Chapter 8.15
- Location
- National Capital Region, USA
This got a bit bigger than I expected. Again.
@Nyrath, @Matthew G, @Feng Lengshun, @LastChronicler, @Highwind, @Manic Dogma, @Troglodyte, @Student_of_Zelretch, @TKB17, @rdmcmains, @XkaliburRage, @Krazyfan1, @wtdtd, this is all due to you guys triggering the weekly update again.
Rei's having a bad day...
Chapter 8.15
Advent
+++
Weight returned and the cool, slick metal of the drainage grate at the bottom of the cylinder slowly pressed harder against the soles of Rei's feet as the LCL drained down past her face and body. She kept her face a cool mask, but inwardly she exulted. 'Finally, the healing and scan is done! I am free! I can see my friends in the morning! The ones I love, and that care for me!'
She stepped back and bent at the waist, like she was bowing to the door of the room, and relaxed her throat. The LCL filling her lungs and nose dribbled out slowly into the drain that was now below her face. The sensation would have been strange and nauseating if it hadn't been one Rei had experienced hundreds of times over the last few years. Right now, she didn't even notice it. She was too preoccupied with controlling her face, keeping the smile that wanted to break free under restraint.
She was so lost in her happy anticipation of seeing her two favorite people and their glowing bond again she failed to notice the approaching footsteps of Doctor Akagi until she straightened up. The labcoated scientist was standing right in front of Rei, a cool expression on her face.
And a large syringe in her right hand.
Rei was fleetingly glad her natural paleness kept the way the blood drained from her face from showing. She fought to keep her face blank. She couldn't scream, couldn't show her distress. She couldn't even say anything; Doctor Akagi always spoke first.
"Hold out your arm, Rei." She raised the syringe.
Rei slowly complied, trying not to shake. 'No no no no no no more drugs, not more drugs...' "What is it, Doctor Akagi?" she made herself ask in a calm, dull voice.
"Your psychographs were too erratic and active this week, Rei. Your body must be adapting to the medicine that stabilizes you. I'm increasing the dose. There's a bag with the increased dosage pills for your daily supplements on the table in the lab outside. Take them with you, stop taking the older ones. This is a booster shot. Don't worry, you won't feel a thing."
'That is precisely what I'm worried about! No no no don't please don't no!'
The needle tore its tiny hole in her skin, the old familiar sting. Doctor Akagi withdrew the syringe, instructing Rei to put pressure on the spot for a moment to halt the bleeding. Rei obeyed, pressing far harder on the spot than she had to, as if she could push the drugs out of her body before they... they... took............effect....
"I do believe it's working. Good. That'll keep you going through the night. Come on, it's time to go." She turned away.
If Doctor Akagi had been watching, she might of noticed the careful rigidity that Rei held her face to melt swiftly into a far more eerie stillness. But she was already walking away. "It's too late for you to bother returning to your apartment, Rei. Just use the cot in the old lab and go directly to school in the morning. Next Synch Test is on Thursday. Return then. For now, just go to sleep." the faux-blonde said as she left without looking back.
Rei didn't move, didn't cry out, didn't give any sign of distress. She just stood there in the empty upload chamber of Terminal Dogma for a long, long time, the blank eyes of her backup clones mindlessly watching her from the circling tank. Her stare back at them was all but identical.
Eventually, she took slow, robotic steps forward, walking towards to the exit door. She would not need clothes before the morning. She had nothing else to do but go to her assigned cot and sleep, as ordered.
Though that was hours more sleep than she required, the wait would not bother her. Nothing bothered her now. Deep inside, beneath layers of fog and comfortable numbness, a tiny voice wailed in anguished protest at the return of the hazy stupor that had so long consumed her thoughts, but it was soon extinguished, no match for the tidal wave of drugs coursing through her.
But it was okay. It no longer bothered her at all.
+++
Monday
"You ready for this, Shinji?"
Two young PIlots stared hard at the gate to the schoolyard like they were about to charge into a hail of gunfire. Their tightly linked hands hadn't left each other's grip the entire way to school, both trying to get psyched up for this.
The thin boy nodded. "I'm nervous as Hell, trying not to freak out, and wish we were back home in our room. I think I was less nervous for the fight with Sachiel. As ready as I'm going to be."
Asuka nodded, squeezing his hand. "Me too. But I've been thinking about this moment since... pretty much the first morning after our kiss. Since we're blown to Misato, there's no reason for me not to claim you good and publicly, now. And you have no idea how much I wanted to some days." She smiled at him.
Shinji gave her a more shy smile in return. "Still can't get over the idea of someone as amazing as you wanting me back, Asuka."
