HOME | DD

Description
body div#devskin0 hr { }

Things had started to stable out at last in Bayville. As many of the older kids were juggling their relationships, part time jobs and full time class work Merrick was the only that had completed his two year associate's degree and instead only had to try and balance his work life and his social life, rather glad to have school finally done and out of his way. Talia, Alex, Emma, Blaire, Hope, Gabriel, Bianca, and Samuel were all half way through their senior year of high school. And things seemed to have reached a plateau in regards to hostility. Even in the next generation of kids the animosity seemed to be slightly less than it had been in the past. Which for many they would call this the calm before the storm. But at the moment the peace was welcomed, especially by Sebastian. As the younger of the remaining Haven members he was glad that there was less friction between the institute and the academy because he had found he had friends on both sides of the fence. Sebastian of course more often than not was found in the combination company of the Jimmy Howlett, Carter Delaney, Owen Kearney, Nash Asher, Tyler Maximoff, Kevin Durvo, Shaw Frost, Adam Frost, Gregory Frost, and Jordan Frost. It was rare that his Frost cousins would be around if he was in the company of any of the institute boys but he did find that Tyler and Kevin were a little more forgiving about the company he kept from the institute. But other than the boys there was one particular person that Sebastian found himself around the most, Gina Petridis. The pair had started seeing each other just not really telling their parents or siblings about it. Sebastian didn’t think his family would have an issue of him dating Gina, though he knew his brother would pick on him a little. Gina was the one with more concern. Sebastian may be considered neutral and all but she knew that her brother, his girlfriend especially, and her mother considered the Bryant-Frosts that left the Academy to be traitors.

No one knew that soon a domino effect would begin. Little did any of the residents of the Bayville know that just over four thousand miles away in Florence Italy a storm was brewing that would soon engulf their small town and turn worlds upside down. In the city of Florence as small corner café was run by a woman named Isadora DeLuca. The building having been owned by her family for many generations before her. Isadora having returned to Florence almost twenty years ago, having fled of all places Bayville, New York when things started to get bad between mutants and humans. She’d been told to go, to return to Italy by the man she loved. He said he would follow her and find her when he could. She hadn’t wanted to leave him behind. But he had the lives of a group of mutants in his charge that he had to ensure safety to. He had sworn that once his people were taken care of and he could he’d follow and come find her. When she fled neither of them had known she was pregnant. And when she realized this all the numbers she had for him were out of service. She didn’t even know if he’d survived what was going on there in Bayville. So she had their daughter, who from birth it was no question of who she took after having the stark white hair of her father Damon Petridis, and named her Zoe Alexandria DeLuca. She had chosen the middle name because she remembered it to be Damon’s mother’s name. Alexandria Petridis was the only member of his family that Damon ever spoke of in any regard so Isadora felt this was a good way to honor her. Isadora had hoped that soon things would settle down enough in America for her to go to Bayville to find out what happened to Damon or that he could come to Italy to find her.

Tragedy had struck before that was possible a group of humans came to the apartment above the café where Isadora, Zoe and Isadora’s father all lived to kill them. It was assumed the attack was because Isadora was a mutant and based on her pure ivory colored hair Zoe would most likely be one too. In the attacked Isadora’s father was slain and they had nearly killed Isadora, slicing into her neck before she managed to freeze their attackers in stone with her gorgon-esk powers. The blade had not gone deep enough to kill her but once medical attention was able to be given her once rich singing voice was destroyed forever as she could hardly speak too many octaves above a whisper. She may have lost her father in the attack but she’d managed to save her innocent baby girl. She continued to wait for Damon to come to her. When Zoe was three and there had been no signs of Damon she had gotten a family friend to watch the child and she took the risk and flew to Bayville. She’d thought she was prepared for all possible outcomes. But she wasn’t prepared for what she found. Her beloved, her Fenice (phoenix), had married another and even had a son. She didn’t dare step forward, she couldn’t bring herself to yell or scream at him for not coming as he had promised. To rage at him for choosing instead to marry of all women the psychopathic Hotshot, as she knew her only by the codename. It had broken her heart to see him with Hotshot pushing the carriage with a little white haired boy inside. Sure she’d known that at one point before her original arrival in Bayville there had been something between Damon and Hotshot but he had been hers, been her Fenice, her Erik and she’d been his, been his ángelos ti̱s mousikí̱s (angel of music) , his Christine and yet somehow she’d lost him without even knowing what happened. And so broken hearted she didn’t even stop to see her dear friend Alec D’Amour before she returned to live her life as a single parent.

Over the years Isadora had spoken very little because of her voice but even less so when it came to her daughter’s questions about who her father was. Now finally having graduated from high school and saved enough money to buy a ticket with a two week return date to Bayville, New York Zoe was ready to seek out her answers. Her mother may have spoken little about her father but just from looking at the timeline and mementos from her mother’s past Zoe knew whoever the man was had to be from Bayville where her mother had lived before coming back to Italy and giving birth to her. She had little to go on. She had an old program from a production of Phantom of the Opera her mother had been in, the program being in black and white offered little help in identifying a possible father. And otherwise she had a picture she’d found which was of her mother with a man with dark black hair outside a restaurant with the sign in the background saying ‘Two Brothers Fine Dining’. So that’s where she was going to start, the address of the restaurant matched an old address her mother had lived at so Zoe felt secure in the knowledge that her mother had lived above the restaurant. So without any forewarning given to her mother Zoe left a note telling her she needed to know who her father was and to not worry she would return safely. In her rush to leave before her mother would wake she’d left her cell phone behind but did bring her tablet. It wasn’t until she was on the plane that she even realized she’d left the phone behind. There was little she could do about it now as she sat on the plan and tired to get comfortable for the nearly 10 hour flight not counting her hour layover in Portugal.

Damon Petridis or Phoenix as the Academy students and staff often called him had been completely unaware of his eldest daughter’s existence. He had the intention to follow Isadora when he had her leave, but things crumbled around him in Bayville and he found himself having to form an alliance with the Acolytes and Brotherhood to ensure the safety of his team. Not sure when he could leave he sent a private detective to Florence to track down Isadora for him to give her word that he was safe and once chance offered would come to her as he’d promised. He’d not been prepared for the information the detective returned with. He was told that a group of humans had attacked the café that he knew her family had operated and killed her and her father. No mention was made to him of a child and an Italian death certificate had been provided as proof that she was gone. Damon mourned his beloved ángelos ti̱s mousikí̱sand against better judgment listened to Geri and tried to move on. There had been a time before Isadora that Damon had held great affection for Geri and after news of Isadora’s death Geri tried to spark that affection again. And eventually Damon gave into it. He married Geri and they had their son Alexander Damon Petridis and then a few four years later had their daughter Gina Christine Petridis. And Damon kept telling himself it was okay to be with Geri and that he would grow to love her as strongly as he’d loved Isadora for the short two years he had her. The love was never the same the passion was never as great, but he would never speak of it. He never spoke to anyone of Isadora. When he married Geri everything of that life was buried. Well not officially buried instead he had emptied out his bachelor apartment he’d kept separate from the castle and put it all into storage. He didn’t tell his children about his time as a performer about being Eric in Phantom of the Opera. They knew he could sing as he had sung to them when they were young to get them to sleep but that was all that remained of that life.

So Damon lived his life fulfilling his duty as husband and father for his family and healer and combat instructor to the academy. He opened his own dojo in town offering various levels of training to the citizens of Bayville, mutant and human alike. There was only one person from his previous life he had any contact with and that was Alec D’Amour. The man was a mutual friend of him and Isadora. He had been not just a friend to Isadora but had given her a job in his restaurant and an apartment above the restaurant when she came to America. The pair had her in common and both had mourned her loss just for different reasons. Alec had loved Isadora but as a friend. Damon could not bring himself to enter Alec’s restaurant it reminding him too much of Isadora as many of her paintings were on the walls. And he didn’t dare go into the old apartment that Isadora had rented having too many memories there and it was just as bad to consider going to Alec’s apartment since Alec kept some of Isadora’s art on display there as well. So the dojo was their middle ground. Alec came to keep in shape and it allowed him and Damon to keep in touch so Alec didn’t completely sink into being a hermit. Which if not for his family Damon would have happily become a hermit and just avoided moving on after Isadora’s death.

This afternoon was one of the days that he did private training with Alec. For being a bit older than him Alec was still able to keep up for a human of his age. As the pair spared in the dojo using the wood weapons a crowd was forming outside the glass window of the dojo just watching the pair going back and forth. While at the dojo Damon always wore a headscarf of a deep ocean blue, it was the only thing he kept out that would remind him of Isadora the scarf being one of hers she’d left behind. Zoe was tired, hungry and agitated after her long plane right then the long train ride from the city into Bayville. As she slung her duffle bag over her shoulder, a gray bandana pulled snug to cover her white hair, she noticed a crowd forming outside a place. She could faintly make out the gold letters on the window through the crowd that said ‘Fenice Dojo’. Wondering what was happening at a dojo to draw such a crowd she pushed herself through the crowd to look. As she got closer to the front she saw two men fighting. It was rather graceful to watch as the two spared back and forth. Though it was easy to see the one wearing the dark blue headscarf was the better fighter. “Fenice…”, Zoe said pronouncing it properly with her Tuscan accent. She knew it meant phoenix in Italian though she found it odd that a dojo would have an Italian name. As she watched the two men spare she furrowed her brow looking at the second man with his dark black hair with some grays near the temples. His face felt familiar. She sat her duffle bag down and dug out the picture of her mother and the man outside the restaurant and looked at the man then up into the window at the man in the dojo. There was no doubt the man had to be the same, the Alec D’Amour she’d found from researching the restaurant online.

As the crowd started to dissipate Zoe sat down leaning against the building, she saw no need to wander the streets to seek out this Alec if he was just inside. She wondered, her heart beating a little faster, could he be her father. In the picture he did seem close to her mother so it could be. It didn’t really explain how she had white hair, but that could easily be explained as a result of mutation. As she waited she dug into her duffle bag taking out a sketch pad and started to draw using willow sticks as her mother always had. Her back pressed against the glass window , from the back with her white hair hidden in the bandana she looked much like her mother in her frame and how her shoulders positioned as she drew. Starting to get out of breath inside the dojo Damon and Alec set aside their wooden weapons and gave a polite bow to each other. “For and old human you keep up.”, Damon teased. “Who are you calling a old? I’ve only got ten years on you and my hair isn’t pure white.”, Alec teased poking at the scarf Damon had hiding his hair. Neither spoke about the significant of the scarf, both highly aware of its late owner. Damon smiled shaking his head. “You may only be ten years older than me my friend, but with my mutation aging isn’t all that bad. “, Damon answered. Alec glanced to the window and blinked then shook his head and nudged Damon to look. “It’s coincidence. Lots of women have that frame. After all we know she’s gone.”, Damon said shaking his head as he looked at the woman sketching outside his dojo. He sighed and shook his head his mind being drawn back to the first day he saw Isadora’s face. She was trying to sell paintings on the street and was drawing a fresh piece when he was walking down the street to his audition for Phantom of the Opera. He remembered every feature of her face as if it just happened and how the light of the sun highlighted her beautiful brown hair and her dark blue eyes were a light as she drew. He pushed the memory back knowing thinking about her was just more pain. “Come on help me pick up.”, Damon said. Alec nodded and started helping picking up the dojo so that Damon could lock up.

