50 Drops of Water

The lightning archway closed the moment a tear stained face of Bianca appeared within the courtyard. Leo knew what happened and for once, he didn't really blame Will.

He had heard the end result of Bianca's rant before entering the portal. Now he knew that Bianca would doom an entire continent before allowing Will to follow his rightful destiny.

Bianca looked around at the kids she had been put in charge of during the attack. They all wore guarded expressions as they glanced her way. "What are you looking at?" she yelled at the group. "Why don't you go find your squat quarters or something, there's nothing to see here."

She was already upset with Will, she wasn't about to take any more drama from the people Will had ordered back to her world. It was bad enough he had chosen them over her, now she had to share an atmosphere with them.

"I'll go talk to Michael about finding a ticket back to Minnesota for you." Leo said as he turned to walk to the large double doors of the mansion. "I have to find these guys a place to live anyway."

"So that's it Leo?" she yelled as he walked towards the door. "After all we've been through, this is where it ends? I thought we were better friends than that." Leo could hear the hurt in her voice, but he was beyond caring. After what she said, she was no better than the corruption that left the two hundred and fifty teens orphans.

"Yep, that's it Bianca. You swore off helping Will." he stopped next to the door but didn't turn back around. "What else could there be between us?" Bianca could see the jury within his eyes as he spoke. She could tell he didn't truly wish to say what he was telling her.

"So what if me and Will broke up? What does that have to do with you?" Bianca started walking through the crowd to Leo. "We have been through too much over the years to let it end like this." fresh tears leaked down her cheeks as she looked at her best friend.

"Why did we become friends?" he asked Bianca as he put his hand on the door handle. "Why have we been through as much as we have together?"

Bianca reached for any other explanation besides the one she knew was right. In the end, she stopped short and looked at the ground. Tiny wet drops appeared by her feet. She thought of the many times he hung out with her back in Saint Cloud. Even after Will left, Leo still hung out with her, but at most they had always talked about Will. She was about to tell him it was more than just Will, but she faltered.

"That's right, it was Will." he finally looked back at her, his eyes glazed over in an uninterested way as if he were just waiting for her to stop talking. "Without Will, do you really think I would ever have talked to you? Looked in your direction or even trusted you?" every question he threw at her made a fresh new stab at Bianca's heart. She knew he was right, but hearing it was something she wasn't ready for.

"I thought we had more than that now." Bianca said through sobs. "I'm only upset with Will, sooner or later I'll come around, you know that." she was only upset with Will for not putting her first, what was wrong with that? She pleaded to Leo, trying to get him to understand her point of view. It's not as if I hate him or anything. She thought as she tried to grasp to reason.

Leo didn't even blink, instead he did the one thing he could to prove his point. Holding up his fist, a gale of wind and lightning danced around his body, playing with the his baggy clothes and messy hair. His silver and gold sword appeared in his hand and he raised his sword to Bianca. "Your turn." he said simply and waited for her.

Bianca looked from Leo to her own ring. The once ruby stone in the center had become a dull silver once more. She didn't even have to call on her power to know it wouldn't come. "I can't." she whimpered. She thought of the other times she had called upon her aura, the only thing she could think of was Will. Every time she had her crimson flame, it was to protect him, to support him. Without the feeling of needing to help him, the ring remained the stone color, not even a speck of crimson leaked through.

"Everyone here do me a favor!" Leo shouted at the crowd. "Show your faith in Will!"

Roy stepped forward with Jacob, their auras glowed around them as if they were lit from the inside. Crimson heat circled the formation only to be blown around by a gale of wind from the new affinity.

Bianca turned around to see a flaming tornado which reached towards the sky. The true meaning of what she had lost was staring her down from above. She remembered the crimson pillar from the fight with Jake. During that time, her thoughts had only been on how confused she had been by Will's comment before the battle. We will talk about this later, he had said before racing to face Jake with Maya by his side. She had been so hurt that he wouldn't bring her for such a fight. He had set her up as one of his generals instead. Resentment poured from her as she looked at the pillar of flame in front of her, a constant reminder that she was not and never would be the one that supported Will.

"You didn't give up on just Will," Leo started as he put his hand back on the door. "You lost faith in humanity and put yourself before an entire civilization." opening the door slowly, he looked over his shoulder at Bianca one last time. "I think it would be best if you stayed in your room until travel arrangements have been settled." he walked through the door. "For your safety of course." with that, the door shut behind him, leaving a broken Bianca staring at the double doors, too defeated to chase after him.

Bianca couldn't believe what she was hearing. Yes, she had been mad at Will, but she did still care about what happened to him. She thought back to the time she and Leo travelled the Kings Road to each village he had gone to. Leo awakened their lineage weapons and collected them for his friend. He had ensured their safety.

