He moved to lay me down on the ground, removed the staff off my back and placed it nearby. Taking a moment to look me over, he began to carefully remove my armor, he knew the weight of it would slow down the energy I was trying to replenish. Once free of the armor, he picked me up and sat against the wall, laying me down to rest my head in his lap. I lay there, facing towards him, wings spread out towards the horizon to better soak in the sun when it rose.
He then waited, unconsciously running his fingers through my hair. After a couple hours, he began to grow curious. He pulled the small tablet out from behind him and powered it on, then reached down to the memory chip I wore around my neck. Very suddenly the arm I was laying on, snapped up to grab his forearm, stopping him. No words were passed and I reached for my helmet to find it wasn't there. Reaper extended his free hand and used the shadows to move it over towards us. I released his arm and pulled a second chip from the backside of the helmet and handed it to him.
"It isn't...edited." I muttered softly.
"So you're awake?"
"In and out." Letting out a soft sigh, I rest my hand down in his lap beside my head.
"Sleep, and stay asleep until you are recharged." He ordered and I did not reply, instead my eyes closed and I drifted back off.
He moved the memory chip to the corner of the tablet and set it down, it began to glow and the tablet read through the information. He found the fight and began watching it, from the very beginning, to the very end, replaying parts, rewatched my ultimate attack, rewatching everything I did keeping them off of him, all of it. He lowered the tablet to glance down at me, the sky now beginning to light up. He watched me for a long while before the sunlight moved towards us. My wings were soon, fully engulfed by the sunlight and began glowing lightly. Noticing this, he turned off the tablet and set it aside, then replaced the memory chip in the helmet.
Once the helmet was out of the way, he allowed me a moment to wake up. He watched me tense up, then stretch before slowly sitting up and turning my back on him. Still, he said nothing, only watched.
I slowly rubbed the back of my neck and bent my wings, stretching them out. Turning slightly, I looked over at the rising sun and smiled softly, enjoying its warmth. With my eyes closed, I began to think, slowly remember what happened, the smile faded from my face and I turned a bit more to look at Reaper still sitting there, silent, watching me. My frown only grew as I completely turned to face him, never once moving my eyes off of him.
Lifting my hands, I moved towards him but he did not move. I felt him tense when I touched his helmet but yet, he did not stop me. I lifted his helmet, not enough to take it off, but just enough to lean in and kiss him, somewhat passionately. After a moment I pulled back but he still said nothing, only watched me, my face emotionless and yet, I remained silent.
I then moved and straddled his lap, his head turned slightly to adjust to looking up at me, though I was sure it was difficult since his mask was still raised. I lowered his mask for him, shifting it slightly into place before I began to slowly flex my wings out. I then arched them over us, as if to create shade, I watched his head turn slightly towards them, but I knew his eyes remained locked on me. I grabbed his hand and brought it between us, then removed the armor and the glove he wore exposing his hand. I lowered it all to the ground but held his hand there, looking at the scar on his palm. A part of me was still shocked he had it, but it made me smile faintly.
"If you wanted to know if it was still there, all you had to do was ask." He said and my eyes glanced up at him. I did not reply, I simply looked back at his palm and reopened the wound, he made no sound of motion of pain, it inwardly amused me. I then did the same thing to my palm and looked at him.
"Shadow." I said lightly, he seemed confused but then I saw the shadows extend off his forearm, out of his palm. I connected our palms and then took in a deep breath, shuddering. Slowly, my eyes closed as our finger curled around each others. He watched my jaw line clench, then glanced at our hands to see only shadow, there was no light mixing into it.
"Phoenix." He growled angrily moving his hand away. "Don't be so foolish."
"Foolish." Chuckling I opened my eyes looking at my palm. "Not foolish." I licked my palm clean, smiling and looking down at him, "Adapting." My wings tensed, flared out just slightly above us, then faded to black. I didn't know what his reaction was to this display, but I am sure it was some level of shock. Closing my eyes, I focused on the shadows moving through my veins and cast the area around us in shadow, it lingered around us, darkening everything around us, with just enough light coming through to clearly see.
My hands touching his chest is what brought his attention back down to me, still, he found my face emotionless, though my eyes held something different within them, something he didn't quite understand. "Reaper." I said very softly leaning closer to him.
"To what extent do you feel for me?" He asked lowly.
Chuckling, I shook my head, "It doesn't matter."
"It doesn't matter?" He asked in a angry growl.
"Words can be spoken in either truths, or lies."
"As can actions." I shook my head in a reply and kissed his helmet. I then removed it completely which solicited another angry growl. "Phoenix, we-" I silenced him by kissing him passionately, one he would not deny. I then leaned back forcing him to move with me, so it was easier for me to remove his jacket and quickly unclip his armor. We then broke away from one another and stared each other down. "You want to do this, now?" He asked with a smirk, and I only smirked in return. "Very well." He moved towards me and I shoved him back against the wall, tsk'ing as I did. He then settle back and allowed me to do the work.
