January 23rd, 1821/ Day 4
The first ray of sun hit his face like a punch. Diego woke up instantly, looking next to him and expecting to find a sleeping, traumatized Victoria. She was not there, and there were no signs of her ever being there.
"Father!" He uttered as he got off the bed and headed toward Don Alejandro's room.
Once there, he wanted to rush inside but, noticing there was no sign of battle anywhere, he stopped in his tracks and decided to knock.
"Father? May I come in?" He asked.
There was no answer.
"Father? Can you hear me?" He asked again as his impatience was growing.
When no one answered, he just opened the door and headed, his heart pounding, towards his father's bed. At hearing him come in, the man woke up, and was now looking at him, wondering what prompted his son to just waltz into his room like that, at 6 a.m.
"Are you...Are you alright, Father?" Diego asked him.
"Of course I am alright, Diego!" Don Alejandro answered. "Why wouldn't I be? Is there something wrong son?"
"No...nothing is wrong, Father! Not yet..." Diego replied, taking a hand to his head to massage his temples.
"In that case, I guess I will see you for breakfast in 20 minutes, Son." The Don informed him, waiting for his son to leave his room.
"Yes. See you in 20 minutes, Father." Diego answered and headed back to his quarters.
This is no dream. No nightmare. He thought while pacing in his bedroom. This day is, for some reason, repeating itself, and no matter what I do, someone I love always ends up dying. No...There must be something I can do!
A few hours later, as he was sitting in the cave, trying to devise a new plan to annihilate the approaching threat, Diego decided that half of his plan had, in fact worked, so he only needed to repeat it.
He visited Victoria as Zorro, asked her to close the tavern, and go to the hacienda, which she did. Afterwards, he made sure the bandits were captured and put in jail. Soon after, he pondered on what had gone wrong the previous evening, and decided to head for the Alcalde's office.
"Buenas tardes, Alcalde" He greeted Ignacio de Soto at entering through the roof window.
"Zorro! I had a feeling you were around here somewhere." De Soto replied, without moving against him. "What do you want?"
"Just to give you a friendly warning, Alcalde!" He answered. "The men you have in jail have more accomplices. They will come to free them later this evening. They plan to blow up the armory, and to kill you. You'll need to set a trap for them."
"How could you possibly know that, and why should I believe a word you say? For all I know, it might be you trying to set them free!" The Alcalde challenged him.
"If I wanted them free I wouldn't have helped you capture them. They are dangerous men, Alcalde, and all I want is for them not to hurt anyone ever again."
De Soto eyed him suspiciously, wondering if he was telling the truth.
"I will consider your warning." He replied.
"That is a wise decision, Alcalde!" He confirmed as he saluted, and left through the front door, whistling for Tornado.
The rest of the afternoon passed in a similar way as the previous one, although he could not help becoming more protective with Victoria, as he watched her with gratitude for God's decision to erase the previous day from her memory.
In the evening, he started feeling restless, wondering if the Alcalde will be able to prevent the new attack. During the dinner, he excused himself to talk to Felipe and, heading towards the library, he instructed his son to keep his father and Victoria in that room till midnight and, in case anyone came to the entrance of the hacienda or he heard noises outside, lead them to the cave and seal the panel door, so that they might be safe.
Diego also took his father aside sometime later and, without offering a real explanation, asked him to stay with Victoria in the library until his return. Don Alejandro protested at first but, eventually, decided to trust that his son had a reason for the unusual request.
Around 9 pm, the tall caballero excused himself, saying he needed some fresh air, and took Esperanza for a ride. He headed towards the cave, changed his clothes, and made his way, as Zorro, towards Los Angeles, leaving Esperanza in the cave. Once in Los Angeles, he headed for the part of the cuartel where the prison was located, waiting for the accomplices of the bandits to get there.
They arrived around 10:30. Realizing the guards were probably asleep or distracted, as the men were preparing to shoot them through the prison's barred windows, he got down from the roof and knocked them down with some punches, the commotion awakening the guards and drawing the attention of the lancers. Trying to avoid the gunfire and convinced that the lancers were now fully aware of the situation, he took the chance to make his escape on Tornado.
At passing by the Mission, the armory blew up, and, as he looked back, he saw the men escaping and attacking the lancers from behind. Seconds later he felt a sudden pain in his back, and realized he had been injured.