She stuck her tongue out at him. "Better get used to the idea, Third Child. 'Until the end of the world, you and me', remember? You promised. You're mine." She reddened a little and looked away. "Just like I'm yours," she said a little more softly.
"As long as you'll have me," he agreed, matching her blush. He scratched the back of his head with his free hand. "I-i-i'll try not to melt in front of the class."
"Giant monsters from beyond, you're a tiger. Publicly announcing you and I are a couple, and you get all nervous? You are my dearest baka, alright," Asuka said drolly.
"I know the real you, Asuka," Shinji managed to smile back at her. "You're halfway between being nervous just like I am, and ready to shout "I'm in love!" from the roof of the school."
"Yeah, well, maybe," she admitted. She squeezed his hand again. "So let's go do it."
They marched inside, doing their best to ignore the stares they were starting to draw from the kids in the schoolyard. They'd never been low profile once they'd all been outed as Eva Pilots, but after a while they'd at least stopped getting quite as many looks just from walking around. Plus, Asuka's loud antagonism of Shinji was known to the entire student body, so the two of them walking in hand-in-hand left a trail of buzzing rumor in their wake as they headed to their classroom.
They marched in, and turned right to the desk near the door. Asuka's expression shifted to a disappointed frown when they found Hikari's desk empty, though. "Damn it. I guess they've still got her quarantined in the hospital. Stupid bullshit... Hikari's not contaminated by anything!"
Asuka turned to look at the deputy Class Rep, who sat right behind Hikari's usual spot. "Hey, Iwao-san, I've got a quick announcement to make to the class before Sensei comes in. Is that a problem?"
The pretty teen blinked at being on the receiving end of Asuka at full blast, and meekly nodded. "Th-that's fine, Soryu-san. It's n-not long, is it?"
"It should only take a minute," Asuka confirmed. She looked at the clock above the blackboard. "One minute to the bell, anyhow. Ready?" she asked Shinji.
He nodded. Still hand-in-hand, they walked to the center of the front of the classroom, right in front of the blackboard. They waited as the last students filed in and the bell rang.
They got a few curious looks from the students, wondering why they were standing there. Shinji briefly met the eyes of Touji and Kensuke. Touji had a look of dawning horror as he noticed their handclasp. Kensuke looked up from his palmtop and blinked at the two of them, then started to grin as he reached for his camcorder. Shinji just blushed a bit more. He didn't worry too much about what the rest of the class was going to say, but the opinions of his friends had a bit more weight.
Once she was satisfied she had everyone's attention, Asuka left off her glaring contest with Tanaka and the other girls who were still pursuing Shinji and began. "I'm sure this will not surprise some of you." She shot a look at Tanaka and followers. "And will disappoint others, but as of today and from now on, Shinji and I are... well..." She turned to Shinji, dropped the handclasp, and put her hands on either side of his face. She pulled him right into the deepest, most intense kiss she could manage.
Shinji heard a wave of gasps ripple through the classroom. He couldn't stop his lips from curling into as much of a broad smile as he could in the middle of a kiss. His eyes drifted shut in synch with Asuka's. It was a long, long minute before he felt her pull away with a tiny sigh of happiness. He reopened his eyes just in time to catch her peaceful expression of contentment shift into a catlike grin as she turned to the class and simply growled, "Any questions?"
She didn't even get another word out before Tanaka leapt to her feet and slammed a hand on her desk. "You and Ayanami have been all over him for weeks, Soryu! This is totally unfair!"
"This contest was over before it began, Tanaka," Asuka almost sneered at her. "You were never good enough for him. He's saved this city even more times than I have. He deserves someone who doesn't just want him as a prize like you do."
"And you'll be any better? You've treated him like your private pet, butler, and chew toy since the day you got here! You foreign bitch, I-"
A firm voice interrupted her. "Asuka has been my wingmate, partner, and friend since the day we met. We killed an Angel together within two hours of meeting each other. I know she's not just trying to 'bag an Evangelion Pilot' because she's one too. And there is no one here who is braver, smarter, or hotter than her, Tanaka-san. And if you'd ever asked me about it at any time in the last three months, I'd have told you so, instead of just ignoring anything I said when I tried to be polite about telling you I wasn't looking for anyone to 'walk home with' or 'go shopping downtown with'. And if you ever call her that again I will not try to stop her at all when she rips your eyes out."
