Creation began on 06-09-09

Creation ended on 06-10-09

Neon Genesis Evangelion

A better choice

A/N: This idea just came to mind while thinking about the beginning of the anime and manga, how the good guy seeking approval got a letter from the stupid head that wanted to break him. It doesn't seem like this has been done before, but I gotta try it for myself. A one-shot, alternate universe-based story.

"Shinji! You got a letter!" His aunt called him down from his room, but he wasn't listening. He was blocking out the world again on tape player. Nothing else really mattered to him, anymore. "Shinji!"

Unable to get him down, she went upstairs and found him sitting on the floor of his room, bobbing his head. She tossed the letter to him and left. He picked it up and read the envelop, seeing the sender being his father, Gendo Ikari. Without hesitation, he did the very opposite of opening the envelop…and set it on his desk where he wrote on the face of another envelop…and put the letter inside it.

Return to sender, he thought calmly as he sealed the letter shut. And then got up to mail it.

"I'm going to mail this letter," he told his guardians. "Be back in a few minutes."

Walking down the street, he never had any regrets about not opening the letter. Not a single regret at all. He had slowly, and painfully, come to accept that his father, right after the death of his mother, was beyond his reach, and put him out of his mind. It was three years ago that they saw each other, but Gendo never said anything to Shinji, no matter how much he was spoken toward, and a week later that Shinji simply gave up and moved on with his life.

It's…better this way, he thought as he stepped into the post office to send the letter far away from him. Even if there were a small chance of a reunion, it wouldn't work out for either of us. He chose to discard me. Now I'm choosing to forget about him.

Stepping back out, he saw some of his friends from school across the street from him.

"Shinji?" His class representative, Mitsuko Hyojo, asked as she noticed him. "Hey! We're off to the movies to see that new action film! You wanna come?"

"Sure!" He responded to her and jaywalked across the street after seeing no cars coming ahead. "I was gonna go back home, but now this is way better."

-

A few days went by and Gendo received a letter that he definitely had to look at: His own letter, to his son, returned back to him! It also came with a letter that his son wrote to him, saying: It took a week after we last saw each other at her grave marker for me to come to terms with my life. You and I are just strangers to each other because you chose not to accept me for me. No matter how hard I tried, you wouldn't speak to me, and so I've decided to end the hopeless idea of us ever coming to a path on some dead road where there would be a reunion between us and move on. So long, Gendo. You do what you feel you must with your life…and let me live out mine. Shinji.

That brat! He thought, unable to accept that the Third Angel would be arriving in three days and the only other person that he required to make his scenario work for him wasn't coming.

"Well?" Fuyutsuki asked him as he stood there by the desk.

Gendo, instead of responding, slid the letter over to him. Fuyutsuki picked it up and read it, never expecting something like this to have happen.

"And only after a week since the last time you met," he said. "That's quite a remarkable recovery for the mind, considering your history. Seems like he's living a regular life without distractions."

-

Returning home from school with his report card, Shinji noticed that his uncle was talking on the phone, and just took his card with him up to his room. Setting his things aside, he went to his telescope and started looking around the sky for some constellations that he hoped to find during the remaining daylight hours. Of most of his classes, astronomy was one of his favorite subjects, with geology second to it. He came to view astronomy as a means of coping with some of the problems he faced during his twelfth year of life. His teachers were thoroughly impressed by his subtle knowledge of star constellations, even when some of his answers were mainly just guesses that he had managed to answer by luck alone. They even considered for him the possibility of a scholarship in astronomy.

That would probably make anyone with a taste for it happy, he thought as the sun finally went down and allowed for darkness. Hmm…what is this we have here?

With his telescope, he saw something shining and advancing his way. He went to the hallway and took the cordless phone and called the city's observatory and gave them the information that had found. What he received in return was nothing next to frightening.

"Congratulations, Shinji Ikari," the woman at the observatory on the other end went, "you've just discovered an extraterrestrial."

He gasped and looked into his telescope again, seeing what he had thought was a comet, but saw that it looked more like some sort of bird-like creature, shining and almost like a crystalline figure or something that you don't see except in comics or movies.

"Shinji, come down here!" He heard his uncle yell for him, and he obliged and left to see him.

"Yes?" He came down and asked.

"You had received a letter from your father, is that true?" He asked him, receiving his nod as a response. "Well, he called over here and said that you sent his latter back."

"Yes, I did, and I had good reason to." Shinji told him.

"What good a reason did you have to not even look at it?"

"I've put him behind me. He doesn't really want me around, so I don't wish to keep deluding myself that he'll eventually come around and admit that he made wrong choices and wishes to make amends. I sent him my letter along with his to tell him just that."

