Creation began on 10-06-23
Creation ended on 10-08-23
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Evangelion: Bitter and Brief
So far, the knowledge of things that had transpired didn't do much to ease Gendo as
Yui had no other alternative but to accept. First, Shinji, their son, had chosen Laudarant when he came upon the box. Second, Asuka, the Second Child, chose Lazarus to regain her mother from the Eva. And Rei, the First Child, chose Leviathan to escape from everyone that sought to exploit her for their own purposes. One child longed for the love he felt he was not getting from the people of his past, another child asked for a resurrection of her mother, and a third sought the power to escape from her would-be fate. Even if it was what they wanted, their choices had compromised NERV's ability to deal with the remaining Angels…if they ever appeared.
And in this twist of fate, there were five desires bestowed upon the people that held the puzzle box in its final configuration, with only one more desire left to be fulfilled. But who would be the recipient of the sixth prize to be had? Who would desire something for the right reasons or for personal reasons that would leave them exempt from the Cenobites and their god Leviathan? As Fuyutsuki held onto the box, he, Ritsuko, Maya and Yui were wondering who they could choose to have a wish granted by the Cenobite god.
"I honestly didn't think Rei would choose to leave us the way she did," Ritsuko told them.
"She didn't die," Yui said. "She chose power because what she really wanted was something not even Leviathan could give her. If she couldn't be restored to her former self, she would accept the means to get away from the people that maimed her, and now she's free."
"Maya," went Fuyutsuki, "why don't you take the last desire?"
"No," the young woman went. "Even if I could, there's a chance that it'll end up twisted to include some form of pain. They may promise some type of pleasure that people will be after, but they give pain to those that want too much. We've already seen what one such desire has done to hurt someone. If I made a choice, and I was selfish for wanting it, it'd be hurtful for whoever became a victim of my choice."
"So, there's nobody you want to bring back to life? Nobody you wish to have think about you? No dreams of being powerful or wealthy?" Ritsuko asks her.
"Not everyone wants wealth or power. Some just want honesty for the sake of honesty. Love would be selfish if the person you love doesn't love you the way you want them to."
As they stood in the hallway, away from Gendo, who was being watched by Misato and Kaji, they were uncertain of who the last desire would go to.
"Maybe one of them?" Yui suggests, pointing to Misato and Kaji. "There must be something they want that is genuine and not selfish."
"Urgh," Fuyutsuki shudders; he had just imagined Kaji asking for knowledge, only to have his head impaled by an unusual contraption that made his head hurt from all the thinking he did. "Maybe we should ask them first."
-x-
He tucked his daughter to bed as he always did since she came to live with him, and Shinji kissed her goodnight before he closed the door halfway, just in case she woke up from a bad dream and needed him to hold her until she calmed down. Returning to his room down the hall from hers, he sat at his desk and wrote in his journal of the day's events. For him, it was a series of happy days ever since he could remember his ninth birthday. The day he made his wish to the person that asked him what he desired the most. Before he knew it, he was here and he had parents that really loved him, that wanted him around.
The life he had longed for in the process, gifting him with family and friends. He was the happiest boy in the world; he had all that he wanted and couldn't ask for more. He wouldn't trade any of it away for anything else. In the end, this was the life he would cherish for the rest of his days, until the end of time.
In the end, he thought, looking at a picture of himself with his parents and his little girl, this is what happiness feels like.
-x-
"…But if the gifts they give to some people are twisted to include pain," went Kaji, "then anything they give comes with a price of its own if we're not specific about what we want."
Having been informed that there was still one wish left to be granted by Leviathan before the audience could conclude, Misato and Kaji were asked if they wanted something from the Cenobites. Ranging from life to power, either one could have whatever they desire since the price had already been paid. They just had to be specific enough to avoid the pain and suffering.
"What if there's nothing to be desired," Misato suggests, "except to be able to leave without the Cenobites coming after you in the future?"
"Maybe, but that's not how the box works," Fuyutsuki tells her. "In order for the Cenobites to appear, the box has to be solved, opened by whoever solves its first configuration, and only those cut by the blade it produces are marked by the Cenobites; they ignore anyone else that isn't marked as a sacrifice. And as the previous Hell Priest stated in an old recording, the box had to be deliberately opened to unleash the Cenobites, which meant the truly innocent were left alone. The same has to apply here with this box. I'm the one that opened, but because Behemoth was returned to their realm, this box now seems to offer six wishes instead of just one. Five have been granted, so the sixth and final is up for grabs, so long as it's what their heart desires."
"But even if I wanted something or someone…I wouldn't know how to face them or live with the aftermath."
