45Broken heroes
A/N: A small premise before we start: leave all your expectations for sadness or even seriousness out of the door. I wrote this epilogue trying to have as much fun as possible. With that out of the way, let's hope that I can put a smile on your face.
Also there might be some ""casual"" references to real people hehehe.
Chapter 29: Epilogue
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System online…
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Accessing [Plans] database….
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Access granted…
Searching…
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Document found, opening document…
Garden of Eden project
Status: complete
Date of completion: 5 years ago
Description:
The Garden of Eden is my last project.
When I created it, I had thought that humanity would benefit from the full spectrum of emotions, being able to express themselves in so many ways and feel so many things was the advantage that I decided to give them so many years ago.
Yet… I was foolish in not thinking about the possible degenerations of each emotion…
Love can turn abusive, care can turn into selfishness, anger into hate and so many more…
And as I sit down here at the bottom of Terminal Dogma, staring at Lilith's body I ask myself… why?
Why did I allow those things to happen? Why didn't I make them more restricted?
Why didn't I make them more like myself?
The answer came to me as I began remembering… remembering what I did… what Lilith was a part of…hehehe.
I'll let you in on a small secret.
I had my suspicions at the time that something like that could happen and yet I didn't act on it, despite how easy it would have been.
And the truth is… that subconsciously… I wanted it to happen.
I want to experience things, all things, ever since I was brought into existence along with the rest of the universe.
I never knew what true sadness or madness was until then and I guess that I needed eighty trillion people to die to understand that…
There are still some things that I haven't experienced yet… and I will keep seeking them out in the future, but I don't want to drag the entire universe with me once more.
That's why I am creating this project, so that others can live in peace without having to worry about me... Because that's kind of what I really want.
Basically what's going to happen is that after the third impact, whatever the outcome may be, I will change Earth into what humanity has defined in the past as Eden, with some modernizations of course.
Then, once everyone I care about is safe, I will go around the universe, jumping from dimension to dimension to experience every sort of feeling that I can.
Once I'm done I will… I will…
I…
I don't know, maybe I could go for another memory reset or just go silent and wait it out until the end of the universe.
I could destroy everything and restart from Zero, maybe even kill myself…
Heh.
One of the downsides of having endless possibilities is that you really can't choose can you?
Maybe I'll figure something out, as my mind keeps expanding so will the universe and as the superclusters of galaxies become more defined, my thoughts will too.
Do I have to wait for entropy to finally decide what I want to do? Maybe, but at least I'll be completely sure of my decision if it comes to that.
And as I sit here while memories of my suicide attempts begin to surface, I know that I am about to feel pain and that Samuel is coming…
Yet right now, the only thing I fear the most is myself.
I will update this document once I have finally made a decision, but for now, excuse me as I begin to scream.
[...]
Earth/Eden, Blaskowitz residence, 31/12/2021 14:00
*Driiing* *Driiing*
*Silence*
"Dude, are you sure this is the right house?"
"Elizabeth wouldn't lie to me, she said it was this address and I believe my girlfriend"
"Whatever you say Spartan… have you ever met her parents?"
"No,I've heard their voices sometimes while we were playing and she has told me some things about them, but I don't know what they look like"
"Well, you're about to find out pretty soon"
His friend said as some heavy footsteps were heard coming towards them and a moment later, the door was opened.
"Um… hello sir"
"Who… are you two?" the man asked from his intimidating stance.
"Elizabeth's friends, we… were supposed to meet up in front of the her house around now"
"Oh? The two she hangs out with online?"
"Yes, I'm SixSpartan, Spartan for friends"
"And he has a massive crush on your daughter, sir?" the other boy suddenly asked.
"Flynn Tag- wait what did you say?!"
Then Spartan breathed deeply for a moment before he said:
"Mister Taggart, I am going out on a date with Elizabeth tonight"
The man simply stood there surprised, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed as he said:
"Well… that's a detail she didn't tell me about… but sure, I guess that it was bound to happen at some point…
On thing though"
"Hm?"
