Creation began on 05-18-23
Creation ended on 05-19-23
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Evangelion: Audience with Leviathan
As much as she could've said that this was ludicrous and the most foul of stories she had ever heard, Asuka couldn't fault Fuyutsuki or Maya for what they told her about the puzzle box and the people that came across it for different reasons and had different outcomes that depended on their desires. The box was just one of many that had been made over the ages, exchanging hands, causing pain and suffering for those that heard of them and wanted them to obtain whatever it was they could offer if they paid the right price. And when she heard of the Third Child and his own encounter with the box, what he must've desired more than anything else in the world, the redhead had to consider that this boy, Shinji Ikari, was the worst choice for any within NERV to consider for piloting the Evangelion due to having no knowledge of anything they were doing, had very little contact with his father, and more than likely wouldn't be found by any of them if his desire resulted in him being removed from the picture…until he showed up of his own accord at a later time. Personal desires were not the same as shared desires; one was meant to be embraced by the single individual that wanted it to become a reality, and the other was a goal shared by multiple people that wanted it to become a reality.
"…So, this puzzle box has six forms it takes?" She asks them as she leaned against the wall in the women's bathroom.
"That's right," Maya told her. "Once it takes on its final form, Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki will be granted an audience with the Cenobite god, Leviathan, after which he will be granted his desire by the god."
"But this is a Shinto country; you have a multitude of gods to follow. Since when do you only follow one?"
"We don't," Fuyutsuki says to the girl. "This god, Leviathan, offers choices to whoever holds this puzzle box in its final configuration. Once you get an audience with it, you choose one of six desires each configuration represents: Life, knowledge, love, sensation, resurrection or power. But the cost is five lives."
"Five lives?"
"Solving the puzzle isn't enough to get it to change. To get it to change into its next configuration, you must offer the blood and suffering of someone. Basically…you have to sacrifice someone, marking them with the box's blade. When you do that…the Cenobites come to collect the offering. That's how you get your prize."
"It sounds immoral."
"It's worse when it's sought after by people that have no qualms about sacrificing other people to achieve their goals," Maya told her. "Now, Commander Ikari wants the box so he can have an audience with Leviathan to get a prize for himself, which could be anything."
"What does someone like him want that he thinks this Leviathan can offer him?"
"I'd rather not find out," Fuyutsuki tells them, even though he had his suspicions on what Gendo wanted most.
Click. They all turned to look at the puzzle box on the countertop, seeing that it was now changing on its own.
"My Gott," Asuka gasps as the Lazarus Configuration shifts its pieces around to resemble a rhombus or intricate, diamond-shaped design. "It really does change on its own."
Fuyutsuki walks over to the counter and picks up the final configuration.
"We better get going," he tells them.
Before any of them could proceed towards the door, it opened to reveal Misato, who paused at the sight of them and could only wonder one thing wrong with this picture.
"What's going on here and why is Sub-Commander in the women's bathroom?" She asks them.
-x-
All Gendo had to do was wait for Fuyutsuki to show himself and then take the puzzle box from him. Once he did so, he could claim his own prize from the Cenobites; if all one had to do was have possession of the box in its final form, then taking it from Fuyutsuki was all that was necessary to achieve his goal. As he walked down the halls in search of the sub-commander, he made sure the security measures that had been installed when the facility was established were ready to be implemented the second he found him, just to make sure that nobody intervened with his intentions. He would let nobody get in his way of having what he wanted come to fruition.
A chill went up his spine and he got a feeling that something was amiss.
"Gendo," he recalls Yui speaking to him the day before the experiment came and went, "if something should happen, just promise you'll look after Shinji."
And yet, despite what had happened the next day, Gendo had failed to do right by his wife, and their son had gone missing five years after. And now, this opportunity presented itself to him to reclaim what he lost because of these wretched choices. He would take back what was his…and claim what he would have.
Rumble. He felt the base shake a little, and it wasn't even a tremor.
Gendo knew then that he had to find Fuyutsuki and take the box from him.
Where are you? He wonders as he advances down the hall.
-x-
The inside of the Geo-Front got dark and cloudy, something that was impossible due to being underground and the sky being an artificial ceiling. But try as they might to question it, nobody within the NERV base was able to comprehend what was happening. Nobody except those that had some knowledge of what was transpiring, that is.
