January 23rd, 1821/ Day 1411

The first ray of sun hit his face like a punch. Diego opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling, then he got out of bed, put on a suit and made his way towards the cave where he changed into his black clothes. Mounting Tornado, he exited, heading for Los Angeles.

Since it was before 6:30 in the morning, he knew very well De Soto would be in his room, sound asleep. He hid a time-delay bomb in the prison's courtyard, and entered through the roof window, as usual. Making his way into the Alcalde's room, he locked it up behind him and woke up De Soto.

"We need to talk, Alcalde!" He greeted him.

"Zorro! What are you doing here? What time is it?" De Soto asked at being awoken.

"I have a deal for you." He answered.

"A deal? What kind of deal?" De Soto questioned.

"I will give myself up to you. In exchange, I need you and your men to do something for me." He started presenting his case.

"Give yourself up? Why would you do that? Why should I believe you?" De Soto wondered, not sure if it was his lucky day, but certainly hoping it was.

"What do you have to lose?" Zorro asked.

De Soto considered the idea for a moment.

"What would I have to do in return?"

"Just your duty, Alcalde. Send men to patrol the countryside. They need to cover 50 miles east of the pueblo. As much terrain as possible. They will be looking for 12 bandits, but I am rather sure they will be split into two groups, one of 8 and one of 4. I will only need information regarding the way they took to get here. What you do with them is your business. But, Alcalde, heed my words. Those men are very dangerous, and will not hesitate to kill. So caution your men to stay away from them and do the same should they get here."

"How do I know this is not one of your traps? And even if it isn't, how do I know you will be keeping your part of the bargain?"

That's exactly what he asked the last five times we've been through this! Why is it always a repetition with these people? Zorro considered.

"If you agree to the deal, I will share my identity with a person I trust. I will tell you who that person is, and he will publicly confess to know my real name. Once that is done, you will send the patrol and bring back the information I need. I will give myself up in exchange for that information, or the man who admits to knowing who I am will give you my name. Think about it, Alcalde! You might have me in prison by tonight. 6.000 pesos in reward money just for you!"

"I believe we might have a deal, Zorro! But I first need to know who will you share your identity with."

"Diego de la Vega. I will ride out to let him know, and he will be here a little later. And, Alcalde, don't even consider locking him up or trying to get the information any other way. I will not break him out of jail if you do that, but I will also not prevent the explosive charges I have hidden around the cuartel to go off."

Moments after he said that, the time-delay device he had hidden but 10 minutes earlier went off, causing a huge explosion in the courtyard.

"Just a preview, Alcalde. The rest of them will cause a lot of damages." Zorro said. "Do we have a deal?"

"How do I know you will disarm them?" De Soto inquired.

"They are set to go off at 9 pm. If by that time I realize you have not respected your part of the deal, be sure there will be nothing left of this place. Respect it and you shall have my name."

"Alright! We have a deal, Zorro! If De la Vega comes here and admits publicly to know your identity."

"Alcalde!" Mendoza shouted from the other side of the door.

"Don't bother! I will open for the Sergeant. Be sure to put him in charge of the patrol. See you later, Alcalde!"

As he said that, he exited the room, letting a surprised Mendoza in, and made his way out through the office. In the plaza he mounted Tornado and heading towards the hacienda.

Half an hour later, a little after 7 a.m., Diego de la Vega was entering Los Angeles. The plaza was already buzzing with people, awoken that morning by the explosion in the cuartel. As soon as he arrived, De Soto exited his office and headed towards him.

"Don Diego!" He shouted. "I believe you might have an announcement to make?"

"Alcalde! Just the man I was coming to see!" He answered with a grin. "Indeed, I do have an announcement, and I was instructed to make it in public."

"We are all ears, De la Vega!" De Soto paused near him.

"I," he started in loud voice, so that everyone could hear, "Diego de la Vega, hereby declare that I know the true identity of Zorro. Upon his instructions, I am requested to share said information, this evening, with Alcalde De Soto in exchange for a certain piece of information the Alcalde might provide."