Suddenly Flynn lifted up the boy in the air by grabbing his shirt and after getting his face closer he said:
"If you hurt her in any way I'm going to rip your guts out with my bare hands"
"I-I Ehm-Ehmm"
Suddenly a female voice was heard from behind Doomguy as she said:
"Let him go dad!"
The man did so and as he turned to look at his daughter he replied:
"Hey, I was just a dad, doing dad business…
Which includes scaring your daughter's boyfriend to death before you ask"
"Ugh… anyway are you okay Spartan?"
And as the boy looked at her and her beautiful dress he said:
"Yeah I think that I'm in heaven"
She giggled while walking outside as her bright green dress moved along with her slender legs and her long brown hair.
She gave a small hug to the boy and then turned towards her dad as she said:
"Well, I'm going now, see you tonight at the concert dad"
"I'll drag your assses over there if I have to, but in all seriousness…
Go out and enjoy your day, especially the two of you!"
Elizabeth and Spartan blushed a bit before the other boy tugged them playfully from behind and said:
"Yo, I think that I have to stay here for a couple of minutes as I have something to ask your dad Elizabeth. You two can go already, let's meet up at the shopping centre hm?"
And so Spartan replied:
"Are you sure? We can wait for-"
"Don't worry it will be just a couple of minutes! I'm not going to die, hehe!"
"If you say so… alright then, see you later"
And so the couple got on Spartan's motorbike before speeding off into a flourishing Tokyo 3.
"You're not going to follow them or ask me anything are you?"
Flynn asked as he got off the doorframe and watched the two of them disappear after a curve.
"I'm simply… entrusting the future to the next generation"
"The Belkan war, volume Zero, I love that book"
"I do too, heh… anyway I do actually have to ask you something, about tonight's concert"
"I'm all ears boy"
"If you could try to make it look like you aren't there for the two of them, I really want to make sure they have a great night together"
"That's going to be kind of hard for me… uhmm, what's your name wingman?"
"I'm Larry, Larry Foulke, also may I ask why it's going to be hard?"
"Well it's impossible to go unnoticed when you're performing on the stage"
"Wait… you're… no that can't be true… although now that I look better at you…
You're the Doom Slayer!?"
"Yep, but your time for questions has run out.
Now get out of here before I put a bullet in your forehead"
"Understood sir!"
A moment later Doomguy was alone again, or partially, since he couldn't stop feeling the delicate hands hugging his shoulders from behind:
"I can feel that you are angry at me"
"You shouldn't scare her friends like that, you're a frightening man even without the armor, you know that right?"
Flynn let out a sigh as he said:
"I was just messing with them Sarah, and they seem to like me anyway"
"That's true, but you can't always act like that you idiot" she replied by giving him a playful slap on the head.
"Hey!
You leave me no choice!"
And so he began tickling her, but it quickly evolved into something more as two minutes later they separated their kiss and they looked into each other's eyes.
Sarah let out a small laugh as she said:
"You make me feel like I'm twenty again"
"Well, I can always ask VEGA to make you stop aging if you want" he replied with a small chuckle and she said:
"I think that I'll pass…There's something about growing old with you that… intrigues me.
Also isn't VEGA…. Like always busy?
He has his studio up there in Urdak, he has to take care of the angels, he also has to protect other civilizations from danger and so on… "
And so Flynn said:
"Trust me, when you are God you always have some time to spare. Heck he might even be trying to get a partner recently"
"Really? What is he going to do, transform into a normal human and live another life like the old greek gods? Ahahah"
"You're laughing Sarah but outside of hour house the postman just disappeared completely"
Her eyes went wide for a moment, before her beautiful smile returned on her face and as she relaxed her muscles by leaning on him, she said:
"Best luck to him I guess, I've already found the one for me"
"We've been married for how long now?*
"What? Do you want me to stop saying these things to you?"
"Hehehe…
Never"
And so they kissed again.
Tokyo 3 high school, 15:00
"Well, I've reviewed your Curriculum and you gave me and adequate interview, so I say that you're hired Miss Katsuragi, welcome to the school"
"It's an honor to be here sir"
"I'm glad you are enthusiastic about this, anyway, you will start next Monday and your classes and hours will be sent to you during the weekend, not today because of tonight's festivities and none of us want to miss tonight's concert"
"Neither do I, but thank you for the information, I believe I can go now?"
