AN: Revised Chapter as of 10/18/2018

Summary: After Third Impact, Shinji is left alone in a world all his own. It's what he wanted right...or so he thought. What he didn't know was that he wasn't alone. Adam, the first angel creator of the seventeen angels, allows a higher angel to descend and stand before the Third Child and offer him a choice. Return to the beginning and stop Third Impact, or repeat the process all over again.

1: The Angel Reborn

Shinji had wished for a world with no pain, and no rejection. So many times he had heard that he was unwanted. So many times that he had been told that he was in the way. He hated all of it, and wished it would all leave him. It would have been better to have been left alone. So that he could no longer feel the pain of rejection.

He had gotten his wish.

Now there was nothing. No life. No sound. No pain. No suffering. Except for his own. He wished for a world without pain or rejection, but now he felt the sheer amount of loneliness weighing down on him like fiery cross of an Angel. All he had ever wanted, really, was love. To love someone. And to be loved in return.

He could never have that now that everything was gone. So many times since waking up in this world of his creation, he thought of ending it. There were plenty of ways. There was the great sea of red in front of him. Surely he could drown. And he could jump from one of the ruined buildings if he had the nerve. But he didn't. And he hated himself for not being able to do so. Everyone was dead, so why should he not be so as well?

But the fact of it all was because he was a coward. Just like he had always been. When it all came down to the most important moment of the last battle, he had frozen at the sight of the one person left that he cared most about being torn apart by the grotesque creatures created by Seele, the Mass Production Evangelions.

When he saw the her entry plug in the jaws of one of the beasts, he had lost his will. There was nothing left for him. No hope. No future. All he had wanted to do was escape the pain. But there was no way out. The darkness of his own soul had been laid bare before him as Lilith had risen from her confinement in the form of his friend, Rei Ayanami.

And even then he had taken that one person away from himself when he had awakened from his stupor, and destroyed Lilith before he could be fully absorbed into the collective mass of souls within her. Her head now rested in the red sea, an eerie smile forever on her face.

He did not know how long it had been since his descent into the destroyed Earth. There was no sun, nor was there a moon, therefore there was no real sense of time. He did not feel hungry, or tired nor did he feel the need to relieve himself of bodily waste. Whatever he had done, he now felt that even if he did attempt to end his life in this desolate world, he would only awaken again to the same nightmare again and again.

As time (if it still existed) went by maddeningly slow for the Third Child. He spent it wandering the beach of the red sea, looking for any sign of life that may be out there. But there was none...

Shinji faced the rolling red waves, kicking out of his shoes. Slowly, he began to walk into the primordial tides. As his feet made contact with the waves, a movement of a different kind caught his attention. And it was not one that he would have ever expected.

A hand.

A child's hand to be precise, was reaching out of the waves at his feet. Shinji immediately bent down to pull the child out of the waves...only to jump back in horror as the face of the child came out. Its face was only half-formed between that of a human, and between a half-melted blob of red.

"...Fa...Fa..." It grasped at his pant leg, forcing him to stumble onto the sand as the...the creature...dragged itself out of the surf. The body of the small creature was also half-formed between solid and slime as the legs were only slimy appendages that lacked feet of any sort. "...Fa...Fa...FA!"

"What do you want?!" Shinji cried out, raising his arms to defend himself against the creature as it reached for him with its tiny malformed hands.

"...Fa...Fa...ther..." the child rasped out, its hands touch the face of the surprised Third Child. "...Father..."

Shinji's eyes widened to the size of saucers as the child grasped his face, the blank eye sockets beginning to glow a bright iridescent blue. The glow grew so bright that the boy had to shut his eyes against it.

And that was all that Shinji knew. Darkness had finally taken a hold of him, and he felt himself falling away from the Hell that he had created through a cold void that felt so suffocating that he thought that it would finally end his misery.

"...Go...Back...Go...Back..."