"Won't you even consider going to see him in Tokyo-3?" His aunt questioned him.

"You mean that city they had finished constructing after completing Tokyo-2?" He asked her back. "No. I don't wish to see him. Whatever reason he sent that letter that might even relate to wanting me to see him in that city only answers me one thing: The reason's not good and he's not changed a bit."

He looked away from her and over at the counter and saw some of today's mail, and went to examine the pile. Two letter were addressed to him, but only the first one had some meaning to him. It was a letter from the University of Tokyo, which had been relocated to Tokyo-2 after the destruction of the original Tokyo four years ago. He opened it and read the contents of the letter.

"Okay," he sighed. "I wasn't expecting this to happen so soon."

His aunt looked at his letter and said, "I keep telling you to try politics. Not astronomy."

"No thanks, politicians are cruel and unjust, just like half the world's leading scientists that work for some United Nations-sanctioned organizations. Y'all said to find something that I'm good at or join the military. I actually found something that I'm good at."

"But why would some university offer someone like you, who's not even sixteen, a scholarship in astronomy?" His aunt asked him.

"Just a few minutes ago, I found an extraterrestrial through my telescope," he explained.

"You what?!" His uncle asked.

"You don't believe me? Come see." He told them, taking them to his room to look at his telescope.

-

"That…doesn't look like the Third Angel," said Ritsuko to Fuyutsuki, having read the unseen Dead Sea Scrolls that were never made public, looking at pictures of the extraterrestrial in space. "It looks more like Arael arriving earlier than it should be."

"So far, it hasn't done anything other than just being discovered where it is, currently, by the very person that won't be showing up at all," Fuyutsuki said to her.

"You mean the Third Child discovered this Angel?"

"Yeah, with a regular telescope."

"And if it does, eventually, show up closer to the Earth?"

"Then, we're probably dead."

-

Deep in the darkness of space, Arael floated aimlessly as it looked at the small, blue marble that was Earth. It was to wait for any signs that its relative, Zeruel, didn't find their progenitor, Adam, but then again, Zeruel wouldn't show up until it received word that Bardiel didn't fare off as well as Sahaquiel would, and Sahaquiel was their only suicidal Angel that could actually be considered a living explosive. But their respective third relative, Sachiel, was just like Zeruel, possessing a fighter's pride and always seeking a good battle, with all other priorities, even the most important ones, second to that. Still, it didn't really hurt just to look at the blue planet and marvel at its beauty, however much of its surface had been destroyed by the spawn of Lilith that could actually care less about the very delicate nature of their world. One pondering question that never ceased inside Arael was always why does such a race as Man even need to exist if they were to evolve from primitive, nigh-invulnerable apes to nigh-intelligent, fragile homo sapiens that were divided by race and ethnicity and other varied problems that were, to itself, very unjust.

"This is Sachiel," came a telepathic call from the Third Angel. "I repeat, this is Sachiel, calling in response to the delayed action we had planned."

"This is Arael, Sachiel," the Angel of Birds responded. "Speak up."

"My so-called good battle that I expected to happen…is not going to happen. This whole plan in for nought."

"And what of Adam?"

"Adam is dead."

"Why am I not surprised?"

"But Adam shall return…in due time."

"In due time? Sachiel, that's a hundred years from now. You don't actually expect all of us to wait around for ten decades, do you?"

"As people used to say: Patience is a virtue."

"Very well. I shall relate the message to Sahaquiel, who in turn shall relate the message to the others. Ramiel is not going to like this."

"Ramiel doesn't have to like it, but has to accept that we've got no choice. And a lot can happen in a century."

"Yeah, like humans becoming more violent."

"You never know. Some of them may change."

"And by 'some', you mean a few hundred that are left that don't believe in violence solving everything."

"Exactly, Arael. Be well."

"Be well." With the telepathic call ending, the glowing, bird-like Angel was by itself again, gazing at the Earth. Maybe they can change in a hundred years from now. Maybe they can.

-

"Hey, Shinji," went the former class representative, Mitsuko, to the older Shinji, as she found him in the cemetery leaving a bouquet of flowers at his mother's grave marker. "How's life with your astronomy teachings?"

Shinji, looking older by twenty-five years, turned to face his oldest friend and responded, "The same as your life fighting to prevent future wars."

"Now, you know that we both know that I fight the war to prevent wars differently than my parents expected me to. My weapons on the field of the UN Senate are just those of common sense: Simple words used in simple sentences."

"And simple sentences that are filled with hope."

"Oh, I heard some rumors about you seeing somebody new in town. Is that true?"

"Yes, it's true, and it's good of you to confirm it by asking the one at the center of the rumors."

"What's she like, anyway?"