"Sure, we're done here and again, welcome to the Akomis high school"
And so she left the room finding Kaji waiting for her at the exit of the school.
"You haven't always stood in that place have you?" She asked as they began walking away.
"How did you figure it out?" He replied as he took her hand in his.
"You shirt smells of coffee and printed paper and I know that you really don't like using either"
He moved up his hands in defeat as he said:
"I guess that I'm becoming a worse spy as I keep aging, heh…
Anyway, do you want to hear a couple of interesting facts about the school?"
"Shoot"
"Ok for starters, the name Akomis high school comes from Akomis, an ancient Japanese man that had a dream of letting all of Japan be able to read everything that its writers produced, trying to conserve that text from the inevitable passing of time.
In the end he is said to have created a library so large it could almost rival the one in Alessandria.
The building still hasn't been found, but experts believe that they are pretty close to it"
"Wow, anything else?"
"Well, this one is pretty funny:
So, remember Mr Erman, the school principal you were talking to a moment ago?"
"Hu-huh"
"Well, I've found out that everyone in the school calls him Toasterman, as one morning he was so drunk that he brought a toaster instead of books and then tried to use it to do a lesson before collapsing on the floor"
Misato looked at him for a moment, before she suddenly burst into laughter as they approached their car.
Makinami household, Italy 09:00
"Hnnng good morning Rei" Mari said as she stretched on her bed while her girlfriend began waking up.
"Good morning to you too Mari, we will have lots of things to do today"
"I know, we have the concert tonight, plus we have to find you a new dress, we also have to play a bit so that we don't suck tonight, thankfully Maxwell has invited us over to help"
"Don't we have to go buy groceries too?"
Suddenly the door was opened a bit and as Maria peeked inside she said:
"I already took care of that girls, don't worry"
"Ah, thanks mom"
"Don't worry, I have to take care of my little princesses, eheh.
Anyway, Maxwell called earlier, she said that she wants to help out with picking a dress for tonight and she'll be waiting for you at the train station"
"Alright, thanks Maria, I believe it's time we get out of bed Mari"
"Aww come on, five more minutes of snuggle- whoa whoa whoa! Okay put me down Rei!"
"Not until you promise me to get up"
"Alright alright, fine. Can you stop using your AT field now?"
Rei slowly put down Mari as both of them got out of bed and walked downstairs to have breakfast.
"Let's be quick that Noelle and Cayden will want to come with us for sure"
"Race?"
"I accept, but first you should take a bra"
Rei said, looking at her girlfriend's chest, which made her blush a bit.
Mari laughed a bit and turned back, not before landing a fast peck on one of Rei's cheeks.
Tokyo 3, city centre, Asushin restaurant (yep, you read it right)
*ding*
"Damn it's been so long since I last was here, it was an awesome idea Hoodie" Erik said as the trio closed the wooden door behind themselves.
"Did you ever doubt me?
Oh look Maya is coming"
So as the well dressed woman approached them she said:
"Welcome guys, I believe you called earlier to book a table right?"
And Linus said:
"Yes, it was under the name Linus, for this hour"
Hearing this Maya walked towards the counter and after reading a small paper clip, she instructed the group to follow her to their table.
After they sat down, Linus said:
"Shit I forgot how comfortable these chairs are, again, awesome idea Hoodie"
"Yeah no problem, it's just that-"
He suddenly stopped talking as he felt something pull at his leg and when he looked down, he found a baby girl looking at him with cute round blue eyes as she asked him:
"Dah?"
Silence fell on the table for a couple of seconds as the confused group of friends looked down at the baby, who in turn looked back at them wondering what was happening.
"Ah there you are, come to daddy"
"Dahda!"
And so the girl walked towards her father's arms as he brought her up into a hug,then he said while looking at her:
"You have to stop running away while we are in here okay dear? You know that mom is going to get angry at us if she finds out"
"Okey Dahda" she replied and so the Father placed her down and told her:
"Now go wait for me at the counter okay? I'll be back soon, Maya is there to keep you company"
After the little girl ran off, the man let out a sigh of relief as he said:
"Nowadays these kids are uncontrollable, I hope that she didn't bother yo- Oh hi guys"
"Shinji?!" Erik almost shouted "Since when do you have a kid!? Only about a month has passed since the last time we saw each other!
