26: Soul Coalesce

Asuka shrieked as the rogue Evangelion flew at her, its jaws agape, before she tumbled out of the way. Unit-01 made a pass over her with a clumsy flap of its wings, and crashed into a building. Unit-03 barelled into the fight, slamming his fist into the Bio-mech's head, red spittle flying from the mouth. The Eva turned on its junior and snapped its jaws down.

Touji's roar of pain broke her from her daze, and the red Unit moved to intervene. Her Pallet Rifle erupted into a spray of A.T. enhanced bullets, pelting the grotesque being, forcing it to release Touji's Unit.

A moment later the mangled appendage of the Eva shot off as infection spread through the limb, "Dammit, cut the nerv connection next time!" Touji roared as he backed off and in ran Unit-04.

"Quit complaining, we have to get Shinji out of that thing!" Kensuke roared from his Eva, his rifle raised, and joined Asuka in firing. Rei and Hikari stood back, watching in growing horror as the Evangelion turned Angel roared in pain and rage, its eyes glaring balefully at the two Evangelions. It launched itself into the air once more, raising higher and higher out of the range of the rifles.

Asuka was frantic at this point, "How long do we have until we lose him?" She snapped at the NERV staff.

Dr. Akagi's face appeared on the screen, "Minutes! His sync rate is raising well into the three hundreds. Without the F-type armor, his heart won't be able to take the strain of an unleashed Eva for very long." She said, sweating profusely, "If it reaches four hundred, he's finished!"

"Then eject the entry plug!" Asuka roared.

"We're trying!" Maya yelled. "It won't respond to the codes!"

Unit-01 banked and plummeted toward the ground like a ballistics missile, its rear talons out stretched as it slammed into Unit-02, knocking the red Unit and its pilot several miles out of the city as the umbilical cable detached. "Shit!"

"ASUKA, GET OUTTA THERE!" Hikari screamed as the airborne Unit-01 landed nearby. The monster then advanced on the downed Unit, Asuka desperately looking for a power duct while she scrambled to her feet.

Unit-01's teeth latched onto Unit-02's left leg, and dragged it back toward it, salivating as it crunched down on the limb. Asuka screamed as pain shot through her real leg, "Shiji, stop it!" She screamed, "I know you're in there! Snap out of it!"

Unit-01's answer was merely a snarl as it whipped its head around and tossed her back into the air over its head and slammed her into the ground, knocking the wind out of her.

"God dammit!" Kensuke snapped and rushed the Unit, his rifle blazing. Unit-01 finally raised an A.T. Field to stop the hail of bullets, even though they shattered its shields in small layers, it would have plenty of time to consume its prey.

Asuka felt tears stinging her eyes as they leaked into the LCL along with blood from her forehead. "Please..." she reached out her hand as if to touch him, "Don't make us hurt you, Shinji...don't make me..."

Unit-01 advanced another step, its eyes turning from green to stormy-blue, a color she recognized. "Sh-Shinji?"

"GET AWAY FROM HER!"

Suddenly, the Mark-09 lept into view, its scythe glowing with A.T. Energy. Hikari's Unit spun through the air, the blade slicing through Unit-01's power A.T. Field. Unit-04 pushed through the last barrier with his rifle, pelting the bestial Eva/Angel. Unit-01 shielded itself with its wings, only for M.09's scythe to slash right through its left limb.

Asuka was released from its jaws and scrambled away, her internal battery almost depleted as the two Units ganged up on the injured hybrid. "Get the other limbs!" Kensuke roared, continuing to fire, "If he can't move, he can't fight!"

Hikari screamed as she lashed out again, aiming for the Rogue's other arm, but the Unit rolled out of her reach, and bounded on its remaining limbs toward the city.

Touji was waiting for it. "Eat iron!" He swung his Unit's right arm down in a wide arc as the Magarox blade severed the right leg of the Unit. "REI! It's coming your way!"

