The four people inside stood a few minutes in silence before Jessie broke it.

"She's mad!" She stated. "She's just mad! We're going to die because of a mad woman!"

"Any idea what poison she gave us?" Diego asked her as he was, again, trying to free himself.

Jessie just shook her head, a mixture of disappointment and fear on her face.

"This is all my fault! I should have met with her… I should have acted differently." Don Alejandro stated, staring at the ground. "Had I seen her before… Had I, at least, remembered her name, I could have prevented all this… Gilberto could have grown up as my son. I would have had both my sons and we wouldn't be in this predicament right now."

"You couldn't have known, Father!" Diego encouraged him. "Jessie is right. The woman must be mad. All this… all the harm she caused us, she did it because of a fantasy."

"May I remind you all that we need to decide on who should get the antidote?" De Soto pointed out. "And I think… since Don Alejandro was the one to cause all this mess in the first place, as he, himself just admitted, and this is mainly a De la Vega issue, I think it should be me and my wife to get it."

"You? I might be of fault here. I certainly will not claim the right to that antidote. I've already lived my life, anyway… But Diego is innocent in all this. And a far better person than you! Not to mention, it was you who killed Gilberto."

"I saved Diego by doing that, which means he owes me for the year of life he received thanks to me."

"By killing Gilberto you also saved yourself!" Don Alejandro pointed out. "Gilberto would have had you executed that very day if he would have survived."

"But the Emissary wouldn't have even come to Los Angeles had it not been for the woman's twisted vengeance against you!" De Soto stated.

"Diego saved your wife's life. He's done more for Los Angeles than you ever could, and he is my heir!" Don Alejandro uttered.

"Ignacio," Jessie said looking straight at her husband, "we need to do what's right. Remember?"

De Soto stared at her and shook his head. "I… I don't want to die! How am I supposed to make up for my mistakes if I die now?"

"How will you make up for them if they die?" She wondered.

"No… No… I just married you. Finally, something goes right for me and you want me to… to just accept dying?" De Soto wondered.

"Do you think I want you to die? Or either of them? But we both know Diego deserves that antidote more than you, and I am willing to die with you, my love. We can save them!" She uttered, her eyes in tears.

The two continued arguing a while longer, and Don Alejandro also intervened, trying to convince Jessie that she needed to take the antidote and he was more than willing to die if she was to survive.

De Soto was afraid to die, and wanted to avoid that at almost any cost, but he also remembered that he had promised Jessie to become a better man. What he could not, however, was let the woman he loved die, so he found himself supporting Don Alejandro's arguments for once, no longer even discussing the idea of letting Diego take one of the vials.

Jessie, however, insisted that she would not convince Ignacio to give up the chance to survive, but take it herself.

Among the four of them, the tall caballero was the only one not intervening, his mind focused on Señora Risendo's words.

"Enough!" He uttered after some time. The other three people in the room suddenly became silent and turned their attention towards him. "The only reasonable consensus we can reach is for Jessie and I to take the antidote." De Soto didn't even try to contradict him, but Jessie stared at him dumbfounded. He then continued in a low voice, careful not to be overheard. "The only person in this room we'd all agree deserves the antidote is Jessie. She's the first one we'd all choose. And among the three of us, you seem to have already made up your minds it should be me. But what if that choice… any choice for that matter, would be the wrong one?"

"What do you mean, Son?" Don Alejandro asked him puzzled, his voice merely above whisper.

"She brought us here, the four of us, because she wants you and Ignacio to feel the pain she felt. That's what she said." Diego answered pensively. "It would have been simpler to take us three and give us just one bottle of the antidote, then let us choose or fight amongst ourselves for it. Or, easier even, she could have taken only you and Ignacio, since it's the two of you who are guilty in her eyes. Yet she chose to abduct all four of us. And remember what she said? That part about making a deal with the Devil?

"From her perspective, you cost her a spouse and a son… and she wants you to suffer a similar loss. I am the son and Jessie is the spouse. Even the vials… she placed them right before the two of us, perfectly aware of the fact that, if we'd choose, we'd make the choice I already mentioned. Jessie and myself. Meaning… Meaning that those vials contain no antidote."

"They contain the real poison." Jessie also realized.

"That is the only logical conclusion." The tall caballero stated.

"She'd have us commit suicide. That is a mortal sin!" Jessie continued.

As she said that, Diego glanced towards the windows, noticing a shadow behind one. "Ynez and her men are still here." He uttered pensively.

"So what should we do?" Don Alejandro asked.

"If we don't take the poison, she'll know we figured out her trap and can simply ask her men to kill us!" The caballero answered. "So we must make her think we fell into her trap. It is the only way to get out of this alive."

