Creation began on 08-16-21
Creation ended on 03-25-22
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Immortal Ikari: Never Knows Best
A/N: If any of you have heard or seen that phrase before, then you don't need to ask where the title was inspired for this chapter.
"…So, his mother's not happy that you're not out there right now with Shinji?" Kensuke asked Akira as he, Hikari and Toji were in the Rokubungi apartment.
"As I'm not immortal, anymore, I'd just be in the way for Shinji," she explained, setting down a tray of cups and a tea kettle. "What's more, The Demoness won't deal with Shinji…until after she's dealt with her mother…which may not be easy for her without his aid."
"You sound confident in Shinji avoiding the possibility of getting killed by The Demoness," Hikari told her.
"No, not confident. Just hopeful."
Takuya sighed as he picked up the kettle and poured himself a cup of tea.
"Shinji's not as defenseless as he used to be when we first met him years ago in the hospital after his attack," he told the teens. "Size, of course being his only issue sometimes, he's not much of a target when he starts moving."
"Except we're not sure what this…Tristezas is really capable of doing to either of them," Hikari reminded, regardless of whether or not this other woman was immortal.
"Oh, she's definitely mortal like we all are," Akira stated, "but she'll probably regret trying to bend either one to her will when she realizes that they're not going to cooperate for her."
Hikari gave up and picked up an empty cup and poured herself some tea.
"How would you rate Shinji's odds over The Demoness'?" She asked.
"Speed versus power," Toji admitted. "You can have big muscles until the end of time, but none of it matters if you can't hit your opponents or they're able to outmaneuver you."
"Like the tortoise and the hare?" Kensuke questioned.
"Similar analogy, but yes, it's like that."
-x-
Crash! Tristezas' car hit a streetlight and she took off her seatbelt and vacated the vehicle; she tried to run the little boy over, but he was much smaller than she expected…and evasive enough to miss the tires.
"You two are the only ones left in the Game, but you're both very critical to what I'm trying to do here," she told the pair as she raised her sword up. "The oldest immortal and the youngest immortal, and yet you're both acting as though I'm the one at fault."
"That's because you are the one at fault," The Demoness replied. "I really should've made sure you died that day. You have no idea what knowing about your survival has done, what the millennia of having to walk through time without joy in my heart has unleashed in me!"
"You still pine for what you lost? Love is nothing more than a distraction and an illusion. I had to remove all unnecessary obstacles from your future."
"You know, you just reminded me of my parents," Shinji told her, "and they're a pair of losers that can't put family or friends first before themselves and their objectives. So…all three of you are failures in the fact that you failed those that were supposed to matter and yet didn't."
"Oh, I failed Angelus here? Your parents failed you?"
"That's right. I don't say it often, but I can't forget the fury I feel in my heart when I think about those two. There's not really much love left when it's hard to forgive and forget."
"Forgiving implies accepting their trespass on your life and what they did to impact it negatively," The Demoness states, "and forgetting implies that you can put what was done to impact it negatively…but you still cling to what was lost…and what you can't have, no matter what you try."
"What I did to your dead boyfriend wasn't all that personal, Angelus, but he would've gotten in the way of your future." Tristezas tried to defend her decisions.
"That wasn't your call to make, though. And he wasn't my boyfriend after he gave me my choker, as you understood it. But you couldn't see past letting me go live my life. You needed another excuse to proclaim your perception of the world was the only one there was to follow. Do you know…how childish it becomes…when I have to look into the minds of everyone that thinks that their way of living or that they know what's best for their children is the only way…and knowing that it's not true…but they believe it, anyway? It becomes so childish, I have to view every other man or woman as nothing more than a ridiculous, self-righteous, misbehaving brat trying to prove themselves superior to everyone around them when they don't even have the slightest idea of what is the path that is right only for themselves, not for everyone else. Immortal Ikari's wretched father, he wanted to create a world where it was just himself and his equally-depraved wife, where he alone was the one that could decide what would be and what wouldn't be, where he was infallible…and he failed in every sense of the word. His mother, if I can even see her as such, isn't the gift of the kami, either, as she committed a taboo that was almost as bad as your own had been."
"What kind of woman leaves her only child to become a false deity that only brings misfortune to everyone it stains with its existence?"
Tristezas found these two immortals to be very critical of any parental choice that they couldn't accept with an enlightened mind.
"Oh, I'm sure his mother is not all that horrible as you make her out to be," she told them.
"I don't really know her as a mother, anymore," Shinji stated his truth. "She's just a woman that follows the path of the scientist, something I can't really see myself doing in the future because the science I have seen her use is no different from the science used to create weapons of mass destruction. If she had gone down the path to alternate energy research or medical technology, I probably wouldn't keep my distance from her. But I can't force her to do something that I view as the lesser of many evils, same as how I couldn't force my father to give up his dark ambitious that my mother caused by letting her work eat her up. So…yeah, my parents are awful people, unable to do right by me, so I keep my distance from them, unwilling to put my faith in them after being hurt by them in the most unforgiving of ways that you can hurt someone, either intentionally or unintentionally. It goes with a saying that most should take to heart."