Rei hoisted up a Positron Rifle aiming directly at the charging Eva. Her fingers shook as she prepared for what she was about to do. "Forgive me, Brother...but I will not lose you a second time!"

"REI DON'T!" Asuka found herself screaming as Shinji's own sibling pulled the trigger on the rifle. The shot rang out through the city, echoing off the devastated buildings. Smoke rose from the barrel of the weapon as Unit-01 stopped dead in its tracks.

=x=

Mayumi was horrified with the turn of events that had transpired in her interference. Never in her existence had she foreseen such an outcome of Shinji's rage. The connection to Unit-01 and Yui's soul was at the breaking point as Shinji threatened to become Unit-01 in her place. Instead, Shinji had come close to bonding with Unit01, but the shot through the chest had stopped the process half-way.

While the shot had missed the Entry Plug, Shinji's body would no longer be substantial, only his soul would remain bonded to the monster Unit-01 had become, while his mother's soul threatened ascendance. If something was not done, then neither human would survive.

Sitting on a cloud as she watched the retrieval team work on the Evangelion, the young Angel drew her knees up to her chest, and silently cried for her friends down in the mortal plains.

Meanwhile, a being of purest gold laughed as the chaos had ensued, sneering at a more substantial being that was standing by his side. "Your champion has fallen, Abraham!" Gabriel laughed, "I've won! Mankind will fall before the might of the Children of Adam!"

Abraham, strangely calm in the face of the Arch Angel, only smiled softly, "You seem so sure of yourself, Elder Brother. Forget not those that have fought with Ikari Shinji. Within them his will burns as bright as the first light of the world." The younger Angel said, "Also, do not forget that the Lilin are also Angels in their own way. They too will play a part in this little game of yours."

Gabriel sneered at him, the golden light fading from his form, revealing a being of immense masculine beauty. His hair was the color of corn silk, his eyes as blue, and cold as ice, his skin fair, pale and unblemished. From his back rose ten wings of light while a Halo floated just above his head. "The Lilin have had their chances ten times over! This last endeavor was their worst attempt. Sending children into battle in cheap imitations of our Father!"

"Your Father," Abraham smiled, "Not mine."

Gabriel looked at him sharply, "What do you mean by that, Abraham? You are a Child of Adam, just as I am."

"Am I?" Abraham smiled wider, "Why, indeed, I am a Child of Adam, but I have no connections to Your Father, save for the fact that he is, in a way, my grandfather." With that, the Angel disappeared in a flash of silver, laughing at the outraged face of the Arch Angel as he fumed.

"It matters not," Gabriel growled, "Shinji Ikari is no more, and with his death, the will of the other pilots will fall to ruin." He said, and floated down through the misty terrain of their realm, "Keele will be most pleased at this development. All of the work I asked of him will indeed bring about my new world."

=x=

Gendo Ikari, upon hearing of the incident, rushed to the Eva Hangars as what remained of Unit-01 was brought in. The gigantic being was wrapped from head to toe in bandages, red staining much of the wrappings as a mad smile appeared on the Eva's face, a single enormous blue eye visible through the bonds. The other pilots were gathered around the lift as the Entry Plug was forcibly extracted from the Unit.

As the plug was brought down, and forced open a flood of LCL washed over the deck...as well as an empty Plug Suit. Too stunned to say anything, Asuka picked up the suit, holding it close to her as her tears fell unbidden. Hikari was crying on Touji's shoulder, "It's not fair...no one else was supposed to die..."

Rei was worse off, her eyes clouded, and red with her own tears, as well as dark bags forming under them, signifying exhaustion. She sat on the floor of the cat walk, her knees draw up to her chest, unable to say anything of comfort. Kensuke sat by her side, his arm around her shoulders in the only comforting gesture he knew.