"What do you mean?" De Soto wondered.

"Jessie and I must pretend to take the poison. Then we must pretend that we are dying." Diego stated.

"But to be convincing, we should know what symptoms we need to fake." Jessie pointed out. A few moments later, she lowered herself towards the vial in front of her trying to smell it. "I took a course in poisons at the university," she said, "but this I do not recognize."

"It's probably not poison!" De Soto answered disparagingly. "Diego must be wrong. It's not like his books could have taught him much about traps and how to avoid them!"

"I don't believe he is wrong, Ignacio. This certainly doesn't smell like any antidote I know, either, and his theory makes the most sense." She contradicted him. "Think about it this way: if he is wrong, at least we all die together, and none of us gets to go through the pain of burying a loved one as a result of this."

The caballeros glanced at each other and nodded, a frightened look on Don Alejandro's face and a reassuring smile on Diego's.

"We can trick her into describing the symptoms. But we must also trick her into believing we are dead." The younger caballero told Jessie, then addressed his father and De Soto. "And the two of you must make her think you believe we took the antidote which proved to be the poison. You must act your parts!"

"Wait… What… What if that is indeed poison, and you drink it accidentally?" De Soto asked.

"We won't." Diego replied as he nodded at Jessie. "Ready?" He asked.

She smiled back and they both reached for the bottles with their mouth, grabbing them sideway, so that they'd pour the poison on the floor instead of drinking it, then turned towards Don Alejandro and De Soto, respectively, so that anyone looking through the window would only notice them throw their heads back as if to drink the liquid in the small bottles. They then let the vials fall and moved to sit in such a way as to cover the liquid stain on the floor, even if, in all fairness, it was barely visible due to the very faint light still left in the room.

"I love you, Father." Diego uttered in a raised voice a few moments later. "Thank you for letting me take the antidote. I know you blame yourself for all this, but I don't. And I want you to know that you were the best father I could have asked for."

"And you were the best son, Diego! I would die a thousand times for you, my boy!" Don Alejandro replied, not needing to fake anything since he still feared the day might end in tragedy.

"I thought we were going to have a long marriage. Grow old together. I can't believe this is how it ends!" Jessie told De Soto. "But I am grateful that you let me take the antidote, my love. I will always remember you!"

"I never loved before you, mi preciosa. I will still count myself a lucky man, even just because I married the most wonderful woman I have ever met!" De Soto stated.

"I… I don't feel too good." Diego informed the other three people as he started mimicking some problems breathing.

"Me neither…" Jessie uttered, following his lead.

"Wh… What… What's going on?" Don Alejandro wondered, looking genuinely baffled towards his son, and Jessie, not realizing they were pretending already. Diego winked at him and he breathed somewhat relieved.

After witnessing the two take the poison from outside a window, Ynez Risendo chose that very moment to step inside, a wide smile on her face.

"What did you do to us?" Diego asked her.

"I did nothing. It was you, yourselves who took the poison. Yes," she said satisfied, "the real poison was in those vials, which you just drank, thus committing suicide. I am told it takes some five minutes to act, but the death is supposed to be quite agonizing. Your organs will literally disintegrate…"

Diego let out a groan and Jessie, again, followed his lead.

"And as the poison does its work, you will pray for death to come quicker."

The two continued crying and groaning, pretending to be in deep pain, twitching and convulsing on the floor.

"No!" Don Alejandro shouted, doing his best impression of a grieving father. "No! No! No! Diego!"

"I will kill you for this!" De Soto threatened Ynez Risendo. "My love!" He then uttered, looking terrified towards Jessie, all his artistic talents on display.

"I told you I wanted you to feel my pain and pay the price for your crimes!" Ynez told Don Alejandro and De Soto, her loud voice covering the cries coming from the two people on the floor. "Now you can watch those you love most die without being able to do anything for them. I will forever remember your faces, Señores!"

Diego and Jessie continued their act a while longer, then slowly fell quiet, pretending to have died. Don Alejandro and De Soto followed through for a while, shaking their heads in disbelief and pretending to be devastated, crying over their loved ones. Ynez didn't even bother to check that they were dead, convinced by the entire act. Smiling satisfied, she turned around and left together with her men.

The four only stopped acting when they heard the horses and the wagon heading away.

"I can't believe it worked!" Jessie muttered. "See, Ignacio? Diego was right! He saved us!"

"Indeed! Good thinking, Son! And very convincing acting!" Don Alejandro stated.

"Yes… Yes... Good thinking, De la Vega!" De Soto acknowledged.

