Creation began on 03-15-16
Creation ended on 06-16-17
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Vengeance of the Seven: Ethereal Wanting
A/N: New chapter of the year. Many apologies for taking so long to return to this.
"…What doesn't kill you makes you…want more," said one of the Shinji Ikari look-a-likes to the remaining four members, his Purge of Seven symbol on the exposed flesh of his left arm, part of a series of tattooed chains leading up to his shoulder, sporting a sleeveless, blue coat with a synthetic fur trim around the nape.
"And what is it that you want more of, brother?" The female look-alike representing Shinji's lust questioned him.
"What is it more than anything that the boy whose wants and needs I represent? A life that was never given. The hope that was never granted. No one gave him what he really wanted…what his heart wanted. That's the problem with people of the previous generation: They won't do what's needed for the people of the next generation…because they don't feel like they need to do anything for anyone."
"I say, enough with the waiting," the look-a-like with the indulgence trait spoke up. "Let's go have some fun at the expense of NERV."
"I…I could use some fun," a look-a-like expressed, strapping a blue safety pad to his right knee. "I've seen many children have fun, and I never could have fun like they could. I want to feel as they feel! I want to run and laugh! I…want…to…have…fun!"
-x-
"…Hmm…the jealous and the avaricious are up to no harm now," the Shinji look-a-like uttered with the egotistical tone, confusing the new interrogator in front of him.
"What do you mean by that?" He asked, but then the door to the room opened up, revealing Gendo Ikari. "Commander Ikari?"
"You may go," Gendo told the interrogator, who quickly got up and left the room. "We need to talk."
"No," the boy said, "you want to talk. There's a difference between needing to talk and wanting to talk. 'Need' would imply a sense of urgency…and 'want' implies forcible intent. So…what do you…want…to talk about?"
"How are you here…when you're in a coma…and there's a girl with the same DNA as the Third Child?" Gendo asked him.
"Do you honestly think I would know how to answer such a question? I may be his pride, but pride isn't the same as being all-seeing, all-knowing. He was never proud of his knowledge, but I can at least take pride in the fact that he sought specific knowledge for himself because there were people like you that wouldn't tell him a damn thing. People like you… Heh, you hoard away specific details for your own purposes. There's no pride in knowledge. You're just greedy…and consumed by wanting…and you call it nothing more than a need."
Gendo felt disrespected by this boy. If he didn't know how to answer a simple question, then there was no point in carrying on a conversation with him.
"You never answered the question you were asked, you know," he heard him say. "Do you think you ever even knew how to answer it?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Hmph. You're doing to me what you did to…well, me. You either can't answer…or you won't answer. So, which is it? Can't…or won't?"
"I'm the one asking the questions here," Gendo told him. "You're the one that must answer them."
"I can't answer a question I have no answer for," he responded, not the least bit intimidated. "An unanswerable question. Maybe next time, you should ask a more-educated individual who can give you the answer you want instead of need."
"Then answer this question," Gendo uttered. "Will you pilot the Eva?"
The boy's right eye twitched as it widened; this was an expected response.
"You ask your son's very pride such a question you wouldn't ask him when he was whole? To answer your question, the answer is 'no'. Even if I could, no good would come about it. Shinji felt so much guilt, so much pain, from what you did to him. It was your fault. You value Unit-01 more than you disregard the lives of others. You had absolutely no concern for how much pain you would cause him with your autopilot system that turned the situation into something worse. It wasn't even a battle. It was a hit, a slaughter…an execution. You unleashed the full power of your sense of brutality, your sense of degradation…your disgruntled evil. You showed Shinji your wickedness, your depravity, and it was only in that moment of suffering did he realize how much your indifference towards him or anyone else knew no limits. It was you that did it that day. It was you that killed Toji Suzuhara…and you didn't feel anything for what you chose to do. One of my brothers, another of your son's desires unleashed from his corporeal shell, he'd know exactly what to do with you. What to do about you. Heh-heh. He wouldn't even question himself after all you and your wife have done. He…he'd kick your teeth in. He'd break your limbs, skin you alive, rip out your heart, hang you by your testicles…in front of everyone you've harmed, you've used…or worse. Maybe you'd like to see him. Maybe I should call him. Maybe I should ask him to see…if he'd like to finish what he started in your office when he tried to punch your disgraceful lights out."
Gendo then got up and left out the room; he didn't need to take this from a boy that didn't know what was at stake. And, as odd as it seemed…he actually felt threatened by him…or by at least who could've been the one to inflict harm on him for choosing the all over the one.
-x-
"Tell me, dear sister," the wrathful Shinji asked his lustful incarnation as she was laying on the ground with the kitten atop her chest, "are you intent on keeping that child?"
She looked at him and responded, "If it has no mother… Hold on a moment."
Looking more closely at the kitten's body, she checked its gender…and found it to be a boy cat.
