Evangelion 1. Chapter 1

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Renewal

By BartonChrist

Disclaimer: Evangelion is the intellectual property of Gainax. This story is imagined after story by this author and is posted with no intent for profit.

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><p>Suspended in ageless twilight she drifted alone through the sea of orange. Taken by invisible waves and vortices, caressed by liquid neither warm nor cold which stretched out into eternity. She knew not how long she drifted here; there was no point of reference. Time had no meaning in this abyss of nothingness. Simultaneously at peace in solitude, yet forever perturbed by isolation. She was somewhere trapped between wakefulness and dreaming; a blur of quasi-reality. She could not die, but she was not living. Some might call this place limbo. Others would call it hell.<p>

On occasion for reasons she did not understand she wrestled the shackles of perpetual abeyance. Form was given to the endless depths of the sea of tang. A surface through which she viewed the outside world manifested beyond her reach. Through the blur she saw pinpoints of star light, more than she could count, splattered against the dark cloak of space. Before her, the occasional gleam of red of the double prong which lazily spun silently in parallel with her through the vastness of the cosmos. The same scene over and over again. The same hopelessness which dragged her back into the sea of meta-consciousness.

Such time had passed that she no longer remembered why she was here. She knew the feeling of protecting someone important, a lover or perhaps a child. The specifics were lost to her, but she felt she bore the responsibility of countless others. Beings whose form she no longer recognized. She could hardly remember her own form. For a time she had worn clothes, but those had disappeared with the gradual mind-numbness of eternal entrapment. She drifted naked for a time longer, but eventually her body became unsubstantiated and eventually vanished as well. Only knowledge that she was different from her surroundings kept her from being absorbed into the tang. That she still recognized she was a 'she' at all, and the consequences of such a concept, was a miracle. Sometimes she wondered if she was supposed to release everything; to be one with this place. But she knew she could not. She had sacrificed everything. This was her existence now. Once she would have doubted anyone could consider this a way to continue existing.

Then in a moment everything changed. She felt them from a great distance, somewhere beyond the ocean in the great field of stars; so far away, and so long had it been that she could not comprehend what they were at first. But closer and closer they drew at the edge of her consciousness. Like an itch in her mind that grew in urgency until she could not ignore it anymore. It became clear to her. _Others had come_. The surface which had for so long eluded her rushed past, and in a sensation comparable to a drowning person's first full breath, she was free from the ocean. Orange ambiance faded into starry night. The red helix still floated in its eternal celestial dance. She reached out with her feelings, thrusting her will out into the void, scanning, searching for the source of the presence. _There_! It was within her field of vision, quickly becoming more visible. Dozens of massive yet sleek entities approached her at great speed. Their shapes and sizes varied, but their overall design was the same. They had long sleek hulls with spear point prows, and large thin protruding sections, some like oversized fins or tower which looked like tree stalks. All appeared to be propelled forward by massive translucent sails which rose out of the ships like wings, all protruding off different places on each ship, and all were different colours and designs.. These ships came across more like massive alien sea creatures than vessels; there was an inherent organic semblance in their design. She noted dome shaped terraces and a multitude of illuminated portals. The ships were a plethora of colours, some a metallic green-blue sheen and swirl designs, their prows golden. Others pure white with ivory coloured latticework designs playing across their hulls.

_Vessels_! Boundless possibilities raced through her head. She was waking up even more; memories she'd long thought forgotten came flooding back, threatening to draw her attention from the present. She bit back all thoughts but ones on the current situation. What were these beings? They were not familiar to her, yet no so different as to be alien, as difficult as that thought was to understand. Everything was happening too fast. If she could reach the helix- no, _The_ _Lance_... wait, how come her arms won't move? Something was wrong. She was aware yet she had no control.

She noticed too late. As her mind raced in panic at her lack of bodily manipulation she hardly noticed the surface of the closest ship begin to shimmer until it was too late. Miniature, glimmering blue-white suns began forming in openings across the hull. Energy from the surrounding space was twisting and coalescing into radiant spheres. Then, faster than she was capable of following, the suns lanced at her, exploding upon her form with incredible force. There was light, and then nothing at all.

She was falling back into the sea. _Good_, she thought. She was tired. The events of the outside had drained her remaining energy. Her form was fading. She might no longer be capable of maintaining it. _All the better_. She was sick of this prison she had clung onto for so long. But just as she was ready to accept her oblivion, the sea began to shift. From the caressing currents she knew so well, the sea erupted into violence. The force of the vortex was unlike anything she had experienced in the peace which permeated her prison for so long. It was pulling her down. Deeper and deeper, she could not resist its pull. Try as she would, there was nothing left in her to fight. She could only accept oblivion.

Faster and faster she descended. She felt her speed was great, but the vastness of her surrounding was such that she seemed like she was not moving at all. The ambient orange which prevailed her prison was gone now, but she did not see the stars. There was only darkness in this place. _Perhaps this dark prison is a more fitting end_.

Then, like struck by the sonic wave of a thunder clap she felt it. The grip of fear was suddenly upon her again. She felt a presence, a being of power beyond imagining. She searched but she could not pin point where it was. The force was beyond her capability to quantify, and it was all around her. Potency beyond reckoning; whole yet diffused in her surroundings. She felt she was still sinking, and as she did slowly the darkness gave way to light. A new colour saturated the vastness around her. The infinite darkness which she sank through slowly turned to a deep red, a red she knew well. The colour of blood. Deeper still in the void of red ambiance, she spotted... something. Distance was impossible to judge in this place, but she could sense it was immense. Something that in the physical realm would dwarf the greatest stars and eclipse solar sytems. A sleeping god. A being of deific proportions crafted by the hand of man. She knew its name. She could never forget that word which was etched upon her very soul.

_Evangelion_.

The beast stirred. The void around her seemed to shudder. Its power washed over her like a vice grip. She knew something of the power it possessed. Many times she had worked through this monster, had helped free it of the shackles imposed upon it by man and put its power to work for her designs. This time was different though. The creature was stirring of its own accord. It was not a power she could not hope to resist even were she not utterly exhausted. There was little she had known when she had used its power which could stand against such an awesome might.

