----- Original Message -----
From: ravenm
To: fanfic@ffml.com
Sent: Sunday, June 25, 2000 12:38 PM
Subject: [FFML][Fanfic][Eva] The Book of Eva (formerly Evangelion:New Genesis), part 2 revised
Well, here goes. First off, this is a serious takeoff from the original
series. Shinji's personality is MUCH more agressive than the TV Shinji,
as are most of the other characters. Email anything at all to
ravemn0548@msn.com.
*** <denotes character's thoughts>
*** <-denotes the Voice in Shinji's Head->
RavenM Productions presents:
...When last we left
the young Messiah, Shinji
Ikari,He had just been informed
rather coldly by Dr. Ritsuko Akagi that
His father, Pontiff Gendo Ikari, had called him
to the secret fortress of mankind, NERV Geofront, for the
purpose of piloting the powerful robotic being, Evangelion Unit One...
*******************************************************
The Book of Eva, chapter 1, part 2
"Look, no matter what the Revisionists say,
Shinji didn't hit his father at that meeting. No.
Really. Well, he didn't really hit him, anyway. Really!"
Asuka Langly Sorhyuu-Ikari, on the events
of the Book of Shinji, 1:25-38
It's amazing how much the human mind can take. After
being dragged through the streets of an alien city, nearly
vaporized by a green bug-eyed monster from God-knows-where,
watching it trash a purple bug-eyed monster, then descending
through a phone booth to a hidden military base run by priests,
and finally told he would have to pilot said purple monster and
kill said green monster, Shinji Ikari was taking things rather well.
As he walked into a large, darkened room deep in the Geofront, he
merely voiced some slight confusion over the whole affair.
"WHAT!?" he exclaimed.
Ritsuko frowned at his rather overexcited response. "You will
pilot her. The control, for such an advanced machine, is actually
relatively sim-"
"I don't care! I'm here simply to tell father to.."
"To what?" A deep baritone echoed from nearby.
Shinji turned, and there HE was. Standing tall, straight, and
emotionless as always. The light reflected off his shaded glasses
like a small sun, his brilliant golden robes gleamed. Shinji stood,
speechless, in front of the leader of the Way of the Light of Yui,
spiritual guide to the earth, and guardian of the souls of men.
He stood before his father.
"It's been a while," Pontiff Ikari noted dispassionately.
Shinji's hands balled into tight fists at the remark. "It's
been a while! That's all you can say? I come here, to stop this,
stop you from perverting Mom's name any further, stop this insane
notion that she's nearly God, and you have the nerve to ask me to
defend you? I hope that thing out there flattens you all!" Shocked
voices sprung up from around Shinji. For the first time, he noted
he, his father, Misato, and Ritsuko were not alone. The vast room
was filled with technicians, scientists, and members of the Church
alike, whispering amongst themselves, "It can't be him! Not this boy
..how can he?" Gendo merely waited for Shinji to end his rant, and
replied, "Are you done yet? You must pilot her. There is work to be
done. Your mother, were her blessed presence among us, would agree."
There was a slight flicker from behind the glasses, as though
Pontiff Ikari had changed his gaze. Shinji noted he was looking off
to a large pool nearby, in which was housed the purple Giant,
Evangelion Unit-01. Was the man even listening to him? Shinji's
already boiling-over temper raged, and he swung out, his fist reaching
for Gendo Ikari's face, Shinji's own mien twisted into a grimace of
hate.
The punch stopped an inch away from its intended target. Pontiff
Ikari merely stared right at Shinji, as if daring him to go further.
"No, father. I will not do what you want." Shinji's response
came through gritted teeth, his fists dropping to his sides in
impotent rage. Still the Pontiff seemed unemtional, merely turning
away from Shinji. In an icy tone, he said to an older man standing
nearby, "Very well, the spare is unusable. Wake Rei." The other man,
wearing white robes trimmed with gold, looked shocked. "She can't
pilot again....can she?" Ikari's response was curt, concise, and
brutally cold:
"She is not dead. Yet."
**********************************************
"Ayanami. Rei. I still don't know what to say,
after all this time. She..changed everything for me.
In another life, I think I might have loved her."
