52: Archives

"Hi..." Aaliyah uttered out nervously. Felicity and I glanced at each other, both absolutely stunned by the sudden turn of events.
Alice bit at her lip and a soft, subtle blush appeared against her cheeks before she cleared her throat and said softly, "Hi... my name's Alice."
And, rather sheepishly, she held her hand out for Aaliyah to shake. It was the first time I'd ever seen her quite so timid. Usually Alice was flirtatious and bold, but here she looked just about overcome by shyness.
Aaliyah glanced at her hand for a moment, and I saw the fear overcome Alice's eyes. She didn't know that Aaliyah and Felicity actually had an (unhealthy) obsession with werewolves, and was probably afraid of the possibility of rejection. But Aaliyah eased her fear by doing something rather unexpected. She reached for Alice's hand and leaned in before placing her lips against Alice's palm.
Alice gasped at the small contact between them and blushed a redder colour, practically resembling the cherry shade of her hair. I smiled internally at the little exchange in front of me. There was something so gentle and pure about the innocent little encounter- something I knew Sanguis and the werewolf packs at home could destroy in a matter of seconds. And so there appeared before me another reason for me to win the games no matter the cost- Aaliyah and Alice.
"Alice, this is my friend. She's cool," I uttered, breaking the two out of their curious little trance.
"Cool?" Alice asked as her hand fell from Aaliyah's grasp.
I nodded, "Yes. Aaliyah and Felicity are kind of in the forbidden werewolf fan club."
And as I said her name, Felicity made her way out of the shadows and waved brightly at Alice. Alice waved back and then said, "Nice piercings!" She then shot a questioning glance towards Aaliyah, "Werewolf fan club?"
Aaliyah giggled before saying, "It's a long story and we have someplace important to go..." she then paused, glanced towards me and then back at Alice, "...Can you be trusted, Alice?"
Alice's eyes widened before she answered. "Well, I think so. Phoenix... can I be trusted?"
I nodded reassuringly. Alice was never one to spoil any secrets, and from the looks of it, wherever we were going was no doubt a secret. But Alice was the type of person to take them to the grave. Besides, I needed her to come along. I needed to yell at her about lying to my dad.
However, as we began journeying to the secret place Aaliyah and Felicity wanted to show us, I realised that I wouldn't be able to get much out of her. She was all wrapped up in Aaliyah and Aaliyah was wrapped up in her.
We were careful not to be seen by anyone. The last thing we needed was to be stopped by a bunch of hostile nobles- Xavier and Liam's parents being our main concern. If only they knew what their sons got up to behind closed doors. Then those sticks they had so far up their asses would completely disappear within a second. "Where are we going?" I asked as we made our way out of the palace entrance- with Erwin giving Alice a funny glance but said nothing. He knew better, and Sebastian made sure of that the moment he brought Demetri and Alice here in the first place.
"It's towards the back of the palace." Felicity said, interlinking her arm in mine. There was a certain lightness to the atmosphere between the four of us. A subtle little implication of closeness and friendship which I knew Sebastian would frown upon. But just like Liam, Aaliyah and Felicity had been nothing but kind towards me… and Alice.
By "towards the back of the palace" Felicity meant passed the back palace fence, which was not as heavily guarded as the front, allowing us leeway to get over the fence and into the wooded area.
"This place is so beautiful..." Alice said, glancing around. Her hand was now in Aaliyah's as they walked in front of us. Eventually, after a while of walking, we finally made it toward what seemed to be a stone wall almost completely hidden in vines and greyish plantation.
"W-what is this?" I asked, gazing at the sight in front of me. Beneath some of the vines, I could make out a door carved out within the wall.
Aaliyah let go of Alice's hand and neared a stone brick and pushed against it. Immediately the door began to slide upwards, revealing nothing but darkness inside.
