Pocketville Lost Diamonds: VOLUME 2

Chapter 11: Talia's confession

- Whenever this glorious event will be known, someday in the future our our loved kingdom, you all may know my son as King Edward, Royal consort of Queen Emma and father of Princess Ava. My dear pets, unfortunately, it’s time for this mask to be taken away. Edward is nothing more than the worst traitor, the one who dragged the name of the Royal Family and his own mother into the mug. - 

Ava felt a crazy anger burning into her chest. She… she was… how dared she?! She was paralyzed, so she couldn’t do anything but keeping listening: 

- He broke one of the most important laws which regulate the Royal Family Marriages, putting you all, us all, in danger. He… - Talia’s voice took a small pause, to emphasize what she was saying - ...he broke the splendid marriage which united him and Queen Emma, traited his family and had a child from another cat! - 

The last words jumped on the ceiling and created a weird echo. 

- He was absolutely conscious of the consequences for such a terrible and dishonorable act, more than giving up on tentactions and breaking his marriage! Who knows history, can exactly say which effects can bring an illegitimate member of the Royal Family! Wars. Civil battles. Overthronings. Attacks against the crown. How could Edward do this to us?!

- She… she…
- Ava..
- SHE IS A LIAR!!!

The voice continued:
- The most of you may be sorry for his… early death. You could know the event as a terrible incident that happened somehow, during a bloody winter. An avalanche? A landslide? May this story I built give to his family a bit of rest, at least until this truth will come to light… I am the author of that incident.

Another pause, whose silence wasn’t broken neither from the two cat’s breaths.

- I suspected about Edward’s secret for years, but I never had the confirmation. I paid detectives, investigators, stalkers… but my son was too careful, too good at hiding and making us lose his traces. I had never, never the answer, no matter how long I tried. I… I was literally going crazy. I thought about giving up, about letting fate fix the future…. until one day, a cold day of winter, when I finally had the last proof. Ah, silly cat, he was betrayed by his own daughter.

Ava’s blood iced inside her body.

- Eva, my little loved granddaughter, knew about the secret. He learnt it just like me, observing her father’s weird behavior. Ah, how could such a naive and innocent kitty believe his father was cospirating against their family? She found him out with irrefutable evidences, building a weapon to use whenever his illegitimate creature was older. What was he planning? No one could know. Luckily, my little Eva immediately came and told me that. I didn’t tell her what was going to happen, she was going to learn by herself in the right time.
I just… waited. I waited until I elaborated the perfect plan.
Edward used to go for a walk with his trusted Steed, for sure his co-conspirator. I payed some… friends… to force them to enter the Iced River valley and… pushing a snow wall down. Both of them disappeared into the ice, and will never come back. May stars curse their souls.

Another pause.
 
- I had to do what I did. Taking life away from the kitty I gave to birth. Oh, my dear pets, you can barely imagine the pain of a mother…. but I did it to save our kingdom. It had to be done!

Even Balloon now could feel a deep anger toward the cat who spoke those words. She wasn’t in pain, it was obvious. It was nothing more than a pathetic show played in a small theatre of air. She didn’t dare look at Ava again: she had no doubt about her feeling.

- Just… I wish it was enough. My dear friends, fate decided I still hadn’t completed my mission. What I did was terrible, but I will have to repeat my act, since another enemy menace our lives. That… beast.. the one I don’t dare calling my grandchild… the product of Edward’s mistake… is not a normal kitty. The mix between a Magic Creature with a common one sometimes can give birth to weird litters. So… as soon as possible I will proceed. I need to find it. -

A metallic sound signed the end of the recording.

Balloon looked up to Ava. The princess was standing on  four paws, uncertain, but into her blue eyes the anger worth of a death angel was burning her tears.

- She… - whispered - ...she… did it…
- Princess… Ava… please, we can’t know what…

A blue flash followed to a thousands of sparkles forced the Guard to blink. When she opened her eyes she was alone in the room.
- Ava…?
Balloon looked around.
- AVA! WHERE ARE YOU?! 

Ava reappeared in the snow, a couple of miles away.

In a normal situation, she would have been surprised: her will to go as far away as possible made her unconsciously using her powers to dematerialize and teleport away.
It was a rare magic, since it needed too much energy, but she didn’t care.

She fell down on the iced ground, exhausted and broken.
Just like a dead animal, she totally lose the consciousness of her body and abandoned herself there.

Her mind ran away through hundreds of thoughts, faded and irreal.
The Shell, the Big City, the cages, her castle, Kate, William’s hug, Wallace, the destroyed livingroom, Kate’s safe house, Mela’s sweet eyes, Komorebi’s tea, Danny’s laugh, her father’s reassuring smile, her mother’s fur, grandmother Jocelyne’s scent…

Snow was slowly falling on her, covering her fur like a soft and icy blanket.
She didn’t care. She could stay there forever.

- Ava -

The siamese cat moved one ear, trying to understand who was calling her. Wind was the only sound. It came from anywhere and everywhere, inside her head.

- Ava, stand up.

That sound arrived to her heart like a flashbolt. If she had enough energy to do it, she’d had jumped on her paws.
No, it wasn’t possible…

The Ocean of Friendship glowed and something inside it touched Ava’s whole body, curing coldness out.

- Eva…

- Pick me there… pick me there…

- Eva… sis...ter..

The snowy land disappeared from her eyes and one different landscape covered her mind: green trees… fields of the most pure color… the sky of sunset… a small house of countryside… a wood… the scent of dinner getting ready inside…

Old memories hit her like arrows and her blood became warmer, tasting them like sweets.

Everything disappeared.
Ava was alone again.

She used all her energy to stand up and looked all around.
- Eva…?

Snow was the only answer. 
Now everything was clear.