Unbidden, Gendo's fist clenched painfully as he glared at the exposed Core of Unit-01. My wife...my son..."How much more do I have to lose to these monsters?!" He roared, and slammed his fist against the gigantic crimson orb, "Give me back my family, you bastard!"

"Gendo!" Fuyutsuki yelled, and hauled the man back. "That's enough, it's too late!"

As the men wrestled, Abraham appeared beside the red-haired pilot, looking down at her in sympathy. She was still holding Shinji's plug suit, and gazing down at the ring on her left hand sadly. "You told me you'd live for me," she whispered so low that no one but the Angel heard her. "Yet you left me behind, just like Mama."

The Angel frowned, and reached out to place a gentle hand upon her head, speaking softly, "All will be well, Asuka Shikinami." Asuka looked up at him, her eyes widening, even though she couldn't see him, the contact between the two allowed her to hear his voice as if at a distance.

"Did...someone just..."

Abraham floated down toward the cage where Unit-01 was being restrained, and placed his hand upon the core. "Now, Unit-01, you know that you cannot bear two souls. Nor can I let you destroy Yui Ikari's soul to make room for her son. You must give one of them up." The eye of the being narrowed upon hearing this.

A rumble of defiance was the Angel's only answer, but he was having none of it. "If you do not make a choice then I shall take both of them, and leave you as a lifeless husk of flesh and metal." He warned the Evangelion, "And believe me, I will not extract either soul painlessly."

With that, Abraham flung himself into the core. The red orb rippled in front of the two struggling men for a moment, startling them. "What in the world?" Kozo said as he held his commander back.

Inside the core was a myriad tempest of fury and hatred. And all of it belonged to Shinji Ikari. His soul was clearly visibly as a blazing red inferno, the shape of his body curled within the center.

Not far from the blaze, a smaller, weaker soul burned brightly in a blue/white hue. This was the soul of Yui Ikari, "So this is the choice you will make?" The Angel sighed, and drifted forward to the soul. He gathered the woman's soul in his hands, and gave a small blow against the flames, his breath making it glow brighter, and bringing life back into it. "Yui Ikari," he spoke softly, the flames giving a flicker of recognition, "Your internment as the soul of Unit-01 has ended." He let his hands drift away from him toward the way he had come. "Go now, and be with he who loves you, and wait for he whom you both cherish."

The soul drifted out of his hands and disappeared. He then turned back to the raging soul before him. "Shinji."

The form with the blaze shifted, and stood. "Go away, Abraham."

"I cannot do that," he said, "You know as well as I do that you have become the soul of Unit-01, as such, you have chosen to leave those you love and who love behind." Abraham said, and the rage began to subside. The red faded to a faint blue/white hue as his mother's was, giving way to the form of Shinji Ikari with those flames over his heart.

"I know what I've done, and why I did it," Shinji sighed, shaking his head and smiling sadly, "It'll hurt them, but I couldn't let Mom go through so much pain as Unit-01 anymore. When I entered the Bestial form, I could feel her pain as if it were my own. We shared that pain...now I can make the changes I need to Unit-01 so that no one else has to feel my pain."

Abraham nodded, sighing, "You never have made things easy for me, my friend." He said, smiling, "That is why I love the Lilin. When the time comes, I will help separate part of your soul so that you may return to the world you left behind."

"It won't take long." Shinji assured him, "A year at the most, but you have to convince my dad to requip this thing with better armor...after all, it is going to be my second body."

Abraham nodded, "I will tell him." He said, "Is there anything I should do for Miss Shikinami?"

Shinji sighed, "Just don't let her be alone...and tell her that I'm so sorry for...what's happened."

"I will have Mayumi pass that message along," Abraham sighed, "Bardiel will be the last Angel that comes until you awake, but I fear that he will be the greatest challenge your friends shall face save for Zuriel."

Shinji smiled at his friend, "They're a lot stronger than you give them credit for." He said, shaking his head, "They don't need me to win, they've proven that."

