Story: The Forbidden Fruit

So I recently saw Neon Genesis Evangelion for the first time. This naturally led me into checking out various pieces of fanfiction in an attempt to gain a better sense of closure than the series canon gave me, which is also sort of the same reason I got into Ranma 1/2 fanfiction. I rapidly noticed that the most common kind of NGE fanfiction that exists is the Peggy Sue fic type - named such on tvtropes after the movie Peggy Sue got married - in which a character goes back into their own past selves and tries to fix everything that went wrong for them.

But then I had two rather original takes on that subject. The first is below. I am debating whether to put it on the BEA or load it elsewhere as a work all to my own.

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The forbidden fruit was an apple. Everybody knows that, right? It's so easy to imagine, so thoroughly ingrained into the minds of modern culture that all images by artists of one stripe or another portraying the event tend towards a bright, shiny, tempting delicious looking apple in their final work. And yet it was not always the case. Did you know that early rabbis suggested it was a fig, grapes, citrus and even - bizarely - wheat? I know, that last is a rather odd choice given that wheat does not grow on trees but the point remains. The idea that it was an apple was not presented in the work. If anything, it almost certainly came from a - rather ironically - irresistable pun regarding the latin word malum, meaning both "apple" and "evil". But that is not the only time that apple comes into any form of mythology. Also consider Eris, goddess of discord from Greek myth. She cast a golden apple which it led to a terrible war and the most famous seige in fact or fiction. This must surely have had an influence on scholars aware of this myth, yes? Whether it did or not the message is clear. The apple is bad news. Be it the loss of innocence in the form of a dreadful war, or the loss of paradise through the gift of knowledge, it doesn't just take a bad apple to spoil the bunch. Sometimes a good one will do just as well.

---

She was late. He'd double checked the street name, then triple checked, then quadruple checked just to make absolutely sure. It wasn't his fault. He had the right time. He had the right place. She was late or she wasn't coming at all, and wouldn't that be embarassing? Maybe he ought to check the payphone just over there?

Shinji Ikari let out a whistful sigh and looked once again at the postcard. Not exactly the sort of thing he would have expected from someone sent by his father to pick him up. In fact, it might well be the negative value of whatever he was expecting if such a thing were possible. She'd even included her measurements, for crying out loud! Then again she was kinda pretty. Not that that had anything remotely to do with why he was standing here, he'd be right there waiting patiently if he'd been told he was to be picked up by a giant slug with bad hygiene and no sense of personal space. The reason was simple. His father needed him. For what? Couldn't say. Yet he couldn't refuse the call. If only just to see him, to hear why the summons had come after three years.

His thoughts were interrupted by a growling stomach. Yep. Should've had a bit more to eat earlier, maybe. Shinji looked around. He dare not enter a shop in case this Misato woman showed up, and for similar reasons he couldn't stray too far. Another problem was the limited amount of money he had on him. So where in the world could he - Ah ha! There weren't too many people around, so it wasn't like they'd miss each other if he walked across to the other side of the road. He had a little change in his pocket, and there was an apple cart right there on the other side of the road with the words "Forbidden Fruit" emblazoned across a sign. Looking both ways first, just out of habit, he dashed across with change in hand, ready to quench that hunger before his ride appeared.

"We're having a special sale today," the surprisingly young shopkeeper said with a friendly smile. "A bag of five delicious fresh apples for the price of three. With a taste that you will never, ever forget."

Back home, Shinji had to help with the shopping quite a bit more often than he might have liked. This had ingrained deep within him an instinctive urge that he could not ignore even then. A good deal was a good deal, and a sale was something to be exploited wherever it came up. Especially when it was for something you wanted to buy anyway. Besides, he would rationalise shortly later having already reached his conclusion, who knows how long he'd have to wait? He might need more than one apple to make it through the day. There was enough change dangling in his pocket.

Take the bag, thank the shopkeeper, "No problem at all," the shopkeeper said after giving him the apple, then turn around and -"Shinji-kun."

How did this stranger know his name? He whirled around faster than he knew he could move, and backpedalled slightly at the sight. Nobody there. No sign of the cart, no sign it had ever been there. His change was even lying on the ground right where the cart was, so the only evidence it was ever there at all was the bag full of rather yummy looking apples gripped tightly in his hand which was rapidly whitening from his vicelike grip. No sign at all, no matter where he looked. No cart. No apples. No sign reading "Forbidden Fruit". No tracks in the ground. Not even that strange young silver haired boy with the friendly smile. Nothing.