After they finished cleaning up Damon started to pull down the metal gate that protected the dojo if the window would be broken and noticed the girl was still there. “I think one of us has an admirer Alec.”, Damon called. “She’s still there. You go out the front. I’m parked out back so I’ll take the back door. Not really looking for any hold up on getting home. I show up late and Geri will try, fail as always but still try to kill.”, Damon said wishing he was joking. Geri was never a stable person, but the last eighteen years she’d been a little better. However better didn’t change her temper or that she was possessive of him. Alec sighed shaking his head. He would never understand what Damon saw in Geri. To Alec she was nothing more than a conniving bitch that leveraged the death of Isadora and the pain Damon had been feeling to get him to marry her. “You have some very odd tastes in women. I’m just saying if I was married and my wife set a curfew and if I didn’t obey I’d be risking physical violence…well that’s what divorce is for.”, Alec said grabbing his bag. Damon sighed. “I can’t just divorce her. We have Alexander and Gina. Alexander is halfway through his senior year and Gina is just starting high school. And in a way I love Geri. I guess I’m just a glutton for punishment.”, Damon replied pulling the scarf off his head his white hair falling lose but mostly sticking together from the sweat he’d worked up during the day the dojo. He put the scarf neatly into his bag, he’d take it home and hand wash it as he did every day after working at the dojo. He had to keep the scarf out of Geri’s reach though. He never explained to her that the scarf was Isadora’s just as he never explained that the reason he called the dojo Fenice wasn’t just because it was another way of saying his codename but because it was what Isadora had called him. “Night Alec. I’ll see you in two days for your next session.”, Damon called heading out the back door locking up and getting in his car to head home.

Zoe glanced over her shoulder when she heard the metal gate being pulled down and frowned as now she couldn’t even see inside the dojo to know where the two men were. She gathered up her things and stood up brushing off some flakes of snow that had started to fall on this late winter evening. Winter having at least been easy on the bay city. She knew it was possible that there was a back entrance to the dojo and both men could have gone out that way. Which she at least knew where to find the restaurant owner so even if he went out the back she could go to the restaurant to find him. Alec waved before he headed out the front doors, the doors automatically locking behind him. Zoe sighed softly that the man she thought to be Alec had not taken a back exit. She looked at the photograph once more and then to him before putting the picture away and walked up to him. It was now or never for her so she pulled her strength and spoke. “Are you, Alec?”, she asked in English but her accent still very thick. Alec raised an eyebrow looking at her, there was a familiar look to her face, mostly in the eyes but also the cheekbones. And then he heard the accent and decided to test this a little. “Sì, sono Alec. Alec D'Amour. E tu sei?” (Yes, I am Alec. Alec D'Amour. And you are?) He spoke his Sicilian accent very apparent. Zoe sighed in relief that not only was he the Alec she was looking for but he spoke Italian. She knew English, as her second language but Italian was much easier for her. “Felice di conoscerti. Sono ZoeDeLuca . Lei, forse, ricorda un Isadora DeLuca? Era un po ' più basso di me.” (Glad to meet you. I am ZoeDeLuca. Do you, maybe, remember an Isadora DeLuca? She was a bit shorter than me.) she asked hopeful. Alec cocked his head to the side feeling a knot forming in his stomach as the girl said her name was DeLuca and then brought up Isadora. “Sì. Non potevo dimenticare il mio amato Isadora.” (Yes. I could not forget my beloved Isadora.), Alec answered with a sigh.

Zoe blinked in surprise. Beloved? That could possibly be an indicator that this man was her father. It made sense after all the picture they seemed rather close. And what she was able to find out was that her mother had worked at the restaurant and lived above it. So there was more scandals things in the world than someone sleeping with their boss or landlord. He looked like a kind man and obviously was Italian so maybe that was the draw, if of course this was her father. But beloved had so many possible meanings it could mean something else. “Isadora è mia madre. Sono qui, cercando di trovare mio padre.” (Isadora is my mother. I'm here, trying to find my father.), Zoe explained. She tilted her head to look up at him a strand of white hair falling out of the bandana and across her dark blue eyes. Alec shook his head ‘no’ intently. “Questo non è possibile. Non so chi sei. Ma sono contento che era me e non il mio amico che ha detto questo a. E 'uno scherzo crudele di giocare su vecchi. Il nostro amato Isadora è morto quasi diciannove anni fa.” (That is not possible. I do not know who you are. But I am glad it was me and not my friend you said this to. It's a cruel joke to play on old men. Our beloved Isadora died nearly nineteen years ago.), Alec said sternly. The idea that someone would suddenly show up and start talking about Isadora was just a horrid thing to him. To try and say lies such as this. Just thinking about Isadora hurt him and he knew it hurt Damon a thousand times more. Zoe blinked at the town. But it wasn’t just that, it was the hurt in his eyes and the anger she could see in his face. “Uno scherzo crudele? Chi ti ha detto che la madre era morta? Momma e io sono stati attaccati, ma siamo sopravvissuti.” (A cruel joke? Who told you that mother was dead? Momma and I were attacked, but we survived.), Zoe defended herself trying to explain.

“Ah how can I…”, She said in English looked around. She had left her phone in Italy and her tablet needed to charge. She wasn’t about to show the files she had to him. But she looked and focused on some of the grass that was sticking out from under the little flakes of snow that had started to fall. As she looked at them the blades shriveled and turned to marble. She pointed to the marveled blades of grass and then looked to him. Alec continued to shake his head. “That’s not possible. I saw her death certificate. And this..”, she said looking to the marbled blades of grass. “Doesn’t prove anything. Mutant powers are not always passed between parent and child.”, Alec said refusing to believe this was more than a cruel prank. Maybe his twin Chesed had set this up to mess with him having known that Isadora had been close to him. She shook her head and reached into her duffle back digging through it. It was obvious she’d packed anything she thought she would need into the bag to survive her time in America. “Ah.”, she said pulling out the beat up folder and opening it. She didn’t want to do it out in the open like this. But she had to prove to him. “Look, look.”, She said. “Mamma.”, she said offering a picture of her mother cooking. It was more recent, her mother having some strands of gray in her dark brown hair and then the scar across her neck from the attack but still a smile on her face. Alec took a breath looking at the photo and with a shaking hand took it from her looking at it. He ran his left hand over the picture looking at the face of his lost friend. “Izzy… But if she survived. If she had been pregnant. She would have told us. She would have come back.”, Alec said still trying to get a grip on what was happening at the moment. His friend whom he’d seen a death certificate for was actually alive.

“Momma won’t talk. I do not know what happened. She does not talk about her life in America, in Bayville. It took many years of asking and research to get this far. She doesn’t even know I left Florence.”, Zoe said getting through the folder and showing the old tickets that showed when her mother returned to America in 2010 and quickly returned to Italy a matter of days later. “Oh god. She came back, but not in time. Not in time to stop it. My poor Izzy..”, Alec said looking at the dates. He knew the dates would have meant that Alexander was still very young. So he was sure by the quick departure it meant Isadora had come back and seen that Damon married Geri and had a child. And he knew Isadora would have thought this meant Damon had moved on and was happy and wouldn’t have dared to break that up. And given Damon had a past with Geri it seemed almost reasonable. Except that Geri was a psychopath and Damon could never love her as he loved Isadora. “Mamma and I were attacked by humans. I think in America they are known as Fried of Humanity?”, she said a bit unsure. “They killed grandpa. And mamma was hurt badly, they cut her neck. Mamma just won’t talk about this time in her life.”, Zoe said with a sad sigh. “How…how bad was she hurt?”, Alec asked not looking up from the photo of Isadora his eyes focused on the scar on her neck. “She survived, but the scarring. It was very very bad. She cannot talk well. I was told she was soft spoken before, but now she cannot even raise her voice.”, Zoe said frowning. Alec mirrored the frown. “So she lost her father, her voice and her love. God I remember her voice. To this day I can’t watch or hear music from Phantom of the Opera without her voice playing in my head as Christine.”, Alec sighed. Zoe looked at him sadly. She didn’t know what her mother sounded like when she could sing truly. She never got to hear it. “Do you believe me now? Will you help me find my father?”, Zoe asked. “I do not need to meet him or even speak to him. I just…want to know who it is. Mother will not say anything about him.”, Zoe pleaded.

Alec frowned and looked away from the picture and to Zoe finally. It was in that moment he actually noticed the lock of white hair and blinked. He didn’t really need to guess, even before seeing the hair, who the father of this child had to be. Isadora had only loved one man in Bayville. “You’ve already seen him”, Alec said and sighed. He walked to his car that was parked out front and unlocked the passenger door opening it for her. “Get in. I won’t discuss this in the open.”, Alec said. He trusted Damon, but he knew Geri was not to be trusted. So talking about anything of Damon’s life before he married Geri in public just didn’t feel safe. After all he trusted Geri as far as he could throw his own car. Zoe blinked and nodded getting into the car. If she was going to let getting into a stranger’s car stop her from finding her dad, she really wasn’t determined enough to see this through. Alec closed the door and casually looked around as he got into the driver’s seat heading for his restaurant and home. “If Izzy didn’t talk much about Bayville, why were you looking for me?”, he questioned. “I found a picture.”, she said pulling the phot from her pocket and showing him. “She told me she stayed at a place, above a restaurant where she worked.”, Zoe shrugged. “I figured you were my father or at the very least knew who was.”, Zoe admitted. Alec glanced over to the photo as he was driving and started to laugh when she suggested he was her father. “I loved your mother, but as one would love their sister.”, Alec explained as he parked. “But yes, your mother did work and rented an apartment from me And more importantly I do know who your father is. Zoe nodded as she pocked the photo. She got out of the car as he parked recognizing the place from pictures and news clippings. “As I explained briefly back at the dojo, if you were there long and watched the sparing mach you saw your dad. That is his dojo.”, Alec explained getting out and unlocking the lower door to the stairs.

