Natalya listened to the nuances of the stirring anticipation in the music, as the Act I finale of La Cenerentola by Rossini was played out on the stage. The sweet blonde mezzo-soprano had shown up at the palace in a beautiful dark purple gown and veil, to the horror of her vain stepsisters, and enchanted the disguised Prince without having yet revealed her own identity.
The cast and chorus whipped into a frenzy of activity as they finished singing, and the orchestra spun into its conclusion to the piece. Natalya joined in the growing applause as the curtains fell for intermission and the lights rose on the house.
"Well, what do you think?" Gilbert whispered in her ear, "Could you wear that dress better than her?"
"You're such a dork," Natalya chuckled, "But yes, that dress would definitely be my style. Very good performance so far, such a perfect Cinderella voice too."
"Yeah, it's a great opera," Gilbert agreed, "Are you happy I picked this for our second anniversary?"
"I sure am," Natalya approved as she leaned in and gave him a quick kiss, "You're the best husband ever."
"Thanks, Nat," Gilbert replied as he kissed her back, "Now, are we going to wine it up for the intermission?"
"Yes, let's wine it up," Natalya settled as they rose to their seats and followed the crowd into the aisles, "Hopefully the lines won't be too bad."
"Don't you worry about that," Gilbert assured as they walked out of the theatre, holding hands, "I'll go stand in line for the wine, after I quickly visit the washroom. You go relax, I'll meet you at that local art exhibit by the bar."
"Sounds good," Natalya agreed, "Don't take all the intermission to get back to me."
"Of course not," Gilbert chuckled as he raised her clasped hand to his lips and kissed it, "Be right back, babe."
As they reached the lobby, Gilbert let go of her hand and rushed off, leaving her to wander. Natalya strolled away from the crowd leaving the theatre, finding a path to the outside edge of the lobby. Once alongside the windows, she worked her way over to the exhibit that was set up to memorialize what has transpired seven years ago.
There had been public outcry to understand why Mathilda Jones-Kirkland had killed her family and destroyed JCI. There were many rumours shared in international media, and several conspiracy theory nut jobs attempted to uncover some dark twisted government conspiracies. The world eventually turned to Natalya and Gilbert as the only true experts on what Mathilda's life had really been like. Natalya gave many interviews at first, but found it to be mentally draining as she suffered both the uprooting of their society and grief for her dead friends and brothers. To this day, she was still attempting to document everything that was known about Mathilda, with the intent of publishing a full biography of her life.
Natalya reached the art exhibit, and circled the statue in the middle. The marble sculpture was of a phoenix rising from the ashes, a police badge hanging from a chain in the bird's beak. It was immensely popular after its public unveiling for representing how tyranny had been destroyed, and how true justice was able to rise from the flames.
Following Mathilda's destruction, the city got swept into a mass reform of all forms of government, with the people coming together to take charge. Gilbert helped put back together the police force, now restructured to serve the people instead of corporate interests. Once the police force was stabilized, Gilbert retired and left the reins to Commissioner Bella Maes and Lieutenant Kiku Honda. He returned to law school with a new plan to restructure the political world, and was regarded as a rising star in that arena.
Natalya moved past the sculpture to a wall of paintings, and found a very familiar piece of art. Under a bright blue sky, a mother polar bear led her two cubs across the Arctic ice. The painter had made this calmer painting alongside the deadlier one they created for Mathilda, and Natalya helped arrange for the city to purchase it from the artist and display it here at the theatre.
Seven years ago, after the dust settled from the destruction, Natalya and Katerina investigated the Bear Cave as Ivan instructed, with Gilbert and others coming along for the investigation. They removed the bloody polar bear painting from the wall, and found that the hidden alcove contained 20 million dollars in cash. They also found a series of legal documents, including the notary licence that Antonio somehow acquired while they were still working on the supercomputer. On the day they killed Arthur and destroyed JCI, Antonio had notarized a marriage contract between Mathilda and Ivan, along with revised wills for both of them. Mathilda made Ivan her sole beneficiary, while Ivan left everything to his sisters.
In short, Natalya and Katerina inherited the obliterated ruins of Jones Conglomerates Incorporated.
The girls immediately took this paperwork to Francis Bonnefoy, who helped them sort out what exactly Ivan had left them with. It was arranged for JCI's remaining assets to be liquidated, with no liabilities passed on to the sisters. They were allowed to keep the 20 million cash, and would've also had the rights to an additional sum of 200 million that disappeared from the JCI accounts during the database destruction.
Katerina used her share of the cash to re-open the Phoenix Cafe, and help the Vargas brothers turn it into a proper Italian restaurant. They renovated the apartments as well, converting them into two full-floor condos. Lovino and Elizaveta took one of the condos, and were also first in line to get married at the new chapel in the rebuilt city hall.
The second condo was kept by Katerina, and she arranged the space for raising her healthy baby boy. Although Feliciano lived in Lovino and Elizaveta's condo for the first while, he stayed by Katerina's side and helped care for the child as if it were his own. Once Katerina had recovered from her grief for Yao's death, she eventually fell in love with Feliciano. They got married last year, and now there was another child on the way.
Natalya used her portion of the cash to return to school, and the university campus was just by her safehouse in the suburbs. Gilbert was attending the same school, so Natalya let him live with her as a roommate. They found comfort and companionship in each other as they recovered from their recent traumas, and their friendship became the foundation of their marriage.
Natalya's thoughts were interrupted by a tug at her dress. She glanced down from the polar bear painting to find a pair of young twin girls looking up at her. They had long flaxen blond hair and violet eyes, and Natalya could swear she once looked just like them. One of them wore a red dress with a red bow hairband in her hair, while the second girl wore an identical outfit in green.
"Mama says these are for you," the one in red offered, as the girls each held up a glass of white wine to Natalya.
"I'm sorry, you must have the wrong person," Natalya told the girls.
"No, Mama said they are for you, Auntie Natalya," the one in green insisted, "The second glass is for Uncle Gilbert."
"Who are you?" Natalya asked in bewilderment.
"Antonietta Braginskaya," the one in red answered.
"Vittoria Braginskaya," the one in green answered.
"Who are your parents?" Natalya prodded further.
"Tonia, Toria!"
Vittoria turned to look towards the voice that called out from somewhere in the crowd, while Antonietta pulled Natalya's left hand down and gave her the first glass of wine.
"That's Mama, she's calling for us," Vittoria explained as she turned back and copied her sister's action, putting the second wine glass in Natalya's right hand.
The girls then ran off into the crowd, leaving Natalya with the two glasses of wine. She moved towards the crowd, attempting to look through the wave of people for the two girls. She finally spotted them by the staircase, accepting cups of juice from their parents.
Natalya froze on the spot as she realized who the parents were. The father stayed focused on the girls, leading them elsewhere to enjoy their drinks. The mother looked directly at Natalya and winked at her, before raising her own wine glass in a small salute. She then followed her family away, sipping on her wine.
"I thought I was buying the wine," Natalya suddenly heard a voice say right in her ear.
Natalya spun in a panic, only to slightly relax as Gilbert took the glass from her right hand. He was about to start drinking it, then paused to look at her in concern.
"Are you okay?" he checked, "You look as if you've seen a ghost."
"I think I did," Natalya panicked, "I watched her die, how could she here?"
"What are you talking about, Nat?" Gilbert asked, reaching for her hand to comfort her, "Who's here?"
Natalya looked him dead in the eyes as she answered.
"Mathilda fucking Jones!"
THE END