"She's always polite, yet rude to those that she's able to tell that can't be trusted. Gentle, yet aggressive when a situation calls for force. And she's got a degree in geology and entomology."

"Reminds me a bit of that hour-long horror-comedy by that guy who was a young master of the horror franchise. I think the movie was called…Sick Girl by Lucky McKee."

"The girl was only an entomologist, and maybe she's a little like her, but there's no such thing as a bizarre insect that does half of what the one in the movie did. And she doesn't keep bugs in her house… She keeps a ferret that looks like a piece of art. It's got tiger stripes and everything."

"Wow, that is bizarre. What's her name?"

"Arael. Arael Yahagi."

"You sound like you're in love."

"Oh…I kinda am."

"Genuine or unrequited?"

"Genuine."

"Heh-heh-heh. I'm gonna pray for you, old friend. Most people get called the dumb taunt of that dumb comedy film The Forty-Year-Old Virgin…"

"Mitsuko, I've been dating her for almost three months now. I'm way past the kissing and making out to even get called that dumb name and all."

"Eh-heh…you and her actually did it?"

"Do I need to spell it out for you?"

"No, there's no need for that. I have one other question before I go eat my lunch."

"Ask away."

"When you said your father, that old jerk, sent you a letter that you sent back to him…did you have any regrets about not seeing him? Any at all?"

"No. None at all. I couldn't delude myself with the hope that he'd come around and want to make amends with me, so I gave up on any hopes of a reunion. Whatever the reason he sent the letter, I was so not gonna let be my problem…or a problem he was trying to force onto me."

"You know, when I invited you over to my house that time when we were younger, and my mother had said some messed-up things about you because of him…I just want you to know that I never did pity you. 'Cause I knew you were better than he ever hoped to be, and I was right. I mean, look at you: You got a degree in astronomy, found some fame in the discovery of that extraterrestrial that wandered around the Earth for ten years without even trying to cause harm, like it was just observing things, and even actually found somebody that you love. And people actually approve of you, saying things about you that we both know is true."

"Like how I'm not interested in politics or abusing small science to change the world, or joining UN-sanctioned organizations like the disbanded NERV organization almost around the same time I got that letter offering me the scholarship. And it turned out my father worked for that organization as the one in charge. Ha-ha-ha. Just what was the purpose of such an organization like that, we may never know."

"Maybe it's best if we didn't know for now. Life is getting on with very few problems now. The economy is no longer on edge, the new governors approved by the UN are doing good jobs of reducing crimes allover the world, crime and drug lords getting found and put behind bars, bent cops paying their dues for the misuse of power and acceptance of bribes, and actual families living together. It's like something outta a fairy tale or something. Except that it's all real."

"That's because it's all related to hard work, putting effort into an ideal, and a lotta patience and hope into what you want."

-

"Shinji," went a young woman with an almost-translucent hair of silver, as the astronomer showed up at the small diner. "I almost didn't think you'd show up."

"I'm sorry, Arael," he apologized to her. "I had just finished talking my old friend at the cemetery."

"It's okay. I would've still waited for you. I trust you enough to know that I'm not being stood up." She told him.

"Actually, I don't ever want to even try to stand you up…because I'm hoping that you'll agree to marry me one day."

"Marry you? You know that I'd say yes, do you not?"

"Eh-heh-heh."

"Um, I was serious and I was actually asking."

"Oh, um…yeah, I would know."

"You wouldn't believe how many people I came across today were listening to that same song from that music group that made the song in that music video. Thirty-seven. I keep forgetting the title but the lyrics are still the same: Take everything from the inside and throw it all away…"

"From the Inside by the Linkin Park music group. You would have no idea how much that song got stuck in my head after I started listening to it. I compare it what I've done in life with the choices I don't regret making. My uncle, on the other hand, thought that music should've been banned because he feels that the lyrics generate violence."

"Almost like my grandmother. She wanted to take my video games away because she felt that they diminish my intellect. It takes intellect to play video games. I certainly wasn't gonna trust her with my games ever again."

"Take everything from the inside and throw it all away 'cause I swear…for the last time, I will trust myself with you." Shinji sung the lyrics, and Arael followed suit.

Somehow, she thought silently as she bobbed her head, I don't think I'll see my relatives after all of this is over.

The End.

A/N: What do you think? Like it? Hate it? Leave a review, please. And a big 'congratulations' to whoever can make any connections that was hinted at in the story. At first, I wanted to be inspired by the manga version that had Shinji living with his aunt and uncle, but as I slowly thought more and more on it, I felt the need to put From the Inside by Linkin Park in there, as it's one of my favorite songs to listen constantly. When you think about it in a creative way, that song can be compared to anything that people actually contend against or something like that. Peace.