Sorry for the long wait, everyone. It took me a while to decide how exactly I wanted things to develop in this chapter. Hopefully it's to your liking!
I really hope there's no typos... I tried to really watch out for them.
Thanks as always to SPH, Toby, Bcaffera and Gryphon! You guys are awesome, and I hope you like this chapter.
"...Something's not right with Asuka, dude."
Shinji looked to his right. Toji, eyes glued to road, looked agitated.
Shinji kept quiet, feeling a bit uneasy at the idea. He didn't want to think about Asuka right now, though he was understandably having trouble escaping the subject. This certainly wasn't helping.
Toji eventually looked over, looking impatient.
"...do you disagree? Hello?" He called out.
"W-well... " Shinji asked, looking out the passenger window. "O-obviously!"
"Aw c'mon, you know what I mean!" Toji responded, frustrated.
"I really don't." Shinji insisted. "I think it's pretty clear something isn't right."
Toji rubbed his forehead, sighing. "I just… she seemed a bit calm and collected for a girl who tried to kill herself, don'cha think? It weirded me out!"
...Yeah.
"I-I don't know, Toji… they have her taking all kinds of drugs, probably. Who knows what's going through her head." Shinji dismissed him, sighing. "She's safe now; that's what's important."
"Still…." Toji struggled to find the words. "It's not like her."
Shinji shook his head, rolling his eyes. "W-well… yeah! Things are kinda… messed up, right now; o-of course she's not like herself!"
Shinji glanced over at Toji, who was gripping the steering wheel with clear frustration, seething but saying nothing.
Shinji continued. "There's no point in getting all worked up… i-it's out of our control."
"Yeah, well… we'll see how you feel once she's gone." Toji replied, bitterly. "Maybe you'll wish you did something, or said something to her. We all have moments like that in our lives... you can't just resign yourself to everything bad that happens to you, man. You're going to end up regretting it."
"...what do you know?" Shinji shook his head, voice quieting down to a hiss. "What gives you the right to lecture me?"
Toji looked back at him, staring for a while. Finally, he sighed.
"Fuck, you're a frustrating guy...you don't know how lucky you are."
Toji stopped his truck at Shinji's sudden request. It took a couple awkward passes for Shinji to spot and point out the dirt path into the forest. Once he saw it though, he was sure they were at the right place; his memories with Rei were still fresh in his mind, especially with how much they had been bugging him.
Toji turned his truck towards the small path, and began to drive down it. They made it a ways down, before Shinji had a sudden realization, jutting him out from his usual silent compliance. Shinji extended a hand out to gesture him to stop.
"Wait… H-hold on, Toji!" Shinji said, sheepishly.
Toji sighed again, applying the breaks reluctantly. "What now?"
He said the words with clear exasperation, and Shinji cringed slightly. The two of them, regardless of how amicable this little road-trip had started, were not exactly getting along. Being alone together certainly had the effect of magnifying any incompatibility the two had, at least.
"Uh… c-can you just wait here? I'll go up and get Rei myself." Shinji explained, opening the passenger door.
"Huh? Why?" Toji asked, glaring at him. "Cmon, I drove us all the way here… the least you can do is let me come with."
"T-trust me… I'd like to have someone else come with me, but…" Shinji explained, stepping down from the truck. "Things are a bit... delicate."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Toji asked.
Shinji sighed, adjusting his clothing carefully. Slowly but surely, he turned around towards the forest path. "I-it's hard to explai-"
Shinji stumbled backwards, coming face to face with Rei.
"W-woah!" Shinji reeled backwards. "Rei?!"
Blue hair and red eyes, shocking his system.
Blue… hair?
Shinji, you have returned! The girl exclaimed, happily, clasping her hands together. Shinji still wasn't used to seeing her so expressive.
"I… y-yes?" Shinji explained warily, voice cracking. "Why are you…"
"Shinji, what the fuck are you doin'?" Toji called out to him, leaning in his seat, looking around Shinji. "Who the hell are you talking to?"