The sight of what happened next would haunt her darkest nightmares. The colossus uncurled from the fetal position it had laid dormant in for so long. It was proportionately sized as a human being. It wore no clothes and no armour. Naked. Nothing to hide the true form of this living deity. It needed none; it was beyond such needless accessories. It was perfection. Unlike the other Evangelions, Unit 01's genetic heritage was that of Lilith, not Adam. Because of this one might expect the Eva to be female, but like Lilith, it possessed no feminine qualities nor possessed any reproductive organs to speak of. The Eva was an apex organism; its genetic heritage the perfection of an ancestral alien race which seeded the stars with the likes of Adam and Lilith to spread life throughout the galaxy. It had no need to reproduce. It had no equal. Below the Eva's chest but above its abdominals was a large red sphere, one which glowed a deeper crimson than the surrounding space. The skin which covered its body was that of a tanned Caucasian, lightly bronzed orange flesh. It was completely hairless. There was no fat to speak of, and said skin was taught over enormous musculature. Its finger nails were long and hardened as claws. The Evangelions face had a bulbous forehead which morphed seamlessly over its center face. It had no nose. On its forehead was what appeared to be a white beaked mask with two black dot eyes nestled in it. There appeared to be no mouth, but there was no doubt this monster possessed teeth. They were hidden behind a perfectly seam closed mouth. Finally two eye slits peeled open.

It looked up at her – no– _into her_. Green eyes, so human-like, gazed upon her as a cat would eye a mouse. They narrowed as if in recognition, glaring with predatory intent. Its arms reached out as if to accept her in loving embrace, but its mouth opened widely. She was falling towards it. She could see beyond the jaws voraciously awaiting her. She saw... _things_! Beings without form, trapped inside the Evangelion. Some were once human, others, gods once themselves. All trapped in eternal torment inside the Eva. She could feel their pain. Their anguish cascaded across her flesh like fire.

She screamed as one who beheld the horrors of eternal damnation, but no sound came forth. She didn't want to die this way. She feared beyond belief, with all her being, the fate now thrust upon her. Then, moments before her certain peril, warmth washed over her from above. Warmth like a hot summer day standing beneath the suns radiance. She looked up and there, like a beacon from heaven, light shone down through the dark red which radiated throughout this place. She knew she had to give it everything she had. She reached up, and with all she could muster she seized for the light.

Hazy, incomprehensible images flashed before her as she faded in and out of consciousness. A bright tunnel of shimmering colour. The flash of white lights rushing by. _People_. She was floating. White light shone everywhere now. _More people_. The last thought before she faded into the merciful embrace of unconsciousness was the silhouette of a being – a human being! – who stood over her. She could see it was man. He speaking to her but she could not hear him. Then she saw them. So undemanding of her attention she didn't notice them before, but then they came sharply into focus. His ears. _Not human_.


	2. Chapter 2

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Renewal

By: Barton Christ

She had floated on the precipice of awareness for an indeterminate amount of time. It felt as though she was under the influence of some strong drug, but it was simple fatigue which kept her down. The fog which clouded her mind hadn't lifted, but she was no longer trapped in a semi-conscious stupor. She half-dreamt through memories of the long-gone past. Scenes of a sun filled field under a blooming tree before a dazzling ocean. The sea of LCL. Labs bursting to the brim with cables and screens. A white void. Blood. The Lance. A crying baby wrapped in cloth held to her breast. Eva reaching up to devour her.

Even with her eyes closed she sensed that wherever she was, it was lit with high illumination. She tried opening her eyes a crack. As she had expected she was painfully blinded by the exposure to the bright light. She allowed her eyelids to flutter slowly open to adapt to the brightness. When she was finally able to see she was greeted with a ceiling of crystal lattice, possessed of vibrant colours. _An unfamiliar ceiling_. She had a half-hearted chuckle at her situation only to regret so instantly when pain coursed through her chest.

The place in which she lay felt as though she was floating. In fact she was sure she was actually floating. She was not flat on a surface; her back curved up so her feet were at a lower elevation than her head. It was not uncomfortable, but it was unnatural; more like floating in LCL, without the liquid. She tried with frustration to look to either side but her head felt clamped, though she felts no bonds. As fatigued as she was she knew her inability to move was a result of her environment, not her lack of strength.

All she was able to do was think, so she made the best of it. Mulling over her recent memories and piecing together her past became the focus of her energies. She was onboard an alien vessel, one capable of taking out the Evangelion without destroying her. As far as she could tell she was human once more. But how was she outside the Eva? She had long since left behind her physical form to become the core of Eva Unit 01. She had not even been aware if she was able to return, given how she had become the essence of the Evangelion for so long. That was never an option if her plan was to succeed. But here she was now, human again. With two eyes, ears, a nose, mouth, legs, hands and all the attached appendages. At least she hoped so. Still, she felt as though something was missing; she was incomplete somehow.

What disturbed her greatly were the last moments within the Eva before she was… 'freed'. When breaking the bonds of its prison slumber, Eva had tried to end her as it had ended so many enemies before. That the soul of Unit 01 had turned against her after all she had been through with it was more than a little disconcerting. The Evanglion was not a soulless cyber-enhanced organism like she had once believed. She never imagined the Eva would develop a soul of its own. While joined with 01 however she became aware of another presence. A soul which formed and grew within the core of the Eva.

As a human being she possessed an A.T. Field which separated her physically from others. Unlike the Angels, a human had nowhere near the capacity to manipulate their Absolute Territory Fields. The Angels could form defensive barriers capable of arresting all but the most powerful human weaponry and manipulate the reality around them. Only a human soul inside an Eva gained the ego powerful enough to generate a field capable of breaching such a defense. A human soul could be used for control.

Yui had become one with Unit 01 with a two-fold purpose. The first was to protect Shinji. As much she knew it would hurt her family, becoming the soul of the Eva was the only way she could ensure her son's safety against the Angels. She had released the Eva's might on several occasions, including manipulating control of the Dummy Plug system, to save Shinji. Secondly she did so to counter Seele's plans for the Human Instrumentality Project. The hubris of those old men would mean the end of humanity. As a person she was a pawn in their game, but as a part of Unit One, the key necessary to a human initiated Third Impact, she had hoped to control the outcome. As developer of the only successful Lilith-based Evangelion, Yui had planned to in the case of an artificial Evangelion-based Instrumentality, defeat Seele's ambitions. In what really happened she played nearly no part in Third-Impact other than to wish her son farewell.

