Creation began on 12-14-19

Creation ended on 12-26-19

Neon Genesis Evangelion

The Boy Who Lived Through Retribution: Snowy Nights

Shinji had never seen a snowier environment than at the United Academy when the winter season settled in, covering the whole exterior in white powder. With the students either getting ready to spend Christmas with their relatives or at the academy, he had gathered his things to go spend time with his grandparents instead of being here with several other students.

"You're not going home, Kensuke?" He heard Toji ask Kensuke, whose bag remained unopened.

"No, not this Christmas," Kensuke responded. "Who decides they want to go to Iceland for Christmas? I'll you who: My parents. They want to research the Subzero Mantas that live there and in Greenland."

"And you're not a big fan of either place, are you?" Shinji asked him.

"Nope, and I'm not a big fan of Subzero Mantas, either. Those are creatures that can't be tamed because they're too savage."

"Well, you could come crash at my place?" Toji offered. "My sister would love to hear it from someone besides myself about how life here at the academy is like."

"Tempting, but I'm gonna have to turn you down, Toji. One of us should stay behind to find out anything about Elizabeth Dante from the library."

"But Hikari and I checked the library already. There was nothing there about her."

"That's the thing, bud. We checked only the permitted sections of the library, not the one we're not allowed in without permission from a teacher, which we can't get anyway because those books and discs are too advanced for students in the first-third years here."

"You be careful, Kensuke," Shinji told him. "I'll be back the day after Christmas."

"I'll be back the day after Shinji gets back," Toji added. "How are your grandparents doing, anyway, Shinji?"

"Just like with Thanksgiving, they'll be happy that I came home for Christmas break," he told him. "I promised to spend the holidays with them, regardless, and I love the holidays with them. I can't imagine not spending the holidays with them."

-x-

"…Shinji!" Shinji heard his grandmother calling out to him as he awoke to the new day in his room. "Shinji, are you up yet?!"

He got up and out of his bed, still half-asleep, and entered the hallway.

"I'm beginning to wish I had stayed in bed," he sighed and yawned as he walked down the stairs.

"Merry Christmas, Shinji," his grandfather greeted him as he stepped into the living room.

"Merry Christmas, Grandfather," Shinji greeted back, noticing a thick, yellow sweater with his name sewn onto it that he was wearing. "What are you wearing?"

"Oh," Tama chuckled as he raised his left arm to scratch an itch he had under his sweater. "Your aunt and uncle made it for me. From the looks of one of your gifts, your aunt had one made for you, as well."

Shinji looked over at his pile, comprised of at least six gifts, and picked up one of them that was addressed from his aunt as his grandmother came back from the kitchen with a tray of mugs filled with hot chocolate.

"I'm surprised that Aunt Nabiki actually thought about me," Shinji told them as he opened the gift up, revealing that it was a thick sweater, light green with his name sewn into it in silver glitter. "It's actually nice."

"I wonder who sent you that large parcel, though," Miko told him, pointing to the gift that had been under the sweater, wrapped in scarlet paper.

After he put on the sweater, despite its itchy drawbacks, Shinji picked up the scarlet parcel and found a card stuck to it with his name on it.

"Hmm? 'Your mother had left this in my possession for research before her death. It is time it was returned to its rightful owner. Use it however you choose, but do so with care'. My mother left something with someone else?"

"Not that she told us," Tama told him. "Let's have a look, Shinji."

Shinji carefully tore opened the wrapping…and something fell out onto the floor in front of them. It looked like…water in the form of a semi-solid, gelatin-like material.

"What is this?" Shinji asked as he reached down and picked it up; it felt like silk in his grip.

"It looks like a cloak," Miko suspected. "Try it on, Shinji."

Shinji threw the cloak on behind himself and wrapped it around.

"Well?" He questioned his grandparents.

"Oh, my Kami!" Tama gasped, pointing at Shinji.

Shinji looked down at himself…and found nothing but air there. Somehow, his body had vanished, leaving his head in the air.

"My body's gone!" He panicked.

"No, it's not," Miko realized. "Shinji, that's a stealth cloak. It makes whoever wears it invisible to perception."

"I wear this and nobody can see me?"

"That's right, Shinji. They're very rare, almost impossible to create and harder to maintain. I can't believe Yui had one, though. I wonder who sent it."

"There was no name. They just said…to use it however I choose."

-x-

Shinji couldn't sleep that night, despite having a hearty dinner with his grandparents. As he lay in his bed, he looked over at his closet door where his school trunk was, housing his mother's stealth cloak. Whoever she had left it with, they said it was for being studied for research purposes, and then they decide to hand it over to him like an heirloom of sorts that his mother wasn't around to do so herself and his grandparents didn't know about it.

Tap, tap! He looked over at his window, seeing Miyuki flying in front of it, carrying something in her clawed feet.

He got up and opened the window, letting her in.

"Hey, Miyuki," he greeted her as she landed on his bed, setting the parcel on his pillow. "Toji sent me a gift?"

He opened the present and found it was one of those broomstick care kits. The very memory of how his grandmother was proud of him being on the Suzaku House Airball team replaying in his head made Shinji somewhat hesitant to try and use the kit on his Raptor 2015 just to do any sort of maintenance on it that was unnecessary. But then an idea came to mind: He wouldn't be back at the academy until sunup, and he had only learned of his stealth cloak less than a few hours ago…so there seemed to be no harm in a little night flying so long as he couldn't be seen.

Taking out the cloak and trying it on again, he felt like a new door had been opened to him, and then he snuck out his window, his broom levitating in the air under him, preventing him from falling to the ground. The skies were clear and the stars were out, giving him a beautiful view of the world below as he flew high so that his broom couldn't be seen. It felt so calming and exhilarating, to be able to go anywhere and not be seen by anyone.

This is incredible, he thought as he performed three zigzags in the air, followed by a loop de loop, cloak staying on and keeping him unseen by anyone that might've been out and about. I can go anywhere. I can be anywhere and nobody with the means to see me can see me.

He must've been flying around for over an hour because by the time he realized it, the sky was turning grayish-blue, meaning the sun was coming up soon, and he then flew back to his grandparents' home.

To be continued…

A/N: I tried to complete this before Christmas ended, but time wasn't on my side, and neither was inspiration. Still, what did you think of it?