Grazing The Sky

Lance sat with his shirt beside him, feet lightly kicking out into the open air. This was weird, but not any weirder than going to a normal doctor, right?

He swallowed, watching Yittek feel his heartbeat with two fingers.

Finally, the Razalek pulled away.

"Heart sounds good."

Lance let out a breath of relief. Good.

"Extend your arm for me, please."

Lance did so, long dark fingers slipping through the spaces of his and palm pressing against his hand. His wrist was rotated, bent up and down. Basic flexibility. Good.

What the hell do I think he's gonna do? Probe me?

A half-grin shot onto Lance's face. Yittek glanced to him, releasing his hand.

"Zidane tells me you're a musician."

"Uh, yeah," Lance replied, feeling a flash of pain. "I play guitar."

Yittek hummed, nodding as he felt Lance's arm. Checking certain muscles. "I've always found the guitar to be a beautiful instrument. Even the distortion can have a certain element of wonder."

Lance nodded, trying to force back memories. His eyes began to sting, and he closed them. Not now... Don't think of them now...

A hand patted his shoulder.

"We'll get them back."

His eyes opened, and he twisted around, seeing Yittek finish walking behind him.

"You mean the memories?"

The Razalek nodded, hands coming to hold one another behind his back. "You have my word, Lance."

Another smile. This time, Lance returned it as a grin.

"Great," he said. "Awesome."

"Awesome, indeed." The word was a little awkward, coming from the Razalek's mouth. As if were brand new. "Please look ahead; I must examine your back muscles."

Lance did so, turning ahead and feeling a finger prod the muscle running beside his left shoulder blade. The prods moved downwards, then switched to the other muscle.

"So far, so good..."

A voice came to him: "So far, so good... Hm, I see your blood type is A-negative. That'll be a bit difficult."

Skin flaking. Yellow-eyes, blue hair. Lance shut the memory out.

He cleared his throat.

"What're you checking for?" Lance asked, tempted to look behind himself.

Yittek tapped a spot near his left shoulder blade. "I'm testing to see if any new muscles have grown in," he said.

Lance bit his tongue, stifling a shout, and felt another pressure at the back of his neck, directly in the center. There were Spiro muscles there, too?

He curled his hands a little, knuckles running against white tissue paper. It was just a matter of time, before they could get the cells out...

Yittek pulled away. "I'll check your lower-half and we'll be done with the first part of the examination." He walked around. "Please remove your shoes."

My lower-half? Lance thought as he removed his Converse, placing them on the table beside him.

His knees were tapped, tested for reflexes, his calves and shins prodded and poked. His ankles looked at for an exceptional amount of time.

"There a new muscle on the ankle, too?" he asked, his leg extended and Yittek holding his socked foot.

His foot was rotated, sock peeled back to look at his Achilles' heel.

"Yes," Yittek answered, lowering his leg and picking up the other one for the same examination. "And I'm not seeing anything out of the ordinary."

Lance let out a tiny sigh. Good. But he probably would've noticed if another muscle was growing on his foot.

A thought occurred to him.

"Does Zidane have these muscles?"

Yittek nodded, pulling back the sock on his other foot. "Yes, but some of them are fused with muscles of a Razalek. When he was younger, it was a miracle he was walking."

Wow. Lance stayed quiet, head mostly down, watching Yittek from the top of his vision. Finally, his leg was set down, and Yittek nodded to Lance.

"Open your mouth, please."

Lance did so, allowing Yittek's hand to tilt his head up. Yittek held out one finger, a glowing light appearing at the tip.

Lance remained still, confusion breaking onto his face. Thankfully, Yittek noticed; the Razalek glanced to Lance's eyes, and then spoke with his voice a little withdrawn.

"I'm looking for the small organ that forms at the very top of the throat, or the back of the mouth," he said. "It's the main Spiro reproductive organ."

Lance nearly pulled away out of shock, brain forcing him to stay still.

"Good. I'm not seeing anything." Yittek withdrew, beginning to rub his hands as if he were soaping them up. Lance let out a small breath of relief.

"Part one is complete. I'll need to take a few blood samples, and then we'll be done for today."

After this, Lance thought, following through with extending an arm and making a tight fist, We'll know how many Spiro cells are inside me...

Yittek's hand was poised as if he were measuring something small with two fingers. The nail of his index met a vein on Lance's arm, and the space between his fingers grew, dark blood filling it.

"What color is Spiro blood?" he asked, but from Zidane's memories and last night, he already knew.

"A bright red," Yittek answered, placing the blood a foot away. It rested as if it were in an invisible vial, and more blood was taken. "Your coloring is good," he said calmly. "It means the cells haven't gotten to your blood cells."

"So are they just floating around there or...?"

Yittek nodded. "Perhaps. It's a little hard to tell, given the unpredictability of this situation."

Lance gave a sad smile, a hint of a laugh. "I take it this doesn't happen very often."

Yittek shook his head, returning the smile. "No," he replied. "It doesn't."

Lance sighed a little out of relief. Yittek took another two samples before withdrawing, holding a finger against the prick in Lance's arm. A calm feeling, and when his finger was removed, Lance saw no wound.

"This sample is for testing a medication called Ethulin," Yittek began, motioning with a vial. "The rest are for testing different amounts of Razalek energy."

"That can help?" Lance asked.