Suddenly a curious sensation crossed her busy mind. Yui felt a strange awareness of something in the air, like the atmospheric change before an approaching storm. But the feeling was not coming from her skin; she only initially interpreted it that way. She was aware she was not alone in the room. She was able to detect the presence of others, not with her physical senses but some extraordinary mode of perception. This was how she had detected the aliens in the first place. Yui was sensing the A.T. Field's of those in the room. There were five in total; two were close to her left, with two further behind them, and one on the right of them.

The sound of their footfalls and sharp breaths confirmed to Yui her hearing was in order and was not being suppressed. The room was just otherwise deafly silent before the arrival of her hosts. Still they made no verbal remark. Were they using sign language? Or perhaps personal communication devices she could not hear. Maybe they communicated in a sound range outside her physical capacity to detect. The possibilities were endless.

She could not move her head but the ability to follow their presence was perhaps more reassuring. Still, seeing their faces would be more… reassuring was the wrong word. It would satisfy her curiosity now that she was no longer in danger. _No_, she thought. She could still very well be in danger. She did not know the intentions of these beings. They had attacked the Evangelion and brought her on board their ship. She had been rendered motionless.

Music interrupted her thoughts. The sounds of woodwind instruments accompanied a score of song birds, with the din of crashing waves, perhaps even the faint echo of whale sounds and a wondrous variety of string instruments, from piano to acoustic guitar. The tune rose and fell in musical concert like a symphonic composition. For Yui, who had been locked in the silence of eternal solitude for eons unknown, it was the most beautiful, harmonious euphony imaginable. For these aliens, it was simply the form in which their machine interfaces communicated with their operator.

Tears began forming slowly at first, and then a torrent cascaded down the sides of her face, unimpeded by any thought to cover herself; not that she could wipe the tears anyway, given her current state. They were tears of joy for exposure to such a moving melody, of sadness and grief for the decisions she had made and the existence she had been locked in, anger at her restraint and relief for her current state. A myriad of emotions swelled in her breast. She was free now. She was Yui Ikari once more.


	3. Chapter 3

The planet was first discovered by astronomers on February 7th, 103 years After Third Impact (A.T.I.). In a solar system 43 light years from Earth, revolving around a yellow dwarf star much like our own, it was the fourth planet of seven. Gravimetric data indicated the heavenly body's size lay between Earth's and Venus'. Mass, speed, distance from, and the time taken to revolve once around the planets own star allowed the estimation of its density and composition. It was classified as a terrestrial planet. Further data from stellar spectrographs revealed 4 important compounds in the planets atmosphere: nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water vapour. This was an exciting discovery. A world which may support life much as we know it.

At the time it was simply named Earth-like Planet 36 or ELP36. Its data was studied, stored and buried under the multitude of information being reclaimed since the resurrection of humanity. While certainly interesting to those scientists with their eyes to the heavens, the timing was too early, the right technology unavailable, to make any use of such a discovery. And so it would go relatively unnoticed and all but forgotten by the world.

That was until the discovery of NERV's arcane technologies changed everything. Until the Evangelion and the S2 Engine altered the fate of humanity forever. With a source of unlimited clean energy humanity reclaimed the world at an unfathomable rate. With unlimited power came unlimited potential for agricultural and industrial growth; for research. Scientific discovery accelerated unabated, and mankind ascended to heights it believed would take centuries to reach.

This is not to say there was not conflict; that war was a thing of the past. Both are a part of human nature and no matter the abundance of resources, ideologies and wills eventually clash. Despite as much as things change, the more they seem to stay the same.

But the world had come forth from the apocalypse. Those who emerged from the red sea could only do so because they possessed the will to keep on living. Though the nightmare was passed, humanity would never forget how close it came to the end. A new world order had emerged. One with its eyes set to the stars. To a galaxy rife with alien life. Of Fruits of Knowledge and Fruits of Life. And based on previous experience, they were anticipated to be very, very hostile.

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><p>It was eighty years later on June 22nd, 183 A.T.I. that humanity came to ELP36. The planet was a spherical jewel in the dark veil of space. Possessed of rich blues and deep greens, it imbued a sense of awe and envy in the human star-travelers. Despite all their advancement the birth place of mankind still bore the mark of Third Impact; its landscapes scared and cratered, covered by red oceans without water.<p>

While not entirely unexpected, but wholly unwelcomed, was the discovery that the planet was inhabited. Radio waves emitted from the surface, the dark side sparkled with the lights of civilization, and artificial satellites were detected in orbit.

The fleets MAGI super computers spent months sifting through the monstrous amounts of data coming in. Slowly but surely an understanding of the culture below developed. A thriving, technologically advanced, partly aquatic humanoid species. They were deemed with utmost certainly to be the spawn of a Fruit of Knowledge, as humanity was.

The society which dominated the surface of ELP36 was well into an atomic age. Scans revealed numerous nuclear reactor equivalents across the planet's surface. Large decimated tracts of land and areas of high radioactivity showed the species had made use of atomic weaponry some time in its far past. A history so like mankind's own, the aliens pulled away from the precipice of nuclear self-destruction and were in the midst of a peaceful golden age. For this they were secretly admired by those scientists and historians who gleaned such information.

For the military planners however, such technology made them an opponent to be handled carefully. Weeks of pain staking research marked priority targets, and a plan of attack was set into motion. Training and preparation began. The call for assistance went out.

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><p>It was three weeks later when the Kyriotate class vessel and its retinue of Malakim and Elohim support ships joined their sister fleet for the coming attack. At over 21 kilometers long, the bulbous whale like-form of the Kyriotate flag ship was covered with towers, arrays and weapon platforms. It was more space-city than space-ship. The two immense capital vessels drew along side one another. Smaller crafts immediately began the transit of personnel and cargo. Proper greetings were made, and planning began anew with the wealth of experience and fresh supplies brought by the newcomer.<p>

After two decades of exploring the reaches of space apart, the _Tingra _and the _Boel_ were reunited once again. ELP36's destruction was sealed.

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><p>The military undertaking, officially designated Operation Descent of Angels, commenced on December 20th, 183 A.T.I. It would be heralded as the most successful planetary invasions in humanity's history.<p>

Both fleets approached the planet from the dark side, using one of ELP36s three pseudo-moons to cover their approach. The planets burgeoning space and astrological programs did not detect any sign of the ships until they were already in geosynchronous orbit. By then it was too late. If anything could be done to stop the coming doom to begin with.