A thought hit Bianca faster than she could process it. What did I do? She thought back to the journey. She had complained about not being near Will the whole time. Leo had to console her as well as take care of the orphans. She acted as a child would while Leo took on all the responsibility. So that's why. She thought as she started walking towards the side entrance. Leo was able to say what he did because it was true. She had lost faith in humanity by hanging every thought on Will.

Bianca turned her teared up eyes to Roy. "I'm sorry." she said quietly as she continued her way to the side entrance, hoping not to run into Leo again.

Roy looked at Bianca with anger at first, but then he saw the absolute destruction in front of him. There was nothing left of Bianca to truly be mad at. He watched her with pity in his eyes as she opened the side door.

Bianca looked one last time upon the crimson storm behind her. I am so sorry. She said as she shut the door behind her.

Leo leaned himself against the shut door. He knew Bianca wouldn't try to follow him, he saw the defeat in her eyes the moment he showed her What she was missing. Damn it Bianca, he thought as he looked up at the familiar expensive chandelier hanging from above. You really don't get what we are actually fighting for do you?

Leo brushed off his thoughts. He had other things to worry about. There were two hundred and fifty medieval clothed teens out in the courtyard waiting for a place to rest their heads. He also had to look into how he could modernize Ember as Will had told him before they all left.

Going up a flight of stairs, Leo went down the polished black time flooring down the west wing to the last door in the hall which he knew was Michael's study.

After a few months in Crystallia, the sight of the one window hallway that had dozens of doors lining the walls ending with a small living room with a red rug, two black leather couches, a black leather recliner, all in a circle around an expensive black polished fireplace, he felt as if the home belonged to Bruce Wayne, not Will's uncle.

Leo stopped at the last door on the right, kiddy corner to the living room. Knocking three times on the door, Leo waited for the response he knew would come.

"So Will stayed behind then." he heard Michael say from behind the door. "You are going to have to fill me in on what transpired on your journey Leo."

"Can I take that as an invitation to enter?" Leo asked as he stood outside. He was raised properly enough to know he had first get permission before barging in on someone.

The door swung open on its own. Michael stood at the window looking out at the kids they had brought back while playing with a glass of water. Wait, that's not right, Leo thought as he looked at Michael's hand.

"I see a lot has happened in my absence." Michael said as he made the water in his hand circle around him as if a steady stream somehow formed in mid air.

Leo looked at the stream with a shocked expression. "How?" He couldn't think of anything else he could say.

Michael looked amused by the question. With a mere thought, the stream of water solidified into an ice lance. "Will had awoken another aspect of his gift hasn't he?"

Leo nodded slowly as he eyed the lance. "He awoke wind." he said quickly. The less he talked, the more time Michael had to explain.

"Ah," Michael said in an amused tone. "So I suppose you wish to know how exactly I have come in possession of the water element."

Leo nodded his head, his thoughts racing much faster than his words could keep up with. "When I have my lineage cross to Will back when he went to save Bianca, that was more than what it seemed." Michael said as his lance became a stream of water which circled him once more. "A lineage weapon is like a lifeline, once it is destroyed, you destroy a piece of yourself." He said as he gave Leo a meaningful look.

"If your weapon breaks, you forfeit your control over the aura." Leo guessed as he looked at Michael questioningly.

"Good guess," Michael said with respect. "You must have had theories for a while." Michael walked closer to Leo and withdrew his lineage cross. It was still the same silver cross that he always had, but in the center, a sapphire laid in place instead of an orange gem.

"When I gave him the cross, I gave him the only means to protect myself." he Michael stated as if it were a trivial matter. "When I got it back, my gem was gone. It had returned to an unactivated weapon."

Leo thought back to Bianca's ring, how it had become a simple stone where a red gem was supposed to be.

"It had taken months, but I felt my aura returning every day, but it felt different. It has taken quite some time to get used to a new power."

"But Will hasn't unlocked that affinity yet." Leo argued. "How could you have an element that the Prince himself doesn't have?" he couldn't understand how it was possible.

"There have always been cracks within the pact." Michael said as he thought of Jonathan. "Sometimes personality has an affect on what aura you attain."

"If it's happened before, I suppose it would make sense." Leo said skeptically. "But I've been over Ebonhart's history many times now and I haven't seen such an occurrence noted before."

"There's a lot more than just this that hasn't been noted in our history." Michael mused thoughtfully. "Sometimes it takes someone who was there to fill in the blanks." he said as he turned back to the window of his office. "But enough about me, how is my nephew doing?" a brief smile played on his lips. Things are about to get interesting. He thought as he watched the stream play yet another lap around his body.