Rhivera (Complete Novel)

~Chapter Seven- Nirivo~

~Chapter Seven- Nirivo~

~Juaquin~

"I'm glad you're not a soldier anymore. It wasn't right for you." Mom remarks. She's ecstatic about the lie Raul and I told her. She gives Eugenio and I a kiss on the cheek and heads out the door for work. For the last few years she's been managing the Neruda/Rios Farm as well as her brother's bakery. Eugenio and I have the house all to ourselves.

"You're really not a soldier anymore?" Eugenio asks, sounding disappointed.

"Hold on a moment," I run upstairs to grab the white suitcase Raul gave me. I bring it down and slap it onto the table. "Can you keep a secret?"

Eugenio eagerly nodded. I know I can trust him. I open up the suitcase and show Eugenio the Survival Suit. "When I said I was in a safer position, I wasn't lying. But I'm still a soldier."

Eugenio pulls a flat object out of the case, "What's this?"

I take it from him and flick it in the air like I saw General Lena do, and it unfolds into a helmet, locking into place once fully expanded.

"Cool!" Eugenio exclaims, reaching for the helmet.

"Yeah, it's mine." I hand the helmet to Eugenio and he puts it over his head. It's a bit oversized for him and looks a little silly.

"Apparently it'll protect me from gunfire. It's supposed to be top secret stuff. Just don't tell mom I'm still a soldier. After what they said about what Miro and the RLA just pulled, she'd freak out. Don't tell Melissa or Arturo either."

Eugenio nods in the helmet, "I won't tell." If there's one person I can trust to stay true to his word, it was Eugenio. "You still have to tell me about all of the missions you go on though."

I smile, "That's fair." He loved hearing about the 'adventures' I would go on as a soldier.

Eugenio takes the helmet off, "Miro is a good guy though, right?"

I tilt my head at him, "What makes you say that?"

"That's what Melissa said. Miro is trying to get rid of the PCC so I can go outside."

Damn it Melissa. Why would you tell Eugenio something like that? "I think they're misguided. The RLA wants to get rid of the PCC too, but they're still doing really terrible things. Miro is no different."

"Oh. Ok. That makes sense." Eugenio nods and hands the helmet back to me. I collapse it to its flat state and return it to its suitcase.

There was a rustle in my squad when I arrived at base the next day. They already heard I was given the Survival Suit and wanted to see. Word must've spread from Raul. Rico audibly gasps when I showed them the helmet of the suit.

"It looks just like Miro's!" Ilyana comments, arms folded.

"Do you want it?" I ask. "They don't really care who uses it, as long as it gets tested."

Ilyana raises her eyebrows at me, "Didn't Raul give this directly to you?"

"He did."

"Then you should keep it for yourself." Ilyana remarks.

Ilyana did a bit of research into the previous incarnations of the survival suit, and found out that in 2006 a Survival Suit user killed Fidel Santoro, the original leader of the RLA. Soon after that, his son Eduardo Santoro took over the RLA, and it began to turn from a legitimate army into the terrorist group it is now. The first Survival Suit user was referred to as Nirivo, and subsequent ones have carried that name.