"No matter which choice we make, there is going to be some measure of pain," Kaji says. "It might as well be the least degree of it."
"What is the least degree of pain?" Ritsuko asks him.
"Just being able to leave this place."
"Hey, there?" They all turned to see Asuka coming from down the hall, accompanied by her mother, who seemed to be in one piece, unlike Yui, who had required surgery to remove the pieces of metal and wires from her body.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Kyoko greeted with a bow of her head.
Fuyutsuki then suggested that maybe the last wish should go to Kyoko Soryu if she wanted something from the Cenobites.
"If your heart longs for something," he states, "and you're very specific about it, you should be able to obtain it from Leviathan without suffering."
"Did you obtain something?" Kyoko asks him.
"I got what I needed to do, which was to undo a mistake of my own making."
"You, Ikari?" She asks Yui, noticing she was holding an object that was intricate in design aesthetics, similar to the object in Fuyutsuki's hands.
"I received knowledge of my son's whereabouts," Yui answers her. "He's in a better place, away from all of this."
"Sounds like you regret your absence from his life."
Yui didn't respond to that comment, but couldn't fault Kyoko for saying such. It was her and Gendo's fault that their son was no longer in their lives. They had no one but themselves to blame for his decision to go away.
"I think I know what to ask for," Kyoko tells them, willing to accept the box from Fuyutsuki. "They can give people what they desire so long as it's what they really want and are specific about it. Then I'll ask them for what I want. Where are they?"
"My husband's office," Yui reveals, pointing to the open door down the hall where Gendo stood, still nursing his injured hand.
"Asuka?"
Asuka followed her mother to Gendo's office and entered the room where the main Cenobites were left to await the final desire from whoever held the box. Despite them not being a hostile threat to them, the girl couldn't ignore the fact that they appeared terrifying and dangerous from a distance.
"Lament," the Hell Priest went, "Lore, Laudarant, Liminal, Lazarus, Leviathan. Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu…what would you ask of us?"
As she was holding the box, she had the choice to have any one of the six desires spoken. She could ask for knowledge beyond her dreams, the unconditional love of another person, new sensations beyond all that she knew, someone brought back to life…or even power beyond her imagination. Anything she wanted was hers for the taking by Leviathan…but only as long as she was specific about what she wanted. She looked at her daughter and smiled; she had failed her when she was little and only wanted to do right by her with this second chance she had been given by the Cenobites…so she had to be careful to avoid suffering any further.
"I am forever grateful to Leviathan for bringing me back," she told them. "I thank you for this second chance at life. All I ask…is to be able to live it without fear of the unknown. There's nothing else to be had except the rest of my life. I don't need anything else. Nothing else matters to me except my daughter and her future that I hope to be a part of."
The Hell Priest looked to her, understanding her choice, but wanted to make sure she understood what she was asking of them.
"Do you know what you're asking of us?" They question.
"I do," she answers. "I don't want anything from you. I'm okay with just living past today."
"Then…you have chosen," went the gasping Cenobite.
"A life…of regret," the Hell Priest confirms, "knowing everything you have ever done, everyone you have ever hurt…and lost."
"Your suffering," the mask-like Cenobite adds, "has barely begun."
Asuka didn't understand. Just what did her mother ask for that made them seem very…upset with her decision. She held her mother's right hand as the Hell Priest stepped forward, closing the gap between them.
"You choose to live," they said, "to carry that weight, bitter…and brief. Such suffering is beneath us to the point that we don't bother with it. You have chosen…the Lament Configuration."
Asuka then looked at Kyoko's right left hand, which held the box in its final form…and saw her holding a cube-like object with the same intricacy as the other forms she had seen the box in. Looking back to the front of them, the Cenobites had vanished, as though they were never there.
"Mama?" She asks Kyoko.
"'Lament' means to grieve," her mother explains. "There is pain in life, but its bitterness is brief. As time passes, the pain diminishes…until it becomes tolerable."
They turn and vacate the office, rejoining the others in the hall.
Fuyutsuki notices the box has returned to its original form, indicating the final desire had been granted by Leviathan.
"What did you choose?" He asks.
"I chose Lament," she answers him. "I chose life, however long I have to live it."
"Lament," went Ritsuko. "Probably the only choice that offers the least pain. But…was it the right choice?"
"There's no right or wrong choice," Yui claims. "There is only the choice being made…and the person making the choice."
Fuyutsuki turns away from them…and sees a small apparition of a little boy holding onto a puzzle box. The boy smiles at him and then tosses the box to him. He catches it…and actually feels it in his hands. It changes into a piece of paper displaying the intricacies of the box with handwriting on it.