The resulting silence was louder than thunder. Everyone stared at Shinji, Asuka included. "Holy shit, Shinji! Where did that co-"
Asuka got no further, her next words transformed into a surprised "Yeek!" and he suddenly wrapped one arm around her waist, the other cupped the back of her head, and he dipped her backwards into a passionate kiss of his own. He smoothly brought her back up after a long moment, enjoying the purring smile she now wore. He turned to the students himself this time. "Again, any questions?"
Tanaka's mouth flapped a few times at him in confusion before she sat back down with a thump. After a moment's ringing silence an excited buzz started back up. Shinji saw several bets changing hands. "Called it!" Kensuke crowed from the back row. He was noticeably collecting several bets. "A Monday before class! Did I call it or what? Eh, Touji?" He elbowed his friend.
Touji's mouth was a wary frown. "I thought I was joking about the 'married couple' thing," he muttered. "Seriously, Shin-man? The Red Demon? I-"
He was interrupted by the teacher coming in. Iwao-san snapped out of the open-mouthed surprise she'd fallen into at their first kiss, and urgently gestured for Shinji and Asuka to take their seats. "Er... err, ah, R-rise! Bow! Sit!" she stuttered as their teacher took his place behind the lectern and opened the roll book.
Shinji couldn't contain his smile, grinning all the way to his desk. He settled into his seat with a happy sigh. He turned to the bluenette in the seat one over and forward from him. "Hey, Rei. What did you think about our big announcement?" he asked with a smile.
Rei finally turned from her uninterrupted stare out the window, slowly turning her head to face him. Shinji blinked, his smile fading as he suddenly realized Rei hadn't even turned to look when they'd done it.
The most blank, dead expression he'd ever seen greeted him. Rei blinked at him, silent. She met his stare for a moment before turning back to the window without a word. The teacher began to call the roll.
"Ayanami?" the teacher asked.
"Yes," Rei said robotically, her voice flatter and deader than Shinji had ever heard. She kept staring out the window.
Shinji felt his blood run cold. He snapped a look at Asuka, who matched his stunned and worried look. "Rei? Rei? Wondergirl, are you alright?" she asked in a concerned whisper, tapping the First Child on the shoulder from her seat right behind her.
Rei didn't even twitch. Asuka might as well have been talking to a... doll.
"Oh... oh no..." Asuka whispered, her voice ash.
Shinji felt his heart sink. Asuka was the love of his life, but Rei had almost as big a hold on his heart. The only other person in the world who told him he was loved, and now... He fought not to shiver.
Rei watched a bird fly past the clouds outside, and blinked slowly.
+++
Rei remained all but unresponsive all day. Touji and Kensuke joined them for a very subdued and silent lunch. Touji made some pro forma complaints about Shinji and Asuka's declaration of the morning, but his mind was clearly on other things: he'd had just one brief phone call from Hikari all last week, and she'd only had enough time to explain she was being held in quarantine until further notice.
It was Kensuke, the only member of the group still in a relatively good mood who finally noticed. "Hey... guys, what's wrong with Ayanami-san? She's... acting kind of weird. Like... like she used to, all silent and stuff."
Shinji and Asuka shared a fearful look. "Ah... she has to take some medication from NERV, Aida," Asuka improvised. "I think she might be having a bad reaction today or something. We'll talk to Misato afterschool, make sure she gets checked out."
Kensuke blinked behind his round spectacles. "Oh? Um... ok. Just... as long as you're alright, Ayanami-san. I still owe you for setting me up on all those dates."
Rei blinked at him. She hadn't responded verbally to anything but the most direct questions all morning, and barely any outside of responding to an authority figure.
Shinji bit his cheek to stop himself from showing more worry on his face. He was grateful for the nearly telepathic ability he and Asuka had gained to read each other. In their exchanged glances, she'd made it clear they had to put off any serious questioning of Rei until they could get her alone afterschool, and that that would be their priority. 'So much for asking Rei about her mother, or telling her about ours. I'm not sure she'd even notice us saying it right now,' Shinji worried.
"I think it makes her really sleepy, Aida," Asuka deflected. "I...wait, dates? What dates?"
"Um... Ayanami-san really... uh... raised my profile with a bunch of the girls that were chasing Shinji. She... uh... got a bunch of them to ask me out. So I've... kind of got dates every night this week and the next one. I'm... umm... I was actually going to ask if I could borrow some money, Shinji. I'm really running out, trying to take all these girls out."
For the first time that day, Asuka looked at Shinji not with nervousness or worry. Pure disbelief ruled her face now. "...loan money to Geek-Stooge. So he can afford all the dating he's doing." She sounded like she was unsure if she should laugh or cry that the world was gone mad.
Shinji just took out his wallet without looking and handed Kensuke two 5000 yen bills.