He headed towards the hacienda, but unsure he would be able to remain conscious for long enough to go through the cave entrance, he headed for the main door, where he knocked, calling for Felipe to open it.
Don Alejandro, just like the taverness, was surprised to see his deaf grandson hurrying towards the entrance, and even more amazed to see Zorro come in, while instructing Tornado to go home. He locked the door behind him, supporting himself on Felipe, who panicked at seeing him in that state.
"Zorro! You are hurt!" Exclaimed Victoria in terror, as she rushed towards him, Don Alejandro following her.
"Medical kit, Felipe!" He gathered his power to ask. "Bandits...escaped. Cave! Now!" He asked as his son led him to a chair, and hurried towards his room, from where he returned several minutes later with a bag filled with emergency medical supplies.
Felipe then helped his father head towards the fireplace where, to Don Alejandro and Victoria's confusion, he opened the sliding panel and helped Zorro in, signaling them to follow.
Once all four of them were in the narrow corridor, Felipe blocked the entrance, and led them to the main cave. There, with the help of a very confused Don Alejandro, he led Zorro to the chair while Victoria was taking in their surroundings, frozen on the stairs.
The cave is in the De la Vega hacienda. She realized. Felipe heard Zorro. Zorro could understand his signs perfectly. Both Tornado and Esperanza are in the cave. Diego had left on Esperanza. Diego… is Zorro.
"The bullet..." Zorro stuttered.
Felipe helped him out of his shirt, and stopped at realizing the bullet had touched Zorro's left lung. Such surgery was more complicated than he was able to perform, and he signaled that he needed to bring Doctor Hernandez.
"No!" Zorro stopped him. "Bandits… Danger."
"Diego?" Don Alejandro asked with a stunned expression at realizing, in his turn, that it was his son under the mask. His son who had saved the people so many times, his son who had helped him cheat death more than once, his son who was wounded and bleeding and maybe even...No… my son cannot be dying!
Felipe ignored the injured man, and headed towards Tornado.
"Stop him!" He asked Don Alejandro. "Might die!"
"And if he doesn't get him here, you will die! Go Felipe, but be careful!" Don Alejandro asked the young man, who took two loaded pistols with him, but did not hesitate when mounting Tornado.
Zorro rose from his chair and stumbled towards the horse in an effort to stop him. He tried to whistle for Tornado to return, but he could not, as his lungs were failing. Unable to stand, he crumbled to the stone pavement, Victoria and his father rushing at his side.
Don Alejandro reached to take off his mask, but Zorro stopped him so, instead, he took some rags and tried put pressure on the wound in order to limit the blood loss as best he could, while Victoria hurried to take some blankets for him to rest on and cover with. Shots were heard upstairs, but the house was empty. They could hear the bandits destroying the place, yet they knew to be safe in the cave, and their real concern was Zorro.
Felipe returned with Doctor Hernandez only an hour later, since the doctor had been treating the wounded lancers, and he was unable to come with him earlier. As he waited, the young man left a message in the Alcalde's office, signing it from Zorro and informing that the bandits were at the De la Vega Hacienda.
By the time Felipe returned, the De Soto and the remaining lancers were surrounding the hacienda, intended on capturing the escaped men.
Doctor Hernandez dismounted the black stallion with some difficulty due to both their statures, and headed for Zorro. He took some time convincing a grieving Don Alejandro to let go of his patient, but, after realizing the extent of the damage, he shook his head, as it was too late for their masked hero.
"I can extract the bullet, but I don't believe that would be advisable." He informed them. "It will only cause him more pain, and, t this point it will not save his life. In fact, had the bullet come out already, he might already be dead. I am very sorry, but I cannot help him, my friends."
"What do you mean you cannot help him?" Don Alejandro inquired, his eyes begging for a miracle.
"It is too late, Alejandro, there is nothing I can do at this stage." He informed him. Then, the doctor looked around and saw the grief-stricken faces of the people around him, in Zorro's secret hideout and finally realized that Diego de la Vega was Zorro.
"It's...alright" The dying man replied, looking at his father and Victoria, then staring at Felipe. "You're ...alive. It is... all ...matters."
He remained conscious a while longer, until he felt the blood invading his mouth, preventing him from breathing and slowly drowning him as he faded away into the darkness.