Chapter Twelve: Heartfelt
"What are you going to do with us?"
Sylva gazed at her captors, fear sparking in her blue eyes. "If you're
gonna kill us here and now, won't people be suspicious? How're you going
to dispose of two dead bodies without anyone seeing you? And what will happen
when Semela doesn't turn up to the finale or the banquet tonight - assuming
Atom win? What will you say then?"
"That she has been taken ill by all the excitement." Nadia shrugged. "It
would not be the first time that Semela has been unfortunate to miss out
on such things."
Semela narrowed her eyes, realising the implications in her bandmate's
words.
"You made me ill." She accused, speaking in her native tongue. "Whenever
you did not want me there...I see it now. I should have seen it before,
but I believed that Atom was going to be a success, and that you were as
focused on your music as I am!"
"A silly mistake to make." Nadia smiled. "We could have killed you long
ago, had you become suspicious of our actions, but you did not. You provided
us with the music to make Atom a contender, and whilst you were useful, we
kept you along for the ride. Now that we are so close to winning tonight,
we will no longer need you anyway. Your usefulness is over - it makes no difference
to me if you die here or later. In the end, it was always bound to happen."
She turned her attention to the musician, slipping back into English.
"And to answer your question, Sylvina, I know this theatre very
well. I know all the hiding places, and I know the secret tunnels. It is
an old building - and I grew up in it's shadows. Noone will ever find you
- or if they do, they will never be able to identify who you were." She
laughed. "Archaeologists will puzzle over you in years to come, but noone
will ever know what happened to the American rock star on the night of the
contest."
"Really?"
A voice came from the doorway, and Nadia swung around, startled by the
sudden interruption. She cursed in Morvanian as she recognised Anatole,
with a group of the royal guard in tow. "I think that my mother would very
much like to hear you say that - in front of her court!"
"Nat!" Sylva exclaimed. "But how...?"
"We worked it out." Nancy slipped into the room, Copper and Sadie in tow.
"Just in time, or so it seems."
Nadia swore, backing against the wall. Grabbing Mischa's arm, she knocked
against a panel, revealing a hidden passage. Dumbstruck, everyone could
only watch as the two rebels disappeared into the darkness.
"After them!" Nat was the first to regain his composure, gesturing to the
royal guard, who obediently took up the pursuit.
"She said she knew every passage - you'll never catch her." Sylva bit her
lip, as Sadie hurried to undo her bonds and Copper and Nancy rushed to do
the same for Semela. "But how did you find me? I didn't think you'd ever
guess that it could be Nadia behind all of this."
"Her name gave her away." Sadie said simply. "One of the people involved
in the rebellion up north had the same last name - Kastano. Turns out that
Nadia and Mischa are relatives of Adreana's, and wanted the throne for themselves."
"Yeah, I gathered that." Sylva stretched her arms, glad to be free of her
restraints. "Semela tried to help me, but they caught her by surprise and
tied her up too. She wasn't involved in all of this stuff - she just got
caught in the middle."
"I had no idea that they were planning anything like this." Semela looked
ashamed. "I get so wrapped up in my music that things pass me by."
"Noone holds you responsible, Semela." Copper assured her gently. "Thank
you for trying to help Syl. I only hope they catch them."
"They're planning to kill Adreana and everyone at the palace." Sylva remembered.
"They wanted to win this contest so they had a shot at the Queen directly."
"You need not worry. They will not get within the palace's walls." Nat
assured her quietly. "There will be guards and police looking for them all
night - and they will be found. Where the Queen's safety is at stake, nothing
is spared."
He came to join Sadie at Sylva's side. "I'm sorry that I got you into all
of this trouble. I should have been honest with you from the start."
Sylva stared at him for a moment, then slowly, she nodded, getting to her
feet.
"It might have been nice, if just for once, a guy felt they could trust
me." She said quietly. "And besides, Jewel have a set to play - are we still
in time to go out there?"