In his sudden shock, Shinji had almost forgotten he was still mid-conversation with Toji.
"U-uh…. Her?" Shinji pointed ahead of him. "Rei. Blue?"
Toji looked at him, and then where Shinji was pointing, his face contorted in confusion. "What? Where? I don't see shit, buddy."
Have you come to visit me? Rei called to Shinji, pulling his attention from his friend. I was... afraid you would not return.
Shinji looked back to see Rei, who was now suddenly a ways down the path, beckoning him. He certainly hadn't heard her move.
"Rei…?" Shinji whispered out uselessly, looking at her wispy form in the distance. He looked back at Toji for desperate recognition; he was still just as confused.
Oh… him? One moment.
Rei disappeared.
"W-woah!" Toji called out, suddenly freaked out.
Shinji looked over at Toji, who was looking out of his dashboard with wide eyes.
"Who the fuck are…" Toji called out, voice becoming weak. "...you?"
Toji eyes closed slowly, before he fell back into his seat, passed out.
"T-Toji? Toji!" Shinji called out, reaching out to help his friend. Before he could get onto the truck, however, Rei appeared suddenly in front of him. Shinji stumbled, trying to avoid her sudden apparition, but gasped as he partially phased through her body.
Rei laughed, slightly. Do not worry, Shinji. He is just sleeping. Dreaming.
Shinji felt goosebumps crawl over his body. "Rei… what are you… how..." He gulped. "Well… w-wake him up, please."
Why? You did not want him to come, no? This makes it easier for you to visit, alone.
"...visit?" Shinji repeated, shivering. "Alone."
Come and see; it is quite amazing.
So, Shinji followed Rei down the path, all the way to the cabin. Along the way, Rei would phase in and out of sight, but always returning to urge Shinji along if he ever hesitated to continue walking. Shinji was starting to think he was losing his mind, but this wouldn't be the first time Rei would be surprising him. This, though…
This was at a different level.
Walking up the steps of the cabin, Fuyutsuki emerged at the same time, almost on time, wearing a stern expression.
"Hm. She told me you had came back." Fuyutsuki said, sighing. "I'm surprised, still."
Shinji looked over to his right, where Rei had been standing. She was gone.
"Sensei… what's going on?" Shinji asked. "Where's Rei?"
"So…. you're here to see her, I presume?" Fuyutsuki asked in turn, stiffly. Nervously.
"I-I am." Shinji replied. "I wanted to see if she would come with me, for a bit. For a... friend."
Fuyutsuki narrowed his eyes.
"You might find that difficult."
Fuyutsuki guided Shinji through the cabin. They passed the younger Rei on the way, who merely stared blankly at them as they passed. Shinji stared back himself, feeling a bit on guard. He heard his sensei clear his throat, beckoning him over to the basement door. He was gripping the doorknob, wearing a serious expression that wasn't unusual for the old man, but still betrayed a sense of nervousness.
"She's in the MAGI." Fuyutsuki explained, before coughing slightly.
"Can she not… come up?" Shinji asked, hopefully. He didn't want to go down there, even now. He had had enough of secrets.
"No, You'll have to go down to see her. She's… she's locked herself in the machine."
Without waiting for a response, the older man opened the door and urged him inside. Shinji hesitated for a moment, looking down the poorly lit staircase.
Rei appeared at the bottom, smiling at him.
"But… she's… right there." Shinji pointed, looking expectantly at Fuyutsuki.
The man didn't respond, and Shinji felt himself sweat. "So… I'm assuming… you can't see… her." He pointed down to the bottom of the staircase.
"No." Fuyutsuki sighed. "Not me. Not at the moment."
Shinji wanted to ask more questions, but nervously glanced down to Rei staring. Reluctantly, he began to descend the stairs, as Rei smiled wider.
As he arrived near the bottom of the staircase, Rei disappeared. He looked back up the stairs, to see his sensei following him down. The man nodded, urging him again to keep moving.
