Chapter 8 – Cooling Heat Of Molten Rock

Sweat dripped and trickled upon my forehead like rainwater dripping off a virgin stone. It ran and trickled with such ease you'd think my forehead were covered in oil.

The fire spread from my head to my stomach its iron grip wrapping about my heart as it proceeded.

Without warning I lurched forward and spilled the recently topped up contents of my stomach onto the wet sand of the beach.

As the pain ravaged my chest my throat grew dry but still my body repulsed and hacked up more stomach acid that burned my insides.

I'd eaten too much at breakfast. A buffet is a terrible human invention and the lures of a breakfast named after my first language was too strong.

The vomit pooled at my feet stank awfully; I bent to one knee and looked more deeply at the liquid slop that had once been part of me.

"Nothing more then acid and slop" I muttered aloud.

I was alone upon a beach with no other occupants then myself, my entire class was nearby in the clear blue waters the occasional class member surfacing for air being the only indication that I wasn't totally alone amongst the sand dues, stray grasses and rocky cliffs.

Running my fingers through the sands I let it filter through my fingers.

The light wind making the tiny particles of ancient stone fall upon my pile of puke then repeated the motion again and again.

It had a soothing effect on me, watching the sand trickle through my weakly clenched fingers.

I pictured myself as an hour glass, a natural progression for showing the shifting of time. One day my body would be little more then this sand:

"Ashes to ashes…"

If only we were all like these sands… how much comfort would we get from this closeness? How unifying would our humanity become?

I let the thought drift away as the last grains of sand met the wind.

"…Dust to dust"

Cool wetness trickled between my toes as the incoming tide splashed me with a spray of surf and salt. Clenching and unclenching my toes together the wet sand rubbed against my skin and between my toes.

Toji's damp hand slapped me upon the back.

"What a perfect world that'd be" I muttered finally before letting the trail of thought vanish before turning to face him.

"See anything good?" I asked

Thirty Seven Hours Later – New Tokyo-3 International Airport

"So how was the trip?" Misato asked with a wide cheerful smile upon her face.

"GREAT" I answered feeling my own features mimicking her facial gesture.

"So you miss me?"

"Of course"…I lied, slinging my rucksack into the backseat of Misato's car.

The clothing filled bag making a small sound of impact as it landed upon the six "spare/stolen" black car batteries that dominated the faded grey backseat.

"So anything happen while I was away?"

"Nothing much, just another Angel attack" she said donning her reflective ski glasses, I gave my seatbelt an experimental tug to see if it was secure as I knew I'd be needing it. Luckily the resistance still existed so I'd probably not be flung through the windshield.

"REALLY?...the place doesn't look any different"

"It was a maintained battle" she answered starting the engine, it ticked over for a few seconds before firing into life with a heavy roar of horsepower…Misato's foot blipping upon the throttle.

"Shinji, Asuka and Rei Ok?" the first trickle of tentative sweat dripping down my spine.

"They're fine, I'm fine too thanks for asking" Sarcasm heavy in her voice.

"Sorry"

For a few seconds neither of us said anything before Misato turned to look at me.

"I've missed you kid"

"I've missed y…FUCK!" the rest of my statement cut off as the Honda lurched into forward momentum with unnecessary speed.

"When you gonna teach me to drive?" I asked clenching my eyes tightly shut as Misato drifted the Honda around a steep corner with a light touch of the handbrake and a loud constant squeal of abused rubber peeling off the tyres.

"Why? I'll take you where ever you want to go"

"Misato, Shinji and Asuka can pilot Evangelion's, its not asking too much to ask to be able to drive" I argued.

"We'll see"

"I'm sure Kaji would teach me" I muttered under my breath.

"You assuming Kaji is a better driver then me?" Misato said with fake hurt in her voice.

"Ha Misato, Pen Pen can drive better then you!"

"Cheeky bastard!"

She slapped my arm playfully to which I responded with a playful backhand of my own.

"Get it from my mother" I said with a wide sarcastic smile on my face.

I witnessed Misato's cheeks redden.

"And what's she like?"

"Ok" I answered turning to look out the window.

For the briefest of seconds I saw the profile of someone I recognised sat opposite a plump woman in a roadside café but I let the small flicker of recognition go from my mind.

"So what you want to eat tonight? We've already eaten"

"Thanks for waiting for me" this time the fake hurt was evident in my voice.

"You're welcome"

"We got anything in the freezer?"

"Nope"

"Damn, I'll just get something from the store then"

It was cold outside, my own breath handing in the air long after I'd expelled it.

My feet slapped against the cold pavement as if my entire body resented being back in this city. I knew this simply wasn't the truth I was merely cold after all this was home to me and those I considered my family.

Walking the streets I ate my recently purchased foot, Misato had dropped me off outside the corner store safe in the knowledge that I knew the way home and would be there shortly.

Licking the fake chemical derived taste of beef from my finger the faint rustle of the plastic bag linger in my ear long after I'd thrown the empty packet of crisps into the bin.

I looked about me, life and light was everywhere.

Women pushed along strollers despite the late hour.

Teenagers walked arm in arm.

I smiled to myself; I truly was home and couldn't be happier.

At the same time in the underbelly of the Geofront vice commander Kouzou Fuyutsuki was handing a clipboard to commander Ikari.

"His initial tests?" Gendou asked with a small glance his voice echoing throughout the vast cavernous room.

"Yes quite frankly he's exceptional; these synchronisation predictions are very…"

"High, I can see for myself, there can be no doubt about it he must be given Evangelion unit 04"

"I'll make the necessary calls but even if the second branch don't put up a fuss it will still be months until the unit arrives"

"With a predicted synchronisation ratio this high then it is a necessary wait"

"Do you still want to install the experimental engine?"

"Yes, convey the order to the second branch"

"With such power…"

"We'll push all efforts into completion of the dummy plug system and use it as his leash if needed."

"And train him for this scout role?"

"Precisely"

Gendou laced his fingers together, his white gloved hands pressing against one another. His gaze no longer upon the report, Ritsuko had done well he set a mental reminder that he'd have to reward her.

When the unit reached Japanese shores then he'd have to forward a Marduk report to her terminal stating Roji as the fourth child.

Authors Notes: Wow, sorry for such a late post folks but I've been really busy with uni work and found writing this real hard to get back into. Ironically the first half of the chapter was written ten minutes after posting chapter 7 the rest I just had real difficulty writing but I'm finally following the actual storyline of the series (when I first thought of the story I wanted it running parallel with the series) but seem that my character was almost edited out of the original…(that make sense?)

Any how you enjoyed it, and as always reviews, comments and questions are most welcome.