Also what's with that strange pin you have on your suit today?"
"Oh this one, well it's a funny story, you see the old owner of the restaurant, Mr Araki is also a mangaka and now one of his mangas has started to become famous, so after getting an offer from a publisher he left me in charge of the place and told me to do whatever I wanted.
Initially I made Asuka the 'official' leader of the restaurant as I'm not the kind of person to give commands and everything.
But, she has lately decided to take some days off work after she brought her into our family.
… I have to say, motherhood was tough for her, one doesn't simply forget the stuff that has happened to her when she was young, but thankfully Kyoko is trying to make up for it whenever she can by persuading her husband Samuel into giving us free UAC interdimensional tours.
And every time that robot falls for her beauty, but I can't blame him, it looks like all the Soryu women have this attribute"
As Shinji finished speaking Linus asked him:
"Hey, I also heard that you two had gotten a therapist after the world was fixed, right?"
"Ah yes, we've become great friends since then and our families often go on trips together, he's an awesome guy and father, trust me.
Also I think that he knows you Erik, I told me your name once and he said that he usually calls you Blade"
So Erik replied:
"Oh wait.
Now I understand why you two recovered so fast!
Heck the only therapist better than DB might be The Father himself!"
"Heheh, anyway I'll bring you some menus guys uh-
What happened to Hoodie?"
Shinji asked as he pointed to the unconscious man sitting at the table and Linus said:
"Oh? Him? Well let's just say that he has a problem with very cute things and your daughter happens to meet that criteria perfectly"
They laughed and after Hoodie regained consciousness, Shinji walked away to go grab the menus, but on his way there his phone vibrated a bit and as he pulled it out he read the message:
"You Shinji! Deathbringer here, I'm just writing to let you know that Asuka and my wife drank too much and they passed out. Be sure to get her back when you come home from work, I'm sure you don't want to miss the festival tonight!"
Shinji chuckled and after thanking him he entered his favorite place in the entire restaurant. The kitchen.
Later that night, Tokyo 3 city centre
"What do you mean he still isn't here?! We are supposed to start playing in just a couple of minutes!"
"Well I'm sorry Mr Hayden, but we don't know the reason for this"
As the robot let out a tired sigh, he felt a pair of arms grab him from behind.
"Don't worry dear, he has always arrived on time and I see no reason why he wouldn't do that this year too.
I have to go now, you'll find me in the middle of the audience a bit to the left.
See you later Sammy"
"I told you not to call me that"
"I will anywayyyyy"
And so Kyoko left the backstage and reached the others among the sea of people down there waiting for the concert to begin.
Meanwhile, Samuel had just received a call from the Slayer:
"Hey, sorry for being a bit late, but there is quite a bit of turbulence up here, anyway you guys can do the start of the song without me, then we actually start playing just as I land"
"Hm. That sounds like a good idea, okay, Zeruel, Kaworu, get in position, we are about to give them a show they won't forget"
And so they took their instruments and walked over the elevating platform, with Samuel carrying a bass, Kaworu an electric piano and Zeruel at the drums, meanwhile the lead guitarist was flying up in the air ready to make his special entrance.
The platform began to rise and with it, the build-up of the song began too.
Play:[BFG division] Doom 2016 ost
A thunderous applause welcomed the group as the platform finally reached the top of the stage and as the notes filled the air around them, people in the front rows got so excited that they almost made the limitations fall off.
Thankfully they were able to contain themselves and with the volume rising each second, everyone saw a bright white point illuminate the sky right above the stage.
It floated there for a couple of seconds until it suddenly dived downwards and landed right at the centre of the stage in time with the drop of the song.
And from the white light, a flaming red and green electric guitar emerged, with two armored fists flowing across its chords to create the awesome riffs of the song.
The crowd exploded when the Slayer was finally revealed in his full glory and as the song kept playing, more and more people could be seen headbanging without a care in the world.
