Chapter 5: Second Chance at Life

From within the ship, Alecia continues to look at the window, and locks her eyes on a large dam below, only to spot a flock of winged-animals flying across it.

The music from the radio ends, followed by a brief silence.

"Hello again everyone on this wonderful day." A man's voice said from the radio.

"I've heard recently that the empress is heading to Senteria to hold a surprise celebration tomorrow at noon."

"This is wonderful news I must say." A woman's voice said in a cheerful tone.

"I wonder what's the surprise, it could be anything. What do you think?"

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see, it will be a wonderful experience for those who are invited." The man said with a joyful tone.

Alecia, widens her eyes, and looks at the console. For a long time, she never felt zo relieved.

"Ruth?" Alecia said in a quiet tone, while the hosts of the radio continue talking.

"What?" Booker said, looking at her.

"Did you say something?"

"My sister." Alecia, said averting her eyes to him.

"What about her?" He said with a curious look.

"Is she going to the celebration?"

"No, she's..." Alecia said,turning to his attention. She pauses, being careful to not tell too much.

"She never misses something like that." She looks ahead for a moment with a smile.

"It looks like I'll see her sooner than I thought." She looks at him as her smile gently fades, still with a gentle expression on her face.

Booker, smiles gently.

"That's great."

Looking at his smile, she wouldn't want it to disappear, no, not from anyone.

"And don't worry." She said.

"I haven't forgotten about your sister, I always keep my word."

"Thank you." He said with a gentle tone.

Alecia looks ahead, and narrows her eyes, at the sight of something in the far distance ahead.

"Is that it? She said, looking at him once more.

"Senteria?"

"Yes, that's it." He said, moving the control wheel forward, which slightly increases the ship's speed.

"I wonder if it will look different than I remember." She said, staring at it with a thoughtful look in her eyes.

"You'll find out eventually." He said, keeping his gaze ahead.

A few moments later...

A large city stands proud, with five skyscrapers standing tall among the rest. Within the city, small ships fly to and fro. Screens are seen on most of the buildings, each screen shows something different ftom each other, from powerful people with their suits and glowing earpieces, advertisement, and news updates.

The entire city is cluttered with a variety of sounds, from all the ships engines in the distance, to the echoes of the screens on the buildings.

Among the countless ships, a red ship is seen flying in a steady speed with the others as it tails a green ship that is a little larger in size.

Alecia stares outside the window with her eyes slowly moving from one side to the other. More thoughts go through her mind, she knows now why she needed to stay away, this is too much her, so much has changed.

"So, is it different than you remember?" Booker said, which urges Alecia to break away from her stare to look at him.

"Very different." She said, looking at the window once more as the light moves slowly across her face with it disappearing now and again while each building blocks the sunlight as they pass them.

"Or maybe I have forgotten most of it."

"Hey, I was thinking." He said, looking at her for a moment and turns his gaze ahead once more.

"One of the stories that I heard about you, tells how you can actually defy gravity, and actually levitate..." Alecia, turns to him with a slight frown.

"...but, not only levitate, you can fly. Is that true?"

Alecia chuckles a bit and looks at the window.

"That's one of the rumors that are true." She said, with a calm tone in her voice and looks at him, curious as to how he knows this.

"Where do you get these stories from anyway?"

"I read few l books that are written about what happened then." He said, with a calm tone.

"They're quite intriguing to read..." he looks at her for a moment and looks ahead once more.

"Like you said, there's more to that than what is written."

Alecia looks down, she can't deny what he had just said, she can't deny the truth.

"About the part of me flying," she said looking up at him.

"Yes it's true I can, but..." she looks ahead of herself, only to lock her eyes on the ship in front, which is turning away to the right. She averts her eyes ahead. She hesitates, wondering if she should tell him more.

"Only if it is an emergency, I would do it. I also need to walk like a normal person would, to exercise my legs, secondly, it's tiring to fly long distances."

She looks at him with a gentle look in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I hope I didn't sound rude there?"

"What?" He said looking at her eith a frownful smile, and looks ahead.

"Not at all, I asked a question and you answered it straight."

"Okay, good." Alecia said, looking ahead with a gentle smile on her face.

Booker leans in and turns off the radio, followed by the calming hum of the ship's engines.

