The little girl clutched the slippery wall when the plane rumbled and took off into the black, twinkling sky.

"The ground is shaking! Ahh!" She squealed, her tiny feet tottering on the grey floor. "I want to go home!"

A soft hand grabbed her hand. "It's okay, little girl. It's okay."

Teary-eyes and trembling, the girl clutched the hand tighter.

"We're on a plane," the man explained, patting the dark-haired head. "I created this plane."

"I don't like it," she whimpered out. "We're too high up in the sky."

"Have you looked outside yet?" Sid said, his crooked finger pointing to the roundish window a few steps away.

She shook her head, squeezing harder on Sid's hand.

"Go on," he encouraged. "Don't you want to know what the world looks like from above? Don't you want to feel like a bird, soaring in the clouds?"

Her tiny feet tottered, and her body shook to and fro like a boat. But she took a step. And another. And another.

"Wow," she breathed out. Foamy, springy clouds drifted lazily then scattered like ants when the wing of the Savior sliced through. Glittering like sequins, the land below teemed with life—and death.

The girl hobbled back from the window as the flashes of metal and grey and blood bubbled inside her, and she fell into warm arms that enveloped her.

"Shh, shh, it's alright. You're home now. This is your home. You're safe." The warm hand patted her, easing the knots on her back and in her heart. The soothing voice continued, "What is your name, little one?"

"I-I can't remember."

"Well," the man contemplated. "How about Rena? I've always liked that name."

She nodded.

"My name is Sid. I'll keep you safe here, so don't worry anymore."

She nodded again, tearfully. She liked her name. She liked the man, Sid, who held her hand as they ascended away from the hell below.

But Rena did not like heights, which she was reminded of as she clung to the Bot, zipping into the atmosphere.

"Get me down! Down! Ahhhh!"

"Wait," it replied calmly, breathing in the scent of fresh, crisp air. "Not yet."

"Why the hell not?" Her words quickly got snatched away by the sniping wind, but the Bot heard her loud and clear.

Scowling, the Bot muttered into her ear, "Why did you save me, girl? What did you expect after protecting me?"

Rena stayed silent. Because I think you're human. Because killing is wrong. Because you saved me first.

She mulled over her thoughts, a temporary haven to distract her from looking downwards. She could still see Paul's face—betrayal, despair, anger. It felt like days ago when she rocketed to the sky, kidnapped by the Bot. She wondered what the survivors thought—that she deserved it? that the Bot should've been killed? that she was insignificant? She wondered what Sid would tell them, whether he would send out a rescue mission—

How could they rescue her? The Savior is gone. Not unless they sprout out wings, then Rena would have hope. But now, she had no idea where she was, infinite clouds glazed the horizon.

She was used to gliding in the air but never like this. She had never felt the wind caressing her hair, freezing her cheeks. She had never seen the clouds so close—

"Hey, watch out! Don't crash into—"

Poof. Stunned, Rena blinked her eyes.

Rena's body shook as the Bot holding her laughed loudly. Its voice echoed across the empty horizons of the sky. "Clouds aren't made of cotton candy, like you thought?"

She could've struck if, stuck her tongue right to its face; but she was still processing the tingle of the soft clouds dissipating through and in her, their jelly-like fluffs tickling her nose when they flew through.

All of her twelve years in the Savior, she had never thought about the world outside except for the rampaging hell below. She had never thought about how nice it felt to just be free like a sparrow spiraling through the breeze and zipping into clouds.

Well, she did have a chance to fly through the breeze. It was her first rescue mission. Sid had detected a smoke signal from a minuscule island below and called on the selected crew to rescue a new survivors. Rena begged and pleaded and batted her eyelashes. Sid agreed. Excited and pumped up, Rena shrugged on a thin black suit equipped with ropes, knives, and parachutes—

Rena stopped just as a man hopped out of the plane and spiraled into the air, whooping all the way down. Rena balked and halted and stepped backwards. Sid smiled knowingly. Dejected, Rena watched as the rescue team fell through gravity into a distant island.

No rescue team could save me now, Rena sighed softly.

The Bot scooted its hands to have a better grip on the girl.

"Watch where you're grabbing!" Rena shrieked. All her life, like any girl, she daydreamed of the day a boy would carry her princess-style and sweep her into his castle.

But she never imagined that a handsome assassin Bot man would be carrying her like this while flying through clouds and heading...

"Where are we going?" She shouted over the hum of the wind.

The Bot lowered her further down from its sensitive ears, but Rena only clutched tighter and closer. "We're going to Eden."

"No, no, NO!"

She pushed. Squiggling, squirming, punching, Rena untangled herself in the Bot's grip. She scrambled on him, over him, on top of him. Her hands scratched its shoulders, and her feet dug into its stomach.

"Hey, don't touch me there!" It yelped, shoving her feet off its stomach.

"Put me down! Let me go, you monster!"

"I'm not a monster," it said; and Rena could almost swear that she heard hurt in its tone, but she wasn't letting her guard down.

