Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ Together Forever ❯ Prologue ( Prologue )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Together Forever

Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion. It belongs to Gainax, and they did a poor job of ending the story: / I really want them to create a better ending…anyway, I've written this story, `cos I've got absolutely nothing better to do. I'll be using sections from both the manga and the series, so if you have any problem, please refer to them. I'm also using several songs in my fic, and I also do not own them. Now I'll get on with the story: )

Prologue

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For: This story is dedicated to my friends, Rainbow, Erf, Sividas, Sweety-Tweety, LadyDragoness, ^AussiLady and many other friends who have helped me in this story in any ways possible, from supporting me during the exams and write-up, to helping me get ideas for the story. Thanks Guys!

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Shinji laid down on his bed, staring at the ceiling. Images of the battle against the seventeenth angel filled his mind. Try as he might, he could not escape from the guilt of killing his friend. Tears flowed silently, as he remembered crushing his only friend, and humanities' worst nightmare.

`I didn't kill anyone, I just destroyed the last angel,' he thought to himself, but his conscience kept haunting him.

<Are you sure he is an angel?> it would question. <Can you be sure he wanted to destroy all humans?>

<Yes...I mean, no...he is...I do not really know...>

<He might be related to Rei, for all you know, > it said, prodding his guilt even further. <She might be his relative, one that she was separated from a, long time ago...>

<But...Ayanami is different! She is not an angel!> he yelled into the emptiness of his mental `battlefield'.

<No...no! She is not an angel!> Shinji cried. He felt like the whip-like arms of Shamshel had just pierced through his heart.

<Shut up! I do not need you! Get lost! Get the fuck out of my head!> Shinji yelled mentally, tears flowing faster than ever. He felt pain and guilt at killing his friend, hatred at himself, and a kind of unexplained attachment to the crimson eyed girl.

"Tadaima," Mistao called, as she entered her house. It had been an exhausting night, and she got stuck doing most of the paperwork.

`Oh shit. I better not let her see me like this or she'd go nuts,' Shinji thought, wiping away the tears that streaked his face. He then rolled over, pretending to sleep.

Mistao opened the sliding door a little, only to see a `sleeping' Shinji. "Good night, Shinji," she whispered, as she closed his door.

After she left, Shinji went back to staring at the ceiling, but his heart warmed at his guardian's words.

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Mistao flopped onto the couch, a can of beer in her hands. PenPen tilted his head at her.

"You know, I really wish that you can talk," Mistao said, before taking a drag from the can.

PenPen just went back to watching the television program. Mistao sighed. She really wished to know what is wrong with Shinji, but he just wouldn't speak up.

`Why must Shinji go through all these suffering? His past trauma is bad enough, and his father did not care about him,' Mistao though bitterly. `I gotta ask Ritsuko `bout this.'

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<Where am I? What am I doing here?> Asuka asked no one in particular.

<This is your heart. Look at what you have become. Nothing but evil and darkness,> a voice spoke in her mind.

<Wh-who's there?> Asuka demanded, turning around.

What appeared in front of her caught her unprepared. She was looking at herself, but herself with a difference. Her image had an evil grin on her face.

<I am the true side of you,> the other Asuka said without opening her mouth. The grin was still plastered on her face.

<No! You are not me. You are nothing more than an image of me!> Asuka yelled.

<I doubt so...> her image answered. <If you are the true self, why do you enjoy hurting others?>

<Like who?> Asuka questioned her image.

<Everybody who tries to get close to you. Rei Ayanami, Kensuke Aida, Toji Suzuhara, Mistao Katsuragi, and especially Shinji Ikari,> her `clone' sneered.

<That doll cannot feel anything! She does not understand hurt!> Asuka said in hatred, at the mention of the pilot of Unit 00.

<Aida and Suzuhara only bullies me!> she shouted, thinking about the two stooges.

<Who bullies who? You or them?> the image asked, grinning more evilly.

<Mistao doesn't care a shit about me!> she said through gritted teeth, hoping that this `interrogation' would stop.

<Would she have taken you in, if she did not care for you? Where would you be living?> the evil image of Asuka sniggered in mirth.

<And baka hentai Ikari is no better! All he does is apologize, and he does everything by luck! Even so, he still gets all the attention, whereas I am left in the dark with no one bothering to even say a `Good Job!' when I defeat those angels!> Asuka yelled, letting her frustration run freely.

<Aw...you poor thing, NOT! You are so pathetic! Are you sure that Shinji enjoys attention? Do you think he'd like to pilot the big purple monster that killed his mom?> her image mocked, as it slowly disappeared into the inky blackness.

Asuka who had closed her eyes did not notice it, but yelled out her answer. <Yes! Of course he enjoys the attention! Anyone who could be an Eva pilot would want attention! Of course he would want to pilot it! His mom's essence is in there! Like my mom's!>

<Asuka!> a soft, yet commanding voice called out to her from behind.

Asuka opened her eyes. <Mama?> she asked, turning around.

<Yes child. It is me. I had been trying to talk to you, but it took you long enough to finally admit that you would like to see me,> Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu said, moving to embrace her daughter.