Zoe blinked in surprise remembering the man with the dark blue headscarf who’d been sparing him. “Suppose it is good thing I found you then? He would have attacked, and hurt first then asked if I was being truthful?”, Zoe questioned. The man had seemed very focused and dangerous in the sparing match. Alec sighed. “Maybe. Phoenix isn’t generally the type of man who is quick to anger. But Izzy isn’t a subject to just bring up with the man.”, Alec explained “Who told you that mamma died?”, she asked. “I mean she was bad, yes, but the carabinieri came and she got to the hospital. She told them the people attacked her and grandpa after she woke up.”, Zoe explained. “Your father told me.”, Alec said walking inside and holding the door. “Come on. You’ll be safe enough here for now.”, Alex explained yet didn’t explain why she’d need to be kept safe. “Safe?”, she asked stepping inside. “Why am I not safe outside?”, she questioned a little uneasy with this scenario suddenly. Alec sighed. “I know you have little reason o trust someone you don’t know. I mean beyond knowing that I was friends nearly two decades ago with your mother I’m a stranger.”, Alec said closing the door. “Look your dad, he’s married and if his wife catches wind of you we are all dead.”, Alec explained. Zoe blinked a little. “Dead?”, she asked. “I don’t want to..I mean I figured he was married, happy, or maybe dead.”, she said. “I just want to know who he is and see him from a distance. Then I will go home. I mean I didn’t even tell mamma I was leaving.”, Zoe said shaking her head.

Alec sighed. “Come on.”, he said heading up the stairs. He paused outside the door to the apartment that Isadora had once lived. It was empty at the moment. He sighed again and continued to the top floor unlocking his door. “I suppose you’re hungry.”, he commented stepping inside. “There’s just some things you need to understand. And I’ll explain the best I can. But I highly recommend you calling Izzy.”, Alec said. “I don’t have my phone and I mean I need to charge my tablet if I was to try and Skype.”, Zoe said stepping in behind him. She looked around the place was nice and instantly on the walls she recognized her mother’s artwork. All these years later and this man, her mother’s friend kept the paintings displayed. “Pick an outlet. So what’ll you have? I’ve got bread, salad, coffee, wine ready but I can easily cook something.”, He commented looking into his fridge. As she looked around the room she saw some pictures that had her mother in it, including a copy of the one she had. She found and open outlet and connected her tablet to charge before walking to the counter and sitting on a stool. “Salad and just some bread, and wine please.”, Zoe answered. Alec nodded getting out the salad, some dressing, the bread, a bowl for her and then two glasses and the wine. He poured the wine and sighed offering her a glass. “Haven’t had someone to drink wine with since your mother left. Damon, your father, he doesn’t come near the restaurant. Too many memories I suppose.”, Alec explained. Zoe nodded fixing her bowl of salad.

Alec sighed and looked at Zoe, the more he looked at her the more he saw the marrying of the futures of Damon and Isadora. “So you’ve never heard your mother sing? Would you like to?”, Alec offered. Zoe looked up from her salad and raised an eyebrow. “Yes..yes I would.”, Zoe said. Alec set his glass down and went to his living room area and started to dig through his dvd collection and pulled out a homemade dvd and put it in the player. “Come over you bring your food if you like. I have a home movie from when your parents were working on the Phantom of the Opera.” Alec explained. Zoe grabbed her bowl and wine hurrying into the living room sitting on the sofa her interest now peeked. Alec smiled and turned the dvd on. It started with an empty stage at the opera house. Alec remembered that day getting seat in the fourth row and just filming the practice. And then on the stage in their street clothes, Damon wearing a wig, stood Isadora and Damon as they were practicing their performance of the song ‘The Point of No Return’. Alec sat silently smiling and glanced to Zoe as she not only got to hear her parents but see them perform. Zoe was in awe watching them and hearing her mother’s signing voice. She’d yet to place that the man on stage was in fact her father. But there was certainly chemistry between her mother and the man. As they performed Damon kept itching at the wig eventually throwing it aside letting his short white hair free. Alec watched Zoe’s reaction intently. Her eyes widening slightly realizing that man, the one who sang so beautifully with her mother was her father. She looked to Alec briefly her eyes asking what her mouth couldn’t muster. Alec nodded. “That’s him, your dad. Damon Petridis.”, Alec confirmed.

Zoe smiled a little finally getting a name to her father and now having a proper face she was happy. He was a singer like her mother had been. “They sound so amazing…”, she commented. Alec nodded. “Yes they did. I haven’t heard Damon sing since…since we were told that she was dead.”, Alec agreed. The opera house faded out and the next scene of the dvd was the restaurant downstairs. It was packed with people laughing smiling and talking as they ate and drank. “This is the after party from wrapping the final performance.”, Alec explained. People were making faces at the camera shouting greetings into the camera and at Alec who was operating. Many thanking him for letting them have the party at his restaurant. Alec’s voice in the background laughing and telling them they were welcome and asking if anyone had seen Izzy and Damon. No one had so the footage carried on through the crowd till in the back corner sat it focused on Isadora and Damon. Damon had his arm around Isadora’s shoulders and holding her hand with his other hand as he was whispering something into her ear. Isadora smiling biting at her bottom lip a small flush on her face at whatever Damon was whispering. “They look so adorable together….”, Zoe commented. Alec laughed and nodded. “Yes they do.”, Alec agreed. As the camera got closer Damon realized he was on camera and held up a hand to the lens. “Don’t film us Alec.”, Damon said. “Aww Damon you suddenly camera shy?”, Alec’s voice teased. Isadora starting to laugh her soft sweet laugh and Alec joining in. Damon rolled his eyes. “And really if you want privacy you both know where her apartment is.”, Alec commented. Damon joined the laughter now.

But their laughter suddenly stopped as the whole room fell silent hearing a slamming sound at the front of the building. The camera turned pushing through the crowd and standing in the doorway of the restaurant was a red haired woman who looked to be emitting fire. “PHOENIX!”, the woman shouted her Australian accent very present in each syllable. Zoe blinked at the sudden appearance of the woman. She watched as Damon pushed past the camera and grabbed the fiery woman by her arms the flames not harming him. “Hotshot you should not be here. You need to leave now. Go back to the others.”, Damon said his voice stern and more like an order. Damon glanced over his shoulder and saw the camera. “Turn it off Alec.”, Damon ordered. The video went black and Alec turned off the dvd. “That’s…that’s his wife isn’t it?”, Zoe asked. “Well she wasn’t back then, but yes. They’d been something to each other before he met your mother. But once he set his eyes on Isadora he got tunnel vision and no one else existed. Geri hated your mother for that.”, Alec explained. “And she’s who I’m hiding from…”, Zoe said with a sigh. Alec nodded. “Geri is a danger and unstable woman and that’s not even factoring in her powers. She knew how much your dad loved, hell loves your mom, and if she finds out about you, you will be in danger.”, Alec explained. Zoe sighed. “Well I guess I can go home then. I came, I’ve seen him and I’ve learned who he is. I’ll call momma tell her where I am and that I’ll be back very soon depending on getting a sooner return ticket.”, Zoe said with a sigh. She didn’t want to upset her father’s marriage. It wasn’t her place to come in and ruin a marriage.

Alec sighed. “You are Izzy’s daughter. So just like when she came here, you are going to run upon seeing he’s married. Never approach him, never tell him the truth.”, Alec said shaking his head. “I don’t want to ruin his marriage. I’d expected he was probably happily married with children or maybe dead. I can’t just walk up and say I’m his daughter to a woman he thought was dead but really is alive. I can’t ruin the happiness of so many.”, Zoe said shaking her head. “Married, yes. Children yes. Happy? No.”, Alec said. Zoe raised an eyebrow. “He misses your mom every day. You saw the name of his dojo, Fenice Dojo. You know what that means in Italian.”, Alec tried to explain. Zoe folded her arms. “Yes. What his ‘wife’ called him in the video.”, Zoe said. “Right Phoenix. Which was his codename in the mutant community even before he knew your mother. But Fenice, that was what your mother called him. That was her pet name for him.”, Alec explained. Zoe blinked nodding a little. “Momma always calls me her uccellino (little bird)…”, Zoe said softly. “You also saw the blue scarf he wore at the dojo to hide his hair.”, Alec added. Zoe nodded thinking to the dark blue scarf that looked rather old. “It was your mother’s. When she had to leave the country that was left behind. He wears it every day at the dojo. So you see my point? He needs to know she’s alive, he needs to know about you.”, Alec explained. Zoe nodded. “Alright well when you do see him again?”, Zoe asked. “In two days, but that’s at the dojo. You can’t go there, it wouldn’t be safe. No we’ll arrange a meeting at the Haven.”, Alec concluded.

“The Haven?”, Zoe questioned. “It’s a mutant safe house. It’s neutral territory and all mutants respect it’s rules. So it’s a safe place to meet him where Geri can’t find out and even if she doesn’t can’t harm you.”, Alec explained. “Well I guess I should see about finding a cheap hotel to stay in.”, Zoe concluded. “That wouldn’t really be too safe. You can stay in the apartment downstairs. It was your mother’s old apartment and currently empty. But there is still some furniture including a bed.”, Alec offered standing up. “And that way I know you’ll be safe. I don’t really trust the humans or some of the mutants in this town. They get antsy around strangers. The humans always wonder if the person is a mutant who will hurt them. And then the Academy, well they have a little group that like to call themselves the ‘welcoming committee’. Mutant or human they aren’t exactly nice to new people. And I don’t want you running into them. No need for you to get into a fight, especially given the circumstances.”, Alec explained. “I’m all for free place to stay. What do you mean by the circumstances? I can handle myself just trunk people to stone. It’s only temporary anyways.”, Zoe questioned. Alec sighed. “Your brother Alexander is part of that ‘welcoming committee’. You going to turn him to stone? Plus well you two could be twins except you got your mother’s eyes and he has your father’s. The resemblance would give you away too quickly.”, Alec explained. Zoe frowned. “Well I’m not going to just hide. I’ll keep my hair covered and stay out of trouble as best I can. I want to see Bayville after all.”, Zoe said sternly sounding a bit like her father.

Alec laughed a little. “Yup you are a Petridis. Now call you mother.”, Alec said tossing his phone to her. Zoe caught it and looked at it before looking at him. “Do you think maybe you could talk to her first? She might be less upset that way.”, Zoe asked. Alec sighed and nodded. “Alright I’ll talk to her. But I can’t guarantee it’ll make her less mad.”, Alec agreed sitting down again on the sofa. Zoe nodded and dialed the number having t memorized and handed him the phone. Alec took a deep breath taking the phone and listening to the ringing. He was thinking about what time it was over in Italy at the moment. Since waking up the day Zoe had left Isadora had slept very little and was more worried when she realized Zoe’s phone was sitting on the kitchen counter. So when a number came up on the caller id with a New York area code she quickly picked up. “Ciao? Zoe? Sei tu? Si prega di essere tu , il mio piccolo uccello. (Hello? Zoe? Is that you? Please be you, my little bird.)”, Isadora’s soft voice answered her voice worried and fearful. Alec took a breath holding back tears hearing her voice after so many years. “Izzy? Sono io, Alec. E ' Alec D'Amour. Zoe è qui con me. (Izzy? It's me, Alec. It's Alec D'Amour. Zoe is here with me.)”, Alec answered his voice a little shaky. “Alec? Aspetta che sia in Bayville? Perché è lì? Perché è lei con te? (Alec? Wait she's in Bayville? Why is she there? Why is she with you?)”, she questioned. “Sì , Bayville. È venuta a cercarlo Izzy. Per suo padre. Ombra aveva trovato una foto di voi e I. Così lei è venuto da me per le risposte. Dio non posso credere che questo è vero. Ci hanno detto che sei morto. (Yes, Bayville. She came looking for him Izzy. For her father. Shade had found a picture of you and I. So she came to me for answers. God I can't believe this is real. We were told you died.)”, Alec answered.

