The Crimson Prince： Awakening

"Morning bed head," she said as she giggled at his unmade hair. "I thought you would sleep all day, it"s already noon." She said as she winked at him "Breakfast is waiting upstairs for you." With that, they were off to the dining room.

Will had no choice but to smile at her. Seeing how much she had just been through, it was hard to believe she could be this energetic. After all she had been through the previous night, he thought she might even be a little bit more guarded. Chuckling to himself, Will followed the girl who seemed to be humming the tune to a song he didn"t recognize.

Following the hallway back to the staircase, they went up to the second floor. Before they reached a seemingly endless hallway, Will stopped in front of a gla.s.s door Seeing Michael at a table drinking coffee.

Will knocked at the door to get his uncle"s attention. With a flip of a finger, Helga opened the door to allow the two youths entrance. "You need a raise," Will said before heading inside the room.

"Morning you two," Michael said As he set down his cup. "You slept well I hope?" a smile playing on his lips.

Will couldn"t help but return the smile. "Its kind of hard not to have a good night"s sleep when you almost succeeded in modeling my room after the one in Colorado." he chuckled as he went to the counter and picked up his favorite breakfast; scrambled eggs and cheese, bacon and toast with a mountain dew.

Michael was taken aback. "Almost? I had everything sent from your room to your new one what could be different?"

Will rolled his eyes, "I do know the difference between a pillow top bed and a temprepedic one." he said as he put his food on the table. Will could tell the difference between the bed he had back at home and the one he had there. True, the pillow top was not as comfortable as the temprepedic, but the familiarity was thrown off by the slight difference. He supposed he shouldn"t have been complaining. Will had gotten so used to sleeping on gra.s.s, he didn"t even know a real bed existed anymore.

"That old bed looked horrible for your back," his uncle said with a look of indignation. "If I kept that one, you would be crawling upstairs instead of walking."

As Michael chuckled at his joke, Will ate his food. To his surprise it tasted exactly the way Jonathan would make it. He thought of the old man and how he must be doing. Will felt like c.r.a.p for not calling him the moment he could have, but too many things had happened for him to have the time.

"You are not training today by the way, you can thank your girlfriend for that." his uncle said while watching him eat.

Will looked at Bianca who was nursing a plate of sunny side up eggs. "I figured we should hit the town, seeing as though it is the Big Apple." She gave him a sheepish look. "Its been a while since it was just you and me, so your uncle agreed to postpone your training for the day."

Will looked at Michael, completely shocked at what he heard. His training had taken priority above all else since the moment he met him. To give him a break was almost too good to be true.

"You haven"t been able to spend a single day with your girlfriend in six months, the least I could do is give you a day of uninterrupted time together." Michael said as he brought his now empty coffee cup to the counter. "That being said, I have something for you William."

Michael took out his wallet and presented a card to Will. Taking it from his uncle, Will was surprised to see his name on it. "There is more money on that card than you can spend in a lifetime," his uncle said with a wink. "Spend wisely but have fun."

With that, Will watched his uncle exit the room, leaving him and Bianca alone. Given the opportunity to be alone with his girlfriend, he didn"t know what to do. So many experiences he had been through, so much had happened in the last six months, he just didn"t know where to start.

"Your uncle seems like a nice person," Bianca said, obviously uncomfortable with the silence and tired of playing with her fork.

Will snorted, "Yeah he"s a real saint." The silence suddenly broke with a giggle coming from his girlfriend.

"Come on Will, it couldn"t have been that bad living with Michael." she said looking at Will questioningly. "How could it have been with a person living in this place," she waved her hand around the room.

"You"ll find out when you see my training schedule later," Will said with an inward groan. "So what do you want to do today?" he said, clearly ready for a change of subject.

"Will we are in the big city!" she exclaimed with big eyes, "What would I not want to do?!"

Within a few minutes the two found themselves outside the manor. The driver From earlier waiting in a sleek black Mercedes.

Loading themselves in the back of the car, Will instructed him to show them the sights of the city. As the driver took off, Will looked out the window to see Michael waving them off.

It took no more than a half hour to meet the bustling traffic of the city. Stores left and right as well as diners. Throughout the day, Bianca stopped the car at various clothing outlets and tried out the most ridiculously expensive clothing. Trusting what his uncle said about the card, there was no limit to the amount Will was prepared to spend on her.