<Mama!> Asuka cried, happy to be reunited with her mother.

<Asuka, I know this may be disappointing, but there are some very important things I must tell you about, before I leave.> Kyoko said urgently.

<What? You have to leave? But why? Why?> Asuka asked, tears began flooding her eyes, threatening to obscure her vision.

<I'm sorry Asuka, but I am dead. I have to return to heaven to report to The Maker. He has sent me here for a propose,> her mother told her apologetically, wiping off the tears that ran down her face.

<Who is this Maker guy who holds so much authority over you?> Asuka demanded, angrily blinking away her tears.

Kyoko smiled at her daughter sadly. <Asuka, he is whom you call, God.>

<I've got little time left. I must explain this quickly. You must return to reality, to the very place you detest and hate with your very life. There are people out there who wants to destroy all humanity, although they think that it is humanities' final step of evolution. Asuka. You have been given the important choice of deciding if you want to take up the important job of saving the human race.>

Asuka blink here eyes. <I do not understand. If The Maker could have absolute control over everything, why can't he stop these crazy people? Why must I make the choice?> Asuka demanded.

Kyoko sighed. She know that her daughter was troublesome, but she had not known that she was so headstrong, willful, and stubborn. <Asuka, for every human body created by the fusion of the human egg and sperm, there must be a soul. Do you know why lesser people are being born?>

Asuka shook her head.

Kyoko continued to explain. <It is because the place where place souls are found, the Room of Gauf, is running out. Humans have been depleting the `supply', cloning other humans, causing The Maker to take matters into his own hands. Some of the souls were `incomplete', and that created problems. As you know, some overly ambitious people in the past, like Alexander the Great and Hitler...>

Asuka's eyes flared at the insult to her homeland's greatest general.

<So...is that why those angels attack us?> Asuka asked her mother.

<No. The angels, as you call them, are actually the messengers of The Maker. Once an angel merged with Adam, the first human, they could clear everyone's mind as to what is happening, and ruin these souls' plans. That is why the angels seemed to be attacking NERV,> Kyoko explained.

<Yes. And your job would not be easy. You will have to seek out a pair of teenagers, no older than you. After you seek them out, you will have to help them create a bond so close and a strong, not even the Lance of Longiness can break. At the same time, you will also have to protect them, without letting anyone else know about it, till the time is right. Else, all hope is lost...> Kyoko trailed off. <You have some time to thing it over. Will be back to find your answer...> she said, slowly fading into the darkness, like Asuka's image did.

<No! Mama! Don't leave me!> Asuka cried, making a futile attempt to make her mother stay...

- - - - -

Rei laid on her bed on her stomach, with her chin tucked between her crossed arms. She, as usual, was pondering over the strange feelings she felt before, and what had that feeling meant. Now, she was pondering over confusion.

`What is confusion? To be unable to decide, or to be in a state of loss? Is it the inability to understand, or is it a loss in decision when it comes to choosing between several objects, subjects or people?' she questioned herself.

Then, she glanced at the pair of glasses which had belonged to the commander. He had given it to her as a sign that he would be with her all the time. That was why it was so precious to her. But even as she went down memory lane, she began thinking again.

`Why do I feel close to the commander? I am not related to him, yet I feel that I know him. Why is it so? And why does he not trust his son? He trusts me, enough to make me the third commander, yet does not trust his own flesh and blood. Is he hiding something from us? Is he trying to protect us? Or is he trying to harm us?'

After some time, she couldn't come up with answers to any of her questions, so she decided to go to sleep. As she was about to turn over to her back, she noticed some light reflecting off the pair of glasses. She followed the light's path, till it was blocked by the wall separating her bedroom from her kitchen. If she would consider it a bedroom.

`Strange? I thought I've switched off the lights just now?' she thought to herself. Then, shrugging it off as nothing, she decided to go to the kitchen to switch off the lights.

"It took you long enough to notice me, Rei, I've almost turned on my light till max and you still didn't notice me," a voice called out to her as she stepped into the kitchen.

It was immediately recognizable to Rei. It would be a miracle if it didn't since it was the voice of the last angel...

"Tabris," Rei addressed her supposedly dead enemy.

"Please stop calling my that, sis. I've got a name and it's Kaoru," the seventeenth angel said in mock hurt.

"What is your purpose for visiting me in my quarters, and what is my relation to you, Kaoru," she spoke so calmly, that you could hardly notice a hiss of detest in her voice as she said `Kaoru'.

"So...you want to know your origins..." Kaoru said, becoming serious in matter of seconds.

"......" Rei did not say anything. She did not find any need in repeating herself, unless it was absolutely necessary, and she was sure that the person she was speaking to had genuinely missed her question.

Kaoru began his explanation. "You are not a complete human, Rei. You do not only have human DNA, but you also have that of one of my sisters who will never come back to us."

"Please proceed," she prompted calmly. However, she noticed a trace of sadness in Kaoru's voice, completed with some tears in his eyes.