Orbital N2 bombardment followed by precision heavy positron cannon fire decimated military fortifications and annihilated nuclear launch sites across the surface within the first few minutes. Nuclear power centers, spaceports, military and civilian air fields, auxiliary power plants, satellites and telecommunication hubs were destroyed in quick succession. And so this pattern continued as the world spun on its axis, the harbingers of destruction remaining stationary high above, picking out their targets in coordination with one another. Within one rotation of ELP36, planetary infrastructure was all but destroyed. Later analysis would reveal the planet was rendered to 4.6% its operational capacity from only a day earlier. An overwhelming military victory.

With power and telecommunications down panic swept population centers. Though the races political, religious and civilian powers were left relatively intact after the bombardment, they were powerless to prevent the building turmoil which swept the globe. Civility and order were crushed under foot as cities erupted into chaos, fear and violence. Much of the populace attempted to flee, while others broke into roving riotous masses, destroying and pillaging all that they could. Were those desperate souls to look to the night sky some might have noticed new stars forming a perfectly shaped diamond pattern from north to south. When survival suddenly becomes the number one priority, such details can easily be missed.

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><p>Three days on planet ELP36 passed as such. The star travelers watched as the civilization below was thrown back to the Stone Age. A vast wealth of information was collected on the matter to be studied by academics and policy makers, civilian and military alike, to prepare if such a thing were to befall human worlds.<p>

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><p>Five days after the initial attack was made, the invasion began. Those who looked to the stars this night were met with the most beautiful and well coordinated meteor shower ever to befall their world. For the extraterrestrials of ELP36, shooting stars were a sign of good omens, of good things to come. Many cheered and prayed to their god that the darkness would end and they could begin their lives again. Tomorrow the billions which called ELP36 home would come to understand how wrong they were.<p>

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><p>They came with rising sun. Some by air, some by ground, and still others from the seas. But they all came, as assured as the new day and the rolling tides. Those who heard the booming footsteps and the cacophony of fleeing wild life were blinded by the dawn. The forms were immense shadows against the mountains and backdrop of the sky, beings of legend which heralded the end of the world. Like the angels of heaven descended to deal divine judgment upon a heretical planet, the Evangelions were unleashed upon ELP36.<p>

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><p>The feeling of free-fall was one which Tavorian could just not adjust to. Even after clocking over 300 hours in the simulators, there was something about the sensation of his stomach turning inside out and forcing itself up his throat that would never cease to plague him. That was least among his worries at the moment though. Tracking all the variables of angle of approach, vector, speed, altitude, occupied much of his attention. Not that he seemed to need to this time around, but after so many hours his training was finally taking hold.<p>

The planet before him was marvelously rich in colour. His home world was not blessed with such an abundance of water, so the endless shades and variations of blue oceans and green foliage awed him. So much life grew here. Except he was here to change that.

Genocide was not high on Tavorian's short list of goals in life, but then neither had becoming an Evangelion pilot. A lot had changed for the young man in the last year, and despite the hardships resulting from his current life's direction, they were preferable to where he had been before.

His eyes drifted down from his data feeds and the planet to his fellow passenger. The girl's waist length grey hair and white plug suit were all he could see from his position above and behind her. Atira. His co-pilot and handler. Though he had known her for several months now her hair colour still perplexed him. And further still, why she was allowed to let her hair grow so long without punishment? Kamiko grew her hair less than an inch over regulation and was chewed out by one of their commanding officers. Atira turned her head up to the left but without looking at him, as if sensing his gaze.

"Couldn't keep your thoughts off me forever, could you?" The girl giggled teasingly.

Tavorian was glad she couldn't see his face, though he was sure she knew he was blushing.

"I know more than that about you," she said matter-of-factually as her head tilted upward proudly.

He sighed in defeat. "Alright, just what are you? Some kind of telepath?"

"Nope," the girl quipped in a mock tone, stressing the 'n' sound.

"An empath then!" Tavorian exclaimed quickly.

"None of the above," she chided playfully.

"Then how can you know when I'm looking at you or what I am thinking?" He was beginning to have enough of this. He wanted a straight answer.

"I can sense everything you think or feel so long as we're in the Evangelion silly. You should know that." He didn't know that. Well, she was straight forward about it at least…

"What about all the times outside of the Eva? Like in class or practice?"

"Educated guesses. And a little luck. You aren't the most subtle person I have ever met."

"You mean you didn't even know!? You were guessing!?"

"Yup! Called you out on it every time too. Perhaps I should start taking bets on how many more I can get," she mused to nobody in particular.

He flinched with embarrassment. "Did you have to in front of everybody? All the girls think I am some kind of creep…"

With a giggle she responded flirtatiously, "I guess that means I have you all to myself." She was a devilish one.

His whole body sagged with a sigh. "Stop that."

"Oh but I thought you enjoyed it," she said as she arched her back and craned her head, giving him an ample look at her breasts while giving him an inviting wink. Were it not for the upside down shit-eating grin across her face, he might have taken the provocative gesture better.

Tavorian sighed again. He sighed a lot when around his current companion. While their personalities didn't conflict in any serious way, her jovial and amorous attitude was at odds with his poor emotional competency. She often caused him a great deal of bewilderment. And undoubtedly delighted in it.

"Anyways, why are we taking so long to reach the surface? Shouldn't we be plummeting at several times the speed of sound right now?" A boring subject change yes, but Tavorian wanted to talk about anything else to take away Atira's mirth.

With a pout she replied, "You weren't in such hurry before… did you suddenly want to begin the mass murder of an otherwise peaceful and intelligent alien species? On Christmas of all days too…" Disapproval and sadness dripped in her voice.

Put so bluntly, the truth of the matter was rather damning. "Well… no. I was just wondering why our drop is so different from the simulations. We were in the last drop group as well. It's just not what I expected on my first sortie…" He turned his head up away, as though ashamed to look down at the planet.

There was a long moment of uncomfortable silence. Both pilots knew full well the reason of their descent. And it didn't sit well with either of them.

"I know how squeamish orbital dropping causes you to be, so I am taking it easy on you. You should feel elated!" Atira exclaimed markedly, as though he owed her a debt he could not possibly repay.

Tavorian was glad for the tension to be lifted. Atira could always be counted on to break the ice. "Okay but _how_ are we falling so slowly? We don't have wings or ion booster packs or hell even a parachute."

Taking the same pose as before, Atira winked at him. "You. Lucked. Out." She emphasized each syllable. "I'm the latest model!"