"Just a few more minutes, and we're there." He said, looking at her for a moment.

"I really hope you can fix her." He looks ahead with his eyes having a worrisome look in them.

Alecia looks at him for a moment. She gives a downcast look with her eyes flickering in thought.

She looks up at him again, and looks at the window once more only to watch the buildings pass by.

A few moments pass...

The red ship slows down as the engines rotates and keeps the ship hovering, only for it to slowly descend next to the building.

The door of the ship opens, with Booker climbing out, followed by Alecia.

"Come on." He said, taking a long jacket from the back seat of his ship and closes the door, only for him to put the jacket on and starts walking towards the entrance of the building with Alecia following from behind.

Alecia and Booker enter the building, and into the lobby. The floors are black marble, as well as the round pillars along the cream colored walls.

Booker steps towards the receptionist.

"Oh, hey, you're back." The receptionist said with a surprised tone in her voice. She looks at Alecia standing beside Booker.

"Do you need assistance, miss?"

"She's with me." Booker said, just as Alecia was about to answer.

"So, she is a visitor?" The receptionist said, looking at Booker.

"Yes." Booker said, looking at Alecia and turns to the receptionist once more.

"Is there any mail for me?"

"Not at the moment." She said.

"Okay, see you later." He said stepping away.

"By the way, how is Renata?" She said with a curious look on her face.

Booker to stops and turns to her.

"Not good." He said shaking his head with a worrisome look on his face.

"That's why I brought her here, to see if she can help."

"Oh?" The receptionist said, with a frown.

"Is she a doctor? A nurse?"

"You can say that." Booker said, looking at Alecia with a smile.

"Her name is Alecia."

"Oh, it's a pleasure to have you here, Alecia." The receptionist said with a cheerful look on her face, which urges Alecia to smile with her eyes drawn to the floor.

Booker flickers his eyes between the two of them.

"We'll get going now." He said, walking away once more, while Alecia follows.

"Bye." Alecia said, waving with a smile, and looks ahead of herself as she follows Booker.

"Good luck!" The receptionist said out loud.

Alecia, and Booker stand in front of the elevator, Booker presses the button and the evelator doors open, followed by them walking in, and the doors slides closed.

Booker presses fourth button, and a quiet humming is heard which is accompanied by soft tunes of music.

They both stand next to each other in silence. Booker takes his device out and starts to type on it. Alecia fixes her eyes on it only for her eyes to trail towards his, and notices how his eye pupils are brown. Despite what he had done, she finds a fondness about him, he seems very genuine, she feels bad for ever punching him.

She looks away as he turns his attention to her and carries on typing.

She looks down at her white top and straightens any creases it has, only for her to look ahead once more.

The doors open.

"Let's go." Booker said, walking out with Alecia, and places the device in his pocket.

They both walk down a long hallway, with each side has rows of doors.

"Where is your door?" Alecia said, looking at him with a curious gaze.

"Right over..." Booker said taking out a key from his pocket.

"Here." He stops at the one door, and opens the door, only to step aside.

"Alright, you first." He said with a slight smile, and waits as Alecia walks inside.

The interior has a large living room with a cream couch sitting at the far end near large glass windows, in the right is a screen. Across the living room, stands a table with chairs, along with short cupboards along the one wall.

"Welcome to my home." Booker said,which urges Alecia to look over her shoulder at him.

"I'll show you where she is." He walks past her and turns into a hallway.

"Hey, I'm back!" He called out.

Alecia slowly walks towards the doorway while hearing muffling sounds of two voices.

She enters the hallway and walks through another which leads into a room.

Alecia, enters the room and sees the bed with a young brunette girl, the girl's eye sockets are dark, her skin pale, along with vains being visible along her cheeks and arms. The rest of her body is covered in blankets.

Alecia's stares at the girl laying with her eyes closed, and sound asleep. So young, and yet so sick, she has to help her.

"Hey, Alecia." Booker said, which interrupts her, only to see a brunette woman beside him, who looks older than herself, her facial features shows how she has been working for many years in her life. Her eyes appear to be bloodshot and teary.

"This is my mother." He said, with his hand behind the woman's back.

"I must apologize." Alecia said, with a slight smile.

"I didn't notice you, I was just looking at your daughter." She turns her gaze at the girl in bed.