Isadora blinked and covered her mouth. Dead? “I...oh, Alec. Alec my dearest friend.” She whispered, though it was hard to tell from her now normal speaking voice. “I should have called. I ran. I ran so very much and thought everything was over.” She slumped onto her couch, crying in relief that her daughter was fine but so angry that she had done this. “Fen…Damon. He is married now. I did not want her to see that.”, Isadora explained. “Yes, yes you should have called Izzy. We were so terribly worried. And then to get a death certificate saying you’d died. I mean we buried a small box of your things. We mourned you. He still mourns you.”, Alec sighed. “Death certificate?”, she asked. “I was attacked yes, but never declared dead.”, she closed her eyes. “But he got married. I couldn’t just show up and ruin a marriage especially with a child involved. And we had said our goodbyes when I came to Italy when he told me to run before things got worse there.”, she sighed. “You said temporary goodbyes. We both know he’d planned to follow you when he got his people taken care of. And ruin what? Ruin that cagna’s (bitch’s) hold on him? That manipulative cagna’s plan?”, Alex questioned. “I knew that he had loved me but he had feelings for Geri too. He’d been torn between us, Alec. When I saw him with her and their baby…I knew he’d made a difficult choice and I would not make that choice any more difficult.”, she said shaking her head. “So I had to sit by for the last eighteen years biting my tongue at his obvious unhappiness in the marriage. Because he is my friend and as we’d been told you had died. It was painful choice for him only because he was mourning you and she manipulated the situation. Now Zoe shows up after all this time. You know what the first born Petridis means just as I do if not better.”, Alex stressed.

“But she’s a girl.” Isadora said simply. “Maybe it is the first born boy..”, she offered as an option. “Wait what about first born Petridis?”, Zoe asked confused looking at Alec. “No one knows if gender matters. Zoe is the first girl to be born. Though she doesn’t have the powers but who knows if that really means anything.”, Alec countered ignoring Zoe’s question. Isadora exhaled. “I..I knew you two knew where to contact me. My café is still open. I thought for years you did not want to speak to me. But you given that you thought I was dead.”, she said. “Yes, we knew. He sent a detective there while he was settling his people into their new alignment. He was waiting for the detective to deliver his message and then he was moving to you. I know that because I loaned him the money to do it. But then the detective came back with that death certificate…”, Alec explained. Isadora covered her mouth, unable to keep from crying as she listened. “Fenice…oh my fenice..”, she whispered. “Wh..when did he send this man?”, she questioned. “The summer of 2008. Things had started to settle here. He was aligning his people with the Acolytes. But he knew that if he directly reached out to you the backlash from his people if they learned he planned to leave so soon would be deadly, especially her.”, Alec answered. “Summer…”, she said softly thinking. “Oh Alec…I was attacked that summer.”, Isadora said realizing the correlation in timelines. “Yes we know. The date on the certificate was not even a week before the detective left Bayville.”, Alec explained. “I…”, she shook her head a little. “I visited after the attacked. I waited till I was healed more and my speech was not so impaired and Zoe was old enough that I could leave her in the care of someone else.”, she said rubbing at the scar on her throat. “I know Izzy. Zoe showed me the ticket stubs. You were too late to stop Geri’s plan. I had wanted to scream and shout at him when he said he was marrying her and even more when they asked reasons they shouldn’t be married during the ceremony. But you were dead and my reason was gone. So I stayed silent. I refused to sign the license though, to bare legal witness to the train wreck of a marriage I knew it would be. So Aries ended up signing it. And then Alexander was born and it was downhill from there.”, he said shaking his head.

Isadora sighed and tried to keep quiet, but sobbed softly. “My Fenice, Alec is he happy? Please tell me he is.”, she pleaded. “To be honest, Izzy. No. He lives only for his children. But his marriage has been rocking from the start. The children and having no better reason to leave are why he stays.”, Alec said bluntly. “My Fenice, oh if only I had..had not hide. This is my fault.”, Isadora cried. “No. He won’t see this as your fault. He’ll see this as that detective’s fault. Giving falsified documents to him.”, Alec said. “But if I had just gone to see him, or even sent a letter.”, she closed her eyes. “I have made such a painful mistake.”, she cried. “He’ll understand Izzy. It’s Damon after all. You might think this is a bad idea. But I’m going to arrange for them to meet in a safe place. He deserves to know you are alive and that he has a daughter. It’ll then be in his hands what he does. I just will be thankful I am not that detective when he finds out.”, Alex explained. “No, I agree with you. Damon needs to know the truth. If I had just known..”, she sighed. “Damon did not even come to see a grave?”, she questioned. “He avoids anything that reminds him of you. He won’t come to the restaurant. He will drive a mile out of his way to avoid the opera house. Some things are just too painful. So a real grave would be too much. For either of us. He couldn’t give you up that much.”, Alec answered. “He..he doesn’t do plays anymore?”, she asked. “Oh no. The world deserves that voice.”, she sighed. “He hasn’t sang since the day you left. He locked away anything that would remind him too much of you. He wears your dark blue scarf daily though. And even named his dojo Fenice Dojo.”, Alec explained. “But signing, it made him so happy. If I had only known.”, she closed her eyes. “Please, please he has to know I am alive.”, Isadora concluded. “I’m going to set up a meeting at the Haven for them. I don’t know what he’ll do or how he’ll react to being told. But at least he will know the truth.”, Alec agreed.

“Thank you Alec. May I speak with Zoe now?”, Isadroa asked. “You’re welcome. You know I’d do anything for you Izzy. Now here’s your daughter.”, Alec said handing the phone to Zoe. With the phone no longer in his hands he didn’t need to maintain his composure. He sank into his couch and covered his face with his hands. He didn’t care or think twice about the tears falling from his blue eyes. He was just so happy that his friend was alive. Zoe took the phone and winced as Isadora starting yelling, as best as she could. Zoe sighed and went into her lengthy explanation of what had happened. How she’d done all the research and saved for years to come find her father. About how she’d seen him at the dojo and watched a home movie Alec had of the two of them. Once the conversation was over she hung up sitting next to him on the couch and hugged him thinking he needed it. Alec sighed. “I can’t’ believe she’s alive and I just..I just talked to her. God when Damon gets told. I almost pity the detective and what will become of him…almost.”, Alec said in shock. “Maybe it isn’t his fault?”, she suggested. “Maybe he thought it was real?”, she added. “Maybe. But if I know your dad as I believe I do, it won’t matter. Your dad will get his answers however necessary.”, Alec said not really thinking about how that wording could come off. Zoe frowned. “Is padre a bad man?”, she questioned. Alec brought his hands from his face and just started to laugh. “Define bad. Your dad is a healer. He just also happens to be a very skilled warrior.”, Alec said still laughing a little. “Does he hurt people that do not need to be hurt?”, she asked “The FOH are bad, but mutants can be just as bad too.”, she pointed out.

Alec sighed and looked at her. “That I can’t say. He follows his orders from Azazel, and previously from Wanda. But generally the people I know he’s harmed have been FOH scrum. He’s who his group call in for interrogations.”, Alec answered. She sighed softly. “So…maybe he’s not the same man mamma knew?” “No he’s still the same man. He was that man back then too. Though back then he was the leader of his group. Before everything went to shit and he had to merge his group with others to maintain the safety of his people.”, he answered. Zoe sighed again. “I think it is time I sleep.”, she said pinching the bridge of her nose. Alec nodded and patted the top of her head. “Go get some sleep. I’ll make calls in the morning about getting the meeting arranged. Just stay out of trouble till the meeting.”, he said digging in his pocket taking out a set of keys and handing them to her. “Red key is the dead bolt to the lower apartment, blue is the regular lock and the purple is the lock to the stairs outside. I’ll be up here till around 5 in the morning then I’ll be down in the kitchen getting bread and pasta made for the restaurant.”, Alec explained. Zoe nodded and hugged him again. “Thank you Alec.”, she said standing up. “You’re welcome. Buonanotte, Zoe.”, Alec said yawning. “Buonanotte.”, Zoe said leaving his apartment and heading down to the lower apartment letting herself in. She found her way to the bedroom that still had a bed in it and mostly just collapsed too tired to care.

The next day while Alec was busy with his business Zoe put on her black bandana to hide her white hair and changed into clean clothes before deciding to go explore Bayville. Her first stop was trying the opera house. She just wanted to see it, to walked upon the same steps both her parents had back in their day. She found it to be small, but for the town it was in it was certainly good sized and well furnished. She otherwise mostly wandered the town trying to learn her way. This was really the first time she’d been anyone beyond Florence. In Florence she knew where everything was and possibly could walk most places blindfolded if not for other pedestrians. As she wandered she thought about her parents. Wonder where in Bayville they first met. How they’d met. What they’d thought of each other. How they came to fall in love. Perhaps this very street she was walking down they’d once walked together. She worried what her father would think of her. Would he believe what she said to be true. Would he even want to see her. Perhaps Alec was wrong and he was happy in his marriage. After all she apparently had siblings. But of course it doesn’t require love to make a baby just to urge to have sex with someone. She there were people that she herself could say were attractive but she couldn’t stand them as people.

She sighed as she rounded and corner suddenly realizing where she was. Somehow she’d found her way to Fenice Dojo. There wasn’t really a crowd outside this afternoon watching. So she carefully approached and looked inside. Sitting in a line were two girls with raven black hair, one being much taller than the other and a guy with black hair as well just a bit taller than the taller girl. In the middle of the room she saw her father, the same blue scarf wrapped around his head hiding his white hair. She smiled a little remembering how Alec told her that the scarf was once her mothers and he wore it to remember her. Oh the surprise her father was in for once Alec had gotten the meeting arranged. She watched as he moved forward and was sparing with a young man. She blinked her eyes going wide as she saw the uncovered white hair of the man. She looked between the two and saw the strong resemblance. She smiled soft looking at him. This had to be her brother, Alexander was what Alec had called him. As she looked at him sparing against their father she could tell what Alec meant. Other than the shade of blue that their eyes were and obviously being different genders they could be twins. She watched intently not noticing that the three other pupils inside had saw her. Talia, her inducer watch active since they were in public turned her gaze and glared at the girl seeing her looking directly at Alex. Her inducer hide the flicking motion of her tail in agitation. She nudged Artemis who in turn nudged Apollo. The three quietly rose, neither of the Petridis men even noticed as they were too busy with their match. Zoe also didn’t notice that the three had risen and went around the back.