A hundred questions simultaneously flooded his mind. "You? What do you mean you?" Disbelief, surprise, and more than a little annoyance showed clearly on his face as he looked down at her.

Atira's face changed to one of curiosity, and then she began squinting intensely up at him. He felt more naked than usual in his plug suit under such a stare. She suddenly gasped, mouth open, and then spun around in her seat to look at him directly. "You actually don't know, do you!?"

Momentarily taken aback by his companion's uncharacteristically serious tone, Tavorian regained himself and snapped, "Well obviously!"

Atira sat back on her feet, bringing her left arm under her chest and the right to hold her chin. "They really didn't tell you. I guess you don't have the proper security clearance, but still…" She looked up intently at him. He felt like a sack of meat being appraised. He feared he would be found wanting.

In such a position Tavorian couldn't help but take in the view of his female counterpart. Her skin was alabaster white without blemish, and smooth like porcelain. She was the embodiment of young, healthy feminine perfection, with a figure that stirred the hormone driven desires of her fellow male pilots. She was often described in an entendre by his less inhibited colleagues as 'perky'. Deep crimson irises regarded with predatory inclination and cunning intellect. Few who her gaze falls upon manage to hold their composure for long. Her eyes were a stark contrast to her personality. Her long hair was light grey, but not with the grey of age. Like him, she was fourteen years old. Her albino traits were not hers alone either. All of the pilot's handlers were albino. Some of the _Tingra_'s crew called them the cadaver corp. It was a play on words used to describe their preternaturally pale skin. While not said with any particular malice, Tavorian still didn't like the term.

"I don't particularly like the phrase either, but the crew is allowed to think what they want so long as they respect and assist us." Coming back to reality, he was ashamed he allowed himself such thoughts. Even more so knowing that Atira heard everything he thought. He hoped his sincere apology reached her too.

She had turned back around in her seat and began entering data and commands into her holographic terminal. Looking beyond her to the world below, a curious and nonsensical sight met Tavorian. They were descending to the edge of a circular mountainous outcropping surrounded by lush rainforest as far as the horizon. The mountain peaks were snow covered, something which didn't sit well with him given how close to the planets equator they were, not to mention the tropical forest all around. Thick clouds cloaked the mountain passes, obscuring any view aside from the mountain tops. In the transitional space between snowy mountains and vibrant rain forest, melting snow formed immense rivers and lakes flooding.

He checked his various sensors and data feeds. It was all business from here on. They had to focus on their mission.

He started, "there is definitely an enormous amount of artificial refrigeration happening down there. Now that we are close I am detecting numerous well hidden heat sources in the mountains, probably power generator vents. The cooled air is freezing the precipitation from the surrounding rain forest and causing all this snow and cloud cover. It must be taking a huge amount of power to cover such an area."

Atira continued her analysis a little longer before responding. "Agreed, but all the snow cover has done well to conceal their emplacements. But it's not exactly a well hidden base of operation. It sticks out from orbit after all. I am uploading the data to the _Tingra_'s MAGI, and letting them know we are going in. We will land on the outskirts of the mountain then trek in on foot."

With a tone of measured caution he voiced his worries. "We don't have the equipment for winter conditions this severe. It is minus forty one Celsius in the mountains, and 91% precipitation in the air. As soon as we enter to cold zone we'll begin to ice up. The empty cold of space is one thing, but the ice up we can expect from this place will render us blind if it covers the visual centers and sensors, not to mention if it freezes up the joints."

"Just call them eyes," she chastised him. "We'll keep the A.T. field on active dispersion; create a vacuum around the Evangelion so the precipitation won't build up. It should also bubble us from the snow. Our mission is to investigate the reason why they have created this artificial environment, and if safe to do so, destroy it."

The powers of the Eva never ceased to amaze Tavorian. Despite being the pilot of Evangelion S382, designation NOVA, he did not have any real experience with the unit assigned to him. The simulators were based on the older Deva class units, a full two generations behind. Unit NOVA was a Solar, the newest model from the Ophanim class star forges which produced the Evangelions.

The way he understood the Evangelions is they were specifically made for each pilot. They only synchronized well with one pilot. The exception was with generational pilots. Though certainly some Evas allow for other pilots, synchronization was never as high as with their chosen. Given how long it takes to design, develop and create the Evangelion, as well as the resources necessary for something of their size and power, some pilots guessed the Eva's had to be in development before the pilots were even born. Rumor had it one tech had let slip the Solars began development twenty years prior. This raised many heated debates among the pilots about how they were chosen, which was seemingly at random. The only common themes among pilots were their age, and that their mothers had died when they were young.

The demigods that are the Evangelions were awe-inspiring in their own right, but NOVA was a whole different kind of monster. Unit S382 was coloured dark regal blue with fiery orange highlights. Yellow and black stripes and chevrons covered the Evas docking ports and shoulder plates. It was a three eyed model, with two human like eyes and third upon its forehead. To accommodate the higher eye the units face armor was very angular, with many flat round surfaces. Because of this, NOVA had a much less organic appearance than the other Evangelions. In size it dwarfed the Deva class models by a staggering 20 meters, half again as tall. In terms of sheer strength Solars could outmatch their older cousins three to one. And with twice the amount of advanced carbide-steel composite armor plates, the latest models of Evangelion could shrug off a continuous stream of bunker-buster N2 mines even without their A.T. fields. They were a technological marvel, an unrivaled and terrible weapon. A weapon which would allow humanity to bring the galaxy to its knees. Tavorian knew first hand. It was the Evangelions which brought his world back to compliance 8 years prior.

And now here he stood upon an alien world, in place of the pilots who nearly destroyed his, in order to deal the same death they did. The irony was not lost upon him, and he felt sympathy for the creatures of this world. However, this was his lot in life now. He had been chosen, and he had not refused. With the grey Spear of Longinus and carbide-steel shield in hand, Atira and he landed outside of the mountain range, preparing to enter.

No amount of training could prepare him for what he was about to take part of.

