Shinji Ikari, returned from Warhammer

Asuka walked into the desolate forest. She put on her red knitted hat, wrapped herself in the scarf her mother had left her, jumped onto a fallen tree trunk, and exhaled hot air into the distance. She sat down on the tree trunk with her schoolbag on her back, and even her figure transformed into that of a four or five-year-old girl when her mother had just passed away.

"I'm so lonely, I just want to..."

Asuka gripped her backpack strap tightly, watching as a boy was surrounded by burly security guards in black uniforms in front of the black car.

The handsome little boy, impatiently held in his father's arms, kicked the thin Gendo Ikari in the face, even deforming his black-rimmed glasses. Only when his mother lovingly took him from him did he quietly curl up into a ball, watching the private jet that had come to pick him up.

At that moment, Asuka seemed to forget to breathe, staring blankly as the family got into the warm black car. With the sound of the engine starting, they gradually disappeared from her sight.

Asuka lowered her head and stared at the pink cotton shoes on her feet.

"I just want... someone to pat me on the head and hug me."

The screeching sound of tires screeching against the ground reached her ears, and Asuka looked up in surprise.

Under the azure sky, the car returned, and Asuka's eyes widened slowly. Before her wasn't a black Mercedes, but a familiar blue Mazda. The tinted window rolled down, revealing Misato Katsuragi's radiant smile. She sat in the driver's seat and unlocked the door.

"Get in, Your Highness! We've come to pick you up!" Mari, in the passenger seat, waved excitedly, her face beaming. Asuka had never understood why the bespectacled catgirl was always smiling so happily, as if she were carefree and had no worries at all.

but now--

"Miss Pumpkin, the show is about to start, don't just stand here daydreaming."

Someone whispered in her ear from behind, then reached out and lifted her up around the waist. Asuka felt like a swallow taking flight. With his other hand, he opened the car door, revealing a blue-haired girl with an expressionless face. Her beautiful, aloof face was completely expressionless, showing no reaction whatsoever; true to her nature, she was indeed emotionless.

“Let kidnapping replace buying, what, didn’t you think of that?” Shinji Ikari, who had lifted himself into the car, smiled just as brightly.

He patted the girl's cheek, and Asuka stubbornly snorted, but Shinji Ikari took out a tissue and wiped Asuka's snot bubbles. This simple action made her instantly lose her composure. "Don't be silly, my girl. You're not suited to this aloof act! Your snot is almost in your mouth!"

"Shut up! Shut up!" Asuka snapped angrily.

The boys and girls in the back seat were making noise, and Misato Katsuragi, who was driving, turned on the stereo.

It's only love.

It's only love.

If I could have only one wish, and it could come true.

I want to fall asleep beside you.

No matter where you are.

A beautiful world.

I will gaze at you without hesitation.

You don't realize how beautiful you are yet.

"..."

Mari gently patted her thigh to the rhythm, and the noise in the back row gradually stopped. Asuka looked out the window at the passing scenery, from the black and white streets to the torrential rain at Yokohama amusement park, from the gray and white world of heavy snow to the towering skyscrapers of Third New Tokyo.

Everything vanished like fleeting light.

The world is so beautiful.

"If I could have only one wish, and it could come true..."

Asuka hummed a song softly;

"...I want to fall asleep beside you."

A blue Mazda pulled up in front of a train station. Shinji Ikari, holding a black umbrella, waved to Misato Katsuragi and the others inside the car, indicating that he had one last thing to do.

Shinji Ikari strode forward, and behind the white-painted ruins of the station sat Kaworu Nagisa, seated before a piano.

“Ode to Joy, how was it? Pretty good, right?” Kaworu’s fingers left the keys, his face beaming. “The song is truly the pinnacle of the culture created by Li Lin.”

Shinji Ikari nodded.

"Is it me in the end? We're on the same wavelength. I just came from Kaji Ryoji's place. Let's start all of this."

Kaworu Nagisa stood up, and the environment shifted to Central Dogma. The black Unit-01 was nailed to a blood-red cross, its head bowed, like the suffering Jesus.