Descending into the room proper, Shinji glanced around. It was at least better lit than the stairs, though most of the lighting was provided from some glaring, industrial sized lamps. They illuminated the center of the cramped room, where a strange human-sized metallic pod sit. The pod was attached by a series of wires to a large computer, beeping away. Right next to the towering computer was Dr. Akagi, who was sitting in an office chair and sipping on a cup of coffee.
"Hello, Shinji." The doctor called out to him, smiling slightly. "Rei seemed excited, so we had a feeling you were back."
"Y-yes." He grabbed at his collar, tugging at it. The room was quite hot, even though Shinji noticed there were multiple fans working away, blowing cool air at the computers. "Where is… Rei?"
"In there." Ritsuko pointed at the metallic pod, bored. "She's been in there since you left."
"The… MAGI?" Shinji repeated what his sensei had said, sounding out the foreign word.
"It's an isolation tank."
A deep voice cut through the room, commanding attention. Shinji spun around, his heart practically jumping into his throat. He knew the voice.
His father was standing in the space beneath the staircase he had descended earlier. It was hard to see the man, but his glasses shined slightly from the harsh industrial lights, giving away his position.
"F...father." Shinji acknowledged him, though failing to meet his eyes.
"Shinji."
A silence, pregnant with emotion.
"We… we use the isolation tank to, well, isolate Rei's brain activity from outside stimuli." Ritsuko cleared cut, trying to rein in the conversation. Even the usually up-front woman seemed uncomfortable. "...It's useful for testing purposes."
Shinji looked over at Fuyutsuki, frowning. "But you said she… she's trapped in there?"
"I didn't say trapped." His sensei corrected him. "I said she locked herself in."
"But… why?" Shinji asked, worried. "I don't get it…"
"We all don't 'get it'." Ritsuko said, before taking a long sip of her coffee. Resuming, she shrugged in frustration, looking over some graphs on a nearby monitor. "She's somehow managed to override the locking mechanism, assumingly through the neurological integration system."
Shinji looked at the woman with wary, narrowed eyes. "...huh?"
"...she doesn't want us opening the tank. We could shut it off, and force the tank open, but…" Ritsuko continued, voice falling off.
"We don't know what she's capable of." Gendo finished her sentence, stepping forward.
Shinji turned to his father, feeling sick. "W… what do you mean, you don't know? Didn't you make her?"
Gendo stared back sternly. "This doesn't concern you, Shinji. Wasn't supposed to concern you." He looks over at Fuyutsuki, who fails to react.
"You… cloned mom." Shinji began carefully, beckoning his father's attention back to him, bitterly. "I-I think that concerns me, at some basic level."
"Your son has a point, Gendo." Fuyutsuki interject, smirking slightly. "Besides, might I remind you that he's the only reason Rei returned to us in the first place? You should be thanking him."
Shinji stiffened up, feeling a bit embarrassed, for whatever reason. "I… I didn't do it for… whatever the hell you guys are doing here. I was just helping Rei."
"Well, now Rei's locked herself in the MAGI, and is threatening to overload and damage the system if we force her out. I don't know what your idea of 'helping' her was, but she's been nothing but trouble since you handed her over. I've said it before but I liked it better when she was a blank slate, like number two upstairs."
"...you know she can… probably hear you, right?" Shinji responded, looking around him warily. No Rei.
"Of course I know. I don't have to vocalize my feelings for her to know." Ritsuko shot back, sounding annoyed. "She'll find out, one way or another."
Point taken.
"We're getting distracted." Gendo stepped in between them, before looking at Shinji. "Why are you here, Shinji? Fuyutsuki seemed quite sure you wouldn't be back."
Shinji looked down at the floor, unable to hide a scowl. "I know you don't like me being around, but… still…"
"Why are you here?" Gendo repeated.
"Well… s-someone wants to speak to Rei." Shinji explained, still failing to meet his father's eyes. "A friend of hers. I was hoping to have her come with me, just for a little while. It's urgent."
"Even if she wanted to leave, I wouldn't… couldn't allow it." His father responded, voice unwavering compared to Shinji's. "She's spent too much time in environments outside of our control, and these migraines of hers… they're only getting worse."