It was when she noticed shadows over her shoulder and a reflection of a very large man behind her that she realized they’d moved. “Enjoying the show?”, Talia hissed. “Um..Non parlo inglese. (I don’t speak English)”, was Zoe’s immediate response. She had been warned about a welcoming committee and that her brother was part of it. So it dawned on her that perhaps these three were part of that. And given how they were glaring and standing she was accurate. “Bullshit.”, Artemis declared. “I say we welcome the fresh meat to Bayville.”, Apollo suggested. “That actually sounds like a good idea Apollo.”, Talia said moving to step closer. Zoe started to step away, slowly at first and then spun on her heels and set in a dead run. She of course had no clue where she was running to. She didn’t know her way around the town enough for that. She knew how to get from the Dojo to the restaurant having remembered the drive with Alec from last night. But she didn’t want to bring these three to the restaurant. So she just ran and the three were hot on her heels. She went to take a turn but she found herself running in the barreled chest of the man called Apollo. She wasn’t sure how he’d gotten ahead of her, unaware that he’d taken a risk and grew his wings to fly ahead to cut her off. She spun to get away and ducked down what she hoped was a connecting alley but realized it was a dead end. And there the three of them were approaching her. “Aw she’s shy. Let’s make her feel welcome and show her our true selves.”, Talia hissed. The twins nodded in agreement. Talia hitting the button on her watch and her disguise disappearing and showing her true blue demonic form. The twins’ changed growing in height their wings sprouting and becoming their true gargoyle selves. “Now come here then…try to play nice and you’ll get hurt much less.”, Apollo taunted stepping forward trying to grab Zoe one hand reaching for her head his claw nearly pulling her bandana off. “Lasciami andare! (Let me go!)”, Zoe yelled glaring up at him. And in the instant she made eye contact Apollo became a stone gargoyle. Artemis and Talia stayed back a bit wary of the girl now, but both knew she had no where she could run.

Description
body div#devskin0 hr { }

Things had started to stable out at last in Bayville. As many of the older kids were juggling their relationships, part time jobs and full time class work Merrick was the only that had completed his two year associate's degree and instead only had to try and balance his work life and his social life, rather glad to have school finally done and out of his way. Talia, Alex, Emma, Blaire, Hope, Gabriel, Bianca, and Samuel were all half way through their senior year of high school. And things seemed to have reached a plateau in regards to hostility. Even in the next generation of kids the animosity seemed to be slightly less than it had been in the past. Which for many they would call this the calm before the storm. But at the moment the peace was welcomed, especially by Sebastian. As the younger of the remaining Haven members he was glad that there was less friction between the institute and the academy because he had found he had friends on both sides of the fence. Sebastian of course more often than not was found in the combination company of the Jimmy Howlett, Carter Delaney, Owen Kearney, Nash Asher, Tyler Maximoff, Kevin Durvo, Shaw Frost, Adam Frost, Gregory Frost, and Jordan Frost. It was rare that his Frost cousins would be around if he was in the company of any of the institute boys but he did find that Tyler and Kevin were a little more forgiving about the company he kept from the institute. But other than the boys there was one particular person that Sebastian found himself around the most, Gina Petridis. The pair had started seeing each other just not really telling their parents or siblings about it. Sebastian didn’t think his family would have an issue of him dating Gina, though he knew his brother would pick on him a little. Gina was the one with more concern. Sebastian may be considered neutral and all but she knew that her brother, his girlfriend especially, and her mother considered the Bryant-Frosts that left the Academy to be traitors.

No one knew that soon a domino effect would begin. Little did any of the residents of the Bayville know that just over four thousand miles away in Florence Italy a storm was brewing that would soon engulf their small town and turn worlds upside down. In the city of Florence as small corner café was run by a woman named Isadora DeLuca. The building having been owned by her family for many generations before her. Isadora having returned to Florence almost twenty years ago, having fled of all places Bayville, New York when things started to get bad between mutants and humans. She’d been told to go, to return to Italy by the man she loved. He said he would follow her and find her when he could. She hadn’t wanted to leave him behind. But he had the lives of a group of mutants in his charge that he had to ensure safety to. He had sworn that once his people were taken care of and he could he’d follow and come find her. When she fled neither of them had known she was pregnant. And when she realized this all the numbers she had for him were out of service. She didn’t even know if he’d survived what was going on there in Bayville. So she had their daughter, who from birth it was no question of who she took after having the stark white hair of her father Damon Petridis, and named her Zoe Alexandria DeLuca. She had chosen the middle name because she remembered it to be Damon’s mother’s name. Alexandria Petridis was the only member of his family that Damon ever spoke of in any regard so Isadora felt this was a good way to honor her. Isadora had hoped that soon things would settle down enough in America for her to go to Bayville to find out what happened to Damon or that he could come to Italy to find her.

Tragedy had struck before that was possible a group of humans came to the apartment above the café where Isadora, Zoe and Isadora’s father all lived to kill them. It was assumed the attack was because Isadora was a mutant and based on her pure ivory colored hair Zoe would most likely be one too. In the attacked Isadora’s father was slain and they had nearly killed Isadora, slicing into her neck before she managed to freeze their attackers in stone with her gorgon-esk powers. The blade had not gone deep enough to kill her but once medical attention was able to be given her once rich singing voice was destroyed forever as she could hardly speak too many octaves above a whisper. She may have lost her father in the attack but she’d managed to save her innocent baby girl. She continued to wait for Damon to come to her. When Zoe was three and there had been no signs of Damon she had gotten a family friend to watch the child and she took the risk and flew to Bayville. She’d thought she was prepared for all possible outcomes. But she wasn’t prepared for what she found. Her beloved, her Fenice (phoenix), had married another and even had a son. She didn’t dare step forward, she couldn’t bring herself to yell or scream at him for not coming as he had promised. To rage at him for choosing instead to marry of all women the psychopathic Hotshot, as she knew her only by the codename. It had broken her heart to see him with Hotshot pushing the carriage with a little white haired boy inside. Sure she’d known that at one point before her original arrival in Bayville there had been something between Damon and Hotshot but he had been hers, been her Fenice, her Erik and she’d been his, been his ángelos ti̱s mousikí̱s (angel of music) , his Christine and yet somehow she’d lost him without even knowing what happened. And so broken hearted she didn’t even stop to see her dear friend Alec D’Amour before she returned to live her life as a single parent.

Over the years Isadora had spoken very little because of her voice but even less so when it came to her daughter’s questions about who her father was. Now finally having graduated from high school and saved enough money to buy a ticket with a two week return date to Bayville, New York Zoe was ready to seek out her answers. Her mother may have spoken little about her father but just from looking at the timeline and mementos from her mother’s past Zoe knew whoever the man was had to be from Bayville where her mother had lived before coming back to Italy and giving birth to her. She had little to go on. She had an old program from a production of Phantom of the Opera her mother had been in, the program being in black and white offered little help in identifying a possible father. And otherwise she had a picture she’d found which was of her mother with a man with dark black hair outside a restaurant with the sign in the background saying ‘Two Brothers Fine Dining’. So that’s where she was going to start, the address of the restaurant matched an old address her mother had lived at so Zoe felt secure in the knowledge that her mother had lived above the restaurant. So without any forewarning given to her mother Zoe left a note telling her she needed to know who her father was and to not worry she would return safely. In her rush to leave before her mother would wake she’d left her cell phone behind but did bring her tablet. It wasn’t until she was on the plane that she even realized she’d left the phone behind. There was little she could do about it now as she sat on the plan and tired to get comfortable for the nearly 10 hour flight not counting her hour layover in Portugal.

Damon Petridis or Phoenix as the Academy students and staff often called him had been completely unaware of his eldest daughter’s existence. He had the intention to follow Isadora when he had her leave, but things crumbled around him in Bayville and he found himself having to form an alliance with the Acolytes and Brotherhood to ensure the safety of his team. Not sure when he could leave he sent a private detective to Florence to track down Isadora for him to give her word that he was safe and once chance offered would come to her as he’d promised. He’d not been prepared for the information the detective returned with. He was told that a group of humans had attacked the café that he knew her family had operated and killed her and her father. No mention was made to him of a child and an Italian death certificate had been provided as proof that she was gone. Damon mourned his beloved ángelos ti̱s mousikí̱sand against better judgment listened to Geri and tried to move on. There had been a time before Isadora that Damon had held great affection for Geri and after news of Isadora’s death Geri tried to spark that affection again. And eventually Damon gave into it. He married Geri and they had their son Alexander Damon Petridis and then a few four years later had their daughter Gina Christine Petridis. And Damon kept telling himself it was okay to be with Geri and that he would grow to love her as strongly as he’d loved Isadora for the short two years he had her. The love was never the same the passion was never as great, but he would never speak of it. He never spoke to anyone of Isadora. When he married Geri everything of that life was buried. Well not officially buried instead he had emptied out his bachelor apartment he’d kept separate from the castle and put it all into storage. He didn’t tell his children about his time as a performer about being Eric in Phantom of the Opera. They knew he could sing as he had sung to them when they were young to get them to sleep but that was all that remained of that life.

So Damon lived his life fulfilling his duty as husband and father for his family and healer and combat instructor to the academy. He opened his own dojo in town offering various levels of training to the citizens of Bayville, mutant and human alike. There was only one person from his previous life he had any contact with and that was Alec D’Amour. The man was a mutual friend of him and Isadora. He had been not just a friend to Isadora but had given her a job in his restaurant and an apartment above the restaurant when she came to America. The pair had her in common and both had mourned her loss just for different reasons. Alec had loved Isadora but as a friend. Damon could not bring himself to enter Alec’s restaurant it reminding him too much of Isadora as many of her paintings were on the walls. And he didn’t dare go into the old apartment that Isadora had rented having too many memories there and it was just as bad to consider going to Alec’s apartment since Alec kept some of Isadora’s art on display there as well. So the dojo was their middle ground. Alec came to keep in shape and it allowed him and Damon to keep in touch so Alec didn’t completely sink into being a hermit. Which if not for his family Damon would have happily become a hermit and just avoided moving on after Isadora’s death.

This afternoon was one of the days that he did private training with Alec. For being a bit older than him Alec was still able to keep up for a human of his age. As the pair spared in the dojo using the wood weapons a crowd was forming outside the glass window of the dojo just watching the pair going back and forth. While at the dojo Damon always wore a headscarf of a deep ocean blue, it was the only thing he kept out that would remind him of Isadora the scarf being one of hers she’d left behind. Zoe was tired, hungry and agitated after her long plane right then the long train ride from the city into Bayville. As she slung her duffle bag over her shoulder, a gray bandana pulled snug to cover her white hair, she noticed a crowd forming outside a place. She could faintly make out the gold letters on the window through the crowd that said ‘Fenice Dojo’. Wondering what was happening at a dojo to draw such a crowd she pushed herself through the crowd to look. As she got closer to the front she saw two men fighting. It was rather graceful to watch as the two spared back and forth. Though it was easy to see the one wearing the dark blue headscarf was the better fighter. “Fenice…”, Zoe said pronouncing it properly with her Tuscan accent. She knew it meant phoenix in Italian though she found it odd that a dojo would have an Italian name. As she watched the two men spare she furrowed her brow looking at the second man with his dark black hair with some grays near the temples. His face felt familiar. She sat her duffle bag down and dug out the picture of her mother and the man outside the restaurant and looked at the man then up into the window at the man in the dojo. There was no doubt the man had to be the same, the Alec D’Amour she’d found from researching the restaurant online.