"It's the interval." Sadie nodded. "But are you sure you're up to it? Syl,
after everything you've been through, noone would blame you if you decided
against it."
"I want to sing." A look of determination crossed Sylva's face. "That's
what we came to Morvania to do, and that's what we're gonna do."
"Well, then let's do it." Nancy grinned. "As they say, the show must go
on!"
Nat watched the musicians leave, a frown on his face.
"Caught between a rock and a hard place." he murmured softly. "First she
believes me to be her attacker...and then she is angry because I did not
trust her with the truth. Can I blame her? I suppose not. I suppose I would
be as upset if the situation was the other way around."
He glanced at Semela.
"Are you all right?" He asked gently. Semela got to her feet slowly.
"I think so." She admitted. "I...will I be in any trouble? I didn't know..."
"Of course not." Nat smiled at her.
"And what will happen? If - when - they catch Nadia and Mischa, what will
they do?" Semela's eyes became big as she contemplated.
"They are traitors." Nat shrugged his shoulders. "And there is only one
fate for them."
He smiled.
"My mother will be wondering where I am, and Corvin also." He said ruefully.
"Since I said I would be gone just a few minutes, and have been almost an
hour. Before Corvin sets his guards to find me, I should return to the theatre.
Will you come too? Corvin will want to hear your story, after all."
"If you want me to." Semela nodded. "Though with them still out there,
I'm afraid of what will happen. They would have killed both Sylvina and
me, had you not found us."
"I know." Nat pursed his lips, looking thoughtful. "And even if we had
caught them then, I would not have forgiven myself had harm come to Sylvina."
He shook himself from his reverie, aware that his companion was eying him
strangely.
"Besides, I much want to hear Jewel play." he said. "So, let's go!"
*******************************
"I can't believe we're here."
Sadie gazed out at the view, a dreamy look in her dark blue eyes. It was
several hours later and, having won the competition, Jewel were enjoying
their night as guests of the Morvanian royals. News had filtered through
during the meal that Nadia and Mischa had both been apprehended heading for
the border, and that both were currently imprisoned awaiting trial. Adreana's
throne was once more secure, and, safe in that knowledge, the royal household
had put on a spectacular spread.
"A royal palace. Wow. Think of me, Sadie Monahue, eating dinner with royalty!
Sheesh, what has happened to me in the last few years!"
She gestured. "From prison slop to royal cuisine - noone could doubt my
good intentions now, could they?"
"Not at all." Her companion, Copper assured her with a smile. "I know that
what happened in England was rough on you, Sadie, but you are a part of
our team now, and we like your quirks, believe it or not. You have a whole
wealth of experiences that none of the rest of us have - it always helps
to have a fresh perspective on things."
"Well, I'm glad that Nat isn't going to take personally the way I greeted
him earlier." Sadie blushed. "I flew at him, pretty much, but luckily he
understood that I was just worried about Syl's safety."
"I think he was just as worried." At that moment Nancy joined them on the
balcony. "Wow, some view from here! You must be able to see all of Morvania
from up here. Talk about ruling from the top!"
"It's as old as the theatre, Nat said." Copper nodded. Her eyes became
dreamy. "I like the whole history feel to it. I know it's silly, but can't
you just imagine yourself as a mediaeval damsel in distress?"
"Oh, definitely." Sadie giggled. "Waiting to be rescued by a knight on
a white steed."
"Blah, you guys talk nonsense." Nancy rolled her eyes. "Next you'll be
telling me you believe in fairy godmothers granting you wishes!"
"Aw, get into the spirit of it, Nance!" Copper reproached, a grin on her
face. "You might never get another chance to dine with royalty."