"Thank you for saving your friend," it read.
"Fuyutsuki," he hears Kyoko say to him, holding the puzzle box in front of him, "I think you should take this."
"Why?" He asks her.
"I doubt the box can be destroyed, but it can be hidden away, making it so that nobody can misuse it in some pursuit of desire. It will always be human nature to want something and go to extremes to get it, but this is a representation of what is most forbidden is often the most sought after. Even if the Cenobites are neither good or evil, seen as angels or demons to whoever they appear to whenever one those (she points to the box) is opened, what they offer to those looking for them is so enticing that…"
"Anyone will do anything to possess it. Yeah."
Yui turns to face Gendo…and sighs over her husband's arrogance that led to their current status. He had gone after the box and used it to bring her out of the Eva, making it useless for any use, and her restored body was maimed because she was not whole. Not in the way he had desired because he was not specific about how he wanted her back; even if she recovered from her injuries, she would not be the same as she had been before she went into the Eva. Not like Kyoko, who was whole because Asuka had been specific and whose blood and pain the Cenobites couldn't claim.
"Hide it someplace out of anyone's reach," she told Fuyutsuki. "Keep it locked up wherever you can keep it away from people that may want it."
They walked outside of the base…and Leviathan was nowhere to be seen. There were no clouds, no lightning, no trace of any Cenobites.
"Is it truly over?" Asuka asks, curious about not just the Cenobites, but the Angels, too.
"I believe it's over," Fuyutsuki responds; since he and Maya had offered Lilith as one their sacrifices, whatever Angels remained would not come to Tokyo-3…or anywhere else in the world. The human race is saved from the threat of extinction.
"So…what now?" Ritsuko wonders.
"It's not like we can tell anyone about this," went Maya. "Not unless they have dealt with this before or can take this seriously."
"Whoever recorded those videos and posted them over the internet believed that the world should know what boxes are about," Fuyutsuki told them. "And there's no telling how many of them are out there, waiting in the shadows, waiting for someone to find them, to open them up, to summon the Cenobites all over again."
"Then…it'll never end with them," Kyoko says.
"Only because we live in desire. When we desire something to the point of being willing to do anything, even the unforgivable, we put ourselves and others in danger, but only the truly innocent are left alone. Just hope you never encounter them again…and maybe hope that there are boxes out there that can open doors to places that are like paradise instead of places that are like Hell."
"Well, I'm going home," Misato tells them, which surprised them to hear. "I just want to wash off the filth and climb into bed. It feels like I haven't slept in ages."
She walked away from them, and Kaji ran after her.
"You have an invitation?" He asks her.
"Do you have any secrets you're keeping from me?"
"After what we've been through…I'll spill everything I know to you."
For Ritsuko, home felt good to her. Home, a shower, her bed, the simple things that people took for granted.
"I'll see y'all around," she told the others as she walked away the same path Misato and Kaji had taken to leave.
"Yeah," added Maya.
Fuyutsuki turned to look at Yui and Gendo, and saw Yui walking away from him, something that surprised him because Gendo didn't try to follow her or stop her.
"What was that about?" He asks her as she walks over to him.
"I decided that we need to separate for a while," she reveals. "I've been legally dead for over ten years, our son is gone, and everything we did in order to achieve anything we were after…has been for naught. Everything I did was for Shinji…and he got what he wanted from the Cenobites because he felt like people didn't love him. How do you move past that? How do you begin to move past that?"
Fuyutsuki didn't have an answer for her. All he could do…was hope that she could move on. If she believed in bitter and brief suffering, then maybe she could diminish her regrets. So long as she chose to live, to carry her weight that was brought upon her by her choices, she had the opportunity to ease her pain. She had a long time ahead of her to rebuild her life and readjust.
"So…what will you do?" She asks Fuyutsuki.
"What most of everyone else is likely to do," he says, "which is go home."
-x-
It was a mere coincidence that Shinji was informed by his parents that someone was interested in the item he acquired a few years ago and was willing to pay for its acquisition, even willing to meet with him in a public place if it made him feel less concerned about being manipulated or someone playing a prank.
"You said someone gave it to you and that when someone else comes looking for it, it's up to you whether to let them have it or not," his father told him, reminding him that his possession of the object was his obligation and his task to hold onto until someone came for it. "Whoever is interested in it, all you can really do is let them know what they should be expecting from it. It's up to them to heed your warnings or not, Shinji. Plus…if they're willing to pay for it, you can put it into Shado's trust fund or college education for the future."
