Chapter 4
That was the second time that Michaelangelo had been called to the principal's office in his first year in AMA. To make matters worse, he almost got arrested the first time. Talk about bad first impressions.
The principal was no longer Aaron Moore (obviously), but the former queen of the West, Winona Coyote Kiowa. She was referred to as the Queen Mother of the West, as she was the mother of the reigning king and was a queen at one point in time.
When she introduced herself, they all bowed and curtsied before they introduced themselves. Out of respect, of course. After all, she was an extremely powerful lady.
Winona mentioned how their parents had asked her to keep an extra vigilant eye on them in case they were still on their quest to find and end the Saviours. She said they were "kids playing an adult's game", which was why they should tell her everything they knew.
Everyone tensed up as Brandon told her that they had given it all up and had no plans to pursue the terrorist group, to which she said "I know. I asked for your information, not assistance." and even talkative Brandon fell quiet.
Britney stepped up and told her that they hadn't found out anything since the incident with Moore. The Queen Mother studied Britney for a bit and walked passed each and every kid studying each of them.
She stopped in front of Kylian and asked him to answer her question, but he just backed up Britney's claims with a straight face. She walked down the line again, and once again stopped in front of Rebecca. However, instead of asking Rebecca, she turned to Halley at the last second and questioned her.
She added that Halley could clear her father's name if she just told her what she knew. Halley gave into temptation and told Winona exactly what she didn't want to hear. They had reason to believe that Aaron Moore was the leader of the Saviours, since he had tried to kill them in the past.
After being told this, Winona walked over to Michael and asked him if what Halley was saying was true. Without missing a beat, he backed her up 110%.
Winona's eyes glowed a fox-coat red at the answers she was getting. She walked back up to Halley and asked her if she was telling the truth, and she kept up her lie. She mentioned that Halley couldn't free Jebediah if she kept on lying, but she kept the lie up and didn't let go, no matter how intimidated she was.
Suddenly, Kylian jumped in front of Halley out of nowhere, and a dagger, glowing with a bright yellow halo-like atmosphere stopped right in front of his face. Brandon dropped the weapon with his eyes reflecting that same yellow gleam as everyone else's eyes began to glow their own respective hues.
Winona then began to laugh at their threatening auras as she explained, "I can't take you guys on nine to one. However, if you hurt me, it would be a completely different story, wouldn't it. After all, I am the Queen Mother of the entire Western Kingdom. If any of you so much as lay a finger on me, I can have your families exiled, deported, or ostracized."
William and Kiara then stepped forward at hearing the warning, with their eyes glowing, and told her to try something. She saw William's ruthless forest green irises and Kiara's mischievous smile, and knew what they were capable of. Winona would've gotten the beatdown of the century if she hadn't mentioned Chadwick in time.
She said something along the lines of, "If you hurt me, you'll never get Chadwick."
Louis asked about Chadwick's place in the entire ordeal, and Winona shared that she had been suspicious of him for a while. Particularly, his involvement with the Sullivans. She mentioned how he was close to both of them before they died. Michelangelo asked her more about them, but Winona refused to tell him anything until they all agreed to help her in return.
Everyone went silent, and, in the midst of the elongated, tense atmosphere, Michael was the first to agree. He then turned to Kiara and apologized explaining that he had to know about his parents' deaths. The sudden revelation startled Winona, but she didn't let it show on her face.
Britney was the next up, and she felt obligated to avenge Python, as she had been a mother to her, when she needed it most, and the Saviours had just taken her from her.
Halley apologized to Kiara before accepting the offer saying, "My father is an innocent man. I will prove that by any means possible." Kylian and William felt the need to get rid of the Saviours and joining Winona and risking being horribly wrong was a risk they were willing to take.
Rebecca joined in because of her promise to always do the right thing, and she genuinely felt that what she was doing was right, and Louis very briefly mumbled something about his mother before agreeing.
Brandon looked to Kiara before declining the offer, believing that he couldn't betray Kiara like that. However, Kiara grabbed his hand and told him that he should go through with it.
"If you truly believe that my grandfather is responsible, then you should prove it. Don't back out because of me. However, that does not mean that I will join you, Queen Mother. I could never do that to papa. I hope you can understand Your Majesty."
Winona paused for a moment before telling her "Your power will be missed, young heir, but I will not hold that against you." Kiara swore to prove Chadwick's innocence before leaving the room, and Michael felt a small sense of guilt inside his heart when she did.
*****
Brandon filled Winona in with all the available information he had on the former king of the South, but it wasn't enough to convict him. He brought up how his lawyers could use the fact that he "worked" against the Saviours to justify the cases, so eyewitness testimony was what they urgently needed.
That's when Winona mentioned that she had a few witnesses lined up, but she needed to make sure that the information was solid.
Out of curiosity, William asked what the primary cases they had on Chadwick, and Winona mentioned four cases that related to them: the suicides of Caroline Markson and Emilia Schneider as well as the disappearances of Park Soo-young and Celestia Mariah Myra. These cases were particularly strange as Chadwick had a personal relationship with each of the people mentioned.
Brandon and Halley immediately recognized their mother's name, and knew that Caroline didn't kill herself. She was murdered in front of Brandon and their father was meant to take the blame.
"Caroline was a dormant maid who worked in Chadwick's manor for quite some time. When she suddenly was found dead in her home, Chadwick was too indifferent about it. It was like he knew that it would happen." Winona explained.
The second case was that of Emilia Schneider. She was Louis's mother, but she divorced Louis's father, Gilbert, shortly after Louis was born. However, because she was the mother of a noble, she was protected at all times. One night she snuck away from her security detail, and she was found dead the next morning.
Michael was monitoring each person's reactions to the cases, and he was surprised and concerned over Louis's own indifference to hearing the accounts of his mother's death. His concern soon shifted to Britney as Winona explained, "If we can prove that Chadwick ordered Aaron to kill Python, that would be enough to convict him. However, if it's not enough, we have Soo-young's case as well."
Park Soo-young was one of the top assassins that the royal families and governments had on hand, so everyone took a hit after she went missing on an assignment with her husband and partner, Park Jun-ho. They looked for her three years before Chadwick convinced everyone to stop looking for her, as it was a "waste of resources." Although, the last case was personal to say the least.
Princess Celestia Mariah Myra went missing three years prior at the age of 10, meaning that if they had found her by then, she would've been 13 years old. A year and a half after the search began, Chadwick and the rest of the royal family of the South decided to give up and presumed that she was dead.
Winona believed that Chadwick did all that because he meant to use connections he made in the Saviours to look for her, which isn't something many would like to hear about.
Kylian points out that for Caroline's case they had Halley and Brandon as witnesses and they had Park Jun-ho for Soo-young's case, but they needed witnesses for the other two. Winona then showed them a picture that made everyone reevaluate their decision to join forces with her.
None of them ever wanted to see Moore again, but there he was. "I don't like it anymore than you do," she said, "but we need inside information and who better to ask than the second in command of the Saviours."
Rebecca asked why they had to question Moore, but they didn't. Halley did.