"This is a fictional EVA. Dr. Katsuragi predicted its existence in the last century. It is a fantastical, fictional EVA. It has the ability to believe in both reality and illusion equally, and only humans can perceive it," Kaworu Nagisa said.

Shinji Ikari raised his hand, and the Spear of Longinus and the Spear of Cassius flew out from his palm, slowly rotating around the EVA who was nailed to the cross.

“The spear of despair and the spear of hope have become each other’s sacrifices and triggers, fantasy and reality have become mixed together. Everything has become homogenized information, so you are the one who triggers the additional impact. This process can not only change human cognition, but also rewrite this world.” Kaworu Nagisa turned around, and a new crimson spear flew out from him. “This is Gungnir, the fourth spear of destiny, which Gendo Ikari asked me to give to you.”

After being killed by himself, Gendo Ikari became a sacrifice, serving as the second control panel for Unit-03. He may have foreseen this outcome, which is why he made Original Asuka the new soul of Unit-03, mirroring Unit-01.

Once he arrived at this promised land, his wish had already come true. From beginning to end, he never thought of becoming a god or killing a god; the former and the latter were merely paths he took to achieve his ultimate goal. He simply wanted to come here and see Yui Ikari again.

“Gendo Ikari, he is the center of this cycle, and the core of the Human Instrumentality Project. Perhaps he has been afraid of you since your birth; he doesn’t know how to face you. Now, what is your wish?” Kaworu Nagisa asked.

Shinji Ikari opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

He turned and walked behind him, the orange, unionized LCL liquid covering the world like waves, and the next moment they were back in the ruins above them, reflecting the starry sky.

“Sometimes I feel like I live in my memories, the fleeting images of my dying moments flashing by: the hazy mist, the lush trees, the peeling white paint on the walls, and my own solitary self.” Shinji Ikari, lying on the cold cement floor, turned around and met Kaworu Nagisa’s eyes. “This is not my completion. Let those who need to make the decision make the decision, or you can leave it to me.”

"So, did you enjoy this trip?" Kaworu Nagisa asked.

Shinji Ikari waved his hand, it was unclear whether he meant nothing or that no further words were needed.

The crimson seawater reached above Shinji Ikari's ankles. He looked at Kaworu Nagisa standing on the beach, and his strides forward slowed slightly as he thought of something crucial.

"What are you going to do?" Shinji Ikari asked.

Kaworu smiled. "Don't worry about me. I am the messenger responsible for communication between humans and Angels. Do you remember what I said? We will meet again."

The white doves that had landed on the eaves seemed to be startled and flew into the sky. Shinji Ikari, standing under the telephone pole, watched this scene unfold.

"The moment the white doves take flight is the moment of reunion."

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"Hmm, uh..."

Shinji Ikari's head emerged from between two slender arms. He looked at the white seagull standing on the clothes rack outside the window. The bird, which looked very relaxed, was tilting its head and staring at him.

Shinji Ikari turned his head and looked up.

“...The familiar ceiling.” Shinji Ikari uttered that landmark classic line.

It feels like a long time ago, yet it also feels like only a moment has passed.

He felt something hard pressing against his lower body, and his right hand reached into the blankets to pull out a black hard drive. At that moment, the girl in the blankets let out a soft groan, seemingly affected by his movements.

Although her face wasn't visible, the blue hair was enough to identify the girl in his arms.

Shinji Ikari gently lifted a corner of the blankets, looked at Rei Ayanami's peaceful sleeping face, and couldn't help but kiss her forehead and hold her in his arms.

The delicate body in her arms seemed to tremble slightly, then gave Shinji Ikari an even more passionate embrace—wrapping around him like an octopus.

For some reason, even though it was the most masculine time of morning, Shinji Ikari had no romantic thoughts. He gently patted Rei Ayanami's smooth back, and the two of them, who were no longer asleep, quietly embraced each other.

An hour and a half later, everyone sat down at the table to eat breakfast.

Just as Shinji Ikari was pondering how to subtly tell Asuka about accepting the experimental modification, Asuka, who was sitting next to him, said with a serious expression, "I had a very strange dream."