Fuyutsuki, Maya, Asuka, Misato and Kaji were standing outside the base and watching as something began to emerge from the clouds as a fluid seeped out of the puzzle box.
"Okay," Fuyutsuki says as he recognizes the bloody substance taken from the Angels being extracted from the box and going into the air. "Come and get it. Their blood, their suffering. Grant me this audience, Leviathan."
From out of the dark clouds, a large point came floating down. Looking up further, they could make out the shape of a diamond-like construct, partially obscured by the dark clouds as lightning flashes in tandem with the roaring thunder.
"No way," Misato says in disbelief.
"You and me both," adds Kaji, also in disbelief.
"Maybe we should leave before they show up," suggests Asuka, worried that the Cenobites would come and they would be in trouble.
"I don't think we have anything to worry about," Fuyutsuki tells her; since the five offerings had been made, there wasn't any likelihood that the Cenobites would try to gather more lives when the sub-commander had met his quota. "Five offerings for this audience. No more, no less."
"I'm just suggesting that we should go before they get here," she tries to clarify.
"We're already here," they heard a male voice…and looked to their left, seeing a humanoid creature that looked like a man that had been mutilated beyond his body's ability to endure, partially skinned and his face stretched out to look like a mask. "And you're inside the Labyrinth. Welcome to our domain."
"Yes," they heard a gasping voice. "Welcome."
They looked to the right…and saw another humanoid that had a feminine appeal to their design, but the top of their head had been stretched to form a hood of sorts. Beside them was another humanoid that had exposed brain matter and chattering teeth, their mutilated body almost resembling an executioner of sorts.
Misato reached for her gun, but Kaji grabbed her.
"I think if they wanted to kill us, they would've done so already," he tells her.
"Lament," they all heard, seeing the Cenobite with pins in their head, dressed almost like…a princess of sorts. "Lore. Laudarant. Liminal. Lazarus. Leviathan. What would you ask of us?"
Fuyutsuki slowly walked over to the Cenobite, holding the puzzle box in his hands.
"All that I ask of," he started, "is that you return Ritsuko Akagi."
Bang! Fuyutsuki felt something hit him in the back…and he fell to his knees, dropping the box.
Everyone looked at where the shot came from…and saw Gendo holding a smoking gun, frowning at them.
"Everyone step away from the box," he orders them, walking over. "I'm done with waiting. I'm taking what I deserve, here and now."
The chattering Cenobite made an attempt to approach Gendo, but it suddenly fell to the ground.
The mask-like Cenobite looked around them and felt something was different with their environment, like something was missing as Gendo came over to Fuyutsuki and picked up the puzzle box.
"Whosoever holds the box in its final form receives their desire from your god, right?" He asks the pinheaded Cenobite. "That's how it works. I'm the one holding the box now. This is my audience now."
The Cenobite looked at him with an indifferent expression.
"Don't even try any funny business," Gendo told them. "Your chains can't reach anyone down here, anymore. You tell your god that I have its disciples. Its priest. What, did you think that you could come down here and not expect for there to be trouble? This isn't just some underground bunker people fashioned together years ago to protect themselves. It's a cage!"
Fuyutsuki managed to turn over onto his back, revealing the bullet Gendo had gotten him with was somewhere in his abdomen.
"And I'm not letting any of you go…until I get all that I deserve," Gendo told the pinheaded Cenobite. "You understand?"
Still expressing indifference towards him, the Cenobite replies, "Your pleasure…is the displeasure you create in others…Gendo Rokubungi. You are truly your grandfather's grandson."
Gendo looked at them like they had said something off.
"Yes," they continued. "We know about your grandfather, whom you were named after. His audience was less joyful as this one is. He showed respect, whereas you are showing disrespect."
"I don't care about that man, and I don't care about respect!" Gendo yelled at them. "Just give me what I want!"
"And what is it that you want? That you think you deserve?"
To be continued…
A/N: Uh-oh! We got trouble here! But now we have another issue here: Gendo had a grandfather he was named after, and he had an audience with Leviathan. What did he want? What did he get? More delights await you.