"You have all heard him!" Ignacio underlined. "This admission will cost you your life, De la Vega, if you do not give me Zorro's real name! Are we clear?"

"We are very clear, Alcalde." He answered. "I believe you have about 10-12 hours to find the information requested of you. Personally, I would appreciate your efforts in bringing that information, since I have no intention of hanging. My father only has one son left."

De Soto had considered extracting the information from Diego by other means than by respecting the deal he had struck with Zorro but, those few last words convinced him to do his best to honor it.

"Is that true, Diego?" Victoria asked him as the Alcalde was instructing his men to go on patrol. "Do you truly know who Zorro is?"

"Yes, Victoria. I know." He answered.

"And you are really going to reveal his name to the Alcalde?"

"I am. If he keeps his part of the deal." He confirmed, lovingly gazing into her grief-stricken eyes.

"Why would he do such a deal? Why put you in this position?" She asked him.

"I am sure Zorro has his reasons. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to return to the hacienda. Oh! I almost forgot. Zorro also asked me to tell you that you should come to the hacienda for lunch today. He prefers you to be out of the town between midday and late afternoon."

"He said that?"

"Yes. I will also inform Father as soon as I get back. I'll see you later, Victoria!"

"See you later, Diego!"

Making his way back, the caballero told his father about having invited Victoria for lunch and about his decision to go for a ride that morning. He then took Esperanza and left her in the cave while Zorro patrolled the countryside on Tornado. He followed the lancers for a while but, at arriving at the Alvear abandoned farmhouse, where the lancers made their way north-east, he went south-east, trying to find traces of the men he was looking for. He rode as fast as he could, covering as much ground as possible, but was unable to find any trace of the bandits. He returned to the hacienda later that afternoon, about two hours after Felipe, as instructed, had released Esperanza and the horse had made her way home.

"You fell off the horse, again, Diego?" His father admonished him as he entered the dining room where everyone was drinking their coffee. "You used to be such a good horseman once, Son!"

"I'm sorry, Father! A rattlesnake startled Esperanza. I was lucky not to get any broken ribs this time!"

"Are you sure you are not injured? I am so afraid for you sometimes. You are all I have left, my boy!"

"Not all, Father! And you also have Felipe!" He answered, smiling proudly at his adopted son.

"Yes, of course! I also have Felipe now." The old don confirmed, lovingly gazing at the young man. "But you are still my only son. If anything happened to you, Diego, I am not sure I could survive the heartbreak."

"Nothing will happen to me! You needn't worry so much!" Well, I have already died about 40 times by now but there's no good reason to tell you about that, is there?

"Really? And how about all this Victoria is telling me? Has Zorro shared his identity with you?" Don Alejandro inquired as Felipe was staring at his father, wondering if that was another plan of his or he had suddenly gone mad.

'Sharing his identity'. That is a rather accurate way of describing it, indeed. Diego considered.

"Yes. I know exactly who Zorro is, and I will share that information with the Alcalde under certain conditions." He confirmed.

"And if you don't share it, you will hang, Diego! How could he put you in such a position? Why would Zorro do that to you?" Don Alejandro protested, feeling disappointed in the man he considered a hero to his pueblo.

"I assure you Zorro has good reasons, Father." He answered.

"You cannot do that, Diego!" Victoria pleaded. "You cannot tell them who Zorro is!"

"Don Alejandro!" The panicked voice of Senor Peralta could be heard down the corridor and they all hurried towards the entrance. "Don Alejandro! Something terrible has happened!"

"Senor Peralta! What is going on?" The old don asked.

"A massacre! It was a massacre, Senor! The Alcalde, two of the lancers, and four others are all dead! Bandits, Don Alejandro! They took hostages in the tavern, and, when they made their way out the pueblo, there was a shootout! Two of the bandits are also dead. It seems they were the men Zorro was looking for in the morning." The messenger answered.

"De Soto is dead, you say?" Don Alejandro asked in disbelief. "Who else?"