"She looks worse than what your son told me."

"It is unfortunate." The woman said with a sniff, and looks at her daughter, only to step towards her.

She takes a seat on tbe chair next to the giel's bed and stares at her for a moment.

"Can you help her?" She looks at Alecia with a pleading look on her face.

"Yes." Alecia said with a soft nod.

She looks around the girls room, and looks at her.

"Can I take a seat there, please?" She gestures her hand out at her.

"Oh yes, here you go." She said sitting up, and steps aside as Alecia steps in to sit down.

Alecia stares at the girl for a moment, and turns her gaze to her arm.

"What is her name again?" She said, turning to the mother.

"Renata." The mother said, stepping behind her.

Alecia looks at the girl, and gently places her hand on her arm.

"Renata." She saiid with a gentle tone in her voice.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine from now on."

"What are you going to do?" She said, joining her hands together.

"Wait, mother." Booker said, staring at Alecia.

Alecia slowly closes her eyes, and inhales followed by her gently exhaling. She searches within herself and slowly brings it forth, a gentle sensation building up.

Transparent blue flames start to form around Alecia's body, which urges Booker and his mother to widen their eyes.

The flames slowly spreads towards the girl until it covers her completely.

"What is she doing? How is she doing that?" The mother said with her eyes widening.

Booker shakes his head while keeping his gaze on Alecia.

The girl's vains on her arms and face start to disappear, as her skin slowly returns to its normal color.

"Booker, look." The mother said with a cheerful smile on her face.

"She's actually doing it, Renata is getting healed."

Booker slowly forms a smile as he slowly steps close to them.

The flames slowly fades away into nothing. Alecia opens her eyes, and looks at the girl.

"You did it, Alecia!" Booker said, in a joyful tone in his voice as he takes another step closer.

Alecia looks at him, and smiles slightly, only to look at the girl once more as her smile fades. No, she can still sense it, it's still there.

"She is now healed." She said, with a calm tone.

"But..." she looks at them.

"The virus still lurks in her body."

"What?" The mother said, with a confused look as her smile fades.

"I thought you healed her?"

"I did." Alecia said.

"But curing a virus is a different it seems, I thought I could cure her as well.

"So, you can't cure her?" Booker said, with a worrisome look.

"No, I can't." Alecia said, with a downcast look. Booker places his hands on the back of his head and steps back.

Alecia tries to think of a way, how is she going to do this, to cure this virus, this girl is still young, she can't let her die.

"If I can't cure the virus, then perhaps I can move it." She looks at the girl once more. She places her hand on her arm and closes her eyes.

"Move it?" The mother said, looking at Booker.

Transparent blue flames appear once more around Alecia's body, only for it to slowly spread towards the girl and covers her.

The flames start to move faster, as Alecia tightens her eyes. She could feel resistance, it won't be easy, but it's possible.

After a moment of waiting, Alecia's eyes open with her pupils now glowing. Vains start to form in her hand, and begins to branch towards the rest of her arm.

The flames disappear, as Alecia lowers her head, with her now breathing heavily. Feeling as if she had jogged a mile.

"It's done." She said, with her voice sounding in frustration.

She slowly stands up, and steps towards the wall and leans her arm against it with her head lowered.

Booker steps away from his mother, who is now sitting near her healed daughter.

"Are... you okay?" Booker said, with a curious, yet worrisome look.

"I'm okay, don't worry about me, Booker." Alecia said, now with her breathes retuning to normal.

"You should be with your sister now." She turns around to face him.

Booker tilts his head slightly.

"I thought you said, you couldn't cure her?" He said, with a curious tone in his voice.

"I know." Alecia said, smiling slightly.

"I kept my word, like I said I would." She steps towards him, only to pass by and continue walking towards the girl and the woman. She mow stands and watches them with a gentle smile on her face.

"Don't tell me what I think you did?" Booker said, stepping towards her from from behind.

"I gave her a second chance at life." She said, keeping her gaze on them.

"She has a whole life ahead of her now."

"Alecia." Booker said from behind her.

"What did you do?"

Alecia, looks over her shoulder and turns around to face him.

She gives a downcast look for a moment.

"I moved the virus..." she looks up at him with a calm look on her face.

"...to myself. I am now the carrier instead."