"Well, Syl doesn't seem to be enjoying it as much as we are." Nancy cast
her gaze back towards the banquet hall, where Sylva was sitting alone, a
preoccupied expression on her pretty face. "I asked her to come out here
with me, but she said no. I don't think she wants to be here - I can't figure
her out sometimes. I know she went through a lot at the show, but she's safe
now, and I didn't peg her to be someone who dwells on these things. Nat wasn't
the demon she thought he was, either. I thought she would have been pleased."
"I don't think she liked to be lied to." Sadie looked thoughtful, taking
in the synth player's expression as the girls headed back inside. "But I
understand why Nat did it. Sometimes it seems logical to hide who you really
are, because you're afraid of how people will treat you. The thing is, though,
you can't hide the truth forever. You can't be anyone other than who you
really are - and if people can't accept you for that, then you might as well
not bother to begin with."
"You've come to grips with everything since Georgia's trial, haven't you?"
Copper observed. Sadie nodded.
"I am who and what I am, and that's just me." She said quietly. "I don't
say I'll always like it, and I don't imagine I'll ever trust a guy again,
but that's life." She pursed her lips. "Nat's going to speak to her - what
I wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall of that conversation."
"I think it's best we let them sort things out for themselves." Copper
said wisely. "Syl might be a flirt, but she's also sensitive and proud.
I don't think she'd want us to know, else she'd have told us already how
she was feeling. Remember, Topaz isn't here with us for her to confide in...in
some ways it's made her stand alone more, where her feelings are concerned.
We have to let her do this her way."
Inside the banquet hall, Nat had steeled his courage, heading over to talk
to the silent musician. She had spoken little during the meal, except to
answer when a question had been directly addressed to her, but, assuming
her traumatic experience at the theatre was responsible, noone had made much
of a fuss about it. However, she had refused to meet the prince's gaze, and
Nat knew that his deception was at least partly to do with it.
"Syl?" He murmured gently.
"Did you want something?" Sylva raised clouded blue eyes to his, and his
frown deepened.
"I hoped we might talk." He said at length. "I have plenty I need to say."
"Well, this is your home. You are the prince." Sylva's smiled, but her
expression lacked any humour, and her eyes remained preoccupied. "I can
hardly stop you."
"Will you come out onto the balcony with me?" Nat asked. "I wish to show
you something."
Sylva opened her mouth to refuse, but, seeing the solemn look on her companion's
face she shrugged, getting to her feet.
"All right." She agreed slowly. "But make it quick, huh? The sooner Jewel
are out of Morvania, the better."
Nat sent her a troubled look, but did not respond. Instead he led the way
outside, pushing the door quietly shut behind him.
"Take a look at the view." He murmured.
"I see it." Sylva replied. "But I don't understand why you brought me out
here. You lied to me, Nat, and you made me feel like a real fool, when Nadia
dropped the bombshell on me about who you really were. You felt able to
put me in danger, but you didn't think to warn me. I could at least have
been prepared, and I wouldn't have believed you were the one out to hurt
me. Tonight need never have happened, if you had only told me the truth."
"It is so easy to say in hindsight." Nat sighed, gesturing out across the
light-speckled landscape of the city. "But you see, Sylvina, that is my
destiny. All of those houses, those people, this land. One day I will be
King, and then there is no way to hide from my responsibilities. My mother
is not an old Queen, but she is also not a politician, and more and more
I am called upon to make decisions. Eventually my freedom will all be gone."
He smiled sadly. "My life belongs to the people, after all. It does not
belong to me."
"So what has that to do with me?" Sylva demanded, turning away from the
view.
"For once I wanted to be like every other man in Morvania." Nat glanced
at his hands. "You were a stranger, you did not know me or my family. You
did not realise when we met that I was Prince Anatole, and for the first time
I wondered if maybe I would get a chance to prove to a girl that I am more
than a title and a big estate. Too many girls have chased me for the wrong
reasons. I...I wanted you to like me for the right ones."