"Please! I don't want to go to Eden to die!"

It laughed, a surprisingly human sound. "You won't die in Eden."

"Oh, really? Then what exactly do you do in Eden? From what I've been hearing from all the survivors who escaped Eden, people are forced to live in a glass pyramid where they have to become ideal people of civilization or die."

The Bot pondered for a second and replied, "You do have to live in a glass pyramid, and you do become ideal people of civilization; but you are not forced, and you do not die."

"How do you know all of this?" How many people have you taken there?

"I just...know." The Bot shrugged, and Rena nearly fell off his arms.

"But how do you know?" She asked. "Do you have a brain? Do you have a cool computer screen in your perception? What is the percentage of metal and flesh in your body? How can you fly?" She gasped. "Do you have superpowers?"

The Bot stopped flying, simply hovering in the air, the smell of gasoline clogging Rena's nose. "Can you even breathe—" She asked. She would've asked more questions if the Bot hadn't suddenly dipped down to the stratosphere.

Rena thought she screamed, but she couldn't tell with the wind blurring her senses. She felt as if her eyeballs were going to fly out of their sockets, so she kept her eyelids shut and hid her head at the crook of the Bot's neck. Thick arms enveloped her protectively; and Rena found herself back in the Savior when the world was flipping upside down, when the same arms were protecting her.

The arms were soft yet built. They wrapped around her perfectly that Rena might've enjoyed the moment if she didn't feel like she would die any second. She might've wet herself any second, but the world quickly stopped and stayed still.

Opening one eye first, Rena found herself at the top of a tree, soft sunlight filtering through a pattern of moss-green leaves above her. Rena's arms sagged in relief, but the arms around her didn't.

"What's wrong—"

"Sshh, enough questions," the Bot muttered, clamping her lips with his large hand.

Muffled protests flew out of Rena's shut lips, and the Bot smirked slightly but kept its eyes on the sky.

Its eyes. Rena blinked her tears away and looked closer. Green eyes.

It shifted its beady eyes to her, and Rena now had no doubt that this machine, this boy, was the one who saved her.

It slowly took its hand away and pointed to the sky. Rena lifted her own eyes upward, but her ears heard the large bobbing vehicle first. The black blob seemed to mow through the sky, swallowing clouds in its path.

The Bot placed an index finger over its lips, indicating her to shut up. Rena blushed at the idea at the same index finger touched her own lips.

The vehicle bumbled by then disappeared behind a burgeoning cloud.

"What was that?"

"Too many questions," the Bot groaned. Standing on a thick branch, the Bot started walking to the trunk of the tree. "I will only answer three of your questions. That was the first one."

It jumped to the next branch, jostling Rena, and said, "That was a blimp. It is rumored to be called Noah's Ark, relating to the biblical story when God flooded the earth and—"

"I know the story," she interrupted. "I just...didn't know that—"

"That there was another plane like the Savior? Oh, no, there are plenty more of these ships that try to infiltrate Eden."

"D-do they succeed?"

The Bot pursed its lips. "Sometimes."

Rena tried not to think about how many ships it had destroyed, like the Savior, or how many lives it had killed. The Bot lowered her down onto the branch, and Rena quickly left its reach and went to the furthest end of the branch.

Despite herself, she looked down and immediately looked up. Too high. The tree itself was a giant oak tree with massive, thick branches the width of Rena's body.

"You really don't like heights, huh?" The Bot laughed and settled itself onto the branch, leaning against the trunk.

"You did this on purpose," she accused, flinging her eyes at her enemy.

"Maybe, maybe not." It crossed its arms together and closed its eyes.

"What are you doing?"

"Three."

"What?"

"Four. You have asked four questions already. But since I'm so nice, I'll answer your question. What am I doing? I am sleeping because it is about to get dark, and I unfortunately do not have any bat powers to meander through the night. I would also rather not come across Noah's Ark, so we are going to be staying on this tree for the night where you cannot escape."

"What if I push you off in your sleep?"

"I can fly. That's fiv now."

Rena opened her mouth to say something but then clamped her lips together.

The Bot seemed to sense her desire to ask more questions; and it said, "If you have another question, ask it tomorrow. Go sleep."

"I can't." She stared at her hands, refusing to meet the glare in its green eyes.

"Why?" It sat up, rolling its eyes at her in an uncanny human way. "What question is it this time?"

"Where is the restroom?"

The Bot sighed, and Rena awkwardly squirmed.

As the Bot took her in its arms and flew down to the land below, Rena started formulating a plan because no way on this hell was she going to be spending a night with a Bot.

*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'*ﾟ▽ﾟ*'･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*

What do you think about the relationship between Rena and the Bot? Should she be more hostile, maybe? Please give some advice 😬 I'm still new with this writing thing!
Don't forget to add this story to your reading list because, come on, don't you just want to know what happens next 😉
Don't forget to vote and comment, and feel free to give any suggestions 💖😆🤗