"If he has no mother, no guardians or anyone intent of caring for him, what would you have me do? Do I follow my instincts to be caring…or do I echo the choices of that man and his wife?" She asked him. "A child sacrifice is no different from those that were used as martyrs by those that didn't have the will or the balls to martyr themselves. If I have no other alternatives, this baby stays with me until he can survive on his own."
"That, my sister, is a wise decision."
On the wrathful one's face, two curved lines formed under his eyes like tattoos; they had appeared just recently. While the lustful one had a less-noticeable change in her body: Her bust, while still small, had grown a little to no longer being an A-Cup and being more of a B-Cup.
"I'll be back later," their gluttonous brother announced, now sporting a black and green, oversized shirt and thicker hands, as he got up from off the ground to leave.
"And where are you off to?" The wrathful one asked him.
"I need to be indulged," he answered. "My appetite becomes a lethal weapon if it's not satisfied."
"Stay out of trouble, brother," the lustful Shinji told him.
"We can't stay out of trouble. Trouble comes knocking. I know where to indulge my appetite to the point of fulfillment."
-x-
They were the shades of Shinji that never got to do anything he wanted…and possessed the mild resentment of seeing others getting to do as they pleased. Now, having relieved two skateboarders of their boards, they were going to do what Shinji was never able to, and that was have fun.
"Thank you for your generous offer, gentlemen," the avaricious one told the two teens that were beaten to pulp for their boards and nothing else. "You did as you pleased. Now we get to do the same."
The two ran off on the boards, heading towards a skate park to embrace the ancient power that was fun.
"Whoo!" The jealous one cheered. "I've never done anything like this for a long time!"
"I like my new board!" The avaricious one shouted. "I'm glad I wanted it. I want many things I was denied, but I don't want everything!"
"And I'll be there to watch you get what you want!"
-x-
"…I don't believe he was lying when he said that one of them would harm you if given the chance to, sir," Ritsuko told Gendo later that day in his office. "This boy is completely different from the comatose Third Child."
"What of the girl?" Gendo asked her. "The female variation?"
"She's currently sleeping. Apparently, she does lack motivation to do anything other than nothing."
"And the Fifth Child?"
"The doctors have up his morphine. The beating he received from the Third Child, or the person that looks like him, was more brutal than expected."
"Has Section Two reported anything in Tokyo-3?"
"Nothing but a skateboarding theft and assault."
As they continued to converse business, Rei Ayanami, needing to see a familiar face, went to see the comatose Shinji in the hospital.
Ikari-Kun, she thought, sitting in a chair beside his bed, what has happened to you?
-x-
"We might as well go see if our self-indulgent sibling has gotten himself into trouble over his appetite," the lustful incarnation of Shinji stated, now sporting a small, black pouch to carry the kitten in. "Shall we my rage-driven brother?"
"Yeah, sure," the vengeful one responded, his hair now falling his left eye. "Peace is only preached to the masses as they're taught only violence, anyway."
"Where'd you learn that from?"
"Nowhere. Those are my own words."
"Impressive. Isn't he impressive, Sutego?"
As they both got off the floor of the damaged house, the vengeful one uttered, "Sutego? You actually named your kitten?"
"What would you have me address him as?" She asked him, her hands now sporting chained bracelets. "He was nearly taken from this world…and that disgrace of a young man had the arrogance to consider killing him a merciful act. He was nothing more than a disgrace with a desire to get away with murder because who would stop to consider a small, helpless animal a person with the same rights to life as we do? You know I speak a variation of the truth."
"You know, if we weren't related or connected through a common goal, I'd probably kiss you on your hands right now."
"If you did that, I'd have to cut your lips off."
They abandoned the ruins of the house and headed towards where they suspected their brother had run off to.
-x-
Even after a bag of pastries, the gluttonous Shinji Ikari was still hungry. Apparently, food was unable to satisfy his hunger. It was a good thing he was standing outside of NERV HQ. He needed a different way to satisfy his appetite.
"To think I would have to come here," he spoke with a bit of pastry still in his mouth; he lacked a specific manner when it came to eating. "How will they react to seeing me, I wonder? Will he react to my presence? I know he's reduced to sleeping while we're here, but will he give some indication that he is aware of us?"
-x-
The comatose Shinji's right hand twitched as Rei noticed something unusual with his physical reactions; as far as the First Child knew, it was unlikely that coma victims demonstrated such actions.
At first, she thought to inform Commander Ikari, but then recalled his lack of concern towards the Third Child when he was trapped inside Unit-01. With that memory in mind, she decided not to inform him about the hand twitching. She just continued to sit in front of the fallen boy, wondering when and if he'll ever wake up.
To be continued…
A/N: I looked at this again and decided to pick up with it a little bit. I hope it'll impress you until a later time. Peace out.