I controlled everything we did, for most of the time. I moved at speeds and motions he always did, his one hand that still had the armor on, clawed at my back, pulling me closer, holding me still when he wanted me to stop, maybe to prolong the activity. My wings ended up folded tight against my back, letting him soak in the darkness and recharge in it, even despite our actions. He caught my pace stuttering, me losing control of the situation and he took advantage of that. In a single quick motion, our position had changed. He was on his knees now, as was I, my back pressed tight against his chest, one arm wrapped around my waist holding me still, the other wrapped around my neck, a single sharp talon in my mouth pulling my jaw down.
"Did you think you'd keep control for long? You did good, bird, but it is my turn." He didn't stop until we were both spent and exhausted, I lay on my back now, staring up at him as he hoovered over me, using his arms to keep him upright. We were silent, settling ourselves down before I smiled, tears lining my vision. This, he was taken aback by and wasn't entirely sure what to do.
I was then suddenly hugging him, arms wrapped around his shoulders, face buried in his neck. He let out a long sigh and wrapped an arm around me, the other arm kept us both upright.
After a long moment, my voice stuttered, "I thought I was going to lose you. When you didn't get back up...I was sure that was it. I didn't have enough energy to revive you if you disappeared. I would have lost you for good. I couldn't get that thought out of my head. But...your body...didn't disappear. You just laid there. I thought maybe, just maybe...if I couldn't kill the other two, I could get them down, get them to retreat, then I could focus my energy and save you." I held onto him tighter, he tried to glance over at me, but I held onto him too tight. It was when he felt the wetness on his neck that he finally pulled back, pulling me with him. His other arm wrapped around me and simply held me close to him, but said nothing. "I tried so hard and I failed. I couldn't kill them, couldn't even keep them down. Mercy was always better at healing than me and Soldier...he has years of fighting under his belt that I could never match. My stupidity almost got you killed. You..."
"Be silent." He said softly and I clenched my jaw, keeping my eyes closed. "You cannot kill me. No one can. They can destroy my body but I will simply return. Have no fear."
I chuckled softly shaking my head, "It should never come to that. Ever. I should be stronger, I should be better than that. But...I'm not."
"You are." He growled, somewhat angrily and my body fell still for a moment. I must have irritated him, this emotion I was displaying, of course it was pissing him off.
"I'm sorry." I muttered softly and forced myself away. I kept my back on him as I moved towards my armor and began replacing it, rather quickly.
"Phoenix." He said but I did not reply. I grabbed my helmet and slipped it on then shook my wings, all darkness around us faded away and my wings returned back to their normal color. "Phoenix." He snapped and I turned slightly to look at him. He was standing there, his arms crossed, completely dressed, aside from his helmet, which was in his hand. "Do not ever think of turning your back on me." He hissed and I kept my eyes on him. "Not after displaying an emotion like that."
"I went too far. It was wrong of me, to cry like that." I turned my head away, looking down. I heard an anrgy growl and suddenly I was slammed against the wall, all the air in my lungs were forced out in a gasp as I tensed in pain for a brief moment.
"I know you, Phoenix. I know all about you. You're secluded, loner, your stone cold emotion rivals my own most of the time. You displayed an emotion to me that I know you would never display to anyone. I know what is coursing through your mind. You think I am irritated with the fact I have to console you because you are crying. That is not it." I looked at him. "I am irritated because you have the ability to protect yourself, protect me, I have seen you fight, you are one the best soldiers I have ever known. Your mission was to keep Mercy down, while I concentrated on Soldier. You altered your mission when I fell. Your number one priority was then to protect your fallen team mate, me." I turned my head away frowning. "You did exactly that, your goal wasn't to kill them, it was to get me to safety and we could replan the situation and grow from it. You are not weak. You are not a failure and if I ever hear those words coming out of your mouth again, I will rip out your tongue. Are we clear?"
"Yes, sir." I said softly, closing my eyes.
"Beyond that," he grabbed my chin and forced me to look over at him. "Only you can ever cry like that in front of me and elicit any kind of consoling emotion. You are not crying for you. You are crying over my well being. Something no one has ever done. Only you."
I smiled then, easing my body against the wall, against him and nodded.
"Good bird." He chuckled and kissed my forehead before backing up and replacing his helmet. Standing upright, I shook out my wings before following him out and back onto the road. We walked in silence for a while and I kept my eyes towards the grounds, though remained listening to our surroundings.
"How did you do it?" He asked and I looked over at him, "your wings."
"The...shadows?" I asked and he nodded. "Something I learned from meditating, with control, you can learn near anything. The first time you put your shadow within me, I could feel it running through my veins, I would play with it, try to learn to control it, but it always faded away. I didn't even know I could do what I did back there, I just kind of...tried it out."
"Can you do it again?"
"No." I sighed. "I wasted all the shadow I stole from you so, unless I get another dose, no more tricks. Of course, I can't do what you can do, all that shadowy stuff, but, I am sure in a pinch it could become useful."
"We will experiment with it, sometime." He said and I nodded, then back into silence. By nightfall, we were walking into Gibralta and I sighed softly looking around. "Do you see anything?"
"No, the place is baren." I muttered and we walked into the lab as before. "Well, since this place is dead, I am going to wash up." I said waving him off and separating from him.
"I will inspect the rest of the grounds." He replied, but I said nothing slipping into the other room. I took my time showering, cleaning myself up completely, then afterwards, cleaned off my armor before returning to the other room. He still had not returned and I sighed taking to sitting on a chair wiping down my staff.