This is dedicated to the wonderful, bright and colorful people of the FFIRC.
Sorry guys to have missed the session yesterday.  But I wish you luck on the
fanfics you're coming up with.  Oh, and I'm not a card. ^_^  If I was one,
I'd rather be a credit, with unlimited funds, no payables ^_^.

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What do we do now?
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by Florencio de la Merced, Jr. (fmerced@pworld.net.ph)

A Fanfic inspired by the anime, Neon Genesis Evangelion.  All rights belong
to the creators of Neon Genesis Evangelion, no attempt has been made to do
otherwise.
----------------------------


�What do we do now?� Shinji Ikari, the third Children calmly asked his
guardian, Major Misato Katsugari as the door of their home slid open.  It
wasn�t his home, he�s just another border with the chief of operations and
planning of NERV, the organization behind the EVAs.  Misato dropped her
groceries, mostly consisting of six packs of beers and a lot of instant
foodstuff, on the table.

�I don�t know?  I guess we wait for the official word.�  Misato sat down,
giving her precious legs the rest they needed after the long hard day at
work.  Yes, she exclaimed inside her, it was over.  As the prophecy had
foretold, or at least that�s how she thinks it was, the last of the enemy
had vanished.  Angels, as they were called, they weren�t saints, Misato
chided to herself.

Shinji had retreated to his room, changing his clothes and picking out a
digital tape off his audio player.  He sat down on his bed.  The back of his
mind was still in shock, and relieved at the same time.  Today, he had seen
the last of the ANGELs, or so he had been told.  He wondered now what he was
supposed to do.  Shall he go back, to his teacher back home?  His father was
still the father he knew.  A father that�s been unresponsive and unattached,
with not a care in the world for his son�s feelings, him.  His future, as it
had always been, was nowhere to be found.  Shinji laid down, hoping to sleep
off everything he had seen the past few months.

�Shinji?�  A voice in the darkness echoed.  It was faint, a mere thought any
EVA pilot was accustomed to hear.  But this one was for real.  Or so he
thought.  He sat up almost immediately as he heard his name again.  �Are you
. . .�

�Rei?�  Shinji saw a shadow move, or his eyes were deceiving him at that
fearless moment.  He tried to get up, a force he had not sense held him
down.  It was a touch, a soothing hand on his shoulder kept him in bed.  �Is
that you?  Who...� Shinji tried to look, �are you?�

�It�s me, you idiot! Who else?!�  Another hand came over, brushing across
his face, caressing the garment he wore.  He snapped, the fear he had felt
came back rushing up his face.  He forced himself to break free, the
mindless reaction of survival got control of him. �Huh?�

�Asuka!  What are you doing in my room?!�  He was breathing hard and his
stare was affixed at the figure kneeling at his bed.  �Get out.�

Asuka stood up, and walked past Shinji.  �Fine!  I�m not talking to you
anymore, Third Children!�  She opened the door, but fell short of moving
out.  �Let me just say, you blew it!  Really! Third Children!�  Shinji stood
awkwardly, staring at the flimsy garment the other EVA pilot was wearing.
The light from the outside was almost making it quite translucent, if not he
would have sworn there was nothing there.

�His name is Shinji.�  The voice came from another corner of the room.  It
was frail and unemotional when it passed through the still evening air in
the room.  It was graceful, yet there was nothing exceptional in the way it
was said.  What made both pilots, children at heart, stir was the figure
that finally revealed itself.  �His name is Shinji Ikari-kun.�  A smile, a
sweet blissful smile presented itself to the host.

�Rei?� Asuka stood shocked and bewildered.  �How...�

�Rei?  What are you doing in my room?�  Shinji failed to ask the first
Children, Ayanami Rei, the same order he had given to Asuka.  He would ask,
he thought, not order.  Rei was different, someone like himself, not like
Asuka.  He saw her look, the look of the mother when she sees her child, the
look he had seen in his own mother, the fear of that look that he also had
seen in an Angel.  The last one, in fact.  �Rei?�

�Shinji, the next generation of Eva Pilots is our future now.�  Rei smiled
further more, starting a few steps towards Shinji.  Asuka blinked, not fully
comprehending what Rei had just said.

�Hey, what do you mean next generation?�  Asuka held out a conniving
pointing finger towards her other rival, the first EVA pilot.
�You...not...saying...�

Rei looked at Asuka, confidence beaming across her face.  �Yes, you heard
right.  It was sanction by Director Ikari.�  Shinji and Asuka almost fainted
right there and then.

�Father?�  Shinji couldn�t believe it that what was going on, failed in
comparison to the new treachery he was hearing.  What exactly was his father
up to again, not that he did have enough reasons to hate him?

�My Father as well.�  Rei approached Shinji provocatively, a slow step after
another, her hair swinging from back to side.

Asuka still couldn�t believe her eyes.  This honor student, the first
Children, was humiliating her again.  What was worse, that it wasn�t about
EVA�s or synch scores this time.  �Wait!  Hold on a minute there!�

�Don�t worry Asuka, you�ll have your turn.�  Rei grinned and effortlessly
leaned towards the boy he had known only before as the pilot of Unit-01.
The third Children was so close at hand and he was her next mission.  Asuka�
s face was the mix of confusion, the agony and ecstasy all intertwined in
her little naughty soul.  She was perplexed and was caught off guard, a
disadvantage she didn�t like at all, but failed to comprehend at the instant
it hit her.

�Uh, Rei...um.�  A few step back more and both children would find
themselves on the bed.  �Wait...�

On the doorway fell a new shadow, taller yet more female in many respects.
�Ok, what�s going on?  Hey, Shinji.  Why you naughty little...� Misato
Katsugari, supervisor and self appointed guardian of Shinji caught him by
the ears.  �I wouldn�t have know it if I hadn�t seen it.  Shinji, how could
you have these girls?�  Shinji ignored the pain only to refute Misato�s
allegations.

�It�s not what you think.�  Actually, he himself can�t think what to think
about his situation.

�Well, then.  Ok.  Rei.  Asuka.�  Both girls embarrassingly nodded at
Misato.  �You girls sleep out here, I�ll keep a watch on you two.�  Both
young women meekly walked out of Shinji�s room.  �As for you,� Shinji
breathed the last breath he thought he would have, �Goodnight, Shinji
Ikari-kun.  Pleasant dreams.�  The door finally slid shut.  The smile or
smirk on Misato�s lips left a trail in the ensuing darkness.  Shinji was
alone again, but deep in his heart he knew the question all three women were
asking outside his door.  Alone, but for how long?  For him, the future was
neither bright nor dark and filled as the void of his EVA.  It was the hell
he knew then, it was a hell turning up in him as well.

�So this is my future.� Shinji turned over in bed.  �Rei?  Asuka?�  The
player restarted, playing back the same track.  �Misato?�  He grimaced.
�No, not her.  Please, not her.�  He looked up at the ceiling, a sight he
had grown accustomed to.  �Well, maybe her.  But...� He finally caught the
sleep he needed.  Though, unlike the other nights he had slept.  This one
night, at the end of the Angel Attacks, he would finally have a dream, a
dream he never thought he could dream.  If there were a night he didn�t want
to end, this would have been it.  Until of course the next time.

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The End

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