I fill my lungs with fear and I exhale

[my-time2-shine.livejournal.com]

If you're looking for the hero that-almost-wasn't today, you'll find in medical ward.

Kensuke lays awake and stares at the ceiling for a long time, the weight of what happened today crushing down upon him. Sure, he had been in other battles before, but he had never stared death in the face like he did this time...
Aside from the heat exhaustion, and battered shoulders, his emotions where still in a state of shock. Kensuke was unsure what to think or feel after a day like that. HE knew he had done his job, albeit he had not done well, the Angel had still been defeated.

That's what was most important right?
The protection of everyone.
The Angel's defeat.

He rolled over and closed his eyes, trying not to left those moments in the lava play through his mind anymore. He needed a distraction, anything to take his mind of those flashes of memory he had long since banished from his mind.

Comments

[cosmo-nova.livejournal.com]

"Oi, you don't look to well. Everything alright?"

Well, there's Masaki, leaning against the door frame and staring at Kensuke. He could actually sympathize with that sour look, considering his days before and after he got Cybuster.

[my-time2-shine.livejournal.com]

Kensuke looks up, to see the green haird boy in the doorway. Sitting up on his elbows and (http://s861.photobucket.com/albums/ab173/GreybillGirls/Kensuke%20Icons/?action=view&current=436740-screenshot052.jpg)nod in greeting.


"Hey, I'm alive. That's something, I guess." He shrugged loosely. Not that he wasn't happy to be alive, it was just that he was shaken by the whole things. He had never felt so fragile in this life, those moments free falling in the magma,... and he didn't like it.
"It was my first time, ya know, looking in the eyes of my own death. I guess I'm a really solider now."

[cosmo-nova.livejournal.com]

"I can understand that. I got a few stories myself when I first started out."

And he could relate, all the way back to when Masaki took his first life, and even doubted himself as a good enough pilot at one point. Regardless, he was still here, and those doubts were gone.

[vjockey.livejournal.com]

Kensuke. I had heard what had happened...

[Cheng... had no idea what to say. Kensuke almost died in magma. That sort of close call he had no idea what to say to, especially considering his protege's age.]

You did well...despite the circumstances... I...

[Cheng puts a hand to his forehead. He had no idea what to say.]

[my-time2-shine.livejournal.com]

(http://s861.photobucket.com/albums/ab173/GreybillGirls/Kensuke%20Icons/?action=view&current=wounded.png)

Kensuke sat up quickly when Cheng walked in. He didn't want his mentor to see him acting like a mopy pansy after all.

It was moving to see Cheng at a loss for words. To have come to consul his pupil, even though he obviously had no idea what to say to fix it.

"I almost died. I put other people in unnecessary jeopardy. And we didn't capture the Angel intact. Not sure that warrants a 'good on ya', sir."

[vjockey.livejournal.com]

No plan survives contact with the enemy Kensuke. You would do well to remember that.

[Cheng seemed to take a deep breath before putting on a serious face.]

I looked over the debrief. The equipment was what was at fault. Not you. And there was no way to know if the Angel would awaken midway through the operation or not.

Death and the possibility of it is not a stranger to any of us Kensuke. This particular incident... just seemed to be at the most hopeless of situations before the others intervened.

[At this Cheng softens from the SERIOUS LECTURE MODE]

And despite what you say the others were not put in unnecessary jeopardy. Your life was at stake. They saved your life just as you would save theirs.

Either way Kensuke... the mission was a success and no one had died.

[my-time2-shine.livejournal.com]

(http://s861.photobucket.com/albums/ab173/GreybillGirls/Kensuke%20Icons/?action=view&current=kensuke-aida.jpg)

Kensuke listened somberly to Change's words. Even if he did feel like shit, it was all true. Kensuke knew this was only another stepping stone, another lesson every solider must learn the hard way.
He sat up a little straighter and rolled his shoulders back. Nodding a little he pushed up his glasses, and sighed aloud.

"I know you're right, I know this is something that was going to happen. Of course death is a possibility. I just... I had never felt it. IT was so frightening. For a moment I could hear my mother... calling me. I'm not ashamed to say I had never been so scared in my life ya know. I-I can't even remember what she looks or sounded like, until that moment..." He shook his head, perhaps this was the basis of his unsettled feelings now. This strange flashes of memory that had surfaced when he thought all had been lost.
His mother had died so... so long ago.

[possibly-here.livejournal.com]

Thankfully, Kensuke has just that in the guy who'd jumped into the magma after him with no protective equipment of his own and with a machine that ended up melted virtually beyond recognition.

And who's also in worse condition than him to boot.

"... You gonna be okay?"

[my-time2-shine.livejournal.com]

(http://s861.photobucket.com/albums/ab173/GreybillGirls/Kensuke%20Icons/?action=view&current=blue.png)

Kensuke sat up, and felt rather sheepish. He knew that voice, and he hard heard it on the comm in the darkness. The poor kid didn't look to goo either.
"You! You helped pull me out didn't you?" He looked down, rather pitifully. "I'm sorry..."

[possibly-here.livejournal.com]

"It's fine..." Kazuki said with a dismissing wave of his hand. "It was my own impatience to let someone better equipped jump in after you. Besides, you're fine. That's all that matters."

[zetahatsudo.livejournal.com]

So, what's it like inside a volcano?