Shinji went to protest, but felt a shiver run down his spine, as a spectral arm draped itself over his shoulder. The pale thin arm led his eyes to Rei's face, looking at him curiously over his shoulder.
"W-wah!"
Asuka wants to speak to me… that is curious.
"Un… yeah." Shinji confirmed, looking nervously around at him at the others, who seemed disturbingly aware at what was happening. "She's worried about you, I-I think."
Worried about me? But why? Her words almost sounded playful.
"I-I'm not sure…" Shinji shrugged. "Honestly…. I-I think she misses you, as hard as that might be to believe."
Everyone around Shinji was silent but concerned, clearly hanging on baited breaths. Shinji looked over at Rei, who frowned, seemingly to get lost in thought.
Could you… come for a visit? I'd like some... privacy.
"Visit?" Shinji asked, quietly. "But how?"
Come inside the MAGI, silly. Rei smiled, slightly. Inside the tank! I will unlock it, just for you.
Shinji failed to respond, looking at Fuyutsuki, worried. "She… wants me to come inside the MAGI with her…"
Fuyutsuki raised his brows. "That so?"
"But… Ikari-sensei…" Ritsuko interjected, looking a bit nervous at her superior. "With all due respect; if she unlocks the tank for Shinji, we can just… yank her out… can't we?"
Suddenly Ritsuko stiffened up, looking to her side with an offended expression.
"Okay… okay, fine!" Ritsuko rolled her eyes. "Yes, I know you can hear me…"
Shinji watched on, having some trouble not laughing, even with how messed up this whole situation was. Rei was developing a bit of sass, for sure.
"She's pretty set on the idea, it seems." Ritsuko sighed, before looking at Gendo. "What should we do? The MAGI's NIS isn't designed for multiple occupants."
"Something tells me Rei's more familiar with the system then we are, at this point." Gendo adjusts his glasses. "How long did you say she's been in there?"
"Almost seventy two hours, and counting." Ritsuko replied, rubbing her temples. "Uninterrupted exposure. She hasn't even eaten."
"Well then, we're already in uncharted territory. She's wasting away in there; we ought to do something about it." Gendo said, shoving his hands into the pockets of his lab coat. "Though, ultimately it's not my decision."
Gendo looked at Shinji, expectantly.
"Well… i-is it safe?" Shini asked his father, rubbing his arm.
"Would you even believe him, if he said yes?" Ritsuko asked, looking at Shinji, unimpressed.
"Ritsuko." Fuyutsuki warned her, glaring at her from across the room.
"What? I'm just saying, you could see the chip on his shoulder from orbit." Ritsuko shrugged, though looking a bit regretful upon seeing Gendo's own glare. "...just trying to move things along. Frankly, Ikari-sensei, if we don't get her out of there soon, she's going to start starving."
"If it comes to that, we'll have to cut our losses and force her out the pod." Gendo insisted, walking over to Ritsuko's side, looking over some monitors.
"And if she overloads the MAGI? You know how much that would set us back? How much it would cost? Someone's going to start asking questions if it goes offline."
"Rei's safety comes first."
"Do I have to remind you that you have another one of her upstairs? We don't have another MAGI!"
Shinji sighed bitterly, as the two began to bicker. He looked over at the isolation tank, where Rei supposedly resided. The real her, at least, as the projected one sat expectantly on top of the tank.
You are scared, Shinji. Worried.
"Y-yeah. Of course I am."
Don't be. Come closer.
The girls red eyes seemed to glow from across the room, as she gingerly gestured him toward her. Shinji complied, walking nervously over to the isolation tank. He glanced back at his old teacher… his father.
Hell... whatever's in there… it's better than what's waiting for me out here.
As he walked next to the pod, it gave way with a deep clunk, before hissing and opening slightly. Vapour, barely visible, came spilling out the opening cracks. Slowly but surely, an opening large enough to crawl through was available.