"Yeah, it does," The Demoness agreed with him.
"You two…are such stunted believers of whatever it is that you choose to believe."
Either immortal could've stated why this was so, but then they'd be explaining their actions to someone that was, more or less, directly responsible for what became of one of them…and refused to acknowledge their guilt in their suffering. Those that believed in immortality being a blessing were always the ones that fooled themselves into thinking it was the greatest feat to achieve when it was nothing more than a curse for most that had to live with it. But this woman that turned The Demoness, her own daughter, into an immortal…was not immortal…and would experience firsthand the blessing of death's embrace, to know that her days were numbered. And in the eyes of The Demoness…this woman had lived long enough already.
"Immortal Ikari," The Demoness uttered, "stand back and allow me to deal with this obstacle that has stood in my way for the final time."
"She's all yours," Shinji responded and stepped back to the sidewalk on his left. "Go kick her ass and show her who's the badass."
The Demoness could've told Shinji that what he said was not very genteel of a man, even a fourteen-year-old that looked like a small child due to a series of abuse that stemmed from the conscious dislike of maternal relatives that carried a stigma, but decided against it. She had been alive long enough to know that in most parts of the world, past and present, that chivalry and politeness were not in stock much with the generations of now. At least with these people that weren't in her horde for the future when society needed to be rebuilt and a new order established. And her mother, the Lady of Sorrows…wasn't a lady, anymore, so she was not entitled to the refined treatment of others. She was just another problem that needed to be dealt with…severely.
"You can't kill me," Tristezas declared to her.
"That's where you're wrong," The Demoness responded. "Ever since I learned that you were still alive, I have thought about nothing else except killing you. My great mistake was not making sure you were truly gone. This time, I'm correcting my error. This time, I'll make sure there's an obituary written for you. 'Tristezas, the Lady of Sorrows. Murdered by The Demoness for her unforgivable crimes against her and the people. Cause of death: Feminine brutality'."
Damn, thought Shinji. She has more anger towards this woman than I realize.
-x-
Yui sat beside her incapacitated husband as she pondered much of the issue regarding Shinji and The Demoness. She could've asked Gendo about what he believed their son's chances were of defeating her and maybe being able to restore him of his freedom, but she wasn't much for getting blinking responses, even if he did understand the questions asked of him. But then again, she felt the need to ask him, anyway.
"What do you suppose are the chances that Shinji can stop The Demoness and win this Game and the Prize?" She asked him. "Blink twice for good chances, once for bad chances."
Gendo, hearing her question, blinked twice for her. If their son could defeat this woman that had been crossed by him for taking her choker and refusing to return it, maybe the boy could restore him back to normal. But he didn't have much of any expectations for Shinji actually surviving a battle with this woman; The Demoness was unlike any other human that had ever lived or ever would live, and saw her in her entirety, her grace, her fury, her power, the reason why she chose her name's meaning…and why she lived up to being the Devil incarnated within a woman. The chances Shinji had against this woman were slim and beyond what he thought were his own chances of dealing with her when he felt she was nothing more than a hindrance in his goals.
"What do you suppose are the chances that Shinji will leave, even if he survives?" Yui asked him. "Blink once for thinking he'll stay…and twice for the possibility that he'll leave."
Gendo blinked once…but then blinked again, simply because in his mind, he couldn't picture Shinji wanting anything further to do with either of them…mostly because of his own abandonment and mistreatment of the boy that drove him to reject his parents.
"I thought as much from you," she tells him.
Prior to waking up, Gendo had a violent dream that he couldn't escape. Within it, he was standing before a teenage version of Shinji, his face an echo of his own, full of spite towards something…or someone. But he never said anything, never moved a muscle, just standing there…as the world around them burned away, leaving nothing but ash behind.
"When the world ends," he heard someone that sounded like Shinji, only with a darker tone, "the suffering still continues. Even when everyone's gone, never to return…the hurt…doesn't stop. It never stops."
It was…Shinji, but he was dressed in traditional Japanese clothing intended for a funeral…but his right hand was reduced to the bone…and his hair was a slick mess while his face was paler than a sheet. And his eyes…his eyes were the deadest he had ever seen in another person; it was as though he had a light in him that had been snuffed out long ago.
"Every time we fail him," he heard a voice that echoed Yui's, and turned to see someone that looked just like, but dressed in an unusual bodysuit that seemed to have a reptilian motif, with a scaly design on the arms and legs, "it becomes harder for him to see us as those that want help him. And we've failed him, time and again. It's like we will never be able to be what he wants and needs in his life that has become less than a shadow of what it could've been."