"Geek-Stooge is booked up all week, and is running out of money from all the dating. I... the world makes no sense anymore..." Asuka complained to Rei automatically. She winced as she realized her mistake.
Rei's dead look did swivel towards Kensuke, however. ".......good," Rei said, still very flat.
Kensuke blushed and stammered some thanks at Rei while Shinji shot a hopeful look at Asuka. She nodded, looking a hair less worried.
+++
The walk home was tense. Shinji and Asuka left the school hand-in-hand again, to the venomous glares of Tanaka and a few others who seemed unwilling to give up hope that Shinji would look their way instead, though most seemed to accept they had no hope of competing with Asuka after Shinji's speech. The two Pilots hardly paid them any attention, though. All their concern was focused on the still all but silent First Child.
Once they were a good few hundred meters from the school, Asuka tried to get a response. "Rei. Answer me. Are you alright?"
Rei kept walking, footsteps as steady and regular as a metronome. "Yes," she eventually said very softly.
"You don't sound 'alright'. You sound... like a damn doll again. Did..." Asuka sucked in a shocked breath. She got in front of her and grabbed Rei's shoulders, halting her walk. "Did that fucking witch doctor do something to you again?!"
Rei stared at her, blank. "Doctor... Akagi... adjusted my medication," she eventually said very slowly.
Asuka shivered. "Scheiße. That witch. Fine... ok... Rei, you're going to be alright. We'll get you back to your apartment and... fuck..." She looked at Shinji, still at a loss. "Shinji?"
"Fucking... Ikari... kun... is... your... job," Rei said, slow and dead.
They both stared at Rei. A hopeful smile started to break out on Asuka's face, matching the one on Shinji's. "Wondergirl, are you still in there?"
Rei stood silent for a moment, but eventually said, "Yes."
Rei blinked again when Asuka suddenly crushed her with a tight hug. "Thank Gott, Rei. We'll get you through this. I'm not having NERV and Doctor Bitch turn the only other person who I know loves me into a doll."
Shinji swallowed. He took a couple of deep breaths to fend off threatening tears, then put his arms around both of the girls and hugged them. "We love you too, Rei. Everything will be alright. You're not alone."
"Yes," was all Rei said. Shinji tried to let that comfort him more than noticing Rei had made no move to hug them back saddened him.
+++
Shinji dug the lockbox of medication and substitutive drugs from the back of Rei's closet where it was hidden under a pile of extra clothes and blankets. He rushed back to the kitchen of Rei's apartment, where Asuka was guiding Rei into a chair at the table. Rei was still reacting to Asuka's guidance with dull compliance and silence.
Rei sat staring at the table for a minute after Asuka sat her down. She finally looked up slowly at Shinji as he brought in the lockbox. She stared at the box once he put it down in front of her before looking back to Asuka and saying, "Paper."
Asuka raised an eyebrow, but pulled a sheet of notebook paper out of her schoolbag and placed it in front of Rei with a pencil.
Rei stared at the pencil for a moment before picking it up, and very slowly beginning to write.
"'Hard to think. Talk. Doctor Akagi. Increased dose. Injection last night. Took pill morning, before remembered. Need antagonist. Flumazenil, 2cc. Bottle labeled 'antagonist #2', 10cc. Put in saline IV bag. Get stand. IV line. Help?'" Asuka read off as Rei laboriously wrote, her handwriting still surgically precise. She nodded to Shinji, but he was already digging into the box, finding the requested items. Asuka retrieved the IV stand from the closet, and watched as Shinji took the needle kit from the box and very carefully inserted the IV line to Rei's left forearm.
"Do you know how long this will take to... wash out of you, Rei?" he asked quietly as he taped the line down.
"No," Rei replied, still flat. She picked up the pencil again.
"'Feel nothing. Foggy. Do not want this. Feel nothing. Want feeling back'," Asuka read again. She looked up at Shinji and ground her teeth. "Shinji, you're going to have to keep me away from that woman for a good long while. I may not be able to stop myself from punching her teeth in, or injecting her with a syringe full of this scheiße the next time I see her! She can't do this to Rei! She loves us! Now she can't even feel it!"
Shinji just nodded, his mouth a grim line. "I'll... make us something. Food should help her."
Before he got more than a couple of steps towards the kitchen, Rei's pencil started scratching again.
Asuka looked once again. "'More hugs?' Any time you need, Rei." She quickly gave Rei one. "Food can wait. Get over here, Shinji. She needs us."
"Yes," the First and Third Children said in stereo. It brought a sad smile to Shinji's face as he put his arms around Rei from behind her chair.