[Kamille can be seen propped on a cane.]

That is, if the incident wasn't so traumatizing that you never wish to speak of it again.

[my-time2-shine.livejournal.com]

(http://s861.photobucket.com/albums/ab173/GreybillGirls/Kensuke%20Icons/?action=view&current=-_-.png)

"Hot." Kensuke smirked a little to see Kamille. He sat up and scooted over to sit on the edge of the bed. He motioned for Kamille to sit, since he too wasn't looking a little worse for wear.
"Mostly just hot."

[zetahatsudo.livejournal.com]

So nothing special? Shame. [sits when offered] So was it just a sea of red and heat then? I was hoping for something more... interesting to share with the others.

[g4merqu33n.livejournal.com]

[Have a visit from Cynthia. She's had her eye on this loser kid for a while, to see if he had any potential.]

Looks like you had some fun out there, kid.

[my-time2-shine.livejournal.com]

(http://s861.photobucket.com/albums/ab173/GreybillGirls/Kensuke%20Icons/?action=view&current=kensuke004.jpg)

Kensuke was in no mood to be visited by snarky young girls, but he wasn't really in a position to turn her away. He sat up only a maintain appearances, his shoulders drooped, and there was nearly a visible black cloud over his head.

"I guess... if that's what you want to call it."

[g4merqu33n.livejournal.com]

Why are you so depressed? You were the only one who could have pulled off that volcano job. You're a hero, you know, so you'd better start acting like it.

[moonpiercedrill.livejournal.com]

[Oh, hey, it's the kid he saved from the lava! Gen curiously goes up to Kensuke, curious.]

Yo.

[Eloquent, Gen. Real eloquent.]

[my-time2-shine.livejournal.com]

(http://s861.photobucket.com/albums/ab173/GreybillGirls/Kensuke%20Icons/?action=view&current=tumblr_lt71w4uCwv1r4t4g8o1_500.jpg)

"Uhhh... Yo." As he isen't in his Rider gear, Kensuke has no idea who this kid is, but man he looked cool.
Kind of like Toji if he had better hair.

[moonpiercedrill.livejournal.com]

How ya feeling? That was quite a pickle you were in.

[And blunt, too.]

Granted, I didn't expect to pull off such a rescue, too.

Pre-dated to shortly after Kensuke leaves the medical ward

[primalfanatic.livejournal.com]

Flynn had heard about the Volcano incident, but there wasn't much to say about it. Sure the guy had almost died... but the fact that he hadn't actually kinda irked Flynn. Surviving a jump into lava was not a natural thing that's for sure.

That said, who knows if Angels were natural, certainly no one in the disciples mentioned them except in the broadest mythological sense. And certainly no one described them as hulking monstrosities.

Things like this make one entirely rethink what the term natural means. Though, he was pretty sure that Baphomet would not consider them remotely natural. They didn't seem to be a part of any ecosystem on Earth anyway, which is really all that mattered.

In any event, Kensuke might find Flynn wandering the halls wearing some sweatpants and a t-shirt shortly after he gets out of the hospital.

[my-time2-shine.livejournal.com]

(http://s861.photobucket.com/albums/ab173/GreybillGirls/Kensuke%20Icons/?action=view&current=k2.jpg)

When Kensuke did find Flynn it was only because he hunted the redhead down. It was the first thing he did when they let him leave medical. It nearly broke his heart Flynn hadn't come to see him, even though a dozen others who mattered less to him had.
Had no one told him... that when Kensuke thought he was going to die, to name he had called out for was his...?
Would he even care?

"Flynn!"

[primalfanatic.livejournal.com]

Flynn wasn't really surprised to see Kensuke. He didn't really talk to anyone about the mission though, so he didn't really know anything except that Kensuke had been the one to fight the angel. And it wasn't that anyone had told him that, it was more that he had figured it out since well... no one else used that Eva. No one on board really could.

"Hey." Of course... this meant he didn't really have anything to say. It was kind of just the job right? Flynn knew what it was like to sacrifice one's life for their cause, not that he had done it personally, but he had seen it done many times. And more importantly, was willing to do so if the situation warranted it. That situation simply hadn't come up yet.

[aceshighgrope.livejournal.com]

[Here have an actually quiet Lucchini, though she brought snacks, chocolate makes everything better right?]

Thought you could use company.

[my-time2-shine.livejournal.com]

(http://s861.photobucket.com/albums/ab173/GreybillGirls/Kensuke%20Icons/?action=view&current=tumblr_lt71w4uCwv1r4t4g8o1_500.jpg)

Cute girls showing up with sweets?
Yes Please!

Kensuke sat up out of his daze quickly, his glasses sliding down his nose as he checked out the new arrival. And ah, she was one the witches who found appropriate eo wear no pants.
Well at least the view was good.

"Oh! uh... sure. I mean." His hands grips the blankets as he sputtered, voice cracking. And then swallowing the lump in his throat, he regained composure. "Please, I'm thankful for it." He motioned to the chair next to his bed.

[aceshighgrope.livejournal.com]

[She left the box of sweets next to him and took a seat getting used to the sputtering, funny how most guys do that.]

Your welcome. Was it your first battle out there? [Yes she's curious because well, his mech isn't one she's seen in action a lot.] Sorry, if you don't want to talk about it that's fine.