"That does not mean that you are unneeded, my brother." Abraham smiled, and turned, "This is good-bye for now, Shinji...good luck."

Gendo had calmed down somewhat from being restrained when the core of Unit-01 began to do something strange. It began to bleed. LCL began leaking from the orb while the core itself began rippling again. "Something's happening!" Gendo said, moving forward only to be pulled away once again as Kozo ushered him out of the way, "Something's coming out of it!"

"Is it Shinji?!" Asuka yelled, "What's happening!?"

Suddenly, like a bursting dam, the core erupted in a flood of the orange liquid, and a body fell onto the floor. A female body to be more precise. Gendo, at first, thought he'd finally gone mad after everything that had happened. She was just as he remembered her the day she had disappeared. While he had grown old, and bitter, she had remained as beautiful as the day he'd met her. "Y-Yui?"

"Get a medical team down here, now!" Kozo roared loudly, causing the staff to scrable to do his bidding. "Ikari! We need to move her, now!"

"Right!" He shrugged off his coat and wrapped the unconscious woman in it, hiding her nudity, and gathered her up in his arms, "Get a room ready for her, I'll meet Akagi in the ER!"

He took off down the halls, leaving Kozo to deal with the staff.

Asuka's hopes that Shinji would be saved, and returned dropped. "His mother...his mother was in there?" She whispered, looking over at her own Unit. "If...if that's true then...who's in the others?"

"Asuka?" Mana's voice quavered behind her, "To make an Eva move...it needs a soul bonded to its core..."

The other pilots turned toward her, looks of disbelief on their faces. "You're kidding?" Touji said, "Tell me you're fucking kidding!"

Mana shook her head, "Seele held my mother hostage in order to make me spy for them," she said, tears running down her cheeks, "They were working on Unit-13, and Shinji said that my mother was as good as gone thanks to that. They used her to make the Eva wake up!"

Realization dawned on Asuka's face, "My mother went through an experimental activation test for Unit-02." She said, shaking her head, "It...she was never the same...and then she - "

"That was Seele," Kaji said as he came up to the group, "They saw the fact that your mother had survived the test to be a threat to Unit-02 completion, and feared the return of her soul should she come too close to the Evangelion." He said, looking at the other pilots, "I'm not sure whether or not someone close to any of you was also used in the construction of your Evas, but I can say that if they were, they went willingly, or else it wouldn't have worked."

Touji and Kensuke looked at each other, "My mother died two years ago from pneumonia," the larger boy said, "I was with her when she died."

"Mine left a long time ago," Kensuke relented. "My dad raised me on his own." He looked over at Rei and smiled, "Hey, you should go down and see her," he said, gesturing to the halls, and making the girl blink in surprise, "That was your mom, right?"

Rei didn't know how to respond. For the longest time, she had longed to know what the warmth of a parent felt like. She had experienced it with Misato as her guardian, but it seemed like something was amiss. It had never felt like Misato was her actual mother.

"My...mother?" Rei got out, before Kensuke placed his arm around her shoulder, "But I - she doesn't know me..."

"She will," Kensuke assured her, "and she'll love you...just like I'm sure she loves Shinji. It's kinda what moms are supposed to do, you know?"

Asuka smiled at them, "You should go," she told her friend, "At least one of us should feel some happiness from all of this bull shit."

"Asuka," Rei bit her lip, "I'm...so, so sorry about - "

"It had to be done," Asuka sighed, shaking her head, "If you hadn't, there's no telling what that thing would have done." She said, looking down at the deformed Unit, "Besides...Shinji's not dead...or else that thing wouldn't have his eyes, would it?"

As the pilots spoke, no on was able to notice that the hole in Unit-01's chest was beginning to close itself. Shinji had begun his task.

=x=

Her eyes began to open slowly, the light blurring her sight. She raised her arm to shield her eyes from the glare. "Where...?" Her voice came out as a hoarse whisper, her throat terribly dry.