"There's nothing to go back to!" Shinji cried out, tears springing to his eyes as he fell, opening them to see himself falling through a tunnel bathed int red and black, the faces of horrified creatures crying out in pain and anger meeting his gaze, "That's right! I destroyed it all! It's my fault! Everything is my fault!"

"...Fix..."

Shinji shook his head as he saw a point of white light growing beneath him, "I can't fix it! I don't know how!"

"...Go...Back...TO THE BEGINNING!"

The light at the end of the tunnel suddenly rushed up to meet him, and he knew no more.

(*)

Shinji opened his eyes to find himself holding a green pay phone in his hand, a mechanical voice coming through the receiver telling him of a state of emergency and urging him to take shelter. He blinked in confusion at his new surroundings. He was on the street, a perfectly intact street. There were no huge chunks missing, no massive craters. But what caught his attention the most was the blue sky and the lack of a sea of red.

Tokyo-3 was back to the way it was before Third Impact.

"Go back..." he breathed, shivering as he recalled the...child's words, "To the beginning. It meant before Third Impact!" He couldn't believe it. He was back...back in time...to fix everything!

'I'll do it,' the boy thought, his heart racing in his chest as he saw the JSSDF airships passing overhead. 'I don't know who, or what you are, but I'll do just what you said, no matter what, I'll make sure that Third Impact never happens again!'

The ground beneath him trembled with the shock of explosions, and massive footsteps as he saw the gigantic form of a familiar monster trudging slowly through the city as the gunships buzzed around it like angry hornets as they fired at the beast. The Third Angel was again making its appearance.

"Sachiel," the boy growled out, his eyes, unknown to him, flashing the same iridescent shade of blue that had brought him back. This was where it would all begin again for him. He wouldn't be cowed by his father ever again. Not after everything that had happened. Not waiting to see if Misato would show up again as he remembered, he took off down the street the direction he knew she would come, dropping bag to the street, and ran for all he was worth.

And there she was. His smile returned as he familiar blue car came screeching around the corner, narrowly missing him as the driver screamed to a halt, the door popping open. "Shinji Ikari?" The woman inside asked, smiling from behind her sunglasses.

Shinji stopped running almost immediately as he spotted his guardian, "Misato Katsuragi?"

Misato smiled sweetly, "That's me, kid, now get in here," she said as he jumped over the hood of the car, and got into the passenger's seat, "We need to get you to HQ as fast as possible before things really go South."

Shinji frowned, thinking of what lay ahead of him, "Then let's go see what my father wants with me," he said coldly.

Misato whistled, "Whoa, nice attitude, Shinji, now I know who you take after," she snarked, making the boy frown.

"I need to be around him more if I'm going to be like him, and I don't want that to happen." He said truthfully. After all that had happened, he would have to restrain himself from letting Unit-01 devour him as he had seen when Lilith had awoken. The car swerved around while she threw it into third and sped away from the battle.

Shinji actually felt a little thrill rush through him as the car flew down the streets. The feeling of moving so fast after what seemed like forever in a lifeless world was like a dream as they climbed up a hill and pulled to a stop to watch the battle that was raging out of control as the gunships continued their assaults. But Shinji knew that the bullets and missiles wouldn't do any good against an angel.

Suddenly the gunships dispersed and fled. Misato saw this and grabbed a pair of binoculars, "What the hell?" She looked above the angel, "Oh, crap! They're gonna use an N2 mine! Get down!" She dove over Shinji just as he ducked down. He'd forgotten this part, even though it was probably the most memorable of them all.

Outside the N2 mine crashed into the angel causing an explosion akin to a nuclear blast. The car rolled as the force of the blast pushed them 's stomach felt like it was about to fly out of his throat at any moment when they stopped. Misato pushed her sunglasses down over her eyes and peeked out. Shinji, not wanting another mouth full of dirt, stayed put, knowing full well that the explosion had given them the time they needed to put the car back on the ground.

(*)

Gendo Ikari smirked as the JSSDF finally relinquished control of the mission to him and the NERV personnel. The third angel's body on the screen was slowly beginning to regenerate as a new mask pushed the old one out of the way.