"I did like you." Sylva said softly, tears touching her eyes at this heartfelt
confession. "I liked you a lot, Nat. But I don't like being lied to. I hate
that you couldn't trust me - you weren't being yourself. How am I supposed
to tell you if it was the real Nat I liked, when the only one I knew was
a lie from start to finish?"
"It was not all a lie." Nat shook his head. Gently he took her hand. "I
did not tell you my title, but everything else I said to you was true. I promise."
He eyed her keenly. "Would you have been so warm to me had you known from
the start who I really was?"
"I don't know." Sylva hesitated, then pulled her hand away. "And I guess
we'll never know, will we?"
"No. I don't suppose we shall." Nat sighed. "Will you go back to America,
then, still angry with me?"
"No." Sylva paused, then, "But I'm rather thinking I'll go back to America,
knowing that this time my heart got broken by a prince."
She closed her eyes against her tears.
"I'm a flirt and a tease and I like a good time. People call me shallow."
She whispered. "But since I fell in love with the guy back in America, I
haven't been able to be that carefree with any other guy. I've always found
myself thinking of him instead. With you...for the first time since then,
I was able to forget all of that and just enjoy your company. I thought I
was moving on. Yes, I came to Morvania hoping for a holiday romance, but
it was different when it actually happened. I liked you the day I met you,
and that's the truth. I wouldn't have sneaked out with you otherwise. Had
you told me the truth, I would never have believed you were trying to hurt
me."
Nat bit his lip, then.
"All I can say is that I'm sorry." He said finally. "More sorry than I
can probably put into good English, Sylvina. There has never been anyone
quite like you in my life - someone who treated me just as I am, and nothing
different. I shall not forget that." He smiled slightly. "Even now, you
still call me Nat. In your head, I think, I am still not the Crown Prince."
"No, but in reality, Nat, that is what you are." Sylva met his gaze with
a sombre one of her own. "And even if I forgive you - hell, I guess I do
forgive you - for lying to me, it doesn't change anything. Jewel will leave
Morvania in a few days, and in truth, I'm glad of it. I can't spend much
more time here, thinking about everything that's happened since I arrived."
"No, I understand." Nat nodded. "And I apologise for putting you in danger."
"Nadia thought we were plotting together, because of what Mom was involved
in back in '86." Sylva reflected. "When I get back to LA, I'm gonna hash
it out with her, and find out everything. It's got me curious now, and Phyllis
doesn't like talking about it."
She glanced at her hands. "What if Nadia had succeeded, though? Become
Queen in your mother's place? What then?"
"She would not have lasted." Nat shrugged. "There is unrest, but most of
Morvania love my mother." He smiled. "And as I told you before, I want what
is best for my country. If that means helping mother behind the scenes with
the political side of things, then so be it. One day it will be my responsibility,
anyway."
"Nadia said you weren't Adreana's legitimate heir. She said that Corvin
was your father." Sylva remembered. Nat laughed.
"Yes, that's a favourite rebel ploy, but it's grasping at straws." He said,
amused. "My father was a powerful Morvanian Duke, whose lands were to the
north and west of the country. He and my mother had a marriage of politics,
and I was the only child. He died of natural causes when I was five, and
Corvin, loyal as ever, was Mother's support. He helped to raise me, but he
is a man of honour, and my mother knows her duties. There has never been
an affair between them." A sad glint touched his eyes. "Like you and I, etiquette
gets in the way."
"So Nadia was wrong." Sylva reflected. "You are the true heir, after all."
"Yes." Nat nodded. "It does not take much to see how Corvin adores my mother,
and how mother has come to rely on him as a brother and a friend. But that
line will never be crossed. I know who my father was, and I have never had
any doubts." He looked pensive.
"How will we leave this, Sylvina?" He asked softly. "Nothing that has happened
can be changed, and soon you will leave. Can you just walk out of Morvania
and forget?"