* * *

><p>Authors greetings: Hello reader, I hope you enjoyed my story so far. I apologize I don't update more often, I have a rather large story board drawn up for this tale which I keep adding to. Given the sci-fi genre and removal in time from the original series I felt I could really expand the universe based on knowledge not really touched on in the series. I normally write in spurts when I feel the energy too, so chapters can be far between, but reviews and follows help to keep me motivated. If you liked this story so far and want to see where I am going with it sooner than later, please let me know in the review section or PM me.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

She was here again, trapped in the dark crimson depths of the sea of souls. How many more times must she come here? How much more can she endure as they grabbed at her, trying to rend her flesh? Silently screaming as they try to bite her. They tried to kill her in any way they could, tearing each other apart in an attempt to reach her. Billions of them. Demons shaped like human. Or perhaps humans shaped as demons. It was hard to say.

Her lungs struggled to gasp for air that wasn't there; her throat ached as she too screamed without voice. The only sound that filled this place was laughter. A deep, booming, twisted cacophony of hearty laughs that made her blood run cold. They echoed into eternity. The laughter of a true and terrible demon.

She spotted the small form of a girl through the whirling chaos, watching her, unnoticed by the souls seeking to do Yui harm. She floated impassively, as if in the eye of a storm. _You need to flee this place, _Yui thought. _They will hurt you like they are hurting me!_ _You must leave!_

The laughter fell silent as a reverberating growl shook the cosmos. It resonated in each and every soul here, eliciting a response so intrinsic it transcended explanation. A fear without limit.

They fled. They had nowhere to go, but they fled in any direction they could because they could do nothing else.

It came from beyond the surface of the crimson ocean. At first a dark shape forming in the space between the sun and the moon, both hardly visible through the throngs of chaotic souls. It quickly gained in both form and speed. The enormous head of Evangelion Unit 01 broke through the watery planescape, the boundary of life and death. It delved into the sea like a voracious predator. Its jaw opened wide revealing jagged and corrupted biomechanical teeth. It swallowed souls by the thousands and ground them to nothing in several huge bites.

There the little girl was again, right in front of the Eva's face this time. Unlike the souls of the departed here which paid her no mind, 01 looked directly at her. And it did not appear pleased. Yui tried to reach out to her, to warn of the danger behind the girl. _It will get you here! _Her mind screamed. With every ounce of her being she willed the young girl to move. _You'll be devoured too!_

The young god's right hand broke through the red waters. It swept far, swatting away vast multitudes of souls, sweeping them away by the millions like they were insects. The Eva reached across the indeterminate expanse of the sea into the dark depths where Yui was dragged down into. With as much care and caress as a creature such as the Evangelion can muster, it grabbed Yui. She felt the rush of water and the release of pressure from all around her as she broke out from the sea in Unit 01's hand.

The feeling of up and down faded. Within the grasp Yui could not tell which way she now faced. Slowly the hand opened, finger by finger, as if intentionally prolonging the moment. She floated above the Eva's palm, gazing up and taking in the presence of her would-be saviour.

Unit 01 was more monster than divine. The lines which marked the boundary of its shape were sharp and jagged. Its features were indistinct yet concise, every facet of the god's face radiated contradiction; a cragged smile of bemused contempt, eyes filled with infinite loving hatred.

Said eyes were not set upon Yui, but to the space beyond her. Following its gaze, she steeled herself for what she was about to bear witness to. No matter how many times she was forced to endure the coming view, no amount of preparation could ready her for it.

Before her the galaxy died. Countless planets upon which untold billions inhabited were beset upon by annihilation. Blood saturated the great distances between worlds, the death screams of so many reaching her ears from across the expanse of space. Extinction on a level she scarcely imagined, terror on a scale so vast her psyche could ill comprehend it.

Yui's mind struggled to restore what sanity it could manage. _What is this?_ Anger clouded her vision._ Why are you always showing me this!?_ She turned back to the enormous creature that had both saved her, and yet had tried to devour her not so long ago. She needed to formulate the question to satisfy her confusion._ Why is there so much death!?_

If the Eva was attentive to her emotions, it gave no outward indication. Its full attention was upon the scene before them. It was clearly waiting for something. She looked back, and as in all times before she had been in this dream, she expected to awaken. Not this time. The dream continued, and she watched as life as she could understand it died out en masse, flooding the sea of souls below.

From the chaos five distinct forms approached. Five giants of light. Gods in their own right, incomplete as they were. Each holding the red double-helix shaped lance. _The remaining progenitors? The seeds of life? _This raised further questions in her mind, but the larger picture began to come into focus.

The monstrous clawed hand of the Eva grasped her again, breaking her concentration. She turned back to find its green speckled eyes staring down at her. They bled red energy which quickly filled the eye sockets of its armored mask, giving it a truly demonic appearance. Looking up to the coming Angels, it began to bare its teeth in an unrestrained manner. It growled. Yui felt the same fear as before sweep over her.

But then there appeared the girl again, between Yui and the face of 01. At the sight of the girl the young god became infuriated, possessed with a rage that would end worlds. With a roar that shook creation, opening its maw wide 01 tried to crush the source of its ire.

"Wake up," the little girl said in a voice so small it was hardly a whisper, but with those words the dreamscape around Yui collapsed into nothingness.

* * *

><p>She woke with a start. Still locked in partial sleep paralysis, her eyes opened but her body would not respond. She lay upon her back, sprawled out in a ratherun-lady-like fashion across the circular bed. Black silken sheets and pillows lay tossed and strewn around, the result of her frantic resistance to the demons in her sleep. The ambient lighting in the room rose from a dim blue to crisp white, revealing crystalline walls and ceiling with a luminous sparkle of rainbow colours.<p>

Looking down upon Yui was a young girl, the one from her dream. Her features were sharp but delicate, with long limbs and a lithe body. She wore a pink decorated night gown. The girl possessed brilliantly light blue irises and long shaggy golden hair which complimented her bronze skin. For all intensive purposes she was a beautiful pre-teen girl. She was no human though. The prominent distinguishing feature lay hidden behind her hair.

Yui could hear the girls voice in her mind. "He was reaching out to you again," the quiet but clear voice said, "he is trying to tell you something."

While her voice had not come to her yet, Yui expanded the limits of her ego to reach the girl just as she had been taught. Speaking without words, she communicated with her companion. "Thank you Saitara, I don't know how much more I could have taken."

Saitara flashed an angelic toothy smile full of childhood exuberance. "You're welcome!"

She lay her head on her hands at the edge of the bed. She looked concerned. The girl questioned without moving her lips. "Why was the dream different this time? What were those giants of light?"

