#28 - The Contents

"Alright, to summarize:

Your mom and dad both know of their fate and are actively working to take measures against it, you saw Jack's fate being changed, you discovered me, you talked to them about it, and you decided to tell Jack and me of his fate, and by consequence, mine too."

"Then, after we survived, you notified your parents about it and assumed we both would arrive here sooner or later. Furthermore, as we got here, they both decided to summon their stand to test us and see if we were truly all you said about us."

"Is that correct?"

Apolonia thought for a bit before affirming, "...Pretty much"

Don't say ¨pretty much¨, I was hoping to be wrong and get explained what happened in the last 10 minutes of talking.

"I don't get it", said Jack.

Thank you very much.

"...Haah"

"The point is that I need Aroa's help to change fate, and I was hoping that he could help my family"

"Wait, then why am I here?"

"Ask him, not me"

"Aroa, why am I here?"

This feels a bit out of place.

"Because I need a useful person to take care of the hard job, to be able to change your fate quickly, and to see if we can get a cure for your vampirism"

My best idea to heal Jack is to make him into the ultimate life form, but that probably won't work.

First, he's a normal vampire, so there's a chance that his body might not be able to withstand the process.

Second, I don't know if I could affect the fate of someone of his capacity.

Even Kars was defeated by sheer luck, so think about Jack, a minor antagonist.

No other reason, for real.

Even if he became the ULF, that doesn't mean I wouldn't be able to.

Sure, we have only seen one mask, the one that Kars carried at all times.

But that doesn't mean it's the only one.

Even if it was, I would just have to use my tickets to get a modified stone mask.

And I would do this at this same moment, but I don't have enough.

I don't know how much it costs, but it should be around the same as a normal mask, right?

Well, the point is that ascending Jack isn't a viable option.

"Wait, he's a vampire!?" Apolonia seemed surprised, even though the hood should have made it clear.

"Yeah... Things happened, and he was about to die so I had to transform him". I clarified before she grabbed a stake and a silver bullet.

"Is he, uh, safe?"

"To us? Yes, To him? No"

"What does that mean?"

"Let's talk later about that, I think your parents aren't too happy about having a vampire in their home"

Both have this aura around their bodies. If we were in Jojo's, they would have menacing signs all over them.

The dad looks like he's about to stand up and kill someone, while the mom looks ready to do so.

The mom opens her mouth and chooses her words carefully, "Honey, explain".

"Uh, I didn't know?" the daughter defended herself.

"Shouldn't you have seen his fate and figured it out?" I throw her down the bus.

"It doesn't work like that!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Honey, explain". Miss Mary repeated.

"Actually, let me explain since I'm the one with the most knowledge about vampires in here".

"Before starting, what do you two know?"

The parents looked at each other and said "The mask transforms them into vampires and they have to feed on humans to survive"

"Yeah, that and weakness to the sun are basically the whole gist of vampires".

"Then-"

"BUT. You don't know that there's a whole force against vampires around the world, all of them use an ancient martial art that lets them harness the power of the sun to hunt them."

"What you also didn't know is that Jack and I are masters in this martial art and that Jack didn't transform out of choice, but out of necessity."

"He was going to die, so I threw the mask over his face"

"Now I'm searching for a cure to vampirism, one that may or may not include a 3-day trip to Italy"

"Of course, that doesn't matter to the both of you"

"I'm here because your daughter helped me and Jack, so we both will see through in helping her with what she needs".

Jack interrupted me "Wait, ¨What she needs¨ is a bit..."

"You shut up, you're basically dead, the least you could do is help the person that made sure to keep you half alive."

I'm pretty sure I'm the one who provoked his death in the first place, but I saved him too so no problem there.

"So, my point is that there's no point in worrying about Jack suddenly trying to eat us or whatever, if he does that I'll just kill him and the problem is over".

I would subdue him, wait until the night to kidnap some random drunkard, and feed him to Jack, but they don't need to know that.

"If you're going that far... then I will believe you", Miss Mary said.

Are they playing good cop and bad cop or is she truly the force of good in this house?

"We are going off track", Sir Joseph said.

"Yes we are, Aroa, explain how we can change their fates", Apolonia demanded.

"First of all, It's not ¨We¨, only I can change fates, second, I don't even know what fate you want me to change, all I know is that they will die sometime in the next two months."

"Look, explain your parent's future, and then we can talk".

"..."

She looks at her mother and father for a short second.

They nod.

She sighs.

"It goes this way" Apolonia starts.

"The 30th of November, my parents will get both killed in their sleep, their bodies will be found in the morning of the 1st."

"The funeral would be held the 12th of December, where a lot of people will attend, most importantly: the prince, the princess, and Sir George"

I react a bit, but wait for her to finish.

"Some other business partners of my family showed up, giving their condolences to my brothers and me, but no one important."

"The 2nd of January, my family would get the full report from the Yard, showing that they were assassinated in their sleep."

"I couldn't see more after that, but I think you can draw your conclusions"

The first thing that came to mind was Apolonia's stand restrictions.

Apparently, there's a limit to how far into the future she can see, and before she said ¨It doesn't work like that!¨ so maybe she can only see a future before she goes through the moment of it?

So, if she saw her future self slipping at midnight, she would see herself slipping until 12:01 passed, at which point she could see new futures for herself.

Even if she was already miles away, or lying down at that hour.

Maybe I'm thinking too deeply into it, or perhaps she didn't mean it like that, but I should ask at some point.

"..." 

They all stare at me.

Shit, I need to ask something.

"Why were the royals at the funeral of your parents? And what royals, out of all of them?"

Arent they all, 40 or around that age?

"The 10th and 11th, They were there because their older family were close partners with my father".

Said father doesn't comment on that.

Neither do I.

Because there's no way in hell she said 11th, right?

Queen Victoria had 9 children, the second one became king, and he died 4 years before the start of the Great War, then George V became the king, and was in his position until 10 years before the Second World War.

That's the common knowledge and what should be going on.

What does the addition of 2 new royals mean?

A lot of things, but most importantly...

It means that we now have a culprit.

Two of them.

"Can you give me some basic information on those two?"

"Investigating a royal?! Are you Insane!?"

"Not investigating, just like, when were they born? And to who? or something like that"

"Why? It's just common knowledge..."

"Just give a basic rundown..."

"Alright then, In the year 1965, Prince Albert and Princess Jane were born as twins ".

"Their birth caused an uproar in the kingdom, as they were born from an unknown father and were favored by Queen Victoria, but after a particular incident in the country, they proved their worth and even began to have their small ¨factions.¨"

"It's not really a faction, but some people that follow them, as it would be insane to aim for the throne".

Nop, it wouldn't.

It would be completely feasible.

Illegitimate birth? Check.

Evil twins? Check.

Favored by their mother? Check.

¨Particular Incident¨? Check.

A childhood filled with people looking down on them(Probably)? Check.

Those are plot points that go in a cliche ¨Royal villain¨ story.

Of course, I don't think it would be cliche in this age, but my point stands.

Now I have to fight them? All because of some promise I made.

Damn, I shouldn't have done that.

Wait it's not really ¨Fight them¨ right?

What about negotiation?

...

..

...

"Why is he silent?", Miss Mary said.

"He does that sometimes, please give him a little moment", Jack said with exasperation in his voice, a small sigh escaping his mouth.

Are these the people I made a promise for?

Really?