Waters Of Truth

Who's There?" She called out as no one had made a sound of acknowledgment and just stood at a standstill, "Lucy? Mark? What's going on?" She had a hand on the back of each of their shirts as she tugged like a child.

Mark grunted, "Friend a Foe?" As he and Lucy moved their hand to grab Razilias wrist that was on them.

The silence was loud as there was no reply from the soldier as he tilted his head to one side in confusion. As the seconds ticked by did the two get close enough to Razilia to grab and run if need be as they watched and waited for even a flicker of movement from him.

Still like a statue with his head tilted at Mark and Lucy who shared a glance at each other then at the window behind them before back at the statue of a soldier. 

Crouching slightly in sync with the opposite arm bent just right that would go under the opposite side of Razilias arm if they turned and ran. 

The soldiers head slowly tilted the other way at their slow movements trying to comprehend the situation.

A mechanical male voice suddenly sounded urgently startling the two to freeze,

[WAIT! Friend! Friend! Friend! Wait!]

Looking at the soldier who was still still like a statue confusion written on their faces.

The mechanical male voice then spoke again, [Stupid Soldier! Sorry! Sorry! Here To Pick Up! Pick Up Razilia! Soldier Is Boy! Baby! Not Knowing When To Speak! Sorry! We Friends!]

Mark got in between the soldiers' line of sight of Razilia and spoke like he would to ingrate trouble makers, a tone that he learned from Razilia that made others answer automatically, 

"What's your Rank, Son?!"

With a crisp salute the soldier boy who sounded to be in his late teens early twenties replied, "E.I.T. R2! Sir! Reporting to Her for my Mission Continuation, Sir!"

"E~i~t?" Lucy asked confused as she turned to Razilia who's demeanor had changed to one she's never seen before.

Razilia replied before the soldier could, "E.I.T. It means Elite In Training. The letter before the number is what Squad or Batch he's from. The number is his identification number… He hasn't earned a Nickname yet… That is how Fresh he is."

Mark sighed heavily, "Son! Come back at midnight to pick her up!"

"No can do Sir!"

"Why is that?"

"Because this planet spins faster so time here is faster than that outside of its gravitational force! It is required to accompany Her during the Retrieval Process so that the window of opening is not missed!" The soldier replied as he stood in the relaxed position, with hands resting on the lower back and feet shoulder length apart, evident that he wasn't going anywhere.

With a heavy sigh Mark then also relaxed as Lucy mentioned to Razilia, "You got an escort is what happened! Honey…. We're fine!"

A soft blue glow disappeared from Razilias palms as she nodded her head. Noting the tension in the room as waves of red and black dots emanated from the three people in front of her.

With a calm voice Razilia asked, "Didn't y'all say you had gifts for me?" The three people looked in her direction as she diffused the situation with a smile, "I'll go for a flight to stretch my wings and y'all get them ready and gathered. By the time I get back I should have time to open some of them!"

Two sighs sounded as the soldier watched as the two gave way to her suggestion with uncertainty. 

"Be back before sundown then!"

"Copy that!" Razilia stood up and with an arm outstretched to the soldier boy and a tone that sounded like an order, "Take me to the roof without anyone seeing my wings!"

The soldier looked at her outstretched hand as he contemplated on how to do that. 

The A.I. who had spoken through the speakers then sounded again to where everyone in the room could hear,

[Gently physically grab her hand and carry her as you maneuver through the building upwards! Undetected! The Roof, mean the top of the building!]

"Ah!" He said as he realized how small her hand and body was compared to his as he pulled her gently to him and picked her up in a princess carry with his arm beneath her wings.

With a curt nod to the other two he bolted out a suddenly opened window and up along the building without damaging where he stepped. 

Atop the building with no one around Razilia seemed to have melted into a different posture as her tone indicated exhaustion.

"Took ya long enough!"

"My apologies Ma'am! I wasn't sure on how to address you with… Civvies around, that I appeared to have messed up!" He carried her to the middle of the building before kneeling down as she expertly swung out of his carry with ease and stretched.

"So~o? How ya gonna keep up?" Razilia flexed her wings that just separated at the seam of the bone and flexed into two sets of separate wings. With a pleasuring sigh as she didn't need to consciously hide them any more.

In awe of her, he stood up, shook and flexed his back as one pair of jet black feathered wings unfurled.

"Don't worry 'bout me Ma'am! I'm top of my class in that regard!"

With a smirk at the boy, "We'll see about that, Child!" And she launched herself up and didn't need to wait long for him to follow, "Keep up!" And she headed towards the mountain range in the distance past the city.

"Ma'am where are we headed?" R2 asked though it fell upon deaf ears.

Without a reaction from her he realized he messed up again.

Grabbing something from a hidden compartment on his arm he pulled a diamond shaped earring out and looked at her position compared to his. 

Increasing his speed he maneuvered himself under her, he flipped 180 and reached out with a closed fist.

Having noticed him beneath her and watching him flip, without hitting a draft spot, he reached out like he had something to give her. 

Lowering herself to be within reach to where their wings beat in sync, so as not to cause them to crash, grabbing the item from his hand which he kept the draft from taking it.

Puting the earring on did she realize why he did a risky move.

"Can you hear me now?"

 "Yes!" She said as the winds howled past them, surprised by the clarity and portable design of the communication device.

"Where are we going?" He asked as he lowered altitude and flipped back around to follow her properly.

"To my cave!" She said cheerfully as the mountain range rose up with a mossy curtain just past a small landing zone that was evident while in the sky.

Landing with ease was simple, but for him… not so much!

He tripped and landed on a knee and slid a few feet as he was able to stop before striking the wall of the mountain.

She smugly asked, "Used to longer runways?" As she parted the curtain and disappeared.

Standing up unsure of this uneasy feeling like he just messed up on something, dusted his knee off before following suit.

A sizable cavern appeared before him with layers that acted like different rooms. There was a bed space in the far top corner with a layer lower that seemed like a lounge of sorts. Below that was a large steaming hot spring (unsure of what its use was besides heating the place) he looked around for her bath area for he had lost sight of her and nowhere for her to hide.

Getting close to the hot spring to pass it to go up to the bed layer he did not suspect that danger was lurking in the white bubbling murky waters.

A hot hand that almost melted his armor suddenly jerked him sideways and into the waters where his armor seemed to slowly melt away and his dark wings dripped black ooze into clear murky water.

The shock of the sudden heat on his skin had put him into battle mode. He launched upwards and landed heavily as melted metal dripped from his torso down leaving pale skin and patches of cloth beneath as the sudden heavy weight of his wings confused him.

Looking at the water for an enemy, he only saw her head bobbing just above the water staring at him in confusion.

With his helmet still intact so was the AI who urgently asked, [What Have You Done To Us? Get Out! That Water Is Dangerous!]