Disclaimer: This takes place during the "End of Evangelion," from which it branches off from there. Evangelion and all related characters copyright Gainax. This is a non-profit work of fanfiction. I scream for ice cream. So do 200 million other Americans. And Skuld. Can't forget Skuld. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ One mile above Tokyo-3, Shinji Ikari screams. "NNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" --NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: DEAD CHILDREN-- PART 1: SECOND CHANCES On the ground, a cute boy with grey hair stares up at the event. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry for dragging you into this." he says to his companion. His companion, a lean, middle-aged man with greying black hair lights a cigarette. "It's a little late." he replies sarcastically in German. "We're in Japan, speak Japanese." the young boy says, still staring at the sky. The white devils that were attacking the red Eva surround their new target. "Hmmph. What happens now?" The man takes a long drag, then coughs violently. "You die... Or you live. It's all up to him now." "I'll start praying, thanks." The man looks up to the sky as well, unsure if he's ready to accept his destiny. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shinji clutches his chest, feeling the Eva's pain as his own. He looks at his Eva's hands, now firmly clasped around the Lance of Longinus. Around him, the white Evas that had just hurt; no they had just killed Asuka, form an odd pattern he'd seen before only in his father's office. Tears began to flow down his cheeks when he notices a giant Rei before him. "Ikari." she says. "Rei..." Upon saying her name, Shinji slumps over, unable to look up again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "So you're just going to accept this fate? You're just going to let Humanity die without trying anything?" The man asks. "You'll die too." "So? Actually, shouldn't YOU be the one doing something? It IS your race." The boy scowls. "What can I do? I'm not as special as you. Didn't that body have a really strong ATField or something?" "I suppose." the boy sighs. "Gather as many people as you can, men and women. If all else fails, you'll restart humanity." "What are you going to do?" He says as he looks at the boy. "Do you feel that, Dr. Richter? That light buzzing in your head? That feeling of queasiness in your stomach? That slight heat on your back?" "Yes... But wha-" "When that increases you, for lack of a better term, die" The young boy brought his attention fully onto Richter, his stare meeting his exactly on the moment he said 'die.' "An Anti-ATField?!" "Exactly. Now do as I asked." As Dr. Richter runs off, the boy looks back up to the sky, and sees a form exactly like his joined at the hip of a another, feminine form. The two look strangely alike. A few impulses surge through the boys' brain, finalizing on one, clear thought. "The First... But I thought she had died?" --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Shinji...do you want to become one with me?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Richter came back with five soldiers behind him. They had assumed he was a civilian, as they saw no NERV logo on him. Also, he had a foreign tongue. "Er, uh, I can't speak Japanese." Dr. Richter says embarrassed. "That's so, isn't it?" The young boy replies. He looked over at the soldiers, four males, one female. "Sit." he orders. They mysteriously obey. "How'd you do that?" the doctor asks. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "An ATField was suddenly detected!" Maya yells to her comrades. "So?" Hyuuga replies, before firing a few more rounds. "It's not coming from the Evas or Lillith! It's coming from... Oh my God! It's coming from the 17th Angel!" "WHAT!?" Hyuuga and Makoto yell. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rei/Lillith/Kaworu paused in its speech. When it did so, Shinji's mind snapped back to reality. It looked down, and saw something that shouldn't be. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "What are you doing!?" a soldier screams to the rising storm around him. "Saving your lives!" the 17th angel yells back. "Why?!" "Just shut up!" The next events happened very fast, no one, not even those directly involved, can remember them clearly. Shinji, freed of Rei/Lillith's hypnotic tongue, realized that the situation was wrong and broke free of its clutches. He pulled the Lance of Longinus from his Eva's chest and speared Lillith with all his might. He screamed in rage, emptying his lungs of all the air that they could hold. The 17th angel, alternately known as Kaworu, concentrated all his mental energy into his ATField. Simultaneously, he gathered control of the Eva-05 series, (as they were from Adam) and deactivated them. They fell to the ground, thunderous crashing adding to the already loud environment. One landed directly on top of them, but was deflected by his ATField. Rei/Lillith screamed as she crashed to the ground after the Eva-05 series. Eva-01 rode atop her head, forcing the spear to go as deep as it could. Lillith's head splattered across the Geofront, causing waves of blood to wipe out any ground troops that Asuka might have missed. Eva-01 then stood victorious, before deactivating. It collapsed to the ground, both it and its pilot drained of their energy. ----------------------------------- Gendo, in Terminal Dogma, stands in front of the giant cross that once held Lillith. "It's all falling apart... Everything is falling to pieces..." "That's correct." comes a voice from behind him. "Your abuse of humanity is over. Now you must pay the price." Gendo turns to face the one he used to call 'wife,' but never quite makes it. "You shouldn't have hurt him." Yui says. "No one should do that to their child." She throws the LCL-soaked shirt of Gendo's to the ground before fading away. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Maya gasps as she saw the events being played out before her on her computer screen. She still couldn't register in her mind what has happened, but something deep inside her thanks God that it is stored in the video feed for analysis later. She then notices Aoba slump to the floor of the command center. "What's wrong!?" She asks him worriedly. "Can't you hear it?" He asks. Maya listens for a second, and hears nothing. "They're gone." he finishes. "Whew!" Hyuuga lets out, falling back to his chair. "I wonder what happened?" "I think... I think the 17th angel saved us..." Maya says. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaworu relaxes his mind, which in turn shuts off his ATField. He breathes a sigh of relief, then turns to the soldiers. "Has the attack broken off yet?" he asks. "It was unofficially broken off when the white Evas surrounded the purple one." The eldest soldier answers. He was apparently a commander, Kaworu thought. "Why?" Richter asks. "Because that's when we knew we had been duped." "Heh... Now all that's left is to clean up this mess." Kaworu thinks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Second Chances -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SEELE's Chamber, 27 minutes later "Our plan was a failure." Keel began. "Is there perhaps a way to reconstruct our scenario?" the French representative asks. "There may be a way..." "Not for you, Chairman Keel." A voice comes from behind Keel. "What is the meaning of this intrusion!?" Keel yells. "SEELE has been deemed a threat to the UN and its involved countries. To this end, we have been dispatched to eliminate you." As the man speaks, the SEELE representatives start to disappear from the table. "H-how?" Keel asks. "Gendo's backup plan. The UN was to dispatch us should this happen." "N-no..." "Don't worry, all SEELE property will be turned over to the UN." The man smiles. !BLAM! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NERV Command "Are you sure they're gone?" Asks Maya. "Positive." Hyuuga responds. "Actually, I just got a comm saying that the attack has been called off." "Call from the Prime Minister confirms it." Aoba states. "Also, all members of SEELE have been reprimanded into UN custody." he pauses, a little surprised. "That was quick." "Commander Ikari had a backup plan. Maya, how is the status of the Eva units?" Fuuyutsuki asks. "I'll know in a minute...Oh my God! Asuka's still alive! I can't get a brain wave signal, but her heart is beating!" "What about Shinji." "I can't tell, I'm not registering anything! I'll switch to video feed. Coming up now!" The viewscreen lights to show something that has happened twice before: Pilot absorption by the Eva. "It happened again..." "Find Dr. Akagi and Captain Katsuragi!" Fuuyutsuki commands. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NERV Geofront "Should we be leaving?" Dr. Richter asks. "I think we should." Kaworu says. "Hey! Wait You can't -" The senior officer begins to shout. But Kaworu and Richter are already running away as fast as they can. "Shouldn't we stop them?" asks one of the soldiers. "I can't move at all. Can any of you?" "No." is the collective response. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NERV Command "Can we spare a rescue crew?" "No, Commander Fuuyutsuki. We're the only active NERV personnel that's alive and gives a damn." "Aoba!" "Sorry, Maya." "Another incoming call from the Prime Minister. Putting it on the screen now." "Are you the remaining NERV staff?" the Prime Minister asks. "Yes." is the solemn reply. "Please forgive our actions. We, too, were duped by SEELE. It may be too late, but it's the best I can offer. There is a more important matter at hand, though. The UN has just begun a meeting to decide the fate of NERV." "It's been all of what? An hour since this began? You people are moving awfully quick." "That may be true Fuuyutsuki, but this last transmission from Gendo has given clear instructions on how to deal with this problem." the Prime Minister states. "The Commander was awfully thorough." Hyuuga says, half-joking. "He may still be alive." the Prime Minister continues. "If you find him, arrest him immediately. We need him for questioning. Until then, stay where you are. It's probably safest until the confusion dies down." "There is another matter to attend to." "Yes, Fuuyutsuki?" "The 17th angel is apparently alive and well. Should it be a problem to us, we have no way to stop it." "I'll tell the remaining troops to attack if they see it, but I can't guarantee they'll just run away. This day has been hell." "You don't know the half of it..." "Aoba, watch your tongue!" "Sorry, commander..." "Also, as Lillith is now dead, I can't think of a way he could destroy the world." "You knew!?" "It was in Commander Ikari's report. It was very detailed in SEELE's plans. Nevertheless, this can be discussed later. I will send troops to back you up on your assumptions. Again, I apologize." With that, the video screen winks off. "That doesn't bring them back." Maya says bitterly. ---------------------------------------------------------------- "Where -huff- are we -puff- going?" "To the Command Center." "Well, -puff- slow down! -wheeze- I'm a Goddamn chain smoker!" Kaworu stops to allow Richter to catch up with him. "Sorry, but I need to find out the information we missed while we tried to get here. That thing in the sky looked like the First Children, and last we heard she was dead." "Great, more mysteries." "You shouldn't be so sarcastic all the time." "You shouldn't be so high and mighty all the time." "Let's just go, okay?" "Fine." "While we're walking, I'll teach you some basic Japanese." "Fun." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Next Up: Is it really Kaworu? What happened to Shinji and Asuka? What is the fate of NERV? Will all these questions be answered next time? Will Skuld scream for more ice cream? Will she steal my Mint Chocolate Chip? I hope not. Next Time: Aftereffects Wait for it! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Writers' Ramblings: In case you didn't realize it, it helps if you've seen or know about the movies. I can't say much now without possibly ruining some of the story. This idea was actually inspired when I was thinking about the book of Revelations. Rei has no real parents, and was created in a lab. So technically, she could be the Anti-Christ. (One born without parentage, and not by the traditional means of intercourse.) A very cute and cuddly Anti-Christ, but an Anti-Christ nonetheless. Then I thought about Satan ruling for 666 years, and so forth. Thus came this idea. However, I won't delve too much into the Book of Revelations, or Christianity in general. So this is just for fun. Thanks for reading, though! E-mail or flame or complain at Godsend777@mindspring.com! Writers love comments (we need something to make fun of during those dry spells) Kidding!