As the crowd started to dissipate Zoe sat down leaning against the building, she saw no need to wander the streets to seek out this Alec if he was just inside. She wondered, her heart beating a little faster, could he be her father. In the picture he did seem close to her mother so it could be. It didn’t really explain how she had white hair, but that could easily be explained as a result of mutation. As she waited she dug into her duffle bag taking out a sketch pad and started to draw using willow sticks as her mother always had. Her back pressed against the glass window , from the back with her white hair hidden in the bandana she looked much like her mother in her frame and how her shoulders positioned as she drew. Starting to get out of breath inside the dojo Damon and Alec set aside their wooden weapons and gave a polite bow to each other. “For and old human you keep up.”, Damon teased. “Who are you calling a old? I’ve only got ten years on you and my hair isn’t pure white.”, Alec teased poking at the scarf Damon had hiding his hair. Neither spoke about the significant of the scarf, both highly aware of its late owner. Damon smiled shaking his head. “You may only be ten years older than me my friend, but with my mutation aging isn’t all that bad. “, Damon answered. Alec glanced to the window and blinked then shook his head and nudged Damon to look. “It’s coincidence. Lots of women have that frame. After all we know she’s gone.”, Damon said shaking his head as he looked at the woman sketching outside his dojo. He sighed and shook his head his mind being drawn back to the first day he saw Isadora’s face. She was trying to sell paintings on the street and was drawing a fresh piece when he was walking down the street to his audition for Phantom of the Opera. He remembered every feature of her face as if it just happened and how the light of the sun highlighted her beautiful brown hair and her dark blue eyes were a light as she drew. He pushed the memory back knowing thinking about her was just more pain. “Come on help me pick up.”, Damon said. Alec nodded and started helping picking up the dojo so that Damon could lock up.

After they finished cleaning up Damon started to pull down the metal gate that protected the dojo if the window would be broken and noticed the girl was still there. “I think one of us has an admirer Alec.”, Damon called. “She’s still there. You go out the front. I’m parked out back so I’ll take the back door. Not really looking for any hold up on getting home. I show up late and Geri will try, fail as always but still try to kill.”, Damon said wishing he was joking. Geri was never a stable person, but the last eighteen years she’d been a little better. However better didn’t change her temper or that she was possessive of him. Alec sighed shaking his head. He would never understand what Damon saw in Geri. To Alec she was nothing more than a conniving bitch that leveraged the death of Isadora and the pain Damon had been feeling to get him to marry her. “You have some very odd tastes in women. I’m just saying if I was married and my wife set a curfew and if I didn’t obey I’d be risking physical violence…well that’s what divorce is for.”, Alec said grabbing his bag. Damon sighed. “I can’t just divorce her. We have Alexander and Gina. Alexander is halfway through his senior year and Gina is just starting high school. And in a way I love Geri. I guess I’m just a glutton for punishment.”, Damon replied pulling the scarf off his head his white hair falling lose but mostly sticking together from the sweat he’d worked up during the day the dojo. He put the scarf neatly into his bag, he’d take it home and hand wash it as he did every day after working at the dojo. He had to keep the scarf out of Geri’s reach though. He never explained to her that the scarf was Isadora’s just as he never explained that the reason he called the dojo Fenice wasn’t just because it was another way of saying his codename but because it was what Isadora had called him. “Night Alec. I’ll see you in two days for your next session.”, Damon called heading out the back door locking up and getting in his car to head home.

Zoe glanced over her shoulder when she heard the metal gate being pulled down and frowned as now she couldn’t even see inside the dojo to know where the two men were. She gathered up her things and stood up brushing off some flakes of snow that had started to fall on this late winter evening. Winter having at least been easy on the bay city. She knew it was possible that there was a back entrance to the dojo and both men could have gone out that way. Which she at least knew where to find the restaurant owner so even if he went out the back she could go to the restaurant to find him. Alec waved before he headed out the front doors, the doors automatically locking behind him. Zoe sighed softly that the man she thought to be Alec had not taken a back exit. She looked at the photograph once more and then to him before putting the picture away and walked up to him. It was now or never for her so she pulled her strength and spoke. “Are you, Alec?”, she asked in English but her accent still very thick. Alec raised an eyebrow looking at her, there was a familiar look to her face, mostly in the eyes but also the cheekbones. And then he heard the accent and decided to test this a little. “Sì, sono Alec. Alec D'Amour. E tu sei?” (Yes, I am Alec. Alec D'Amour. And you are?) He spoke his Sicilian accent very apparent. Zoe sighed in relief that not only was he the Alec she was looking for but he spoke Italian. She knew English, as her second language but Italian was much easier for her. “Felice di conoscerti. Sono ZoeDeLuca . Lei, forse, ricorda un Isadora DeLuca? Era un po ' più basso di me.” (Glad to meet you. I am ZoeDeLuca. Do you, maybe, remember an Isadora DeLuca? She was a bit shorter than me.) she asked hopeful. Alec cocked his head to the side feeling a knot forming in his stomach as the girl said her name was DeLuca and then brought up Isadora. “Sì. Non potevo dimenticare il mio amato Isadora.” (Yes. I could not forget my beloved Isadora.), Alec answered with a sigh.

Zoe blinked in surprise. Beloved? That could possibly be an indicator that this man was her father. It made sense after all the picture they seemed rather close. And what she was able to find out was that her mother had worked at the restaurant and lived above it. So there was more scandals things in the world than someone sleeping with their boss or landlord. He looked like a kind man and obviously was Italian so maybe that was the draw, if of course this was her father. But beloved had so many possible meanings it could mean something else. “Isadora è mia madre. Sono qui, cercando di trovare mio padre.” (Isadora is my mother. I'm here, trying to find my father.), Zoe explained. She tilted her head to look up at him a strand of white hair falling out of the bandana and across her dark blue eyes. Alec shook his head ‘no’ intently. “Questo non è possibile. Non so chi sei. Ma sono contento che era me e non il mio amico che ha detto questo a. E 'uno scherzo crudele di giocare su vecchi. Il nostro amato Isadora è morto quasi diciannove anni fa.” (That is not possible. I do not know who you are. But I am glad it was me and not my friend you said this to. It's a cruel joke to play on old men. Our beloved Isadora died nearly nineteen years ago.), Alec said sternly. The idea that someone would suddenly show up and start talking about Isadora was just a horrid thing to him. To try and say lies such as this. Just thinking about Isadora hurt him and he knew it hurt Damon a thousand times more. Zoe blinked at the town. But it wasn’t just that, it was the hurt in his eyes and the anger she could see in his face. “Uno scherzo crudele? Chi ti ha detto che la madre era morta? Momma e io sono stati attaccati, ma siamo sopravvissuti.” (A cruel joke? Who told you that mother was dead? Momma and I were attacked, but we survived.), Zoe defended herself trying to explain.

“Ah how can I…”, She said in English looked around. She had left her phone in Italy and her tablet needed to charge. She wasn’t about to show the files she had to him. But she looked and focused on some of the grass that was sticking out from under the little flakes of snow that had started to fall. As she looked at them the blades shriveled and turned to marble. She pointed to the marveled blades of grass and then looked to him. Alec continued to shake his head. “That’s not possible. I saw her death certificate. And this..”, she said looking to the marbled blades of grass. “Doesn’t prove anything. Mutant powers are not always passed between parent and child.”, Alec said refusing to believe this was more than a cruel prank. Maybe his twin Chesed had set this up to mess with him having known that Isadora had been close to him. She shook her head and reached into her duffle back digging through it. It was obvious she’d packed anything she thought she would need into the bag to survive her time in America. “Ah.”, she said pulling out the beat up folder and opening it. She didn’t want to do it out in the open like this. But she had to prove to him. “Look, look.”, She said. “Mamma.”, she said offering a picture of her mother cooking. It was more recent, her mother having some strands of gray in her dark brown hair and then the scar across her neck from the attack but still a smile on her face. Alec took a breath looking at the photo and with a shaking hand took it from her looking at it. He ran his left hand over the picture looking at the face of his lost friend. “Izzy… But if she survived. If she had been pregnant. She would have told us. She would have come back.”, Alec said still trying to get a grip on what was happening at the moment. His friend whom he’d seen a death certificate for was actually alive.

“Momma won’t talk. I do not know what happened. She does not talk about her life in America, in Bayville. It took many years of asking and research to get this far. She doesn’t even know I left Florence.”, Zoe said getting through the folder and showing the old tickets that showed when her mother returned to America in 2010 and quickly returned to Italy a matter of days later. “Oh god. She came back, but not in time. Not in time to stop it. My poor Izzy..”, Alec said looking at the dates. He knew the dates would have meant that Alexander was still very young. So he was sure by the quick departure it meant Isadora had come back and seen that Damon married Geri and had a child. And he knew Isadora would have thought this meant Damon had moved on and was happy and wouldn’t have dared to break that up. And given Damon had a past with Geri it seemed almost reasonable. Except that Geri was a psychopath and Damon could never love her as he loved Isadora. “Mamma and I were attacked by humans. I think in America they are known as Fried of Humanity?”, she said a bit unsure. “They killed grandpa. And mamma was hurt badly, they cut her neck. Mamma just won’t talk about this time in her life.”, Zoe said with a sad sigh. “How…how bad was she hurt?”, Alec asked not looking up from the photo of Isadora his eyes focused on the scar on her neck. “She survived, but the scarring. It was very very bad. She cannot talk well. I was told she was soft spoken before, but now she cannot even raise her voice.”, Zoe said frowning. Alec mirrored the frown. “So she lost her father, her voice and her love. God I remember her voice. To this day I can’t watch or hear music from Phantom of the Opera without her voice playing in my head as Christine.”, Alec sighed. Zoe looked at him sadly. She didn’t know what her mother sounded like when she could sing truly. She never got to hear it. “Do you believe me now? Will you help me find my father?”, Zoe asked. “I do not need to meet him or even speak to him. I just…want to know who it is. Mother will not say anything about him.”, Zoe pleaded.