"Ladies, welcome to the long-lost vampire archives. In here lies all the deep and dark secrets hardly any of the vampires know about. Felicity and I came across it a few years ago, but we only managed to get it open a week ago." She said, now holding her hand out for Alice again. Alice took it and followed Aaliyah in with Felicity and me following behind them. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the darkness, and when they did, I could feel them pulsing as the room became clearer. most of the walls within were made of stone and in every nook and cranny were tangles of long, dusty cobwebs, as though the spiders had lived out their own lifetimes in here as well, and died off eventually. In front of us were shelves and shelves of scrolls, books, files and stacks of paper. The entire place was an old, ancient archive, and smelled like one too.
"Judging by the looks of it, this place has been unused for centuries," I whispered out as we proceeded towards the shelves.
"You'd think so. But we found something in here to prove the contrary. Someone visited this place... eighteen years ago."
My eyes widened at Felicity's words and I gave her a questioning glance.
"It's actually one of the reasons we wanted to bring you down here." Felicity then moved further into the archives and grabbed from one of the shelves a file. It didn't look as old as the others and barely had much dust covering it.
"It's a medical report on your mother Athena... and her child." Felicity said, handing me the file slowly. The look on her face was unforgettable frightened and concerned, which only made me more frightened and concerned.
I hesitated a moment before opening the file. I wished I hadn't. In fact, I wished they hadn't brought me to this awful place in the first place.
"Dead..." I uttered out.
Felicity nodded. "Yes. According to this report both Athena and her hybrid baby died. No one survived."
I gulped and then glanced up at her. I couldn't say anything... I didn't know what to say. It was clear now that I was not Athena and Denzell's child. I couldn't be. The only logical explanation was for me to be Diana reincarnated into Athena's body. But even so... why did I look so different? And why did I revert back to an infant? I could remember growing up and being a little girl, sheltered and protected by her father. The whole thing made no sense. I needed more answers, which only made the issue of finding out everything about Diana that more urgent. The more I knew, the more I'd be able to gather regarding my existence. But the fact that I was never my father's daughter, nor my mother's child but her ancestor seemed a little crazy. I couldn't quite come to terms with it, and yet everything made sense while, at the same time making no sense at all. It was a muddle of what ifs and unanswered questions and all I wanted was to see Diana again. All I craved were those awful visions, the feelings, the heartache, the joy, the answers. I *needed* them.
Alice walked towards me and asked, rather softly, "What is it Phoenix... you look like you've seen a ghost."
Now of course no one in this room knew about Diana, and I wasn't quite ready to expose any of my findings regarding her until I had all of her memories restored. And so, I played dumb.
"T-this medical report... I don't understand... it says I died."
"Maybe they wrote it that way to keep you safe..." Alice suggested. Of course, she was in the dark about who I assumed I was, and so was Aaliyah and Felicity. So, it was easier for them to believe what Alice had suggested.
"You're probably right..." I said. And as I said this, I couldn't help but think about what Diana had said, about the dead mother and child. It made sense that this dead child and mother would be the ones she spoke of. But I wondered how exactly they related to me. I wondered where in all of this my existence began all over again.
"Oh... I almost forgot!" Aaliyah said, bringing me out of my thoughts.
"Strangely we only found one thing regarding Sebastian which is weird... rumour has it that he's one of the oldest vampires in existence so naturally it would mean he'd have a few of his own records in here. But from what we've skimmed through we only managed to find one thing- a painting. It's a rather odd one..."
She began walking around to another one of the shelves and from it retrieved the portrait. The moment I saw it, the file fell from my hand. It was a painting of Sebastian and... Diana.
"This woman looks exactly like you Phoenix... don't you think?"
I couldn't even answer her, because the more I gazed at the portrait, the fuzzier my head got. I could feel myself begin to slip out of consciousness, and the familiar darkness began to consume me. But just before my body hit the ground and the darkness consumed me, I heard the familiar voice of a panicked Sebastian. It seemed I would need to deal with him after Diana.
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Stay safe! Stay healthy! Sending my love!