Beside her was a man that looked like an adult version of Shinji, but with a prosthetic left arm an old mark on his face that resembled a burn.
"Can you ever admit that you don't know when or even how to stop hurting your son, Gendo?" The man asked him. "Can you ever think about admitting that you don't know when or even how to stop hurting him?"
As a victim trapped within his own body because of his actions, Gendo was unsure of how to even come to terms with the fact that Shinji was beyond them, and not because of him being estranged. His son was beyond them because they knew next to nothing about him personally; not even Yui had the slightest idea of exactly who their son was like beside his habit of disobeying orders, disregarding the necessity of NERV having the cores of the Angels to study, his relationships with other people they had limited information on, either as unaffiliated members of society that couldn't contribute to the war against the Angels or as potential candidates for the Evangelion program, something Shinji had pretty much terminated with his victory against the Angels. And whenever he was asleep, he was tormented by what The Demoness had left in his head to remind him of his failures.
"All you have ever cared about is out of your reach," he remembered her telling him in a nightmare. "And everything you used to achieve your objectives, you ended up being cast aside by some of the people you thought were under your control when they came to realize that you don't care about them. Anyone that can't admit to caring about others or acknowledging their very existence…may as well be cast aside and left to die a miserable death to be forgotten about. Even in your own mind, buried in your subconscious, you remind me of my mother, may she rot in the inferno abyss where the damned and heartless reside."
"…Some other lady with a sword is out on the streets right now, fighting that woman that can get into everyone's head," he heard someone say.
Yui looked out the room and saw Fuyutsuki walk in; she had asked him to try and keep whatever tabs he could on Shinji, suspecting that he'd be involved in whatever craziness was happening.
"Were you able to find out anything?" She asked him.
"Only what can be defined as being beyond extreme," he answered her.
-x-
This was a battle between mother and daughter that Shinji couldn't fathom, but was rooting for The Demoness. The sword being used by Tristezas was constantly emitting these arcs of electrical energy that seemed to resonate with The Demoness, enabling her to compete with her daughter.
Clash! Their swords collided once more and released waves of energy that cracked the pavement beneath their feet.
"Rrrrrrrraaurgh!" They grunted.
"Hey, get away from there!" Shinji heard a policeman yell to him. "It's not safe!"
"It's not safe anywhere right now!" He replied. "This doesn't concern you!"
Zap! An electrical arc hit the ground in front of the policeman and The Demoness took notice of him, seeing him as a hindrance.
It only took three seconds, but she got in his head and gave him one command: To leave. He turned around and walked away, just narrowly avoiding another electrical arc that hit the streets.
"Oh, your concern for mortals leaves me conflicted on how to handle you," Tristezas uttered.
"Whatever it is you think I'm going to do to you, Lady of Sorrows, I intend to do something much worse than so," The Demoness responded, taking a step forward and pushing her back.
She's stronger than I anticipated, Tristezas thought, impressed by being pushed back, even if it was only by a step, but this sword was designed to put me on par with immortals, no matter how strong they are to keep them in line.
"Beware, Lady Tristezas," she found herself reflecting back on something after her sword was finished and bestowed upon her by the head craftsman on the Lunar Ebony Sanctuary, "just because you have that sword now, it doesn't mean that any participant of this Game that was implemented long ago will comply with your intentions. And harnessing their Quickening doesn't necessarily mean that you will be able to control them."
It was for this warning she received, mainly because she didn't the mere assumption that she would be denied, that she killed all except the woman she left stuck in the floor in the sanctuary before she returned to Earth.
Crack. She heard a sound from her sword, seeing a small crack in the blade; it was about the size of a grain of sand, but it was present on her sword.
Of course, they would develop a fail safe to this sword, she realized, and took into account that her daughter's sword was different from before. You can't rely on anyone, past or present, to do what's necessary to make the world better for everyone.
"I…always wanted to say this to you before I killed you this time, Tristezas," The Demoness expressed to her. "You…never knew best…for anyone."
"I never knew best?" She questioned. "I always know best! I knew what was best for you, and I knew what was best for me!"
"That's bullshit parenting from a bullshit parent."
"Yeah!" They both heard Shinji yell. "You tell her that truth!"
The Demoness couldn't help but do one thing that made what Shinji just said impressive: She smiled at his words of encouragement.
To be continued…
A/N: I could've gone longer with this chapter, but I felt it needed to end here. So, yeah, The Demoness really hates her mother for what she did to her, and there's some comparison between her and Gendo and Yui Ikari that won't earn them any awards for Parent of the Year. Not sure how long until the next chapter, but I should include both Shinji AND The Demoness having to deal with Tristezas when it becomes apparent that her willingness to violate the rules of the Game carries a high price that will be paid viciously. I have a price in mind, but how it gets executed will be in the works. Until then, just try to enjoy the present as the future unfolds with each new day, bringing with it either hope or something else.