After several minutes though, the song finally died down and after the applauses, the Slayer took a microphone and shouted:
"Welcome Tokyo 3! And to the rest of the world that is watching us!
With this song I wanted to celebrate the beginning of the fourth salvation festival!
Now, before we continue, excuse me as I have to ask something to one of my colleagues.
Now Samuel, could you look to the left for a moment?"
And as the robot did so he also asked:
"Uh? We didn't talk about this Slayer, what are you doin-Whooaaa-"
As Samuel flew towards the middle of the crowd, he was stopped mid air by VEGA who put him down gently, so he immediately got back up and asked angrily:
"Hey! What the hell are you doing!?"
"Oh shut up, it's a special day for you right?
Your second anniversary since you got married, so here's my present, this year you get to sit this one out with your wife while we play for the entire night"
"You still need a bassist if you haven't noticed"
"Nah don't worry, I got that covered, they should be dropping in any second now"
"Wait what?"
The roar of the engines of a passenger airliner flying at low altitude above them was heard and two figures jumped out of it, much to the public's surprise.
Two lights were shone on them and once their green white and red parachutes, the Slayer took the microphone again and said:
"Everyone please welcome Mari Makinami and Rei Ayanami from Italy!"
And as the crowd cheered in surprise, a grumpy guy called Hidranick said:
"Aw come on I hate those two! And you two lovebirds get out of my sight!"
He pointed directly at Shinji and Asuka who were hugging while carrying their baby on their shoulders, a moment later though his finger was grabbed by a very large hand and twisted harshly as Toji said in an intimidating tone:
"Yo grandpa, leave my friends alone and go shout your crap at someone else"
The old man quickly left with a scary and embarrassed face as Hikari reached Toji to scold him about what he had just done.
(No offense to Hidranick it's just a joke)
Once Mari and Rei landed on the stage, they gave a salute to the fans and then they took out and connected their basses.
The songs resumed, this time with a lighter flavor and Kyoko didn't even let Samuel think about protesting for the Slayer's decision as she began to dance with him.
Soon, the rest of the crowd followed their example and in around a minute everyone was dancing with their partner.
In a VIP balcony above the stage
"VEGA, me and the others are going down there to dance, are you coming?"
"If Samuel had actually listened to me when I told him that I didn't want the special balcony you could have already been there…
Oh well, sure, I'm coming in a while, but there's something that I need to do first"
"See you later dad!" Ramiel exclaimed as he dragged his sister down with him while Kaworu and Lilith followed them.
9nce he was alone, VEGA opened a portal and walked into it, ending up near a tombstone in an otherwise empty dimension.
He crouched near it and placed a red candle next to the other three, then after moving his hand across the stone he said:
"Maybe in a couple million years I'll have placed so many candles that your dimension will start to look just like before… heh…
Have a nice anniversary David"
With that he walked out of the dimension and back to the festival.
He was about to start walking down towards the crowd, but suddenly a lit light in the distance caught his attention.
For this occasion in fact every other light in the city was turned off directly from Tokyo 3's electrical grid, so it should have been impossible for that single street lamp to still be active.
"It's near the train station… hmm, better if I go investigate for a moment"
At the station
VEGA had been walking around for a while now, after he had found the powered street lamp a new set of lights appeared which finally led him to the 6th rail of the station, with the digital clock being set at 6:66.
Sitting on one of the benches near the rails there was a man, both of his arms thrown behind the seat as he watched the festival from afar.
Then, he said:
"It took you a while to get here"
"I thought that you were done with the fourth wall breaks"
"Ah, right, well this is the last one anyway, the story's over, now I'm just waiting for my ride"
"Where are you going?"
"I'm not sure, but for once I'll be leaving all of this behind, after all what use do I have here anymore?
The plot has ended and everyone is happy, now I just need to write the word END and I'm done"
"I guess that you're proud"
"Oh yes, this has been probably the biggest project in my life and after around eight months of writing, it's almost done.