Shinji's stomach interrupted his bafflement, pointing out the precise reason that he'd crossed the road in the first place. It also added that it would be particularly embarassing for a pretty stranger to be greeted by his stomach before he had the chance to speak. Did a disappearing cart really matter in the grand scheme of things? No. Of course not. Stop imagining things and eat a damn apple already. Shinji opened the bag with the intention of doing just that, plucking one out and admiring it in the sunlight. It gleamed like a mirror, and he could already taste it. Completely delicious. Shinji's mouth watered as he rose it to his lips, and he turned away from the place where the cart was. Weird but nothing to worry about. Just something in his head. No reason to panic over anything.

Then he took a bite out of his apple and fell to his knees while his breath turned ragged.

---

"I mustn't run away"

"Hey, big shot! What are you staring at so intently?"

"I mustn't run away"

"You're thinking in Japanese, aren't you? If you must think, do it in German!"

"I mustn't run away"

"This is my wish: please, destroy me."

"I mustn't run away"

"I'm so fucked up."

"I mustn't run away"

---

Shinji clutched at his mouth and retched as the images sounds and feelings pulsed across his every sense. What - what the hell was that?! His peripheral vision caught sight of someone standing down the road, staring at him. He turned and saw a girl with blue hair and red eyes, wearing a school uniform and regarding him with indifference. Rei. Rei Ayanami. That was her name, and he knew it with a cold certainty that terrified him. But more than that -

There were so many of them floating in the LCL. Naked. Unaware. Smiling blisfully as though nothing was wrong or ever could be. That had seemed like the very stuff of nightmares at the time, but then there was the flick of a switch, and the orange liquid turned bright red, and then it became so much worse...

A giant figure rose from the earth with eyes as dark as deepest space. An endless void that consumed anything it looked at. It dwarfed all the angels put together in terms of sheer size and power, and it was reaching for him. Reaching towards him while wearing Rei's face and that same blissful smile...

He shook his head clear of the image and tried in vain to control his breathing. At this rate he was going to hyperventilate. Where was that coming from? How was this happening to him? What even was happening to him? There were no answers to be found. After limping over to the other side of the road and sitting down in a rather safer place than where he had briefly collapsed, there was but one conclusion he could reach. He dared not voice it because it was not originally his sentiment, and the very thought of voicing it made him feel even worse.

It was right around that point that all hell broke loose, and he saw a sight that chilled him to the bone. Off in the distance the 3rd Angel rampaged, and aircraft flew overhead to attack it. Even so Shinji knew it was his destiny to kill it. Not theirs.

"...I feel sick," he said, though he did not even realise he had done so.

---

This was the commander's son? She didn't see the resemblance much, though she had managed to find at least one quality. The silence. It begged to be filled with - well, anything at all actually. With the commander, he would steeple his hands and rest his head upon them, staring out over them with those glasses as though waiting patiently for an answer while carefully considering every single syllable that was uttered in his presence. He was cold, intimidating and calculating and if you weren't prepared for what you were going to say in front of him then wow you were going to get it.

As for his son, it was the same thing for different reasons. He stayed quiet and it was awkward. Not intimidating, just... awkward. Had to fill it with something. Anything at all. Even after they'd tipped the car back over after that mine drop he'd made a lousy conversationalist, instead choosing to much on an apple while lost in thought. He responded only when it would be impolite to not respond, namely when asked a direct question.

"By the way, were you given an ID by your father?" she asked, trying once again to draw him out.

"Yes," he mumbled, absently extracting it from his belongings with one hand while taking another thoughtful bite of the apple with the other.

The paper checked out, and that was definitely the commander's handwriting on the bottom. Odd point there. Why didn't mention of his father bring up anything? Surely he was curious about the sort of work the old man was up to. All indications led to the notion that they hadn't seen each other in a while either, so why no reaction? She could pry that out of him later on, but for now... "Here," she passed over the welcoming booklet. "Read this. We're almost there. And put that apple down for a minute! You can have the rest later."

A funny thing happened as she said that last line. His entire body seemed to go completely tense, and that rapid shallow breathing. It was almost like - almost like he was remembering something traumatic. Misato's eyes narrowed in thought. He came out of it pretty quickly after turning to look at her, but she couldn't help but feel like there was some hidden meaning behind that reaction. She resolved to get it out of him, whatever happened down here and whether or not he agreed to become a pilot.

All the while Shinji hugged his bag of apples, and he began to plan.

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Author's Note: If anyone can suggest better lines to put in the flashback, please do so. Anything from the series would suffice, so long as it happened around Shinji.