"Fuyutsuki, have Unit-01 prepped and ready to launch," he said coldly.

"Commander," Fuyutsuki said, a little shocked, "Surely you don't intend to use Rei?"

"No, I have Major Katsuragi bringing in a spare." He said, leaning against his clasped fingers, "The Third Child has been chosen."

Kozo Fuyuytsuki nodded in understanding, "Yes, sir." In truth he felt sorry for the boy. After ten years apart, this would be the worst possible reunion for the father and son.

.

"Are we lost?" Shinji asked, though he already knew the answer to that.

"Look I'm new here and I'm still learning my way around this place!" Misato said in a slight annoyance. 'Ritsuko is so gonna kill me!' She thought, 'Of all the things that could have happened on the day of the Third's arrival, an angel just had to show up! And my favorite dress was ruined by all that dirt that got blown at us with that damned N2 mine! And I looked so good in it too!'

The two stepped into an elevator and started their descent. Shinji was pretending to read the Welcome to NERV hand book as he fought back a laugh as the doors opened to reveal a very annoyed Ritsuko Akagi.

"Geh, oh, er, hi there Ritsuko." Misato said, shakily.

Ritsuko stepped in, keeping the glare on her face as Misato stepped back. "Why are you wasting my time?" She asked, "You should already know your way around here without having to use a map!"

"Ehehe, sorry!" Misato said, making an apologetic gesture.

The blonde woman sighed, then looked at Shinji, "So, is this him?"

Shinji hmphed, "I have a name," he said, snapping his guide closed, "And it's Shinji, thank you very much." His tone wasn't harsh or haughty, but cool and even, reminding the woman slightly of his father.

She raised an eyebrow, "Shinji, hmm? Well, I can see you have your father's attitude."

"I don't think I do," he said matter of factly, "For that to happen, he would have had to raise me."

Ritsuko nodded, "I suppose you're right, but still, you resemble him."

Shinji gave an innocent smile, "Then I guess I'll just have to change" he said, "because I don't want to be anything like that coldhearted bastard that left me behind for ten years."

Ritsuko suddenly had an urge to slap him after insulting her commander, and someone she cared about. Shinji saw her hand twitch, and smiled, "I'm stronger than I look." This time his tone was full of warning which made her flinch.

Misato saw this as an excellent time to step in between them, "Now now, you two, we should try to get along." Ristsuko huffed and turned to press the desired level for the elevator.

Still smiling, Shinji said, "So, after all this, I assume we'll be discussing my payroll?"

"Payroll?!" Ritsuko snapped.

.

Ten hair pulling minutes later found the aggravated trio on a platform ascending to the bridge where a large purple giant was waiting for the fourteen year old boy. He played the part of an awed child to a T as they approached the machine. Seeing Unit-01 after so long felt like seeing an old friend, even though the thing still kept his mother trapped inside the core.

"Wow, a real robot!" Shinji said enthusiastically.

"That's right," Misato smiled, "this is mankind's ultimate weapon, the Evangelion, Unit-01."

Ritsuko gave him a grim smile, "And you will be the pilot, Shinji Ikari."

"You want me to be the pilot?" Shinji feigned shock.

"Correct."

Shinji looked up, seeing the grim face of the man he hated the most. His father. Every once of his facade dropped at that moment as an almost feral sneer appeared on the boy's face. "Well, I guess it's not surprising that you're here, old man." He sneered, causing Misato's eyes to bulge, and Ritsuko to gasp, "But I never thought you'd come meet me yourself since you haven't me in ten fucking years!"

The two women beside him were more than a little surprised. Both of them had never seen anyone speak to their commanding officer that way, let alone a child.

Gendo showed little care of the boy's attitude, "It was necessary for me to see you as you are now a part of our organization." Shinji ground his teeth at the man's coldness, "As I said, you are now the pilot of this machine."