"The two young lancers - Munoz and Rodriguez -, Pilar – Victoria sighed at hearing the name of her employee – Cadenas, Priam, and Dona Emilia."

"Madre de Dios!" Victoria exclaimed as Don Alejandro was escorting Senor Peralta to the door, thanking him for bringing the information. "And while all this was going on, I was here, enjoying my time with you."

"There is nothing you could have done, Victoria, except sharing her faith, perhaps." Diego assured her.

"I would have gladly died to save her, Diego!"

"I know. But I couldn't go through that. I couldn't bear to see you dead, Victoria. Not without putting a bullet through my brain. And I certainly cannot see what good that would have done."

"What did you say, Diego? Why would you..."

Diego did not answer, just smiled, kissed her on the forehead, and, when his father return, he offered to escort a shocked Victoria back to town. Don Alejandro and Felipe also decided to join them, fully aware that the young tavern owner would need them that afternoon.

As soon as she arrived in Los Angeles, she went to see her friend's dead body and kissed her on her cheek, paying her respects to Pilar's husband and embracing his young daughter who was oblivious as to why her mother wouldn't talk to her anymore. Blaming herself for having left Pilar alone to take care of the tavern, Victoria was moving as in a trance. The plaza was still a sad reminder of the recent events, blood pools scattered near the tavern and the Alcalde's office. Victoria went to her room and Diego followed her, unable to bear seeing her so sad.

"Zorro should have been here!" She murmured sobbing. "He should have protected Pilar. He could have saved all of them!"

"He will!" Diego answered calmly. "Soon."

"What do you mean, 'soon'? She is dead!" Victoria pointed out with indignation.

"Yes, she is. For now. Tomorrow they will all be alive again, though. God knows they must have died tens, perhaps hundreds of times by now."

"What in the world are you talking about, Diego?"

"It's complicated to explain, Victoria. But I promise she will be here tomorrow, alive and well!"

"How can you make such a promise? She is dead! Dead people do not come back to life!"

"We did." He answered. "I died dozens of times by now. Yet I always wake up alive in the morning. The difference between me and everyone else is that I remember it, while nobody else does. You all believe this is the 23rd of January 1821 and it is. But it has been the same date for almost four years now. The bandits always come at 2:30 in the afternoon and there is always a massacre. We all died at one point or another, but in the morning everyone is alive and well."

"What are you saying Diego? Are you mad?" She asked shaking, convinced her friend must have suffered some bad injury to the head, probably caused by being thrown off his horse that afternoon.

"We are trapped reliving the same day, Victoria. We have been for a long time. I actually told you about this before."

"I have no idea what are you saying, Diego. I would remember... I need to call Doctor Hernandez. Stay here!" Victoria ordered him as she was getting out of bed.

"The first night after I returned from Madrid you dreamt about marrying me. I know you don't remember telling me that but ask yourself: how can I know that if not from you?"

"I have never told that to anyone. You can't possibly now that!" She stopped, and turned towards him, bewildered by the revelation. It was her best-kept secret. The one thing she had never dared reveal to any other person.

"You did tell me, Victoria." Diego insisted.

"Why would I do that? Why would I tell you my secret?"

"Because, as I said, this is not the first time we are having this conversation. I didn't always tell you, but the times I did it was very hard for me to convince you. So, I once asked for one secret that only you could know and have never shared. That was why you told me. In order for me to use that information to convince you I am telling the truth." He took a short pause. "Why do you think I asked you to come to the hacienda for lunch? I knew what was about to happen. Please, Victoria, do not be sad. Nothing is lost, and I cannot bear to see you in tears. I will find a way to fix all of this. I promise!"

"Why? Why can't you bear to see me cry, Diego? Why did you say you would kill yourself if something was to happen to me?"

"You already know why, Victoria!"

"You love me?" She asked nervously, not sure if she wanted him to say yes or no.

"I do." He replied. "And I will always do everything in my power to keep you safe!"