The room fell silent, devoid of the then mounting argument. Shinji heard Ritsuko laugh slightly. Sounding slightly surprised, still. "Well, climb on in, Shinji."
Shinji swallowed nervously, not bothering to look at the doctor's assumingly smug face. Instead, he bent down, climbing into the pod. As he was part way through, he lost his balance on the edge of the opening, slipping into the pod. He splashed into a shallow body of water, colliding with another body. Shinji outstretched his arms trying to avoid the body, gasping as he came into contact with cold bare skin.
Arms wrapped around him, pulling him close. Shinji shivered as he pressed against Rei.
Another hiss. The pod closed tight behind him, and any trace of light or sound abandoned him, isolating him completely with his co-occupant.
Shinji soon felt light-headed, as he felt his body seemingly toss and turn, losing all sense of time and place.
Shinji awoke, looking up towards a blue sky. A few large fluffy clouds drifted by, a soft wind seemed to brush against his face for a moment. He pushed himself off the ground, brushing against some grass, which gave way to his push, sliding away almost like liquid.
"What the…" Shinji groaned, looking around at the strange world.
He was on the edge of two worlds. One, an endless green pasture ending at a cliff. Beyond the cliffs drop, an endless ocean spreading out . It all seemed surreal, colours bleeding into each other, occasionally blurring at close inspection. Nearby was a cartoon-like wooden cabin, with smoke blowing out of a clay smokestack.
And, ofcourse, more clearly, Rei was sitting next to him. She had clearly taken note of him waking up.
"Hello, Shinji."
Shinji sat up, looking at her carefully, as if to confirm she was in fact there. "Rei… where are we? It's like… a dream."
"It is, is it not? Just like a dream… your third eye is open wide." Rei smiled, looking over at him, pulling her legs close. She was wearing the same hoodie Kaji had lent her when they first left their apartment. "We are sharing a dream. It is wonderful."
Shinji looked around him, still taking in the strange environment. "But… how?"
The question seemed a bit absurd, asking the telepathic girl he had lived with for some time. It wasn't a question worth asking anymore.
"The MAGI is… a pretty nice place to be." Rei responded, looking almost a bit guilty, staring at her bare feet, grasping at the strange astral grass. "I like it here."
"This... we're by the ocean?" Shinji acknowledged, confused, looking out into the not-quite-real sea. A deep deep blue.
"I saw something like this… in a book once, when I was younger." Rei explained, sounding melancholic. "A book my teacher showed me... I have been piecing it together, from my memories."
"Rei… what are you doing here?" Shinji said, feeling more than a bit uneasy. "Everyone's worried about you, outside. Asuka-"
Suddenly the area around them morphed. Colours changed, rearranged. Suddenly they found themselves in a blurred reconstruction of Shinji's tiny apartment. Rei clutched her head, wincing horribly.
He pain seemed to subside, as she wrapped herself in a free-flowing duvet, getting clearly comfortable. It was a sight Shinji was accustomed to seeing, back when they lived together.
"Shinji, I… I don't want to leave." Rei said, again, guiltily. "I am sorry."
"T-this… isn't real, Rei." Shinji's voice cracked slightly. "You'll die if you stay here."
Rei looked at him with a resolute stare. "We all die at some point, don't we? I will die… the other Rei will die… you will die. These circumstances are ideal… as far as I am concerned. It is my choice."
Looking into her determined eyes, Shinji felt scared.
"Rei… I didn't come here to die." Shinji warned her, feeling nervous.
Rei laughed.
"I know, silly. No need to be scared." Rei smiled. "I'm glad you are here though, I really am. Things can get a bit lonely with just me in here, memories aside..."
"Rei, we need to go…" Shinji urged her, reaching over and trying to shake her. His hand passed right through her. "This is insane."
"Don't worry Shinji, you can leave." Rei nodded, shrugging with a slight frown. "I'm not trapping you here."
Shinji looked down, sighing heavily. A touch of exasperation, a touch of relief.
"...but you will stay a while, won't you?"
Shinji looked up.
A smile.