Shinji crossed his arms, "And why should I do anything for you?" This got the attention of everyone, maintenance workers, and researchers alike. "You abandoned me when I was barely four years old, just after my mom died, and haven't spoken a word to me ever since that day. And now, just when you find out that you need me to do something for you, you expect me to come to you and be the happy little boy that would do his father's bidding without question?"

A ghost of a smiled appeared on the man's face, "I'm glad to see the ten years away from me have helped you grow a spine, Shinji."

"I've grown more than a spine, Father." He spat, a slight flash of blue gleaming in his blue-grey eyes. Too far away to see this, Gendo merely smiled again. "And I've got a lot to say to you. First and foremost being that you do not get to boss me around!"

"So, you refuse to pilot it?" He asked.

Shinji smirked, "I didn't say that." Gendo was a little taken aback by this, expecting the boy to outright refuse him. "Since I am now technically your employee, and an invaluable one at that, I expect to be paid as such."

Ritsuko growled, "Again with that? Look kid, I -"

"That is agreeable." All eyes snapped back to the elder Ikari. "As an Eva pilot, you're given a card which acts as a limitless cash card, and personal ID which is reissued each month."

Shinji nodded, but last time he hadn't asked about his privileges as a pilot, now was as good a time as any. "What else does being a pilot entail?"

"Legality to drive if you wish to apply for a license, a furnished living space," Ritsuko said, still a little stunned that the commander had relented, "What more could you want?"

Shinji smirked, deciding to throw the blonde off, "Would a hot woman be out of the question?" Ritsuko sputtered, but Misato, who'd never seen this side of her friend before, laughed.

"Oh, I like this kid already!" Misato cackled.

"What we have offered should be more than enough compensation," Gendo said, ignoring his son's last comment. "Now, will you pilot?"

Shinji smirked, "Okay, Boss, I'll pilot." The his smirk turned to a full on glare that made the temperature of the hangar seem to drop to those near him, "But that is where our relationship ends." He stated, "I am your employee, and you are my employer. Outside of this machine, you are absolutely nothing to me!" His words ended on a roar of anger at the man, who finally seemed to flinch at the boy's words. "And if you try to dictate to me how I should live my life outside of this building, you won't like how I respond to it!"

"I'll be looking forward to that, if the day ever comes," Gendo smiled, seeing a little of Yui's fire in their child. He turned to the monitor on his right, "Fuyutsuki, we're about to prep the Unit-01 pilot. What's the status of the target?"

"Still silent," his second in command said, "But the regeneration process will be done in moments. We need to hurry. It'll head straight for the city."

"I know that," Gendo said, "After we launch the Eva, have all maintenance crews resume work on Unit-00 at once."

"Understood."

"Also see to the other units." Gendo said, "Unit-02 through 04 should nearly be ready for transport."

"The UN won't like giving us so much power," Fuyutsuki reminded him.

"Then you may wish to remind them that we have what the angels are after," Gendo said coldly, glancing at the second in command, "If we aren't fully prepared, then all of mankind will be destroyed."

(*)

As Shinji, now decked out in his "new" plug suit, sat in the familiar confines of the entry plug, he felt the warm presence of Yui somewhere in the depths of the Eva's core.

"Shinji, what we're about to do is flood the entry plug with a fluid called LCL," Ritsuko's voice said over the link, "There's no need to worry, once your lungs are full of the liquid, your blood will be oxygenated directly."

"Understood," Shinji said, and then the orange liquid started filling the cockpit. Shinji didn't even flinch when he started breathing the substance in.

"Doctor Akagi, sync rate is a steadily holding at 88%." Maya said in amazement, "It's almost like he was born for this!"

"I agree," the blonde woman said, a little stunned herself, "This boy is full of surprises. This is the highest untested sync ratio I've ever seen to this date."

Misato smiled, "We may actually have a chance at beating this thing after all." She turned to Aoba, "All systems normal?"

"All green, Major, we are go for launch."

"Ready Shinji?" Misato asked.

"As I'll ever be." Shinji said as he gripped his controls.

"Eva Unit-01, launch!" Misato yelled.