Hours flew by in what seemed like minutes. Each store they visited, Will ended up carrying a pile of clothing to the car. All of it was stored in the trunk which made Will curious. They must have purchased enough for a truck load.

On the bright side, Will was able to see Bianca in everything she got. Though he told her she looked good in everything, she loved hearing him say it every time.

Heading out of another clothing outlet Will didn"t care to remember the name of, he looked around. Though he had only been gone six months, seeing the big skysc.r.a.pers looming overhead still was enough to put him in awe. It was a nice break from deserts or forests.

While looking around, Will saw someone on the street corner with a can in his hand.

The boy was no older than Will, with a s.h.a.ggy hair covering his eyes, Will couldn"t see exactly what his expression was but if he had to guess it would be hopelessness.

Bianca was next to come out of the outlet, looking at Will she could tell something was wrong. Following his gaze, she saw the boy on the corner. "This city is full of homeless Will," she said with a sad look. "We can"t help them all."

Hearing Bianca say that with such conviction, as if there really wasn"t anything he could do made him slightly irritated. "If I didn"t have the luck I"ve had, I"d be in the same situation." he said turning to Bianca. "I can"t help the whole world, but I can"t turn my back from someone in front of me." Will turned back to the boy, walking across the street to see what he could do.

The boy looked startled as Will made his way toward him, sitting down at the corner. Thousands of people walked past him each day, none so much as looking at him. He didn"t blame them. Though this boy had no problems approaching him, he still doubted he would do more than talk.

Sitting next to the boy, Will could see why he was holding the can. He had a brown t shirt with holes in it, torn and worn out jeans, and he could swear he saw the boys feet through the holes in his shoes.

"My name is William Ragnos" Will said slightly embarra.s.sed. It was the first time he had actually introduced himself in his given name, it felt alien to him. The boy turned from looking at the street to the boy in the leather jacket. "Of course it"s another one just trying to talk." he thought.

"I"m Jake," The boy said looking wary at Will. "Is there something I can do for you?"

Will could see he wanted to get straight to the point, he couldn"t truly blame him. How many other people sat down where he was sitting just to talk to him? "I was wondering if you would like a job." he said as Jake looked at him with a confused expression.

"I do a lot of travelling for my training, and would like to have you accompany me." Will said with a grin on his face. "Travelling alone is not really beneficial to me, I would have you train as well. We would be sparring partners, if you"ve never held a sword before, don"t worry you aren"t the only one."

Jake couldn"t understand what he was saying. Sparring and sword fights? "What"s in it for me?" he asked, cautious of anything that might be out of the ordinary by way of work. He had seen too many people taken from the streets never to be seen again.

"You can pick a room out in my uncle"s mansion for one thing, we can get you new clothes. Those ones look like they were done ten years ago. You won"t have to past for room and board, and meals are on a scheduled basis." Will thought of everything he believed Michael would be okay with.

It was way too good to be true fore Jake, someone walking up to him completely out of the blue and offering paradise. "I think I"ll pa.s.s." he said as he turned back to the street.

Will remembered something Jonathan said when he first started his training. "Sometimes the best opportunities come disguised as wishful thinking. Even if something seems too good to be true, Take a chance and do something you normally wouldn"t."

Jake thought about it for a minute. It did seem too good to be true, why would a stranger help without wanting anything in return? The world didn"t work that way, he had felt first hand what the kindness of strangers did to people. Jake winced, "Just go away, there"s nothing you can do for me and you"re about to get both of us in trouble."

Will was about to question him when three thugs walked towards them. "Dammit," Jake muttered under his breath, "just get out of here while you have the chance!"

"Hey kid, is this guy paying or are we playing?" said a bald man with huge muscles, a black tank top and a cross tattoo on his bicep.

"He was just leaving, it was just a misunderstanding that"s all." Jake said quickly, obviously intimidated by the three.

"I don"t think so," he said while turning to face Will. "You see kid, this boy," he gestured to Jake, "owes us a lot of money, though he hasn"t been able to make any of it back." he said as he pulled out a knife. "I was just telling my friends over here it"s about time to cut our losses." The man had a horrible gleam in his eyes as he held the knife to Jake. "Hold him down." he said to his friends who immediately lunged towards Jake.

Will sighed, "So much for my day off."