"Don't try to move, yet, my dear," a familiar voice said tearfully, "you haven't used these muscles of yours in ten years."

Her eyes focused on the source of the voice, and the woman found a smile coming to her lips, "Oh...Gendo, it's you."

Gendo nodded from his seat at the side of her bed, "It is...though it seems while I've grown old, you've remained the vibrant beauty I fell in love with all those years ago." He reached out and took her hand in his, "I've missed you so very much."

Yui felt tears coming to her eyes, "I'm so sorry, my darling...I couldn't save him..."

Her husband shook his head, "It's not your fault...it's mine for putting him in that monster in the first place. Can you ever forgive me for...any of it? I've failed so horribly as a husband and a father, I - "

"Hush," she said, smiling at him, "I knew you would shut your heart away when I was gone. In the end, it's still all my fault."

Gendo chuckled, "You never did know when to give an inch," he said, and kissed the top of her hand, "Why don't we both just take the blame this time?"

Yui giggled, "I can work with that." She said, and sat up slowly, "But...where is she?" She asked, smiling, "Where is this daughter I've never had a chance to meet?"

"You know?" Gendo asked hesitantly.

Yui nodded, smiling still, "Shinji told me everything, Dear, so there's no need to worry." She said, "Now, can I meet her? I've wanted a little girl for so long!" She said excitedly.

"Not so little anymore," Gendo chuckled, rising from his seat, "Rei?"

The door to her room opened. Gendo was a little surprised to see Kensuke standing there instead of Rei, but the boy only smiled and moved aside to reveal said girl hiding behind him shyly.

He placed and arm around her shoulders and guided her into the room slowly as the girl actually dragged her feet, fighting down a lite blush across her cheeks.

Gendo moved aside for them and allowed Yui to get a good look at her daughter for the very first time. She smiled at the girl, and reached out to her with both arms...and Rei rushed into them, hugging the woman tightly. "Hello, Mother."

"Hello, Rei," Yui said, smiling over the girl's shoulder, "You're so beautiful. I've always wanted to meet you, ever since I felt you enter Unit-01."

"I felt you as well," the girl said tearfully, "I'm...I wanted a mother so much, but I - "

"Shhh, I'm here now," Yui said, stroking her hair soothingly. "We'll get your brother back, too. And then we can be a real family again."

=x=

Kaji sighed as he entered the Pilot Residence, and found his friend sitting at the table, an open can of beer in front of her. "Hey, there, Katsuragi," he said by way of greeting, "How are you holding up?"

Misato snorted, "That's a really stupid question, Kaji," she said, and set the beer aside, "Funny thing, I'm so used to Shinji taking these things away from me, I was kind of hoping he'd pop up and snatch this one from me...but it's just you, asking me how I'm holding up after I just watched a kid who I was beginning to see as my own pilot a monster that nearly tore apart his friends." She looked up at him with tears brimming in her eyes, "How would you be holding up?"

Kaji sighed, "Probably about as well as you are." He said, and sat across from her, taking the beer for himself, seeing that it was completely full, "He really weened you off of this stuff, didn't he?"

The woman across from him nodded, "I haven't had a drink in months...probably a good thing, but right now I wish I could still stomach that shit." She said, shaking her head, "Kaji...what am I supposed to do? Asuka aside, all of the other children saw Shinji as their leader. He was the heart of this...this family. Now he's gone...maybe forever!"

"We don't know that!" Kaji said loudly, "Look what happened today. We got Yui back, and we had all but lost hope of ever extracting a person from an Evangelion once they were bonded. If she can come back, then so can Shinji." He said, and reached out for her hands, giving them a tight squeeze with his own. "And we need to be ready for it. The war's not over yet. From what I've heard through the network I've set up, Seele isn't anywhere near done with us, and neither are the Angels. They will keep fighting, and so do we. So don't you dare give up on me, Major!"

