57 Biancas Plea (2/2)

”Sorry,” a female voice called out behind Jimmy. ”Your friend decided to take a quick nap.” Jimmy fell to the ground revealing an upset Bianca behind him. ”If you'd like, I can take a message.” she smirked at the mugger as if she were talking to a dog. Wearing the usual red tank top and blue jeans, her brown hair in a ponytail, no one would expect a bite sized teenager to be able to knock out a fully grown mugger.

”Today just gets weirder and weirder.” the man sighed as he looked at his friend in the ground. ”Let me guess,” he said irritatingly. ”You're another kid like him?” he nodded to Roy.

”Do you really want to take a chance and find out?” Bianca said as she raised the hand with her ring palm up.

”Do what you want,” he took one more look at Roy who was laying in an ever increasing puddle of his own blood. ”He ain't got long anyway.” with a wave, the man turned around and broke into a sprint.

As soon as the mugger turned the corner Bianca took a sigh of relief. She carefully put the taser in her pocket before bending over and checking Roy's vitals. Shit, she thought as she checked his pulse, the beating within his neck was just barely detectable. He's only got a few minutes left.

She flipped out her phone and dialed Leo's number. Ring, ring, ring, 'hello this is Leo Patrelli, I am unable to come to the phone right now, leave your name and-.' Click. Bianca knew there was a chance he wouldn't pick up for her, she didn't blame him anyway since they didn't leave on the best of terms.

Bianca could feel panic rising within her as she stared at Roy. Yes, he was one of the guys who took Will away from her, but she still remembered her sparring sessions with him. She remembered their meals, their travels, she had been there to see him rise from a simple farmer to a warrior.

Bianca raised both hands over Roy, desperate to reach the part of herself that could do anything to help him. ”Save him.” She said softly. She watched the ring for any signs of it working, instead she heard Roy cough a mouthful of blood out. ”Please save him!” she screamed at the ring. ”Work you damn thing!” She smacked the ring a few times before holding her hands back out to him.

'But you don't want anything to do with him.' A voice rang out from within her. She knew nothing if where it came from, it could have been just a figment of her imagination for all she knew.

”He's dying, I have to help him.” She fought with the inner voice. ”If I don't help him, no one can.”

'Why do you care?' The voice whispered in her mind. 'This is no longer your life,' it taunted her. 'This isn't normal.'

”I don't care!” she called out to the empty alleyway. ”How could I care about what's normal when there's someone I know dying in front of me?” fighting back tears, she waited for the voice's response.

”Come back with me! This isn't your life! Don't you miss Jonathan? Don't you want to go to college? These people have nothing to do with you!” 'Were these not your words not two days ago?'

Bianca recoiled from the memory. She didn't know just how selfish those words had been. 'If I hadn't said that, I wouldn't have hesitated to help him.' Bianca turned her hands over and looked at them. 'All that I've been through. She clenched them into fists until they turned white. All of that and now I can't do anything?'

”No.” determination slowly replaced the panic. ”This is not all I can do.” she put her hands over Roy once more. ”Not after all that's happened, not like this!” she screamed into the alleyway.

'You turned away from the one thing that could help him. The voice taunted within her. You turned your back on the Prince and all of his people, now one dies before you. Bianca bit her lip to keep what she was feeling within her. You cast away your family, why care now?'

”Please,” she begged. ”Just let me save him, I'll do anything.” her hands fell around Roy's limp figure, his chest barely rising and falling with air.

'Who are you?' Bianca was startled by the change of subject. Her hand caressed the pale cheek of the dying man below her.' Who are you if not the selfish woman of two days ago? Why care about him now?'

Bianca thought back to before the war with Jake. Roy had been the only one to question Will when he presented Maya. He didn't question him because of his choice to bring her, he questioned Will on his capabilities as a leader. He asked why Will was truly willing to help.

It was because of his tenacity that Will had made him into a General for the assault. No other would challenge Will, not her, not even Leo.

Thinking back on that day, everyone fought not for Will, but for their right to live. They fought for the same thing she was now fighting for another.

”I am not the same person as I was then.” she tenderly stroked Roy's cheek. ”I understand why it was taken from me,” she spoke to the voice within her. ”Just don't take him from me.” a tear dropped onto Roy's forehead. Bianca reached up and felt her wet cheek, she hadn't realized she was crying.

'Do you want the power to restore him?' The voice was now growing within her, as if it were a force of its own.

”Yes.” she wept onto Roy's chest. ”I'll do anything,” she looked at the sweat coating his brow. ”I don't want any of them to die,” she looked straight into the alley, as if she could visibly see the voice within. ”Not if there's something I can do about it.”

'Then welcome back Bianca Jean,' the voice now surrounded her, as if the force could not be contained within her any longer. 'Welcome back to the Royal Flame Crusade.'