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P.S.: It suddenly occurred to me, what if Shinji's family had seen the stubborn little girl Asuka standing next to them with her schoolbag at this moment, and chosen to adopt her? Wouldn't that be the timeline in the TV series where Shinji and Asuka are childhood friends, experiencing their everyday youth together?

230: At least act like a human being

In my dream, I seemed to return to my childhood, my mother, the funeral, my schoolbag, the snow, the mountains and forests, loneliness... Just when I felt isolated from the whole world, I was picked up and taken home by that Mazda.

Asuka sat bolt upright in bed. Bright sunlight streamed through the window. She had woken from her dream and was still in Third New Tokyo, in late summer and early autumn. She had carelessly tossed the clothes she had taken off the night before onto the chair, and was covered with a soft, air-conditioned blanket.

Asuka sat on the bed for a long time, and suddenly remembered that on the first day after the Fish Angel counterattack, she moved to the apartment next to Katsuragi Misato and the others. Given her tsundere nature, it should have been Katsuragi Misato who invited her, but now they were having a pleasant meal together, which seemed pretty good.

Moreover, and more importantly, I feel like my body has returned to normal.

"Your health has returned to normal?" Misato Katsuragi looked at Asuka sitting opposite her with some concern. "You haven't been feeling well lately."

However, the temperature difference between day and night is indeed quite large recently due to the change of seasons, making it an easy time to catch a cold.

“It’s not a common human ailment like a cold or fever,” Asuka said, sitting up straight and elegantly cutting her slightly charred steak with a knife and fork. At this moment, she seemed to have returned to the German young lady she first met. “It’s something deeper. I feel that the Bird Apostle’s contamination may have been removed. Let’s get a mental health test.”

Asuka spoke casually about the mental health test, as if it were a trivial matter.

Shinji Ikari's expression shifted slightly as he recalled the hard drive he had brought back, the Hollowfication device from his dream, and the original model of Asuka.

That's probably impossible, right?

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In the dimly lit hall, only twelve red-glowing stone tablets stood.

Extremely rare, the dimly lit hall was now projecting constantly flickering images. These images showed the battle that began with the capture of the Third Angel, followed by the appearance of the Water Angel, and ended with Mari piloting Unit-02 to plunge a simplified Spear of Longinus into the Fruit of Life of the Womb Angel.

"We have finally defeated the sixteenth apostle. According to the Dead Sea Scrolls, there is only one apostle left." The statement from the fifth stone tablet was used as the starting point.

“The prophetic moment is approaching,” the seventh stele also exclaimed.

"This road has been far too long, and the sacrifices have been too great."

"Following the awakening of Unit-01, Amisal's research report also disappeared. These reasons are enough to dismiss Gendo Ikari."

"He can't be unaware of our intention to send Fuyutsuki Yukimasa back, can he?" the Pope said, his voice sharp like Shirai Kuroko's.

Although on the surface Ryoji had sacrificed his life to release Fuyutsuki Yukio, whom he had personally brought with him, that was SEELE's headquarters. Without the tacit approval of the Human Completion Committee, Fuyutsuki Yukio could not have escaped so easily.

“We need a new victim, and it has to be someone who knows the inside story.”

Suddenly, a wicked laugh came from the third stone tablet, "Then let Gendo Ikari choose this sacrifice himself."

As if struck by a sudden thought, Ritsuko Akagi placed her hand on the pistol at her waist until the door opened and Hitomi Kaga, the vice president of the development department, walked in.

"Minister, what brings you here?" Kaga Hitomi asked directly.

“It’s a study of the remains of the Sixteenth Apostle of the Right Gate, the Angel of the Womb.” Ritsuko Akagi went straight to the point. “The fetal blood of the Angel of the Womb does indeed have extremely strong corrosive power and low pollution. More importantly… we also discovered this.”

In Hakone Ward 2, Ritsuko Akagi mysteriously summoned Vice Minister Hitomi Iga to her office, turning aside to reveal a row of life support pods behind her.

A row of bizarre biological embryos were soaking in the translucent ionized LCL liquid. If one looked closely at their outlines, one could find that the embryos of these giant creatures were very similar to the extinct apostles.