"I'm not as strong as you think I am," Misato argued, looking up into his eyes, "You know that better than anyone."

Kaji shook his head, "You're stronger than you'll ever know," he smiled at her, and reached into his pocket, "but you won't be alone...not if I have anything to say about it." He pulled a ring from his shirt pocket and held it out for her to see, "Misato, will you marry me?"

=x=

Asuka sat alone in the Evangelion cages, staring at the bandaged Unit. Some of the armor had been restored per Dr. Akagi's orders, many of the restraints back in place, fortified with a stronger version of the F-type armor. At least the Eva didn't look like a mummy so much anymore.

For hours she'd sat there in hopes of seeing some sign that Shinji was still in there. Even going so far as to hope the machine would spit him out just like it had his mother. But there was no such thing.

The Eva had remained silent for the entire time. Not even a twitch. Its eye was still the same as Shinji's, which made her hope that he was still there, and savable from his fate. She hated to idea of spending decades without him, trapped inside something akin to a coffin.

"When will I see you again?" She wondered aloud, smiling in at an afterthought, "When I'm some shriveled up old prune? Or will I be gone by the time you get out of that stupid thing?" She said and stood up, walking up to the pseudo Angel, placing her hand on the still exposed core. "Shinji, if ou can hear me...I'm going to do everything in my power to get you out of this thing. Even if I have to take your place." She said with conviction, "You've made me so happy for as long as I've known you, and made me a better person because you loved someone that was...broken, like me." Her hands splayed across the smooth surface of the core, "I love you, Shinji, so please, don't stop trying to come back to me, and I won't stop trying to get you back."

The Eva gave no inclination that it had understood her, but the core beneath her fingers became slightly warmer to her touch. A small smile played at her lips. "See you soon, my love."

As the girl turned away from the Unit, two figures sat upon the railing unseen by the pilot, both of them smiling. "It looks like she'll be fine, doesn't it?" Mayumi asked, smiling at the other Angel next to her.

"Indeed, it does," Abraham smiled after the girl, "She's quite something, that girl. It's no wonder Shinji cared so much for her."

Mayumi sighed, "It makes me a little jealous. But at least she'd not going to give up on him."

"Very true," Abraham smiled, "Come, with Bardiel and Tabris as the only active Angels of Destruction, we will have ample time to prepare for the next phase."

"What about Arael," Mayumi asked, "Won't she come down to speak with Asuka?"

Abraham shook his head, "No, she won't come until after Zuriel, and he will not come until he is commanded. Gabriel won't send down any more Angels, but that doesn't mean Seele won't attempt to initiate Third Impact on their own. NERV is in possession of Lilith, and should a child of Adam, Evangelion or otherwise, come into contact with her, all will be lost."

"Unit-13," Mayumi mumbled, nodding as the shell Bardiel now inhabited crossed her mind once more, "How much stronger will it be with him inside of it?"

Abraham shook his head, "There's no telling on that part. In the original timeline, he nearly destroyed Unit-01, and was only defeated through questionable means used by Gendo," he said, grimacing, "It will not be that way this time. Unit-13 is the final product. The only other Unit that was as advanced as this one was swallowed by a Sea of Dirac."

Mayumi looked at him in interest, "Was it white?"

"Yes," Abraham asked, "Why?"

Mayumi smiled, her glasses glinting, "I think I might have found it!"

Evangelion Rebirth

Part One

End

Well, that was anti-climatic. Don't think this story is complete, however, because it isn't. It has three parts. This being part one, Part Two will consist of the a 26.1 -29.9 time skip, showing off just how things go off during Shinji's absence inside Unit-01 as it evolves.

So keep looking for Chapters of this story! And send me all of your thoughts and feelings on them. As always, lots of love from RyoshiMorino, and all of his OC's!

Part One: Rebirth

Part Two: Genesis

Part Three: TBA

Don't forget to review, because I will be back!