It truly was a shame that humans couldn't experience under the water as she could. In their compact submarines they could go far down into the depths but they could never look up, with their SCUBA gear they could skim the water but they were not graceful in their approach. Some humans just couldn't swim, which was boring any way.

That was a funny though; how many humans had she saved from the waters that surrounded Neo Arcadia before they drowned?

Under the water was peaceful though- too bad the humans had to die before seeing the beauty she saw in it. Then again; she didn't have to share either.

Interrupting her idle thoughts, a sickening splash from above made Leviathan turn her head to look up at the water's surface. For a few moments, the female Guardian couldn't distinguish the figure as it slowly drifted to the ocean floor as if it were a stone. As it came closer, she realized that it was a human figure and she immediately took action. Leviathan made sure she was close enough to the human so she could take him by the waist and help him back up to the surface.

When the human was reintroduced to the harsh, blowing sea air he coughed up some water- a sign to her that he was going to be alright for now. But Leviathan soon realized something; where did this human come from if land wasn't in sight and no boats had been in the water at the time? Curious, the female Guardian struggled to turn the human around so she could get a better look at him and determine who he was.

The human was a boy around the age of ten. His light red hair was bowl cut with the fringe of his bangs being a bit longer on the sides. His skin was pale- almost completely white, but then again, if one almost drowns, whose skin isn't going to be that pale? His face, although still boyish, contained the promise of becoming more rectangular and authoritative. She had never been able to see him in person before, but she knew exactly who it was.

The boy was Albert Weil, Dr Weil's estranged son with his long deceased wife Rivina. As with most of the members of their family, young Albert was a genius. Less than a year ago, Albert was given the Light Award in robotics and mathematics- as irony would have it through, Albert hated Reploids. He was once noted in saying that he wanted to learn advanced robotics so he could reprogram a Reploid on the street to be a fancy lamppost with a single press of a remote. A cold child perhaps, but perhaps a bit misunderstood.

Albert coughed up some more sea water as he started to open his eyes. When he saw that Leviathan was keeping his head above seawater, the child instantly started to squirm out of her grasp.

"That stupid support unit dropped me!" Albert hollered as he thrashed about. "Let go of me, I need to get that thing back!"

"What su- Albert knock it off! You can't swim!"

"I'd rather drown than be carried by you back to the shore."

In a swift movement that was nearly unseen to the human eye, Leviathan slapped Albert. The boy looked at her with a mix of hatred, fear, and confusion.

"Albert Baryl Weil," the female Guardian then said in a tone that was more dark than motherly, "Land is yards away, there's not a boat in sight, and you're giving some nonsense about a support unit. You have five minutes to explain to me what the hell you're doing out here alone or I'll take you to your father to see what he can do to you."

"He can't do anything to me…" Albert mumbled under his breath. "That stupid jerk doesn't give a rat's ass about me."

"I'll take you to see the Mother Elf then." Leviathan then told him. "If the idea seems more punishing to you."

It did, for a multitude of reasons, and the mere thought of meeting the entity made Albert grimace.

"Can we go to shore first? In another minute I'm going to contract hypothermia."

"Of course." Leviathan agreed. "Are you going to kick me again while I guide you?"

A tricky little smile etched across Albert's face. "I make no promises," he informed her.

Well… at least he was honest.

. . .

"Now," Leviathan tried again after Albert was on shore and dried off, "Would you kindly inform me why you were in the middle of the ocean?"

"I told you," Albert insisted impatiently, "My support unit dropped me while I was testing it."

"What support unit?" Leviathan questioned.

"Its identification was 6OS-Pp3.1 (sixth operating system, progression point three point one) and like I told you earlier (and what I have to keep repeating, unfortunately), it's a support unit."

"You and I both know that you don't need or require a support unit." Leviathan reminded him sternly. "Why did you have one in your possession to begin with?"

"I built it." Albert told her as if the answer were as simple as that. The female Guardian did not step down, instead she looked at him from above- proving her authority over him and silently reminding Albert of the Mother Elf. With little else to do, and knowing that Leviathan wasn't going to let him go any time soon, the boy continued;

"I built the support unit to study the idea of a human or robotic soul to be biologically merged with an external body."

"Cyber-elves you mean? I hate to break it to you, but they already exist and are well known by now."

"No." Albert disagreed with a shake of his head. "Livemetal; it's a technology worse than those hellish cyber-elves."

"What does it do?" Leviathan asked, unsure of whether she should take him seriously or not. Albert face detailed one completely devoid of humor, not that it helped the Guardian decided whether he was telling the truth or not.

"I don't know." Albert told her truthfully. "But when I find out, I'll reset this world so there were never any Reploids! I'd change this world so no one has to die over a Reploid and uploaded into a computer somewhere that could be easily corrupted! I… I would rather die than watch my father pine over a dead woman that he wanted to replace my mom!"

"You… don't mean that. Do you?" Leviathan quietly asked. Young Albert's face grew livid and he got close enough to Leviathan that she could almost feel the extreme heat coming from his body as his blood boiled.

"I sure as fuck do." He hissed to her with a dangerous certainty. With this in mind, Albert gave Leviathan a cold stare as he started to walk away and left her there.

If she knew what he was going to be capable of in another fifty years, Leviathan would have let Albert drown.