Shinji felt the catapult lurch, shooting him up the tunnel. 'This is it. I'll have to get that thing out of the city first. I can't afford to have it hurt anyone like last time. Touji's little sister especially. I'll need him if I'm going to put this world right again!'

The Eva came to a stop as the elevator opened, letting him see the outside. Night, just like the first time around, and right in front of him, lumbering around dumbly, was Sachiel.

"Okay, Shinji," Ritsuko's voice came over the communications link, "You'll need to concentrate for this next part. Think of yourself as the brain of the Eva, and move it like you would move your own body. Try walking first."

Shinji wasn't listening, however. He was searching. Somewhere on these streets his best friend's little sister was running for her life. The head of the Eva moved this way and that as the large eyes scanned the area directly in front of it, seeing that there was no one. It then nodded. 'Alright,' Shinji thought to himself, 'Set the audio sensors to maximum. Enhance external retinal cameras.' Doing as the boy thought, the Eva was then able to give him a much better view of the world around them as the eyes shone brighter.

"What is he doing?" Misato wondered as she watched the Eva standing still in the elevator. She then went over to the communications center where Ritsuko was standing, equally confused, "Shinji, can you hear me? Why are you just standing there?"

"I'm making sure that there aren't any people in my path," the boy said, almost snapping, "Don't worry, the monster hasn't noticed me, yet. I'll be done in a minute."

Gendo frowned from his seat, his eyes growing cold, "You're done now, Pilot Ikari." He commanded, "Now advance on the target and eliminate it at once."

"Sorry, but human life is kind'a important to me, so I'll just do my thing out here," Shinji said, sweating a little bit as he addressed the Commander, "Unless, of course, you'd like to get your moldy ass out here and pilot this thing yourself?"

Misato sputtered. Maya and Aoba could barely contain themselves either as the Commander scowled.

Meanwhile...

Sachiel was indeed ignoring the Evangelion for the most part. Yes, it did see the lumbering bio-mech standing there, but it had yet to pose a threat to itself as it searched for its purpose, to reunite with its creator, Adam, First of the Angels, and father of the Angels of Destruction. The Lilim had tried to stop it, but all they could do was shoot small annoyances at it, all delaying it in its search.

It felt no pain from their missiles or their guns. It felt no remorse for those that it stepped on beneath its feet. All that matter was finding Father.

As its foot crashed down on the street, a small, childish scream echoed across the area.

"Sakura!" Yelled a teenage boy as he dove toward his sister to save her from the Angel's foot. The two of them crashed to the sidewalk as the Angel paid them no attention and kept moving. It crashed into the building above them, sending chunks of concrete and steel falling toward them. The boy howled and threw himself over his little sister, preparing for the worst.

But it never came.

The crash of the Angel against the building had blocked out the sound of a second pair of gigantic footsteps as a pair of giant hands appeared above the two siblings. The girl peeked out from beneath her brother and saw the body belonging to the hands, and gasped. "Touji, look!"

The boy, Touji, looked up at once, and yelped as he saw the massive form of yet another monster standing over them, its hands cupped above them like a makeshift umbrella. "Wh-what the hell -?" Touji breathed out as the giant uncupped its hands and held one out down on the streets in front of them.

"Get on, you two!" Shouted a voice from the head of the behemoth. "I'll take you to the edge of the city! You'll be safe there!"

Looking up at her brother, Touji nodded to her and lifted her into the giant's hand, hauling himself up as soon as she was situated. The giant rose to full height then, and covered them with its other hand, "Hang on." Was all the pilot said before the giant took off at a full sprint across the city.

Inside the Eva, Shinji was thankful that it was only Touji and Sakura out on the streets, or else he might have stepped on someone. 'Good thing I scanned the area before moving.' He thought as he reached the edge of the city, carefully kneeling down to let Touji and his sister out of his hands.

"You should be fine for now, but be careful," he warned them as he rose again, turning to face the Angel that had now taken an unhealthy notice in him. "I've got no idea how long this thing will take to destroy, and the damage to the city won't be small, either."