Control over her appendages began coming back to her. Slowly Yui dragged herself up to a sitting position, grabbing a heavy blanket to wrap around her shoulders, hugging her arms around her legs. She considered the all too real dream. The reoccurring nightmare she was forced to endure night after night. She had progressed further in the vision than before, and the message couldn't be clearer to her.

Five. Five beings the same as Adam and Lilith. Five of the seven Fruits of Life and Knowledge spread across the galaxy to seed life among the stars, each with the Lance as a safeguard. Just as written in the Dead Sea Scrolls. There was little doubt in Yui's mind this was what she saw.

But why was the Eva showing her this? A vision of the future perhaps? Could it even do that? She knew nothing of the Evangelions new found powers since inheriting from the Tree of Life and Tree of Wisdom. Still far from the supreme being described in the religions of old, Unit 01 was the closest being in creation to a true god there was. Powers of precognition were not outside the realm of possibility. But why share them with her? Because of the link they had with each other?

She fidgeted around and long streams of blue hair fell over her neck and shoulders down her chest. She looked at the hair bizarrely, questioning where it came from, but her brain quickly caught up with what she was seeing. Looking past the hair, she looked at her pale and youthful skin. _It has to be something to do with this body_, she thought grimly.

After awaking in the infirmary prison of the star ship, she was raised up within her gravity controlled cage to meet with the five attendees. The ship's Captain, Chief Scientist, two guards and the translator, Athkim Ingan.

Athkim was a genius in the ways of language. Within minutes of guided converse, he learned to speak Japanese fluently with her with relative ease. He apologized personally for the attack on the monstrous creature she rode within, but explained that the captain had reason to make a preemptive attack against her. She was aboard the Dynalt_,_ a military and exploration vessel of the Yndoni Collective. She was not a prisoner, if she should prove trustworthy.

Yui was extremely thankful for the straight forward and polite nature of the Yndoni. Wrestling with the reality of other sentient and extremely advanced extraterrestrial life was stressful enough as it is, but to engage in an actual conversation with one was on a whole other level. And this was from a woman who lived inside a forty meter tall man-made monstrosity and fought immensely powerful alien beings vying to destroy humanity. Normally a rational and level headed person who can handle a great deal, Yui's newly reformed psyche was still rather fragile.

It was a simple thing that broke her: her reflection. As they were to release her from her levitating prison, Yui caught a glimpse of someone familiar in the gleaming surface of the walls. Floating where she should have been was a young pale girl with chest length blue hair. She looked into the girls red eyes, unable to comprehend how she was looking at Rei Ayanami, her clone and the planet spanning giant she left falling apart on Earth.

The realization that she was not in her own body raised a hundred simultaneous questions in her mind. Uncertainty of who she really was and trepidation replaced the elation she felt from earlier for being reconstituted. Combined with the her racing thoughts and the mounting mental tension from her current situation, something within Yui snapped. A primal energy surged forth; the reaction of the id to the damage to her ego.

The room began to shake. The crystalline structures which composed much of the ships interior seemed to react to Yui's distress. She fell to the ground as the gravity control systems of her restraints failed. Her body, still so unfamiliar to her, was unable to hold her now unsupported weight. She crumpled on the floor.

The guards reaction was instant. Dressed in lavish crystalline armor, they put themselves between their Captain and the threat before them. Raising singled tipped lances capable as deadly melee weapons but also as beam rifles of sorts, both guards unleashed a torrent of blue plasma upon Yui. Sensing the immediate threat she instinctively attempted to shield herself with her hands.

Such instinct saved her as the deadly plasma bolts collided upon the hexagonal shaped distortion of reality caused by an A.T. field. Yui's Absolute Territory Field. Recognizing that she was source of such a power quelled her instincts instantly, and so the field fell. The guards were stunned, unfamiliar with the phenomena of the A.T. Field. They looked to their Captain for orders. Captain Issnt was similarly stunned, but after a short pause impulsively ordered them to attack again. Fortunately Athkim and Chief Scientist Iona did not suffer such a slow recovery. They put themselves between the guards and Yui, pleading with the captain to rescind the order, to do her no harm. After a heated and tense standoff Issnt complied with their request, with the condition that caring for the girl was their responsibility. Should the alien do anything to endanger his ship and crew, he would see her terminated immediately.

Coming to grips with her near destruction, Yui put all her efforts into maintaining control of her emotions. She could not risk another such event, even if it meant enduring severe strain.

The next few weeks were a time of treasured memories. Of discovery and sharing between Yui and her Yndoni caretakers. She learned much of the Collective from Athkim and Iona, and about her new found powers from their daughter Saitara.

The Yndoni Collective was formed of specie made up by several differing races which developed on distant worlds.

All Yndoni were relatively the same physically speaking. A semi-aquatic species, they were slim and powerfully built humanoids. They possessed very streamlined and sharp features with a great deal more symmetry than your average human. Skin colour ranged from pale white to dark brown. Eye and hair colour variety was seemingly limitless, ranging from human typical pigments to more exotic prismatic spectrums.

If Yui had to put a word to it, she would say the Yndoni were a very handsome species, and could easily be mistaken for tall attractive humans at a distance. In terms of defining characteristics they were hardly distinct from people except for one glaring difference: they all possessed long and pointed ears.

What separated the multiple races of the Yndoni was that they evolved along slightly different paths depending on their world and how old their particular race was.

The eldest race was known as the Tai'lore before the formation of the Yndoni Collective. They are a race of incredible telepathy, able to communicate non-verbally with one another over great distances. This ability allowed them to all but eliminate misunderstanding and progress rapidly as a race, both socially and technologically. The Tai'lore primarily made up the leadership, communications and strike forces of the Collective because of their ability to effortlessly unite mentally. Iona was one of the greatest minds of the Tai'lore lineage.

The Tai'lore travelled the stars first, and discovered the Verald upon the nearest habitable planet to their own. The Verald race, which Athkim belonged to, were the second oldest of the Yndoni Collective. While they had not developed powers of telepathy, they possessed empathetic powers; they were able to sense and project emotions. While not as bridging as the powers of the Tai'lore, these abilities of empathy made them natural born diplomats. In almost every level of Yndoni society, the Verald were the middle men between the Tai'lore and the younger races.

The thirty seven younger races all came from different worlds as well, but did not possess such distinguishing powers as the two eldest. Together these thirty nine races formed the Yndoni collective within the fortuitous star cluster their species had emerged the dominant power of.