+++
@Nyrath, @Matthew G, @Feng Lengshun, @LastChronicler, @Highwind, @Manic Dogma, @Troglodyte, @Student_of_Zelretch, @TKB17, @rdmcmains, @XkaliburRage, @Krazyfan1, @wtdtd, this is all due to you guys triggering the weekly update again.
Rei's having a bad day...
Chapter 8.15
Advent
+++
Weight returned and the cool, slick metal of the drainage grate at the bottom of the cylinder slowly pressed harder against the soles of Rei's feet as the LCL drained down past her face and body. She kept her face a cool mask, but inwardly she exulted. 'Finally, the healing and scan is done! I am free! I can see my friends in the morning! The ones I love, and that care for me!'
She stepped back and bent at the waist, like she was bowing to the door of the room, and relaxed her throat. The LCL filling her lungs and nose dribbled out slowly into the drain that was now below her face. The sensation would have been strange and nauseating if it hadn't been one Rei had experienced hundreds of times over the last few years. Right now, she didn't even notice it. She was too preoccupied with controlling her face, keeping the smile that wanted to break free under restraint.
She was so lost in her happy anticipation of seeing her two favorite people and their glowing bond again she failed to notice the approaching footsteps of Doctor Akagi until she straightened up. The labcoated scientist was standing right in front of Rei, a cool expression on her face.
And a large syringe in her right hand.
Rei was fleetingly glad her natural paleness kept the way the blood drained from her face from showing. She fought to keep her face blank. She couldn't scream, couldn't show her distress. She couldn't even say anything; Doctor Akagi always spoke first.
"Hold out your arm, Rei." She raised the syringe.
Rei slowly complied, trying not to shake. 'No no no no no no more drugs, not more drugs...' "What is it, Doctor Akagi?" she made herself ask in a calm, dull voice.
"Your psychographs were too erratic and active this week, Rei. Your body must be adapting to the medicine that stabilizes you. I'm increasing the dose. There's a bag with the increased dosage pills for your daily supplements on the table in the lab outside. Take them with you, stop taking the older ones. This is a booster shot. Don't worry, you won't feel a thing."
'That is precisely what I'm worried about! No no no don't please don't no!'
The needle tore its tiny hole in her skin, the old familiar sting. Doctor Akagi withdrew the syringe, instructing Rei to put pressure on the spot for a moment to halt the bleeding. Rei obeyed, pressing far harder on the spot than she had to, as if she could push the drugs out of her body before they... they... took............effect....
"I do believe it's working. Good. That'll keep you going through the night. Come on, it's time to go." She turned away.
If Doctor Akagi had been watching, she might of noticed the careful rigidity that Rei held her face to melt swiftly into a far more eerie stillness. But she was already walking away. "It's too late for you to bother returning to your apartment, Rei. Just use the cot in the old lab and go directly to school in the morning. Next Synch Test is on Thursday. Return then. For now, just go to sleep." the faux-blonde said as she left without looking back.
Rei didn't move, didn't cry out, didn't give any sign of distress. She just stood there in the empty upload chamber of Terminal Dogma for a long, long time, the blank eyes of her backup clones mindlessly watching her from the circling tank. Her stare back at them was all but identical.
Eventually, she took slow, robotic steps forward, walking towards to the exit door. She would not need clothes before the morning. She had nothing else to do but go to her assigned cot and sleep, as ordered.
Though that was hours more sleep than she required, the wait would not bother her. Nothing bothered her now. Deep inside, beneath layers of fog and comfortable numbness, a tiny voice wailed in anguished protest at the return of the hazy stupor that had so long consumed her thoughts, but it was soon extinguished, no match for the tidal wave of drugs coursing through her.
But it was okay. It no longer bothered her at all.
+++
Monday
"You ready for this, Shinji?"
Two young PIlots stared hard at the gate to the schoolyard like they were about to charge into a hail of gunfire. Their tightly linked hands hadn't left each other's grip the entire way to school, both trying to get psyched up for this.
The thin boy nodded. "I'm nervous as Hell, trying not to freak out, and wish we were back home in our room. I think I was less nervous for the fight with Sachiel. As ready as I'm going to be."
Asuka nodded, squeezing his hand. "Me too. But I've been thinking about this moment since... pretty much the first morning after our kiss. Since we're blown to Misato, there's no reason for me not to claim you good and publicly, now. And you have no idea how much I wanted to some days." She smiled at him.
Shinji gave her a more shy smile in return. "Still can't get over the idea of someone as amazing as you wanting me back, Asuka."