"Anyway. The human part of your DNA is made up of Yui Ikari's DNA composition. That is why you strike such a strong resemblance to her," Kaoru said, trying to prevent his voice from cracking at the mention of the elder brother and sister he had lost.

"Yui...Ikari..." Rei said slowly, trying to remember from when and whom had she heard the name from. Then, she remembered. "Is she Shinji's mother?" she asked Kaoru, turning to him for confirmation.

"Yes. She is Shinji's mother. Looks like you have grown some attachment to Shinji-kun, eh?" Kaoru tried a weak attempt at teasing his sister.

Rei flinched hard, before her usual emotion masking instinct could act.

Kaoru had never anticipated such an action. Out of so many different ways Rei would react, he had never known that she would act like that.

After a few seconds of composing herself, Rei slowly nodded before answering Kaoru's `question'. "Yes. I guess that I have grown on him," she said weakly.

Kaoru gave her a tiny smile before continuing. "It's nice to hear. Anyway, as I was saying, your DNA composed of Yui's. Unfortunately, she was absorbed by the LCL in her Eva, meaning that you would have to have a body made up of my eldest sister's cells and blood," his voice crack at the second mention of Lilith.

"It is alright if you don't want to continue," Rei said, staring at him passively. She did not understand how painful it was to be separated from what one could consider a parent, but at least she understood that that topic hurt, after seeing Shinji cry when he was talking about his mother.

"Thank you sis," Kaoru choked out. After he had better control of himself, he continued talking. "Since you have the cells and blood of an angel, you are what we consider siblings. That should answer your second question."

"......" Rei waited for him to continue on his explanation as to why he was here.

After taking a couple of deep breaths, he began to explain why he was here. "Rei, I am here, for one thing, to tell you that many people are in serious danger."

"How so?" Rei asked calmly.

"SEELE, the secret company which has been providing support and finance to NERV, and is hiding under the term of the UN council, is trying to eliminate the entire human race. They do not know what they are actually doing, but they are trying to create the next step of evolution in the mankind. However, due to the unpreparedness of liliums, doing so will wipe out all trace of humanity on earth. It was something which the maker cannot allow, so he has sent me to make you the eighteenth angel. The Protector Of Life."

"What a minute. Who is The Maker?" Rei asked.

"He is the one liliums call god," Kaoru explained.

"And what am I to do if the human race was destined to be wipe out at this point of time?" Rei continued asking.

"Nothing, if you don't want to, but if you do, the liliums will live for another fifty thousand years, before they will begin to evolve again," Kaoru shrugged.

"I think that I won't bother, then," Rei said, also shrugging, turning to return to her bed.

"Well...then be prepared to see everyone in Tokyo-3 die first."

Rei froze. "What do you mean..." Rei said slowly, turning her head such that Kaoru could see a side profile of her face. With the moon's light surrounding her face, she looked scary.

"Er...you see...em..." Kaoru stuttered.

"I am asking you a question. What did you mean?" Rei said, slowly, calmly.

The effect on Kaoru was effective. "Youseewhatimeantwasthatseelewillkilleveryone-intokyo3beforeattemptingtoign itethethirdimpact," he said nervously in one go.

[Translation: You see, what I meant was that SEELE will kill everyone in Tokyo-3 before attempting to ignite the third impact]

Rei turned her face back to the front, before continuing. "Any specific targets?"

Kaoru gulped. "Y-yes..."

"And they are?"

Kaoru looked like he was going to pass out. "C-commanders G-gen-ndo and

F-fuyut-tsk-ki, Major K-Katsuragi, Doctor Ak-kagi, the b-bridge b-bunnies, Asuka Langley Soryu, you and Shinji-kun," he stammered.

At the mention of both the members in the Ikari family being prime targets made her flinch. And also made her pass out.

"Thump!" was what Kaoru heard, and when he turned round, he was shocked to see his sister unconscious on the ground.

`Oh great. Now what do I do?' he thought to himself. Then, he seemed to listen hard for something and nodded his head.

- Ten Minutes Later-

"Ow...what happened?" Rei muttered, as she felt an arm supporting her, and water being sprinkled her face.

"You passed out sis. What made you do that?" Kaoru asked concernedly. But mainly, he was asking for his own personal interest of understanding liliums.

Rei tensed again, as she remembered why she had passed out. "Shinji and the commander," she muttered, almost incoherently. She was worried for them. She would not mind if the others were killed, but those two people were the only people who had shown her about life and it's meaning. They were also the two most important people in her life.

Kaoru understood, and took her to her bed. "I'm sorry that this had to come to you as a shock, but you did want answers to your question," Kaoru apologized.

"It's alright, brother," Rei said, still nursing her head where it had hit the kitchen wall before falling to the floor.

"Brother? So does that mean...?"

"Yes. If I must choose, I will choose to protect the two most important people in my life," Rei said in determination.

"Alright. I will now transfer you your powers..."

- - - - -

That's the prologue. Like it? Please read and review. Anyway, I really wanna thank my best friend Ali and my good friend Danial, of whom introduced me to this magnificent Anime series. I don't know why, but I really like romance stories (^_^). I'll be putting up another chapter soon.