-Shinji Ikari, August 2019
The other man, still appearing in shock, nodded and turned to an
assistant, "As soon as Unit-01 is finished undergoing repairs, re-
configure the internals for the First's Data." The man nodded and
hurried off, as Gendo turned to face Shinji again. "I am disappointed,
as would your mother be. This is what she gave her life for, Shinji.
This is the salvation of mankind. But, as before, you run away. Go. If
you will not be of use, then leave."
"Father, I..." Shinji thoughts trailed off as a door opened near
him, admitting a medical team,carrying a stretcher between them.
Shinji gasped in shock when he saw whom they were carrying.
She was beautiful.
She was unlike anyone or anything he had ever seen.
She was dying.
Such was obvious by the massive amounts of bandages that seemed
to be the only thing holding her together. The girl looked up at him
with one unblinking red eye, the other swathed in a large patch, and
rose to a half-sitting posiotion, blood already seeping through her
dressings. Pontiff Ikari spoke to her:
"Rei."
"Yes, Your Holiness." The girl's voice was barely a whisper, and
as ethereal as it was, conveyed an almost infinite sense of sorrow.
Gendo's response was pure ice. "We have no other, after all. You
will do it again."
She looked briefly at Shinji, before nodding in Gendo's direction.
"Yes, Most Holy One," she replied. Ritsuko called out to the nearby
techs, who were just finishing hammering out the dents in Unit-01,
"Reconfigure the data for Rei! Prepare for launch!" During all this,
Shinji could only stare. If he didn't pilot...this poor thing,
half-dead already, would go out again? She would die for sure!
<-But you won't support him. He is everything you hate.->
<But she'll die!>
<-She is merely a girl.->
<No! I'm not like him!>
<-You are.->
Just then, Sachiel chose the time to make his presence known
above them. Another cross-shaped explosion rocked the ground above
the Geofront, sending debris crashing down from the top of the cavern
and into the complex below. The resulting shockwave threw everyone to
the ground, Shinji included. He landed but a few short inches away
from the red-eyed girl, who cried out painfully and clutched her ribs.
Shinji crawled over to help her, and noticed the skintight outfit she
wore was stained red with blood.
<I can't!>
<-You must.->
<But I can't!>
<-But you will.->
<She's dying! But..>
Gendo's voice echoed into Shinji's mind. <If you will not be of
use, then leave!>
Just then, a half-ton of ceiling crashed down under the strain
of Sachiel's attack, right above Shinji and the girl's head. Shinji
raised his left arm over his head, in a pathetic attempt to save them
both...
Suddenly, the dormant form of Unit-01 came to life. Its yellow eyes
flared brilliantly, and its left arm rose, imposing itself between the
crashing debris and the two young children huddled nearby. Pieces of the
ceiling splintered and shatered on the robot's arm, several slamming down
within feet of Pontiff Ikari, who appeared not to notice them at all. He
smiled tightly, and almost appeared to nod in approval.
In only a moment, the torrent of steel ended. But even after, those
assembled in the launch bay only stared in mute shock.
Ritsuko gazed at the scene before her with undisguised terror. "She...
she..moved..without any power? Impossible!" Shinji, meanwhile, finally
gazed upwards at the form of Unit-01, then down at the young girl bleeding
to death before him.
<I am NOT like him!>
<-Prove it.->
Misato would swear, years later, that it was a different Shinji
Ikari who confronted his father at that moment, his brown hair covering
his eyes almost as effectively as his father's glasses did. Shinji
stood before the Pontiff, proud, angry, but controlled. He spoke in a
voice that echoed across the launch bay, and he said only these five
simple words. The words which would one day launch Armageddon.
"I will be the pilot."
*****************************************
Author's notes
Yeah, I know it's been a while since I started this fic...life
got in the way, as it tends to. If you like this, but haven't
read/don't remember the first part, email me privately at ravemn0548@msn.com,
and I'll be happy to send you part one.
To those that do remember, yes, I did promise the fight between the 3rd
Children and the 3rd Angel in this one...but life got in the way. Part
three will wrap up this chapter.
As usual, all C&C and criticism (even E.L. Toh's rants..heheh j/k) Are
welcome