She stuck her tongue out at him. "Better get used to the idea, Third Child. 'Until the end of the world, you and me', remember? You promised. You're mine." She reddened a little and looked away. "Just like I'm yours," she said a little more softly.
"As long as you'll have me," he agreed, matching her blush. He scratched the back of his head with his free hand. "I-i-i'll try not to melt in front of the class."
"Giant monsters from beyond, you're a tiger. Publicly announcing you and I are a couple, and you get all nervous? You are my dearest baka, alright," Asuka said drolly.
"I know the real you, Asuka," Shinji managed to smile back at her. "You're halfway between being nervous just like I am, and ready to shout "I'm in love!" from the roof of the school."
"Yeah, well, maybe," she admitted. She squeezed his hand again. "So let's go do it."
They marched inside, doing their best to ignore the stares they were starting to draw from the kids in the schoolyard. They'd never been low profile once they'd all been outed as Eva Pilots, but after a while they'd at least stopped getting quite as many looks just from walking around. Plus, Asuka's loud antagonism of Shinji was known to the entire student body, so the two of them walking in hand-in-hand left a trail of buzzing rumor in their wake as they headed to their classroom.
They marched in, and turned right to the desk near the door. Asuka's expression shifted to a disappointed frown when they found Hikari's desk empty, though. "Damn it. I guess they've still got her quarantined in the hospital. Stupid bullshit... Hikari's not contaminated by anything!"
Asuka turned to look at the deputy Class Rep, who sat right behind Hikari's usual spot. "Hey, Iwao-san, I've got a quick announcement to make to the class before Sensei comes in. Is that a problem?"
The pretty teen blinked at being on the receiving end of Asuka at full blast, and meekly nodded. "Th-that's fine, Soryu-san. It's n-not long, is it?"
"It should only take a minute," Asuka confirmed. She looked at the clock above the blackboard. "One minute to the bell, anyhow. Ready?" she asked Shinji.
He nodded. Still hand-in-hand, they walked to the center of the front of the classroom, right in front of the blackboard. They waited as the last students filed in and the bell rang.
They got a few curious looks from the students, wondering why they were standing there. Shinji briefly met the eyes of Touji and Kensuke. Touji had a look of dawning horror as he noticed their handclasp. Kensuke looked up from his palmtop and blinked at the two of them, then started to grin as he reached for his camcorder. Shinji just blushed a bit more. He didn't worry too much about what the rest of the class was going to say, but the opinions of his friends had a bit more weight.
Once she was satisfied she had everyone's attention, Asuka left off her glaring contest with Tanaka and the other girls who were still pursuing Shinji and began. "I'm sure this will not surprise some of you." She shot a look at Tanaka and followers. "And will disappoint others, but as of today and from now on, Shinji and I are... well..." She turned to Shinji, dropped the handclasp, and put her hands on either side of his face. She pulled him right into the deepest, most intense kiss she could manage.
Shinji heard a wave of gasps ripple through the classroom. He couldn't stop his lips from curling into as much of a broad smile as he could in the middle of a kiss. His eyes drifted shut in synch with Asuka's. It was a long, long minute before he felt her pull away with a tiny sigh of happiness. He reopened his eyes just in time to catch her peaceful expression of contentment shift into a catlike grin as she turned to the class and simply growled, "Any questions?"
She didn't even get another word out before Tanaka leapt to her feet and slammed a hand on her desk. "You and Ayanami have been all over him for weeks, Soryu! This is totally unfair!"
"This contest was over before it began, Tanaka," Asuka almost sneered at her. "You were never good enough for him. He's saved this city even more times than I have. He deserves someone who doesn't just want him as a prize like you do."
"And you'll be any better? You've treated him like your private pet, butler, and chew toy since the day you got here! You foreign bitch, I-"
A firm voice interrupted her. "Asuka has been my wingmate, partner, and friend since the day we met. We killed an Angel together within two hours of meeting each other. I know she's not just trying to 'bag an Evangelion Pilot' because she's one too. And there is no one here who is braver, smarter, or hotter than her, Tanaka-san. And if you'd ever asked me about it at any time in the last three months, I'd have told you so, instead of just ignoring anything I said when I tried to be polite about telling you I wasn't looking for anyone to 'walk home with' or 'go shopping downtown with'. And if you ever call her that again I will not try to stop her at all when she rips your eyes out."
The resulting silence was louder than thunder. Everyone stared at Shinji, Asuka included. "Holy shit, Shinji! Where did that co-"
Asuka got no further, her next words transformed into a surprised "Yeek!" and he suddenly wrapped one arm around her waist, the other cupped the back of her head, and he dipped her backwards into a passionate kiss of his own. He smoothly brought her back up after a long moment, enjoying the purring smile she now wore. He turned to the students himself this time. "Again, any questions?"