Touji nodded, "Thanks, man, I owe you one if we ever meet!" He shouted up to the behemoth.

Unit-01 nodded its head and crossed back into the city, its eyes trained on the Angel.

Sakura watched at one of the giant's shoulders opened up so that it could pull out a giant glowing knife. "Go get'im!" She shouted out just as the Evangelion began to move.

Shinji remembered his battle with the monster from the past, and knew that this beast was more than it let on. If he let it get a hold of him, then Unit-01 would most likely run wild again, or sustain heavy damage at the least, and he wasn't willing to risk that again.

So, shocking the already stunned members of the bridge crew, Unit-01 kept its body low to the ground and used its Progressive Knift to slash at the Angel's legs, thin as they were, and sliced off its feet at the ankles. With a howl of pain, the Angel grabbed at the Eva, but Unit-01 had already moved beyond its reach, and grasped it by the wrists.

The stunned personnel at NERV HQ watched in awe as the normally temperamental unit obeyed its pilot's commands. Sachiel was picked up and swung around by the legs, once, twice, and hurled clear across the city.

Shinji directed his Eva to climb one of the buildings to leap after the thrown angel as it careened into the side of one of the small mountains surrounding.

Fuyutsuki felt his jaw dropping, "I don't believe what I'm seeing!" He breathed out as the Eva and Angel dueled. "I've never heard of someone piloting an Eva this well with no prior training!

Misato and Ritsuko were of the same mind as the Angel aimed one of its arms at the Eva, firing a sort of energy pike from its hand that narrowly avoided impaling the Evangelion's chest plate. The Progressive Knife then came back into play and slashed across the Angel's wrist, severing the hand.

Howling with rage the eyes of the Angel flashed brightly, shooting a beam of energy from them. "Shit!" The beam cut right through Unit-01's right shoulder pylon. The Eva ducked beneath the beam as it exploded into the city with a bright flash, and lunged at the monster, stabbing the blade of its knife into the creature's body.

Maya Ibuki, who had been transfixed by the battle, was distracted by a flashing on her monitor. "Doctor Akagi! I'm detecting a high energy reading coming from the target!"

"What?!" Ritsuko yelled, "Another energy attack?"

"No ma'am, this is centered around the core!"

Suddenly all watched as Sachiel leapt on the purple Eva, wrapping around it completely.

"It's gonna self destruct!" Misato yelled.

"AT-Field detected around Unit-01!" Aoba yelled, "It's surrounding the unit!"

"Is the Eva protecting itself?" Ristuko asked.

"Sync rate exceeding one hundred percent!" Maya yelled.

"What?! That's impossible!"

Gendo watched in contentment as the Angel self-destructed, engulfing the Eva, and his son in the explosion that took the shape of a fiery cross in the night sky. "We've done it." He said as Unit-01 appeared out of the flames, completely unharmed, its eyes glowing a pale white in the red glow of the explosion.

Misato sighed in relief, "Confirmation on the pilot?"

"All vitals are normal," Aoba smiled, "He's alive and well."

"Patch us through to Unit-01, please." She said.

"We're linked," Maya smiled.

"Shinji? Can you hear me?" Misato asked.

"Coming in clear, but dammit my ears are ringing!" Shinji's response startled a laugh out of the listening personnel. "So how did I do on my first day?"

Ritsuko stepped in smiling from ear to ear, "You were exceptional, Shinji. Your sync rate with the Eva was beyond anything we expected, and the skills you've shown in handling the Eva has given us all a chance to win this war!"

"Thanks," Shinji said, "Aside from the two I picked up, were there any casualties?"

"No," Misato smiled, thinking back to how he had whisked the two children to safety at the protests of his father, "Shinji, you did a great thing out there. No matter what others say; you're a hero.

In his seat, Shinji sighed in relief, 'Touji's sister is safe for now.' He thought. "I'm returning, now. Can someone point me toward a retrieval route?"

Well, there's chapter one of Rebirth. If you think that this FanFic should continue, then please leave a review, and tell me what you think!