His father was right, of course; whoever was in search of the box, he had to choose whether or not to give it to them. Once he gave it up, he will have fulfilled his purpose of holding the box and giving it to one who desired it. He didn't have to worry about his family or friends; what he was given by the Cenobites was without strings, as his blood suffering was not for them to have for their own, so he had nothing to worry about with this…transaction. And while he waited, he kept watch over his daughter as she played with the other children on the playground equipment.
"Hello, there, young man," he heard a woman's voice say to him, and he turned to his left to see that it was a woman in her late-forties, dressed in a blue yukata with pink petals, carrying a small, gray satchel with her. "Do you…think you can spare a minute of your time?"
Shinji now had his full attention directed to this woman. What she asked him was the confirmation of his contact that wanted the box and was willing to pay for it.
"Even a minute is a lifetime full of possibilities," he responded with his confirmation of contact, and then looked at the satchel she was carrying. "Is that case meant for me?"
She looked at the satchel and then back at him.
"It is," she answers with a smile.
Shinji sighs in acceptance as he looks down at the small box behind his feet.
"Then…that case is meant for you," he tells her, scooting down the bench so that she may take it. "A word of caution, though. It is not to be taken lightly by anyone. It promises what one desires…but gives different delights that are the opposite of what one expects or wants."
She set the satchel down beside him and picked up the box-shaped case he had brought with him. Watching as he took it and opened it to see the contents it held.
"It's all there, as promised," she says as she puts the box on the bench. "My employer honors his end of any exchange. When he heard of it and who had it, he said it was imperative that he have it for himself."
"If I'm being honest here," Shinji says, "I was expecting your employer to come here."
"Yeah, that's the thing about Mr. Ragako," she replies. "He's a man with so much time on his hands that he decided early on that he doesn't have to do anything he can get someone else to do for him. Whoa."
She had opened the case to look at the box.
"I…didn't expect it to be so…beautiful," she expresses.
"Yes, it is," Shinji agrees, closing the satchel after seeing the cash he was given for the box. "I hope Mr. Ragako takes pleasure in it. But still, only as a word of caution. It is not to be taken lightly. Be careful with it."
The woman nods in understanding and closes the case.
"Have a nice day," she says as she turns to walk away.
"Daddy, Daddy," he heard Shado call him as she came over with a flower in her hands. "Look at this flower."
"Oh, beautiful. Where'd you find this?"
The little girl pointed to a nearby tree and Shinji could see some flowers falling from its branches. He went over to the tree and picked up some more.
"Where'd you get that from?" Shado asked him, pointing to the satchel.
"Just something I'm saving for when you grow up," he told her.
"How long is that?"
"When you're old enough to go to college."
"How long is that?"
"Fifteen years from now."
"That long?"
"But don't worry about it. You're four. You're still a baby. And I'm still here."
She hugged him.
From a distance, unknown to them, a woman holding an intricate object in her hands watched with a measure of sadness on her face.
Yui, using her Lore Configuration gift again, just learned that her son had given away a box that was like the one he had found that gifted him with this life of love and happiness he longed for. But even though he had given the warning that the box came with risks, it was no longer his responsibility; once he gave the box to one who wanted it, he was free from his duty to safeguard it until it was sought after. He was no longer a guardian of the box, just a young man with a little girl and all the happiness he could want. And she was happy for him; even though this was not what she had originally wanted for him, it was what he wanted…and she had to accept this turn of events.
"I'm sorry, Shinji," she apologized, even though he couldn't hear her.
"Hmm?" Shinji went, looking around.
"Daddy?" Shado questioned. "What's wrong?"
"I thought I heard someone talking."
"Did they say anything?"
"They were…sorry about something."
"People that are sorry are people that have to be forgiven by whoever they hurt."
"Exactly, sweetie."
Yui watched as Shinji gave his daughter a piggyback ride on his back as they left the park. Even if he only heard her for just a second, she was content with this.
As long as he's happy, she thought, I am happy.
To be continued…
A/N: With the final desire granted, the presence of the Cenobites has vanished…until someone decides to open one of the boxes again because they choose to go after something they believe they can obtain from them. And again, Yui uses her gift from the Cenobites to see how her son is doing, discovering that he possessed a box that he had to hold onto until he gave it to someone that wanted it, but he got some good cash in exchange for it that he's putting aside for his child. How many of you were surprised that Yui chose to separate from Gendo for a while? Not exactly divorcing him, but they need to take time to adjust to the revelation that they drove their son to make his own choice that gave him a better life than what he had when they left him alone. The next chapter may be the final chapter.