Tanaka's mouth flapped a few times at him in confusion before she sat back down with a thump. After a moment's ringing silence an excited buzz started back up. Shinji saw several bets changing hands. "Called it!" Kensuke crowed from the back row. He was noticeably collecting several bets. "A Monday before class! Did I call it or what? Eh, Touji?" He elbowed his friend.
Touji's mouth was a wary frown. "I thought I was joking about the 'married couple' thing," he muttered. "Seriously, Shin-man? The Red Demon? I-"
He was interrupted by the teacher coming in. Iwao-san snapped out of the open-mouthed surprise she'd fallen into at their first kiss, and urgently gestured for Shinji and Asuka to take their seats. "Er... err, ah, R-rise! Bow! Sit!" she stuttered as their teacher took his place behind the lectern and opened the roll book.
Shinji couldn't contain his smile, grinning all the way to his desk. He settled into his seat with a happy sigh. He turned to the bluenette in the seat one over and forward from him. "Hey, Rei. What did you think about our big announcement?" he asked with a smile.
Rei finally turned from her uninterrupted stare out the window, slowly turning her head to face him. Shinji blinked, his smile fading as he suddenly realized Rei hadn't even turned to look when they'd done it.
The most blank, dead expression he'd ever seen greeted him. Rei blinked at him, silent. She met his stare for a moment before turning back to the window without a word. The teacher began to call the roll.
"Ayanami?" the teacher asked.
"Yes," Rei said robotically, her voice flatter and deader than Shinji had ever heard. She kept staring out the window.
Shinji felt his blood run cold. He snapped a look at Asuka, who matched his stunned and worried look. "Rei? Rei? Wondergirl, are you alright?" she asked in a concerned whisper, tapping the First Child on the shoulder from her seat right behind her.
Rei didn't even twitch. Asuka might as well have been talking to a... doll.
"Oh... oh no..." Asuka whispered, her voice ash.
Shinji felt his heart sink. Asuka was the love of his life, but Rei had almost as big a hold on his heart. The only other person in the world who told him he was loved, and now... He fought not to shiver.
Rei watched a bird fly past the clouds outside, and blinked slowly.
+++
Rei remained all but unresponsive all day. Touji and Kensuke joined them for a very subdued and silent lunch. Touji made some pro forma complaints about Shinji and Asuka's declaration of the morning, but his mind was clearly on other things: he'd had just one brief phone call from Hikari all last week, and she'd only had enough time to explain she was being held in quarantine until further notice.
It was Kensuke, the only member of the group still in a relatively good mood who finally noticed. "Hey... guys, what's wrong with Ayanami-san? She's... acting kind of weird. Like... like she used to, all silent and stuff."
Shinji and Asuka shared a fearful look. "Ah... she has to take some medication from NERV, Aida," Asuka improvised. "I think she might be having a bad reaction today or something. We'll talk to Misato afterschool, make sure she gets checked out."
Kensuke blinked behind his round spectacles. "Oh? Um... ok. Just... as long as you're alright, Ayanami-san. I still owe you for setting me up on all those dates."
Rei blinked at him. She hadn't responded verbally to anything but the most direct questions all morning, and barely any outside of responding to an authority figure.
Shinji bit his cheek to stop himself from showing more worry on his face. He was grateful for the nearly telepathic ability he and Asuka had gained to read each other. In their exchanged glances, she'd made it clear they had to put off any serious questioning of Rei until they could get her alone afterschool, and that that would be their priority. 'So much for asking Rei about her mother, or telling her about ours. I'm not sure she'd even notice us saying it right now,' Shinji worried.
"I think it makes her really sleepy, Aida," Asuka deflected. "I...wait, dates? What dates?"
"Um... Ayanami-san really... uh... raised my profile with a bunch of the girls that were chasing Shinji. She... uh... got a bunch of them to ask me out. So I've... kind of got dates every night this week and the next one. I'm... umm... I was actually going to ask if I could borrow some money, Shinji. I'm really running out, trying to take all these girls out."
For the first time that day, Asuka looked at Shinji not with nervousness or worry. Pure disbelief ruled her face now. "...loan money to Geek-Stooge. So he can afford all the dating he's doing." She sounded like she was unsure if she should laugh or cry that the world was gone mad.
Shinji just took out his wallet without looking and handed Kensuke two 5000 yen bills.