"We still need to get ourselves free before they decide to return…" The caballero reminded everyone as he encouraged his father to turn with his back at him so that he could work on the knots.

Jessie and Ignacio followed their example and started working on each other's bindings.

"I had no idea you were such a good actor, Ignacio! I'm impressed." Jessie stated.

"Well… I was part of a theatre group when I was in university. I might have learned a few things…" He replied, proud of himself.

"And you, Diego, you were magnificent! You should take up acting professionally. On second thought, if you did that, I would lose my colleague, so just ignore I said that." Jessie continued.

"I guess I also owe my acting skills to the same theatre group Ignacio just mentioned." Diego answered. "Although, I am quite sure I used to be better. What can I say… Lack of practice…"

"Give yourself some credit, Son!" Don Alejandro encouraged him. "Had I not known it was all an act, I, myself would have been convinced you were dying!"

"That is true, Diego! I had forgotten you were a good actor in university." De Soto became rather pensive as he said that. "How… How come you…" De Soto asked, somewhat uncertain of how to continue, just turning his head to stare at the caballero as he was starting to notice things he had never noticed before. Like how tall he was or how his moustache resembled that of a certain masked outlaw plaguing his pueblo…

Diego noticed his stare from the corner of his eye, realizing Ignacio might be finally piecing everything together, soon to arrive at the only logical conclusion.

"How were you able to realize it was a trap? None of us even suspected it, and we are all intelligent people here." Ignacio wondered, his tone of voice changed into the same one he normally used when he was certain to have the upper hand.

"I just wondered why give us the antidote at all, instead of just shooting us, as they could have." Diego replied innocently. "Father, please either stay still and let me try to untie you, or untie me!" He then asked the older caballero, seemingly frustrated.

"Well, let me do it! It's not like you have any experience untying knots, do you?" Don Alejandro answered, slightly eroding De Soto's suspicion that he had just found out who his nemesis was.

A few moments later they heard horse hoofs approaching and they all rapidly resumed their previous positions, Jessie and Diego lying on the ground, and De Soto and Don Alejandro pretending to be crying.

ZZZ

Felipe heard the wagon coming his way and steered Tornado towards some boulders, hiding behind them.

"Why did you not want us to kill them all, Señora?" He heard a man ask.

"Because there would have been no point to that. I want them to suffer for the rest of their miserable lives in the knowledge that the two people they loved most just died in agony before their very eyes, and that their souls will burn in Hell for all eternity." She answered.

Felipe's heart cringed at hearing her voice and at the meaning of her words, now fearing the worst. Just then, as the people passed by the boulders behind which he was hiding, Mendoza and his lancers arrived, suddenly finding themselves face-to-face with the very bandits they were looking for. Since none of them had seen them, though, they were just about to ignore them and move along when the Sergeant recognized Señora Risendo, and rapidly made all the right connections in his mind. She was a criminal whom everyone believed dead and who hated the De la Vegas. She was also accompanied by exactly as many men as Felipe had mentioned to have taken Diego and Don Alejandro.

"It's them! Men, arrest them!" He suddenly ordered his men, who, for once, hurriedly obeyed his orders, not giving the thugs even the chance to draw their weapons. "Where are Don Alejandro and Don Diego?" He asked their new prisoners. "And don't deny it was you who ̶ "

"Don Diego is dead and Don Alejandro is crying over him in a cabin situated half a mile east of here. Your Alcalde is also there, crying over his dead wife." She cut him off to proudly inform him.

When Felipe heard that, he came out from behind the boulders and hurriedly made his way towards the cabin.

Mendoza took a few moments to process her words, barely even noticing Zorro had just galloped away. As soon as he was able to recover enough from the shock, he ordered his men to disarm the prisoners, tie them up and take them to Los Angeles. About five minutes later he also headed in the direction of the cabin together with Sepulveda, who was dragging behind the De la Vega horses they had found on their way there.

ZZZ

As he reached the house, Felipe dismounted and burst through the door, then stopped in his tracks for a few moments at the image before him.

Don Alejandro raised his eyes to see who it was. "Zorro! Thank God it's you!" He uttered with a smile Felipe only understood when Diego also turned around to stare at him open-mouthed.

De Soto's face at seeing the man he considered his nemesis reflected the same amount of surprise and puzzlement as his former schoolmate's, especially since he had almost convinced himself the tall caballero was Zorro.

Seeing how Felipe was just staring at him, doubtful about what he should do next, Diego glanced towards the door. "Do you, by any chance, have some water with you, Senor Zorro? I fear I might faint soon due to thirst." He uttered, hoping his son would understand what he wanted.

