she
thought wistfully as she went on, returning to the subject at hand. "Michael
says he had received almost no combat training prior to the ... incident.
Synchronization exercises only. I don't think they expected him to see combat
unless he was selected as an official Eva pilot, one of the Children."
Ikari frowned. "Whoever was commanding the Second Branch went beyond
their authority in selecting him as even a test pilot without approval from
the Marduk Institute."
Misato carefully did not reply to that comment, knowing full well that
the Marduk Institute was just one of NERV's puppet organizations - a cloak
behind which the Children, the few who could pilot the Evangelions, were
chosen. "But regardless of that ... as I said, Michael claims to have bonded
with Eva-04, and from what he's told me - we may have to train him for combat
ourselves, Marduk report or not."
"What do you mean?" Fuyutsuki pressed her.
Misato looked at the Commander and Vice-Commander for a moment, then
proceeded: "After the activation and their disappearance, Michael and Eva-04
were completely cut off from the outside world. Michael says that Evangelion
Unit 04 is alive, and sentient, and has chosen him as its human partner - or
words to that effect; he had to explain it in English, and my own English is
spotty at best. Given the security level we have to maintain about this
incident, I felt that we couldn't bring in a translator."
Ikari nodded in approval. "Major Katsuragi, based on your talk with
Mr. Fire Hawk, what is your recommendation?"
"I suggest that we take him on as an Eva pilot ... and see if the
Marduk Institute will classify him as one of the Children. He can stay with
me, Shinji, and Asuka if necessary."
"Are you sure that's wise?"
Misato sighed. "Commander Ikari, Michael is very alone here. His
father died in the Second Impact; his mother died or vanished along with the
rest of the Second Branch in Nevada. I don't want to throw him out on his own
because his grasp of Japanese is still uncertain; Asuka may be able to help
him with that - I'm pretty sure Michael can't even read the language, but
Asuka knows far more English than I do, so she can help him along."
"Have you talked to Shinji and Asuka about this yet?" Fuyutsuki
inquired.
"No, I'll ask them when they get home from school. If they're
agreeable, I'll come back to HQ and pick him up in time for a late dinner.
That should give Ritsuko time to begin the necessary testing to qualify
Michael as an Eva pilot."
"We have some archival records from the Second Branch," Fuyutsuki
reported, "backups which were sent to NERV's other branches two weeks before
the incident - part of the regular information backup process. Since Mr. Fire
Hawk's file is in those records, we won't be starting from scratch."
Ikari turned his head to regard Fuyutsuki. "And what was his status?"
Fuyutsuki checked his notes. "'This candidate possesses the necessary
qualities for an Evangelion pilot.' He wasn't going to be recommended as a
full pilot until they knew he would be needed as one."
Ikari nodded. "Very well ... have Dr. Akagi begin testing him. Major,
do you have an alternative suggestion in case your two charges object to
another housemate?"
"If either of them object - and I don't believe they will," Misato
responded, "then I guess he'll have to stay at headquarters for the time
being. It might be for the best if he does, but I'd rather he didn't."
"What do you mean, 'it might be for the best?'" Ikari frowned.
Again, Misato hesitated before replying, "If what Michael told me
about the bond is true, then Eva-04 doesn't want to be separated from him
unless it's necessary."
AUTHOR'S AFTERWORD:
The first part of this chapter takes place around and following the
time of the disappearance of Evangelion Unit 04 and NERV's Second Branch, in
Neon Genesis Evangelion, episode 17. Eva-04's reappearance occurs shortly
after episode 20 and sometime before episode 21.
Most of this series will probably be written from the third-person
perspective seen in most of the latter two-thirds of this chapter; however,
there will be occasions - not unlike the series - where events are best
expressed from inside a character's mind. Unless otherwise indicated, all
first-person scenes are probably going to be from Michael's point of view, as
the first third (roughly) of this chapter was.
This is very much going to be Michael's story in some ways, and the
story of the events surrounding Evangelion Unit 04 - unique among the
Evangelions, in ways that will become clear (if they haven't started to
already). Perhaps unavoidably, this story is also going to reflect my beliefs
regarding the Evangelions and the deeds of NERV and SEELE. But despite that,
this fanfic is not intended as a self-insertion - Michael's not supposed to
reflect me in any way. Nor is Eva-04. ;) The most I can say that I have in
common with Michael Theseus Fire Hawk is that we're both human. My task is
made simpler and more interesting by the ways that Michael's been changed ...
but that story has yet to be told.
Acknowledgements:
This work of fiction is written for fun, not for profit, and is made
available for the sole purpose of enjoyment by fans and interested readers.
This story is not to be distributed for profit by any person or agency.
_Neon Genesis Evangelion_ and all characters, entities, monsters, and
organizations thereof are the creations and property of Gainax and Anno
Hideaki, copyright 1996 (?). As such, I have no legal right to these
characters, etc. and am required to cease writing if requested to do so by
Gainax or legal representatives thereof.
Michael Theseus Fire Hawk is an original character of my own creation;
please do not borrow, use, depict, refer to, fold, spindle, or mutilate
without the author's prior permission (i.e. mine).
Tim Miller
trmiller@mail.bcpl.lib.md.us
September 11, 1998