"Geek-Stooge is booked up all week, and is running out of money from all the dating. I... the world makes no sense anymore..." Asuka complained to Rei automatically. She winced as she realized her mistake.
Rei's dead look did swivel towards Kensuke, however. ".......good," Rei said, still very flat.
Kensuke blushed and stammered some thanks at Rei while Shinji shot a hopeful look at Asuka. She nodded, looking a hair less worried.
+++
The walk home was tense. Shinji and Asuka left the school hand-in-hand again, to the venomous glares of Tanaka and a few others who seemed unwilling to give up hope that Shinji would look their way instead, though most seemed to accept they had no hope of competing with Asuka after Shinji's speech. The two Pilots hardly paid them any attention, though. All their concern was focused on the still all but silent First Child.
Once they were a good few hundred meters from the school, Asuka tried to get a response. "Rei. Answer me. Are you alright?"
Rei kept walking, footsteps as steady and regular as a metronome. "Yes," she eventually said very softly.
"You don't sound 'alright'. You sound... like a damn doll again. Did..." Asuka sucked in a shocked breath. She got in front of her and grabbed Rei's shoulders, halting her walk. "Did that fucking witch doctor do something to you again?!"
Rei stared at her, blank. "Doctor... Akagi... adjusted my medication," she eventually said very slowly.
Asuka shivered. "Scheiße. That witch. Fine... ok... Rei, you're going to be alright. We'll get you back to your apartment and... fuck..." She looked at Shinji, still at a loss. "Shinji?"
"Fucking... Ikari... kun... is... your... job," Rei said, slow and dead.
They both stared at Rei. A hopeful smile started to break out on Asuka's face, matching the one on Shinji's. "Wondergirl, are you still in there?"
Rei stood silent for a moment, but eventually said, "Yes."
Rei blinked again when Asuka suddenly crushed her with a tight hug. "Thank Gott, Rei. We'll get you through this. I'm not having NERV and Doctor Bitch turn the only other person who I know loves me into a doll."
Shinji swallowed. He took a couple of deep breaths to fend off threatening tears, then put his arms around both of the girls and hugged them. "We love you too, Rei. Everything will be alright. You're not alone."
"Yes," was all Rei said. Shinji tried to let that comfort him more than noticing Rei had made no move to hug them back saddened him.
+++
Shinji dug the lockbox of medication and substitutive drugs from the back of Rei's closet where it was hidden under a pile of extra clothes and blankets. He rushed back to the kitchen of Rei's apartment, where Asuka was guiding Rei into a chair at the table. Rei was still reacting to Asuka's guidance with dull compliance and silence.
Rei sat staring at the table for a minute after Asuka sat her down. She finally looked up slowly at Shinji as he brought in the lockbox. She stared at the box once he put it down in front of her before looking back to Asuka and saying, "Paper."
Asuka raised an eyebrow, but pulled a sheet of notebook paper out of her schoolbag and placed it in front of Rei with a pencil.
Rei stared at the pencil for a moment before picking it up, and very slowly beginning to write.
"'Hard to think. Talk. Doctor Akagi. Increased dose. Injection last night. Took pill morning, before remembered. Need antagonist. Flumazenil, 2cc. Bottle labeled 'antagonist #2', 10cc. Put in saline IV bag. Get stand. IV line. Help?'" Asuka read off as Rei laboriously wrote, her handwriting still surgically precise. She nodded to Shinji, but he was already digging into the box, finding the requested items. Asuka retrieved the IV stand from the closet, and watched as Shinji took the needle kit from the box and very carefully inserted the IV line to Rei's left forearm.
"Do you know how long this will take to... wash out of you, Rei?" he asked quietly as he taped the line down.
"No," Rei replied, still flat. She picked up the pencil again.
"'Feel nothing. Foggy. Do not want this. Feel nothing. Want feeling back'," Asuka read again. She looked up at Shinji and ground her teeth. "Shinji, you're going to have to keep me away from that woman for a good long while. I may not be able to stop myself from punching her teeth in, or injecting her with a syringe full of this scheiße the next time I see her! She can't do this to Rei! She loves us! Now she can't even feel it!"
Shinji just nodded, his mouth a grim line. "I'll... make us something. Food should help her."
Before he got more than a couple of steps towards the kitchen, Rei's pencil started scratching again.
Asuka looked once again. "'More hugs?' Any time you need, Rei." She quickly gave Rei one. "Food can wait. Get over here, Shinji. She needs us."
"Yes," the First and Third Children said in stereo. It brought a sad smile to Shinji's face as he put his arms around Rei from behind her chair.
+++
Emotional reaction achieved, this is now art.
