Chapitre 22: 22- "Mama... your eyes, they're blue,"

"Hello, Miss Bernard, you look stunning," The coy voice of Michael echoed, he looked up at Alexandra as she descended the stairs.

Lexi redden. Something Michael felt was cute.

"I didn't know you'd be up this early," Alexandra mumbled as she walked towards Michael, she couldn't look him in the eye for long, her cheeks get red easily.

"What can I say, I'm an early riser. But I don't think someone is," He gazes down at her, making her blush even more.

He was right, she wasn't an early riser.

"Flirting with your brother's soon-to-be wife is bizarre and unethical, don't you think?" Oliver says as he walks down the stairs. He caught Michael's eye and smirked.

"Brother?" Alexandra glanced at both of them with confusion. She didn't understand what they were saying.

"From the mother's side," Michael explained, his voice showing he was angry.

"Don't say it that way, little brother, Mother would be weeping if she discovered out she meant nothing to you." Oliver cocked his brow as he let out, his eyes looking down at Michael. He moved his eyes from Michael to Alexandra.

"I didn't know you'd be up this early, Miss Bernard, and you do look lovely," He smiled as he kissed her knuckles.

"Yeah, I slept quite early last night, so I woke up earlier than usual." Oliver smiled at her and looked over at Michael.

She could feel the tension between the two of them.

"Are the both of you going out?" She asked, they were fully dressed and looked formal.

"I have something to attend to,"

"I need to sort something out,"

They both replied at once and looked at each other. She couldn't believe they were brothers.

"When is king Magnus arriving today?" Michael asked, she knew he had come here for some business.

"I don't know, maybe late evening."

"Ok." Michael nodded.

She watched as Michael nodded at Oliver before strolling out, something seemed off about the both of them. The way they behave and their aura, especially Michael's, was odd, she hadn't sensed it before.

"I should get going." Oliver also strides out of the mansion.

Things were starting to get weird.

_______

(The year, 1729)

"What are you doing, Ava," A six-year-old Ava looked up, her eyes staring at her mother. It was nocturnal, but she couldn't help but notice the slight difference in her mother's appearance.

"Nothing. A-are you okay, mama,...your eyes, they're blue," She pointed out. She was astounded by the change in her mother's brown eyes.

She watched as her mother touched her face in panic, "No, I…it's- I guess something entered my eyes. They aren't blue," That wasn't true. She could see them changing from blue to brown. That wasn't the only difference she saw in her appearance, her face was dark, it darkens slowly and she could see it.

She stood up from the floor and strutted towards her mother, "Mama, your face…," She used her tiny fingers to touch her mother's face but quickly withdrew her hand, "It's blackening…and rough? Mama, are you alright?" She became worried.

Her hand reached toward her mother's face again, but the next second she felt her back hitting a wall, forcefully. She was thrown towards the wall by her mother.

"I didn't raise you to be a nose poker, wretch. You're just like your father, that foolish bastard." Ava felt blood crawling down her head, she wanted to shout in pain but couldn't find her voice.

She crawled back in fear when her mother walked toward her and raised her jaw with her fingers, "Nothing happened, none of this happened, it was all a dream." She felt herself nodding to her mother's words, before passing out.

_____

"How's your head, still feeling pain?" Her mother's caring voice woke her up, she smiled brightly and replied.

"A little, but it's almost gone." She looked beside her and found her favorite food on her nightstand, she smiled even more.

"How did the pain start?" Her mother asked, staring intensely at her.

"I was…" she couldn't say what was at the tip of her tongue, she couldn't remember how she fell. But she had a really strange dream.

"I can't remember, sorry." Her mother smiled at her.

"Just try to be more careful, it's getting quite slippery these days." She stated, and continued, "After eating, I want you to give a letter to Auntie Sarah and her husband. It's an important letter." Ava nodded. She could wait to eat the delicious food beside her.

After eating and washing up, she took the letter from her mom and went off to auntie Sarah's house. It wasn't a far distance from their house.

On her way she met familiar people, very few were her mother's acquaintances while a majority of them were just haters.

The gate came into sight and she knocked on it. It was then opened by an elderly woman.

"Good day to you, Mrs Pierce," She said as she smiled. Mrs. Pierce was like a second mother to her.

"Ahh…little Ava, how are you?" Mrs Pierce asked as she smiled at Ava, little Ava has been a name she called her since age two.

"I'm fine, Mrs. Pierce. Is auntie Sarah home? I need to deliver a letter to her," she got a nod from Mrs Pierce as she opened the door wildly.

Ava walked inside the mansion, it was very big, and auntie Sarah's husband was wealthy and influential.

"Oh, Ava, what's brought you here?" Ava looked up at the voice and watched as auntie Sarah descended the stairs. She was lovely.

"Mama instructed me to give this to you, she said it was really important." She gave the letter to her.

Ava noticed the change in Auntie Sarah's face as she read through the letter, she also noticed auntie Sarah glancing at her as she read.

All of a sudden something seemed off about her aura.

"Auntie, are you alright?" Her small voice queried, she was getting a little terrified now.

"Did you see anything last night? Like the darkening face, rough skin, and colored eyes?" She took a step back as auntie Sarah stared at her, the gaze was frightening. She looked furious for some reason.

Was the letter that bad?

Ava shook her head, "No, I had a major headache yesterday. But I think I saw them somewhere, like in my dream, yes in my dream. It was so scary." Her acknowledgment seemed to piss auntie Sarah off even more as bent to her height and held her jaw in a tight grasp.

"You dreamt of nothing like that, it was just your thought." She paused, "Do you know your momma? That woman there," She scanned in the direction she pointed, a woman her mother's age stood there. She looked exactly like her mother, except for the eyes, her mother had brown eyes while this woman had black. "Is your mother." Ava blinked in confusion.

She shook her head and looked at auntie Sarah, "I think you're mistaken, auntie Sarah, mama is at home." The only response she got was the hand around her jaw tightening. She saw some change in her eyes.

"Nobody is waiting for you at home, your mother came to visit me along with you." Ava nodded absent-mindedly to this.

"There's no one at home, mama and I came to visit you." She replied without knowing.

"Good girl," auntie Sarah patted her head.

"Mama…" Ava ran towards the woman at the side. "I didn't see you when you walked in,"

"I passed through the backyard, I wanted to take a few things from there. We should get going," The woman told her.

"But we just got here," Ava grumbled.

"I know, but we need to prepare some food for your father."

"Father is coming back?" Ava asked, clearly surprised.

"Yes, he's on his way."

"Yessss…" Ava yelled and ran outside. Leaving the two women alone.

"Where's Natasha?" Ava's new mom asked, she stared at Sarah as she waited for an answer.

"She's gone. Her powers were spewing and the girl was getting a little bit too observant." Sarah countered.

"But her goal isn't complete, she needs to complete the mission." The woman said.

"Her completing the mission means getting the little girl out of the way and getting her off would only further the mission's completion. We need the little girl." She paused, "She will come back when the little girl isn't of use, or when she's ripe for the final purpose." The woman beamed to this, evilly.