"I don't know." Sylva pursed her lips. "To be quite honest, it got to be
a drag when I started getting indepth feelings for people, instead of just
brief infatuations. My best friend back home fell into the trap of a long
distance relationship and she got her heart broken - and here I am not even
knowing how to part from someone I didn't even have a holiday fling with.
What's with that?"
"I don't know." Nat admitted. "All I know is that you are special, and
one day you will find someone as special to spend the rest of your life
with. You've opened my eyes a lot, Sylvina, because even now you treat me
as a person, not just a title and not just a name. If you can do it, maybe
there is hope for others, huh?"
"And if I can get over Jack once with you, then I can move on again." Sylva
nodded, though her eyes were sad. "Maybe I'm finally growing up."
"Maybe we both are." Nat paused, then gently he bent to kiss her. Sylva
did not resist, and when they broke apart, tears shone once more in her eyes.
"What was that for?" She whispered.
"To say goodbye." Nat told her. "And so you don't forget in years to come
that once you captured the heart of a prince."
"I don't..."
"If you don't understand me now, then maybe it's better we leave it there."
Nat put a gentle finger to her lips, halting her speech. "Let us just agree
to be friends and let it go. After all, as we both know, there is no future
for a rock star and a prince."
"Friends, then." Sylva grabbed his hand, shaking it firmly. "Because I
don't want to go back to America hating you, Nat."
"And I couldn't begin to hate you." Nat smiled. "But people will wonder
what we are doing out here. Come on - we should enjoy tonight. After all,
tomorrow you prepare to go home, and I shall never see you again."
"Never is such a long time." Sylva said sadly. "But hey, maybe Jewel will
come back to Morvania one day. Or, who knows? Maybe you'll get to study
in America after all."
"No...I am needed here." Nat shook his head. "But if Jewel ever do return
to Morvania, Sylva, you will always be welcome as my guest at the palace."
"Then I'll be sure to look you up if I'm ever in town." Despite herself,
Sylva smiled. "After all, this place has the best cuisine - and I wouldn't
turn down good food for all the world!"
Prologue: Morvania, 1987
Chapter One: Los Angeles, 2014
Chapter Two: At The Airport
Chapter Three: Laviana
Chapter Four: The Competition
Chapter Five: The Queen
Chapter Six: Ransacked!
Chapter Seven: Anatole
Chapter Eight: Nerysa
Chapter Nine: A Frightening Realisation
Chapter Ten: Betrayal
Chapter Eleven: The Truth
Chapter Twelve: Heartfelt
Chapter Thirteen: Home
DISCLAIMER: PLEASE NOTE
Copper, Nancy, Sylva, Anna, Blade, Raesha, Sirena, Topaz,
Aaron, Sophie, Justin, Elliot, Rosita, Luis and any other characters
in this fiction which do not appear in the animated Jem series are copyrighted
to me (E.A Woolley) as of January 2002 <unless otherwise specified>
and are not to be reproduced without permission ANYWHERE. Jetta, Pizzazz,
Stormer, Roxy, Raya and all other original Jem characters are the copyright
of Hasbro Inc, Sunbow, Christy Marx and the other writers of the Jem series.
The future world of Pizzazz, Raya, Jetta, Roxy, Stormer, Clash, Synergy,
the fate of Jem and her memorial are all copyrighted to me. The future
world of Kimber and Shana is copyrighted jointly to myself and Gemma Dawn.
The concept of 'Jewel' is entirely my own, and any apparent
link with any fictional or actual person or persons of this name is
entirely coincidental. Equally the characters in this fiction are not
based on any real life individual.
The concept behind the future world of Danse, Aja and Craig,
the idea behind Jerrica's futureworld and the split of the Holograms
is copyrighted to Gemma Dawn, whose Teenangel Outsiders fiction
is directly twinned with Just a Dream. The character Sammi and any
of the other Teenangel Outsider characters mentioned in this fiction
are entirely copyright to Gemma Dawn and appear here only with her permission.
Pay her page a visit!