The masked man used his Toledo-steel sword to free him, then signaled with his head for the caballero to accompany him, making sure to hurry so that nobody would be able to notice how much taller Diego was compared to him.

Diego followed him outside, leaving the door half-open and the other three people rather confused as he exited. By signs, he then asked Felipe how was he able to find them, and his adopted son hurriedly explained everything. Diego smiled, nodded, and took the opportunity to make sure De Soto was convinced he and Zorro were different people.

"Gracias for the water, Señor Zorro!" He said in a loud enough voice to be heard from inside, thus covering the delay in their discussion as Felipe, just remembering the water, reached in the saddlebags to give him the flask he had with him.

"You really looked like you needed it, Don Diego" The tall caballero meanwhile replied himself in Zorro's voice, proceeding to have a monologue which seemed a dialogue to anyone who didn't know it was the same person speaking.

"Yes. Ah… How did you find us?" The people inside heard Diego ask.

"Señora Risendo informed Sergeant Mendoza where you were, and I… happened to also be there when she did. The lancers have her and her men in their custody." Diego replied to his own question in Zorro's voice again. "But I need to leave now, Tornado is injured, and I fear the lancers might catch me if I don't have a large enough head start. Please take the water to give to the others. Adios!" As he said that, he nodded and Felipe mounted the stallion with a knowing smile.

"Adios y gracias, Señor Zorro! Do you know how far the lancers are from here?" Diego proceeded to ask in his normal voice as the two of them could already hear the Sergeant and his man.

"A little too close for my comfort." He replied in Zorro's voice, winking at Felipe who galloped away in the opposite direction from whence he came, thus avoiding Mendoza and Sepulveda.

A few moments later Diego returned to the cabin. "Who wants water? Father? Jessie? Ignacio?" He asked joyously.

"I do!" Jessie answered, and he headed towards her to untie her knots, after which he offered her the water flask. "I guess we can count ourselves lucky. Zorro just told me Mendoza has Señora Risendo in custody, so we shouldn't be in anymore danger." The caballero told everyone with a smile as more horse hoofs were heard from outside.

"Yes, we heard your conversations with that masked fiend!" De Soto informed him.

"Don Diego, Doctor Kent, you are alive!" Mendoza muttered incredulously from the doorway, just about a minute or two later, as he hurried inside, seeing the two of them doing their best to free Don Alejandro and Ignacio, respectively.

"We are, indeed, Sergeant!" Diego confirmed with a grin.

"When did you become such a great tracker to get to us almost at the same time as Zorro, Mendoza?" De Soto asked, still rather confused about the events of the afternoon.

"I'm not, Alcalde. We were heading for the place where Don Felipe told us he, Don Diego and Don Alejandro had been attacked, and we saw Zorro just as he found the trail. We've been following him for most of the afternoon… and then we found Señora Risendo half a mile from here, together with her men. She told us you were here and that Don Diego and the Doctor were dead. But I am so glad everyone is alive!"

"We owe that to Diego. Had he not been as smart as he is, who knows what might have happened?" Jessie replied as De Soto couldn't help but be a little disappointed his intuition had proven so utterly wrong. The idea of finally outing Zorro appealed to him, even if he was conflicted about him turning out to be Diego de la Vega.

"Perhaps you should follow Zorro again, Sergeant. Tornado has been injured and you might just capture him this time." The Alcalde considered.

Jessie gave him a look which left no doubt in Ignacio's mind as to what the consequences of sending the lancers after Zorro would be for him, in terms of sleeping arrangements, for several nights, at the least.

"On second thought, he did help you find us… although, he did nothing to save us." Ignacio told Mendoza.

ZZZ

"I don't care for executions, but it will hardly upset me to witness this one. That woman cost me a son and almost ended up taking you away, as well. " Don Alejandro told Diego the following day, as Ynez Risendo was being escorted to the scaffold. They were both standing on the tavern's terrace, Jessie, Victoria and Felipe right next to them.

One of the lancers put the noose around the woman's neck, and De Soto read the accusations. She just grinned triumphantly at him, not even noticing the list of her misdeeds didn't mention anything about her part in the death of the two people she was still certain to have perished the previous evening. The Alcalde had decided against enlightening her about the entire act, and nobody else told her, either. In all fairness, her confession to have killed the servant who had unwillingly helped her steal Gilberto, and the abduction of the De Sotos and the De la Vegas were more than enough reason to have her sentenced to death.

As her eyes were scanning the crowd for the grieving Alejandro de la Vega, they fell on the very-much-alive Diego and Jessie, and her smile faded, just as the lever was pulled.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

AN: Hope you liked the story and review if you did. It helps motivate me to write the next story sooner.