"But...I love Zorro..." She uttered, shaking.

"And you also love Diego, but you don't understand how can you be in love with two men at the same time. We have been through this so many times...Victoria, you love us both because we are the same man. Diego is Zorro and Zorro is Diego."

"That is..."

"Impossible? Yes, you say that a lot, too. I found that the easiest way to convince you is by kissing you. May I?

Diego was not waiting for a reply since he had kissed the woman thousands of times before, and could already see the smallest gestures indicating her willingness to be kissed.

"It is you!" She whispered just before returning his kiss with even more passion than he had shown her.

"You believe me now? Will you stop being sad? It is just temporary. I will do everything in my power to save Pilar. To save everybody, Victoria."

"You promise?"

"I solemnly swear."

"Alright. I trust you, Diego!"

"Shall we go downstairs? Mendoza should be returning soon from his patrol, and I need the information he is bringing."

"What about your deal with the Alcalde? Will you...?"

"I made that deal three times before, already. De Soto is always shot at 2:43, despite me warning him, and Mendoza always refuses to hear my name. He says he doesn't care who Zorro is. Hopefully this time he might bring some useful information."

"And if he changes his mind?" Victoria asked, hoping to hear a reassurance that he will not reveal his secret identity, no matter what.

"Tomorrow will be today again, Victoria. Even if he changes his mind, even if he executes me this very evening – which I very much doubt Mendoza would ever do -, my death will only be temporary. As I told you, I have died already many times, in many ways. I don't know how or why I am still here. There is some power out there which, for whatever reason, wants me alive and wants me to remember."

"I can't imagine losing you, Diego! Please don't tell them! Don't risk it!"

"You will never lose me, mi amor! You would never be that careless!" He assured her with a wink and was relieved to see a smile on her face.

They returned to the taproom where Don Alejandro and Felipe were waiting for them, just a few minutes before they heard Mendoza enter the plaza with his men. Diego hurried to greet them.

"Sergeant! Back already? Do you have any news about the bandits?" He asked with what seemed to Mendoza a little more interest than he expected from the caballero.

"Don Diego! It was terrible! But what happened here? Why is there so much blood on the ground?"

"Come, have a drink with us, and we shall share stories, Sergeant."

"I think the Alcalde is waiting for my news. I should go see him first."

"I am sorry to have to tell you this, but the Alcalde has been killed this afternoon, together with two of your men. You are now the new Alcalde, Mendoza." Diego informed his friend.

"Madre de Dios! Killed? By who?"

"By the bandits he had sent you to trace. Have you found anything?"

"We did not find the bandits. But we found something much worse! Is the Alcalde really dead, Don Diego?"

"I am afraid so! Why don't you and your men come to the tavern and tell us what you've found. I will treat you to some of Victoria's finest wine, and you must be famished!"

"We do need a drink, but I don't think any of us can eat after what we have seen today!"

The Sergeant and his men followed Diego inside, and Victoria brought them the wine Diego promised.

"What did you see, Sergeant?" Diego asked him as soon as Mendoza sat at the table, eager to get the information out of him. "What can be so terrible?"

"It was horrible, Don Diego! An entire Indian village slaughtered! Men, women, children, even infants!" Mendoza answered with tears in his eyes.

Diego looked at the Sergeant for a few moments. He seemed very affected by what he had seen.

"Where did you find that village?" He asked, wondering if that was finally the answer he had been looking for.

"Some 30 miles east, towards San Bernardino." Answered the military man. "It's hidden in a valley. I had never been there before and none of my men knew of its existence."

"Was anyone still alive when you got there?"

"Diego, why are you questioning the Sergent like that? Don't you see the man needs to recollect himself? If Zorro needs answers, he should get them himself, not put you in the middle of it!" Don Alejandro interveened.

"I understand your perspective, Father, but I still need the answers!" The younger don explained.

"Why?"

"Please, Father! I need the Sergent to tell me what he knows. It is more important than you think, and I don't have the time to explain to you why."