Alec frowned and looked away from the picture and to Zoe finally. It was in that moment he actually noticed the lock of white hair and blinked. He didn’t really need to guess, even before seeing the hair, who the father of this child had to be. Isadora had only loved one man in Bayville. “You’ve already seen him”, Alec said and sighed. He walked to his car that was parked out front and unlocked the passenger door opening it for her. “Get in. I won’t discuss this in the open.”, Alec said. He trusted Damon, but he knew Geri was not to be trusted. So talking about anything of Damon’s life before he married Geri in public just didn’t feel safe. After all he trusted Geri as far as he could throw his own car. Zoe blinked and nodded getting into the car. If she was going to let getting into a stranger’s car stop her from finding her dad, she really wasn’t determined enough to see this through. Alec closed the door and casually looked around as he got into the driver’s seat heading for his restaurant and home. “If Izzy didn’t talk much about Bayville, why were you looking for me?”, he questioned. “I found a picture.”, she said pulling the phot from her pocket and showing him. “She told me she stayed at a place, above a restaurant where she worked.”, Zoe shrugged. “I figured you were my father or at the very least knew who was.”, Zoe admitted. Alec glanced over to the photo as he was driving and started to laugh when she suggested he was her father. “I loved your mother, but as one would love their sister.”, Alec explained as he parked. “But yes, your mother did work and rented an apartment from me And more importantly I do know who your father is. Zoe nodded as she pocked the photo. She got out of the car as he parked recognizing the place from pictures and news clippings. “As I explained briefly back at the dojo, if you were there long and watched the sparing mach you saw your dad. That is his dojo.”, Alec explained getting out and unlocking the lower door to the stairs.

Zoe blinked in surprise remembering the man with the dark blue headscarf who’d been sparing him. “Suppose it is good thing I found you then? He would have attacked, and hurt first then asked if I was being truthful?”, Zoe questioned. The man had seemed very focused and dangerous in the sparing match. Alec sighed. “Maybe. Phoenix isn’t generally the type of man who is quick to anger. But Izzy isn’t a subject to just bring up with the man.”, Alec explained “Who told you that mamma died?”, she asked. “I mean she was bad, yes, but the carabinieri came and she got to the hospital. She told them the people attacked her and grandpa after she woke up.”, Zoe explained. “Your father told me.”, Alec said walking inside and holding the door. “Come on. You’ll be safe enough here for now.”, Alex explained yet didn’t explain why she’d need to be kept safe. “Safe?”, she asked stepping inside. “Why am I not safe outside?”, she questioned a little uneasy with this scenario suddenly. Alec sighed. “I know you have little reason o trust someone you don’t know. I mean beyond knowing that I was friends nearly two decades ago with your mother I’m a stranger.”, Alec said closing the door. “Look your dad, he’s married and if his wife catches wind of you we are all dead.”, Alec explained. Zoe blinked a little. “Dead?”, she asked. “I don’t want to..I mean I figured he was married, happy, or maybe dead.”, she said. “I just want to know who he is and see him from a distance. Then I will go home. I mean I didn’t even tell mamma I was leaving.”, Zoe said shaking her head.

Alec sighed. “Come on.”, he said heading up the stairs. He paused outside the door to the apartment that Isadora had once lived. It was empty at the moment. He sighed again and continued to the top floor unlocking his door. “I suppose you’re hungry.”, he commented stepping inside. “There’s just some things you need to understand. And I’ll explain the best I can. But I highly recommend you calling Izzy.”, Alec said. “I don’t have my phone and I mean I need to charge my tablet if I was to try and Skype.”, Zoe said stepping in behind him. She looked around the place was nice and instantly on the walls she recognized her mother’s artwork. All these years later and this man, her mother’s friend kept the paintings displayed. “Pick an outlet. So what’ll you have? I’ve got bread, salad, coffee, wine ready but I can easily cook something.”, He commented looking into his fridge. As she looked around the room she saw some pictures that had her mother in it, including a copy of the one she had. She found and open outlet and connected her tablet to charge before walking to the counter and sitting on a stool. “Salad and just some bread, and wine please.”, Zoe answered. Alec nodded getting out the salad, some dressing, the bread, a bowl for her and then two glasses and the wine. He poured the wine and sighed offering her a glass. “Haven’t had someone to drink wine with since your mother left. Damon, your father, he doesn’t come near the restaurant. Too many memories I suppose.”, Alec explained. Zoe nodded fixing her bowl of salad.

Alec sighed and looked at Zoe, the more he looked at her the more he saw the marrying of the futures of Damon and Isadora. “So you’ve never heard your mother sing? Would you like to?”, Alec offered. Zoe looked up from her salad and raised an eyebrow. “Yes..yes I would.”, Zoe said. Alec set his glass down and went to his living room area and started to dig through his dvd collection and pulled out a homemade dvd and put it in the player. “Come over you bring your food if you like. I have a home movie from when your parents were working on the Phantom of the Opera.” Alec explained. Zoe grabbed her bowl and wine hurrying into the living room sitting on the sofa her interest now peeked. Alec smiled and turned the dvd on. It started with an empty stage at the opera house. Alec remembered that day getting seat in the fourth row and just filming the practice. And then on the stage in their street clothes, Damon wearing a wig, stood Isadora and Damon as they were practicing their performance of the song ‘The Point of No Return’. Alec sat silently smiling and glanced to Zoe as she not only got to hear her parents but see them perform. Zoe was in awe watching them and hearing her mother’s signing voice. She’d yet to place that the man on stage was in fact her father. But there was certainly chemistry between her mother and the man. As they performed Damon kept itching at the wig eventually throwing it aside letting his short white hair free. Alec watched Zoe’s reaction intently. Her eyes widening slightly realizing that man, the one who sang so beautifully with her mother was her father. She looked to Alec briefly her eyes asking what her mouth couldn’t muster. Alec nodded. “That’s him, your dad. Damon Petridis.”, Alec confirmed.

Zoe smiled a little finally getting a name to her father and now having a proper face she was happy. He was a singer like her mother had been. “They sound so amazing…”, she commented. Alec nodded. “Yes they did. I haven’t heard Damon sing since…since we were told that she was dead.”, Alec agreed. The opera house faded out and the next scene of the dvd was the restaurant downstairs. It was packed with people laughing smiling and talking as they ate and drank. “This is the after party from wrapping the final performance.”, Alec explained. People were making faces at the camera shouting greetings into the camera and at Alec who was operating. Many thanking him for letting them have the party at his restaurant. Alec’s voice in the background laughing and telling them they were welcome and asking if anyone had seen Izzy and Damon. No one had so the footage carried on through the crowd till in the back corner sat it focused on Isadora and Damon. Damon had his arm around Isadora’s shoulders and holding her hand with his other hand as he was whispering something into her ear. Isadora smiling biting at her bottom lip a small flush on her face at whatever Damon was whispering. “They look so adorable together….”, Zoe commented. Alec laughed and nodded. “Yes they do.”, Alec agreed. As the camera got closer Damon realized he was on camera and held up a hand to the lens. “Don’t film us Alec.”, Damon said. “Aww Damon you suddenly camera shy?”, Alec’s voice teased. Isadora starting to laugh her soft sweet laugh and Alec joining in. Damon rolled his eyes. “And really if you want privacy you both know where her apartment is.”, Alec commented. Damon joined the laughter now.

But their laughter suddenly stopped as the whole room fell silent hearing a slamming sound at the front of the building. The camera turned pushing through the crowd and standing in the doorway of the restaurant was a red haired woman who looked to be emitting fire. “PHOENIX!”, the woman shouted her Australian accent very present in each syllable. Zoe blinked at the sudden appearance of the woman. She watched as Damon pushed past the camera and grabbed the fiery woman by her arms the flames not harming him. “Hotshot you should not be here. You need to leave now. Go back to the others.”, Damon said his voice stern and more like an order. Damon glanced over his shoulder and saw the camera. “Turn it off Alec.”, Damon ordered. The video went black and Alec turned off the dvd. “That’s…that’s his wife isn’t it?”, Zoe asked. “Well she wasn’t back then, but yes. They’d been something to each other before he met your mother. But once he set his eyes on Isadora he got tunnel vision and no one else existed. Geri hated your mother for that.”, Alec explained. “And she’s who I’m hiding from…”, Zoe said with a sigh. Alec nodded. “Geri is a danger and unstable woman and that’s not even factoring in her powers. She knew how much your dad loved, hell loves your mom, and if she finds out about you, you will be in danger.”, Alec explained. Zoe sighed. “Well I guess I can go home then. I came, I’ve seen him and I’ve learned who he is. I’ll call momma tell her where I am and that I’ll be back very soon depending on getting a sooner return ticket.”, Zoe said with a sigh. She didn’t want to upset her father’s marriage. It wasn’t her place to come in and ruin a marriage.

Alec sighed. “You are Izzy’s daughter. So just like when she came here, you are going to run upon seeing he’s married. Never approach him, never tell him the truth.”, Alec said shaking his head. “I don’t want to ruin his marriage. I’d expected he was probably happily married with children or maybe dead. I can’t just walk up and say I’m his daughter to a woman he thought was dead but really is alive. I can’t ruin the happiness of so many.”, Zoe said shaking her head. “Married, yes. Children yes. Happy? No.”, Alec said. Zoe raised an eyebrow. “He misses your mom every day. You saw the name of his dojo, Fenice Dojo. You know what that means in Italian.”, Alec tried to explain. Zoe folded her arms. “Yes. What his ‘wife’ called him in the video.”, Zoe said. “Right Phoenix. Which was his codename in the mutant community even before he knew your mother. But Fenice, that was what your mother called him. That was her pet name for him.”, Alec explained. Zoe blinked nodding a little. “Momma always calls me her uccellino (little bird)…”, Zoe said softly. “You also saw the blue scarf he wore at the dojo to hide his hair.”, Alec added. Zoe nodded thinking to the dark blue scarf that looked rather old. “It was your mother’s. When she had to leave the country that was left behind. He wears it every day at the dojo. So you see my point? He needs to know she’s alive, he needs to know about you.”, Alec explained. Zoe nodded. “Alright well when you do see him again?”, Zoe asked. “In two days, but that’s at the dojo. You can’t go there, it wouldn’t be safe. No we’ll arrange a meeting at the Haven.”, Alec concluded.

“The Haven?”, Zoe questioned. “It’s a mutant safe house. It’s neutral territory and all mutants respect it’s rules. So it’s a safe place to meet him where Geri can’t find out and even if she doesn’t can’t harm you.”, Alec explained. “Well I guess I should see about finding a cheap hotel to stay in.”, Zoe concluded. “That wouldn’t really be too safe. You can stay in the apartment downstairs. It was your mother’s old apartment and currently empty. But there is still some furniture including a bed.”, Alec offered standing up. “And that way I know you’ll be safe. I don’t really trust the humans or some of the mutants in this town. They get antsy around strangers. The humans always wonder if the person is a mutant who will hurt them. And then the Academy, well they have a little group that like to call themselves the ‘welcoming committee’. Mutant or human they aren’t exactly nice to new people. And I don’t want you running into them. No need for you to get into a fight, especially given the circumstances.”, Alec explained. “I’m all for free place to stay. What do you mean by the circumstances? I can handle myself just trunk people to stone. It’s only temporary anyways.”, Zoe questioned. Alec sighed. “Your brother Alexander is part of that ‘welcoming committee’. You going to turn him to stone? Plus well you two could be twins except you got your mother’s eyes and he has your father’s. The resemblance would give you away too quickly.”, Alec explained. Zoe frowned. “Well I’m not going to just hide. I’ll keep my hair covered and stay out of trouble as best I can. I want to see Bayville after all.”, Zoe said sternly sounding a bit like her father.

