Explanation:

This is a fanfiction story written solely for the enjoyment of myself and other Zorro fans. It is provided by me for free and there is no profit motive behind it.

I have no rights to NWZ. Exceptions are the characters I invented for this story.

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My dear son!

By the time you read this, I will be gone. I know that I am sick and have only a few months to live. That's why I'm writing you this letter while I'm still healthy.

As you know, you are not my biological son, you are adopted. It has never mattered to me that you are not my own flesh and blood. Nevertheless, I am aware that you have a right to know more about your origins. That's why I've made inquiries.

But I shouldn't get ahead of myself, I should tell you in order.

Your story began 23 years ago, on September 23, 1863, when Inez Resendo came to see me and asked if she could work for me. She had worked for many years for gentlemen of high rank and was familiar with the customs of the upper classes. She also had experience as a midwife and would be able to help in that area if needed in the future. She made her request politely and waited patiently for my answer.

She might have deceived someone else. But I couldn't help but notice her fake smile. There was something very wrong with her story, I could tell. She also seemed strangely rushed and could barely look me straight in the eye.

Under other circumstances, I would have refused her request immediately and she wouldn't have had a chance to enter my house. But what stopped me was you, my son.

You were just an infant, a few months old. She held you in a simple bundle. On the surface, nothing out of the ordinary and quite the good mother. But you didn't seem comfortable and I could hear you crying. Inez tried to calm you down, but seemed more impatient or annoyed. Definitely not the way you would expect a loving mother to be.

Something in me knew she wasn't good for you. I felt she would be a bad influence on you if you stayed with her and she raised you.

Of course, it was none of my business, and I'm certainly not the kind of person to take a mother's child away from her. However, I must admit that you were the only reason I hired this person.

I remained suspicious and assigned two of my servants to keep an eye on her. And that suspicion was more than justified, as I soon found out - it was less than two months before she tried to steal my family jewels and secretly make off with them. Unfortunately for her, we caught her red-handed. She knew that she would spend some time in jail for this - she probably had experience with that - and started to negotiate with me. She had noticed that I had taken a liking to the baby - you - and tried to use that to her advantage.

To some extent, she succeeded. Thanks to my good connections with the nobility and the authorities, I was able to ensure that Senora Resendo was neither charged nor convicted. In return, she agreed to leave the city and leave you to me.

Of course she refused at first. Not out of love for you, my son - she tried to get more out of the deal, and I ended up giving her some of the jewelry as well. A good mother would never have agreed to such a thing - if I had any doubts before that it was right to separate you from her, I knew it now. This person was a greedy and deceitful woman and I was more than happy when she finally left town and out of our lives. My disgust for this woman even went so far as to give you a new first name - Gilberto became Diego, and you were now Diego Sebastian Roman Lopez de Bolea, future Conde de Aragon.

So I, the eternal bachelor, unexpectedly became a father. I tried to live up to your expectations and made sure that the caretakers didn't change too often when the mother was away. It turned out that Isabel, one of my servants, became a kind of surrogate mother. But the other servants in my house were also happy to take care of you. Once you were taken away from Mrs. Resendo, you were the most contented and easy-to-care-for baby imaginable.

The years passed and you grew older. No one talked about what had happened in the past, but the older you got, the more guilt I felt. I had always felt there was something wrong with Inez's story. She had always claimed to be your biological mother and that you had been rejected by your father. But your nature, your whole being, was so different.

I began to doubt more and more that she was your mother at all, and I made inquiries. Unfortunately, I was not able to question her myself, as she was convicted of another crime shortly after her "departure" and died in prison four months later.

So I had inquiries made at regular intervals, unfortunately in vain.

The turning point came when I found out that one of my former employees had been drawing in his spare time for a very long time. He had been drawing pictures of my employees to practice, although they had never been published and were kept in a locked drawer. As luck would have it, he also had a picture of Inez, and he made it available to us.

Now we had more than just a verbal description of the person, and my investigator finally found a hot lead. It led to the New World of America, to a small pueblo called Los Angeles.

The good man described everything to me in detail, you can find everything he found out in my estate. I leave it up to you whether and to what extent you wish to pursue the matter further.

Since it will take some time to sift through everything, and I can understand your curiosity, I will write you a brief summary of his findings below:

Your biological father is Alejandro de la Vega, a Spanish caballero of lesser nobility, but related to the Spanish crown. He is now a widower, and his wife Elena - your mother - died of complications during childbirth. Inez was her midwife and faked a stillbirth by switching her sister's newborn baby with you. I can't imagine what she had in mind for you, but it wasn't good. An unfulfilled desire to have children was definitely not the reason.

Alejandro was a broken man and a shadow of his former self. What lifted his spirits was his friendship with the Escalante family. He became a kind of second father to their daughter, and since her mother died and her father disappeared, he sees her as a kind of surrogate daughter. A few years ago, he took in Felipe, a young man of about twelve who lost his parents and unfortunately cannot speak or hear. Nevertheless, he is a bright boy. The relationship is probably more like a grandfather and grandson.

Unfortunately, life in Los Angeles is hard, and it's amazing that Alejandro is still there. The current Alcalde DeSoto is a real tyrant and is closer to his own wallet than to the concerns and needs of his citizens. Inventing or increasing new taxes seems to be more important to him than ensuring law and order.

His predecessor, Luis Ramon, was not much better. Two months ago, he fell off a cliff near Fort Devil. Some say it was an accident, others blame a local bandit.

This bandit has an interesting story as well. He calls himself Zorro and claims to fight for the people. Apparently, the people believe him and support him. At least all attempts to catch him have been unsuccessful. Whether he really supports the common people is doubtful - this bandit shows up, steals money or valuables, and then disappears for a few weeks before reappearing and committing his next robbery.

You would probably have to travel to Los Angeles yourself to find out.

Diego, I only found out about these things two weeks ago, so please forgive me for not telling you until now.

But I am an old man, a father who loves you, who knows his time will come soon, and who is simply afraid of dying alone.

I love you, my son.

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A/N:

Do you like the changes? The story starts very different, but some points will be very similar to the serial.

The fanfiction stories here inspired by "The Count of Monte Christo" gave me the idea of what would have happened if Diego had actually been raised as a count?

The count became a Spanish conde, and I made a few other adjustments. Here, Diego is the only son, and how he develops his relationship with Alejandro and Victoria in that role could be exciting to tell. I also have some new ideas that I'm not ready to reveal yet.

Progress for this story will be slower, with updates coming once a month - this might be a bit tight for September and October, then more in the following months. So, 5 chapters in total for this year.

Reviews always welcome