The mission of the Dynalt and its support fleet was to travel to the next nearest habitable world in hopes of discovering another race to bring into the fold. Radio signals detected from the nearby star system indicated they were on the correct path.

Yui was not the first alien race the Yndoni Collective had encountered, but they were not forthcoming with details. Athkim explained it was a matter of interstellar security that they could not share with her, but he assured her that she was the first member of her race for the Yndoni to encounter. As such she was of great interest to the Collective, and had captured the imagination of all onboard the Dynalt.

The daughter of Athkim and Iona was Saitara Ingan, the first documented child of a Tai'lore and a Verald. She was also the most powerful telepath in history of her race, and she was only ten years old according to their stellar calendar.

It was Saitara who realized Yui's potential for the same ability as her own, and so trained the older woman in the use of telepathy. The young girl was ecstatic to find a friend in Yui, and was ever pushing her alien guest to use the powers which defended her from certain death. While Yui greatly appreciated the young girls encouragement and cherished her friendship, she could not allow her self control to slip again. She knew nothing of what she was capable of. Telepathy and an A.T. Field barrier may only be the tip of the iceberg.

Through Saitara's training Yui determined the telepathic and empathic powers of their respective species were actually subtle manipulations of individual A.T. Fields.

While all beings with defined forms possessed an A.T. Field, in the races born from a Fruit of Knowledge progenitor such as humanity from Lilith, that is all the A.T. Field was.

Beings born from a Fruit of Life progenitor, such as the Angels from Adam, were capable of utilizing their A.T. fields on the scale of manipulating the physical domain. And in the case of poor Soryu's daughter Asuka, the mental domain of others as well.

The eldest races of the Yndoni were certainly the former progeny, but had evolved to such a state that they were capable of bridging the proverbial and literal gap presented by individuality and the A.T. Field.

Yui was of course the only one to understand the full scope of all of this. Despite all their technological marvels the Yndoni had no method of detecting the A.T. Field. They had no concept of it. For them the powers of their eldest species were still rooted in mysticism rather than science. For Yui's sake, and perhaps the Collective's too, she kept that a closely guarded secret.

Given her new found form in the body of Rei Ayanami, Yui had to wonder where she lay on the scale between humanity and the Angels now. In a sense she was more like the Evangelions than anything, which too were clones of the First and Second Angels spliced with human DNA.

Still, why did she reconstitute as Rei and not in her own body? According to Iona she was recovered from a rear compartment in the Evangelions entry plug, covered in LCL. The Yndoni had never encountered such a substance before. Their scientists marveled at the liquids ability to impart oxygen directly to the pilot, bridge the connection from pilot to Eva, and defend the pilot by absorbing shock as well as providing direct life support. LCL was a miracle substance, and they had no idea how to create more.

Though not allowed to see the plug herself, based on the knowledge she gleamed from Iona's explanation and where in the entry plug she was found, Yui deduced that the entry plug had contained a dummy plug component. Because the dummy plug was meant to simulate a soul to 'trick' the Evangelion into activating, there was the possibility a soulless Ayanami clone was used in the plug to bridge the neural connections. Having been the soul of Unit 01 for so long, and slumbering for longer still, when she reconstituted in the entry plug her soul possessed the soulless body of the Ayanami clone within because she had long since forgotten her human form.

This was entirely conjecture on Yui's part though. While the theory of the dummy plug system was proposed while she was still human, it was only achieved by Gendo years later whilst she was within 01. The exact details of the system were long lost to her.

The decomposition of the clones body also had to be called into question given the time it would have taken the Eva to move so far between solar systems. The possibility of unknown stellar phenomenon notwithstanding. She did not even know how far she had been taken from the Earth, but given how Unit 01 was discovered in the vast distances between stars, she could only assume it was an astronomical amount. Could LCL preserve a body for such an extent of time?

Unless suddenly given access to study the Evangelion so that she could determine its age, she would simply have to accept who and what she is now. For better or worse.

* * *

><p>Her reflection on recent events was interrupted by Iona's telepathic message. "Breakfast is ready. Come to the dining room when you are ready."<p>

Saitara, who had fallen asleep on the bedside while Yui introspected, abruptly jerked up. Drool dripped down her sagging mouth, sleep and confusion apparent in her otherwise vacant expression.

Yui couldn't help but laugh. The girls youthful innocence swelled happiness in her heart. She got out of the bed. Concentrating, she focused her mental energies on retrieving the clothing provided to her by the Ingan family. The prismatic crystal lattice of the room responded to her will, and a dresser of sorts emerged from the wall.

While dressing Yui could not help but marvel at the technological wonder which the room was composed of. The crystal lattice known as Mos'lore was a rare compound found on the home world of the Tai'lore and to a lesser degree on the Verald's. The colourful crystal responded to the A.T. Field manipulation of the Tai'lore, physically manifesting their will. Because of this attribute the eldest race of the Yndoni could mentally transmute the crystals physical properties, hardening it to withstand great pressures, or to interface it with electrical and mechanical conduits.

Useful applications for such a material were nearly endless. They made up the superstructure of all Tai'lore star ships, from the interstellar space fighters to flag ships like the Dyanlt. The bridge, the brig which Yui first found herself in, the armor of Captain's Tai'lore guards, and the rooms of particularly powerful Tai'lore descendants such as Saitara were made entirely of the stuff.

Fully dressed in the conservative Yndoni fashion, she picked up the sleepy young girl which swayed back and forth on the verge of collapsing back on the bed. With a thought the wall of the room furthest from the bed receded with a crackling chime, creating a door way to the 'living room' of the Ingan family's accommodations aboard the Dynalt.

Yui was looking forward to Iona's cooking. That was until the alarms aboard the ship sounded. Announcements in the Collectives universal language followed. Enemy ships were on an intercept course with the fleet.

A sense of foreboding washed away Yui's enthusiasm. The relative peace she knew with the Ingan family was about to come to a tragic end.

* * *

><p>Authors Comments: Thank you to those who messaged me about the sudden change of focus from Yui to the new characters in chapter 3. While I maintain that Yui is the main character of this story, to ensure the full scope of the plot is realized I will have chapters entirely dedicated to other original characters. As the story progresses their part in the broader narrative will become more clear. Expect much more action in coming chapters as alien forces collide. The War in Heaven has just begun, and Yui will be right in the middle of it.<p> 


End file.

Evangelion, Adventure, Sci-Fi