And look, my train has arrived"
*screeeeech*
The man got up as the doors opened, but just as he stepped on the yellow line VEGA said:
"Wait, there is one thing that I want to ask you before you go"
"Hm? Sure go ahead"
"Earlier you said that you were done because everyone is now happy and that's true… but I'm not sure about something…"
"Don't worry about it, just ask and I'll answer"
"Well…
Are you happy?"
"...
…I-…"
"And what about the previous chapters? The past you wrote for me, the things you said I went through…?
Those words… they weren't talking about me, right?"
"I…
No…or at least… not… completely…
While some of them were made up… others weren't and… I don't know… I…
I just wanted to use your empty backstory to talk a bit about what I went through in a very exaggerated manner…
That's why I think that I'm in debt with you VEGA, or at least, I'm in debt with myself for letting me use you as a way of communicating personal things…
You know? Some people would consider me mad for basically talking with myself"
"Well, but I'm not you or at least not completely"
"You're right, you're probably an image of me that my mind created which represents something that I want to be. .
Yet… you seem to have helped me somehow with this story… I helped myself by looking at myself from another perspective… trying to understand my issues and my actions better…
You know what my 'Samuel' was? The thing that both of us discovered that pulled us out of our depression?
Asushin, I guess, since I discovered that ship and the entire world around it, I've been much happier and it has helped me a lot in return.
Honestly I joke around on the asushin discord server that I'm addicted to it, but I mean…
It's like the sweetest antidepressant in the world.
I liked writing scenes with them, it was like producing my own medicine"
"Did that make you happy?"
"It was fun, I'll have to admit… every time I wanted to write something I always tried to make it fun for me, not really for others…
After all, in the beginning I hadn't considered even publishing this story and yet look where we are now"
"Since you say that I'm a part of you… I know that my journey isn't over yet.
That I'm still not happy with my life.
Despite the people I've met, the experiences I've done, I still know that I'm not really happy"
"I know that my depression has never left me, I liked writing that into you as that other evil version of you VEGA, I think that it came out nicely"
"I'm happy to hear that"
"...
Ugh dammit, why am I so nice to myself…."
"Say… if this story has really helped you so much like I know it has. Why not simply keep writing?
After all you made me tease those two extra stories in the infinite library"
"That's true…"
"So, just step down from that train… and stay with us a little longer, you can still work on your life, but at least you won't fall into that pit of despair once again"
"... But wouldn't I be running from reality then? Hiding in the world I make up by myself?"
"Well, considering how much you break the fourth wall there isn't much difference now, is there?
Plus I mean, it would be true if you were only talking about this fic on its own, but that isn't the case, is it?
You have grown as a person and made new friends, you met a lot of people with discord and… you've also learned how to help others that have problems similar to your own.
You discovered new interests and learned new things, to put it simply, you experienced a part of life that you were starting to lose with this story.
I won't tell you to remain or leave, but since I'm a fabric of your mind, I know that you have already made a decision"
And so the doors of the train closed and the machine speeded up, away from the station…
Straight into a thick concrete wall, where it exploded in a ball of fire.
"Explosions never get old, you know?"
"Come here and hug yourself"
The boy did and then VEGA asked:
"So, what's next?"
A modified DeLorean suddenly appeared on the train tracks.
"It's true that this story is over, but, as long as I'm not completely happy, I'll keep writing new stories and in this universe, I still have one more to talk about.
But for that, we'll have to go back in time"
The two of them get inside the car, along with pen pen.
"Okay, wher- sorry, when are going?"
And as the roar of X02S Strike Wyvern fighter jets filled the sky above, I say:
"To the fourth cycle of the time machine, right into the rebuild continuity, to the prequel of Broken Heroes"
"Will we come back to this story?"
"Maybe later and only for some corrections and whatnot, but for now, I think that I'll leave it like this, you do the honors?"
"The flux capacitor is on"
"Perfect, then let me deliver one final message as we get to 88 miles an hour.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for reading this story.
I hope that you liked it and sorry if this epilogue took a while to get out, but I was busy hehe.
Leave a review while you are at it, or not, your choice.
Jokes aside, I wish that I made it worth your time and that you will come back to read the prequel too.
Go check out the Asushin Mega Empire discord server while you are at it, it's full of great people and I'm there too!
But until then, goodbye.
THE END