"Just a woman, Don Diego." Mendoza told him. "An old strange woman with tattoos on her face. I tried to talk to her, we wanted to take her to the Mission for the friars to help her, but she refused to move from her spot. She just stood there repeating something, over and over again. I believe she was mad."

"What exactly was she saying, Sergeant?"

"I don't know, Don Diego. I ...I think she was saying something about washing cows."

"Washing cows? Are you sure?"

"Si, Don Diego. She kept repeating cow wash."

Diego took a moment trying to search his head for a word that might sound similar to the ones Mendoza mentioned. The natives of the area were Tongva, so he tried to think about the words he knew in that language.

"Are you sure she was not saying 'kaweewesh' instead of cow wash, Sergeant?" Diego asked as he remembered the one word that seemed to be reminiscent of what the Sergeant had understood.

"I don't know, Don Diego. Maybe. What does Kawesh mean?"

"Kaweewesh. Fox, in Tongva." He replied pensive. "30 miles east, you said, Sergeant?" He asked again as he stood up.

"Si, Don Diego."

"Where are you going, Son? And since when do you speak Tongva?" Don Alejandro shouted after him.

"I feel the need for a ride, Father. Don't wait up." He answered, taking a short break to kiss Victoria on her forehead and give her a sad smile, then rushed towards his mare, and made his way towards the hacienda.

The sun was about to set when Zorro arrived at the Indian village. The sight was as horrible as Mendoza had described it. The place was littered with bodies, most of them shot, others with their throats cut. Infants were dead in their mother's arms, small children with petrified arms still clinging to their parents. Over 40 men, women, and children were all dead, their traditional weapons inefficient against guns and sharp swords. Whatever attack they had endured, it was over before they got any real chance to fight back. Looking closer, Zorro discovered among the bodies of the deceased, five dressed as vaqueros, two of which seemed familiar. Taking a good look at those men, he recognized two of them as the bandits which were in the tavern the time Felipe had been taken, hostage. He had seen them afterward a few times, even recently, so there was no doubt in his mind as to their identity.

"Sometimes they die, sometimes others do. Never more than eight of them." The voice of a woman told him in Tongva – a language he had, fortunately, learned rather well recently.

"Eight?" So more than 12, then. Defeating them that night was probably just a coincidence. Two or three more, and they would have succeeded. "I have seen them before." He replied, turning towards the woman. "What happened here?"

"They came one morning. As the sun was there." She said that pointing towards a place in the sky. "They just killed everyone. Except me. I think they fear killing me. When it first happened, I kneeled and prayed to the Spirits and the Spirits sent me a vision of a black fox. When I woke up the next morning everyone was alive. But the bad men came again and killed them. They come every morning and they all die again and again. I have tried to warn them. The men fought, the women and the children ran. But we always lose, the women and the children are captured, and everybody always die." The woman bowed her head and looked at the dead corpses of her people. "I don't know why they do it! We are a peaceful tribe. We live off the land. What have my people ever done to them?"

"Some men are just evil. They do not need reasons for being so. They just are." Zorro replied, looking angrily towards the deceased attackers.

"Who are you?" The woman asked.

"I am Kaweewesh." He replied. "Zorro in my language. I should have come sooner, but I did not know I was supposed to come. I wasted so much time thinking only about myself."

"The vision told me that the fox will come when it will be ready, not before."

He smiled at the woman, but his smile was a sad one. He felt guilty for having allowed the massacre to happen so many times without doing anything to prevent it. He should have known sooner, he should have done a better job investigating what was going on. Instead, he only focused on saving those he loved and tending to his own needs and pleasures.

"I am not ready yet." He told the old woman. "These are ruthless killers. I can try, but I will not succeed on my own against them. I need a few more days to come up with a way to defeat them before they kill anyone."

"I have seen them all die many times already." She answered.

"I will return soon" he promised, "and I will do everything in my power so that your people might live to see another day."

"May the spirits guide you, Black Fox." The woman prayed as he was returning to Los Angeles.