Alec laughed a little. “Yup you are a Petridis. Now call you mother.”, Alec said tossing his phone to her. Zoe caught it and looked at it before looking at him. “Do you think maybe you could talk to her first? She might be less upset that way.”, Zoe asked. Alec sighed and nodded. “Alright I’ll talk to her. But I can’t guarantee it’ll make her less mad.”, Alec agreed sitting down again on the sofa. Zoe nodded and dialed the number having t memorized and handed him the phone. Alec took a deep breath taking the phone and listening to the ringing. He was thinking about what time it was over in Italy at the moment. Since waking up the day Zoe had left Isadora had slept very little and was more worried when she realized Zoe’s phone was sitting on the kitchen counter. So when a number came up on the caller id with a New York area code she quickly picked up. “Ciao? Zoe? Sei tu? Si prega di essere tu , il mio piccolo uccello. (Hello? Zoe? Is that you? Please be you, my little bird.)”, Isadora’s soft voice answered her voice worried and fearful. Alec took a breath holding back tears hearing her voice after so many years. “Izzy? Sono io, Alec. E ' Alec D'Amour. Zoe è qui con me. (Izzy? It's me, Alec. It's Alec D'Amour. Zoe is here with me.)”, Alec answered his voice a little shaky. “Alec? Aspetta che sia in Bayville? Perché è lì? Perché è lei con te? (Alec? Wait she's in Bayville? Why is she there? Why is she with you?)”, she questioned. “Sì , Bayville. È venuta a cercarlo Izzy. Per suo padre. Ombra aveva trovato una foto di voi e I. Così lei è venuto da me per le risposte. Dio non posso credere che questo è vero. Ci hanno detto che sei morto. (Yes, Bayville. She came looking for him Izzy. For her father. Shade had found a picture of you and I. So she came to me for answers. God I can't believe this is real. We were told you died.)”, Alec answered.

Isadora blinked and covered her mouth. Dead? “I...oh, Alec. Alec my dearest friend.” She whispered, though it was hard to tell from her now normal speaking voice. “I should have called. I ran. I ran so very much and thought everything was over.” She slumped onto her couch, crying in relief that her daughter was fine but so angry that she had done this. “Fen…Damon. He is married now. I did not want her to see that.”, Isadora explained. “Yes, yes you should have called Izzy. We were so terribly worried. And then to get a death certificate saying you’d died. I mean we buried a small box of your things. We mourned you. He still mourns you.”, Alec sighed. “Death certificate?”, she asked. “I was attacked yes, but never declared dead.”, she closed her eyes. “But he got married. I couldn’t just show up and ruin a marriage especially with a child involved. And we had said our goodbyes when I came to Italy when he told me to run before things got worse there.”, she sighed. “You said temporary goodbyes. We both know he’d planned to follow you when he got his people taken care of. And ruin what? Ruin that cagna’s (bitch’s) hold on him? That manipulative cagna’s plan?”, Alex questioned. “I knew that he had loved me but he had feelings for Geri too. He’d been torn between us, Alec. When I saw him with her and their baby…I knew he’d made a difficult choice and I would not make that choice any more difficult.”, she said shaking her head. “So I had to sit by for the last eighteen years biting my tongue at his obvious unhappiness in the marriage. Because he is my friend and as we’d been told you had died. It was painful choice for him only because he was mourning you and she manipulated the situation. Now Zoe shows up after all this time. You know what the first born Petridis means just as I do if not better.”, Alex stressed.

“But she’s a girl.” Isadora said simply. “Maybe it is the first born boy..”, she offered as an option. “Wait what about first born Petridis?”, Zoe asked confused looking at Alec. “No one knows if gender matters. Zoe is the first girl to be born. Though she doesn’t have the powers but who knows if that really means anything.”, Alec countered ignoring Zoe’s question. Isadora exhaled. “I..I knew you two knew where to contact me. My café is still open. I thought for years you did not want to speak to me. But you given that you thought I was dead.”, she said. “Yes, we knew. He sent a detective there while he was settling his people into their new alignment. He was waiting for the detective to deliver his message and then he was moving to you. I know that because I loaned him the money to do it. But then the detective came back with that death certificate…”, Alec explained. Isadora covered her mouth, unable to keep from crying as she listened. “Fenice…oh my fenice..”, she whispered. “Wh..when did he send this man?”, she questioned. “The summer of 2008. Things had started to settle here. He was aligning his people with the Acolytes. But he knew that if he directly reached out to you the backlash from his people if they learned he planned to leave so soon would be deadly, especially her.”, Alec answered. “Summer…”, she said softly thinking. “Oh Alec…I was attacked that summer.”, Isadora said realizing the correlation in timelines. “Yes we know. The date on the certificate was not even a week before the detective left Bayville.”, Alec explained. “I…”, she shook her head a little. “I visited after the attacked. I waited till I was healed more and my speech was not so impaired and Zoe was old enough that I could leave her in the care of someone else.”, she said rubbing at the scar on her throat. “I know Izzy. Zoe showed me the ticket stubs. You were too late to stop Geri’s plan. I had wanted to scream and shout at him when he said he was marrying her and even more when they asked reasons they shouldn’t be married during the ceremony. But you were dead and my reason was gone. So I stayed silent. I refused to sign the license though, to bare legal witness to the train wreck of a marriage I knew it would be. So Aries ended up signing it. And then Alexander was born and it was downhill from there.”, he said shaking his head.

Isadora sighed and tried to keep quiet, but sobbed softly. “My Fenice, Alec is he happy? Please tell me he is.”, she pleaded. “To be honest, Izzy. No. He lives only for his children. But his marriage has been rocking from the start. The children and having no better reason to leave are why he stays.”, Alec said bluntly. “My Fenice, oh if only I had..had not hide. This is my fault.”, Isadora cried. “No. He won’t see this as your fault. He’ll see this as that detective’s fault. Giving falsified documents to him.”, Alec said. “But if I had just gone to see him, or even sent a letter.”, she closed her eyes. “I have made such a painful mistake.”, she cried. “He’ll understand Izzy. It’s Damon after all. You might think this is a bad idea. But I’m going to arrange for them to meet in a safe place. He deserves to know you are alive and that he has a daughter. It’ll then be in his hands what he does. I just will be thankful I am not that detective when he finds out.”, Alex explained. “No, I agree with you. Damon needs to know the truth. If I had just known..”, she sighed. “Damon did not even come to see a grave?”, she questioned. “He avoids anything that reminds him of you. He won’t come to the restaurant. He will drive a mile out of his way to avoid the opera house. Some things are just too painful. So a real grave would be too much. For either of us. He couldn’t give you up that much.”, Alec answered. “He..he doesn’t do plays anymore?”, she asked. “Oh no. The world deserves that voice.”, she sighed. “He hasn’t sang since the day you left. He locked away anything that would remind him too much of you. He wears your dark blue scarf daily though. And even named his dojo Fenice Dojo.”, Alec explained. “But signing, it made him so happy. If I had only known.”, she closed her eyes. “Please, please he has to know I am alive.”, Isadora concluded. “I’m going to set up a meeting at the Haven for them. I don’t know what he’ll do or how he’ll react to being told. But at least he will know the truth.”, Alec agreed.

“Thank you Alec. May I speak with Zoe now?”, Isadroa asked. “You’re welcome. You know I’d do anything for you Izzy. Now here’s your daughter.”, Alec said handing the phone to Zoe. With the phone no longer in his hands he didn’t need to maintain his composure. He sank into his couch and covered his face with his hands. He didn’t care or think twice about the tears falling from his blue eyes. He was just so happy that his friend was alive. Zoe took the phone and winced as Isadora starting yelling, as best as she could. Zoe sighed and went into her lengthy explanation of what had happened. How she’d done all the research and saved for years to come find her father. About how she’d seen him at the dojo and watched a home movie Alec had of the two of them. Once the conversation was over she hung up sitting next to him on the couch and hugged him thinking he needed it. Alec sighed. “I can’t’ believe she’s alive and I just..I just talked to her. God when Damon gets told. I almost pity the detective and what will become of him…almost.”, Alec said in shock. “Maybe it isn’t his fault?”, she suggested. “Maybe he thought it was real?”, she added. “Maybe. But if I know your dad as I believe I do, it won’t matter. Your dad will get his answers however necessary.”, Alec said not really thinking about how that wording could come off. Zoe frowned. “Is padre a bad man?”, she questioned. Alec brought his hands from his face and just started to laugh. “Define bad. Your dad is a healer. He just also happens to be a very skilled warrior.”, Alec said still laughing a little. “Does he hurt people that do not need to be hurt?”, she asked “The FOH are bad, but mutants can be just as bad too.”, she pointed out.

Alec sighed and looked at her. “That I can’t say. He follows his orders from Azazel, and previously from Wanda. But generally the people I know he’s harmed have been FOH scrum. He’s who his group call in for interrogations.”, Alec answered. She sighed softly. “So…maybe he’s not the same man mamma knew?” “No he’s still the same man. He was that man back then too. Though back then he was the leader of his group. Before everything went to shit and he had to merge his group with others to maintain the safety of his people.”, he answered. Zoe sighed again. “I think it is time I sleep.”, she said pinching the bridge of her nose. Alec nodded and patted the top of her head. “Go get some sleep. I’ll make calls in the morning about getting the meeting arranged. Just stay out of trouble till the meeting.”, he said digging in his pocket taking out a set of keys and handing them to her. “Red key is the dead bolt to the lower apartment, blue is the regular lock and the purple is the lock to the stairs outside. I’ll be up here till around 5 in the morning then I’ll be down in the kitchen getting bread and pasta made for the restaurant.”, Alec explained. Zoe nodded and hugged him again. “Thank you Alec.”, she said standing up. “You’re welcome. Buonanotte, Zoe.”, Alec said yawning. “Buonanotte.”, Zoe said leaving his apartment and heading down to the lower apartment letting herself in. She found her way to the bedroom that still had a bed in it and mostly just collapsed too tired to care.

The next day while Alec was busy with his business Zoe put on her black bandana to hide her white hair and changed into clean clothes before deciding to go explore Bayville. Her first stop was trying the opera house. She just wanted to see it, to walked upon the same steps both her parents had back in their day. She found it to be small, but for the town it was in it was certainly good sized and well furnished. She otherwise mostly wandered the town trying to learn her way. This was really the first time she’d been anyone beyond Florence. In Florence she knew where everything was and possibly could walk most places blindfolded if not for other pedestrians. As she wandered she thought about her parents. Wonder where in Bayville they first met. How they’d met. What they’d thought of each other. How they came to fall in love. Perhaps this very street she was walking down they’d once walked together. She worried what her father would think of her. Would he believe what she said to be true. Would he even want to see her. Perhaps Alec was wrong and he was happy in his marriage. After all she apparently had siblings. But of course it doesn’t require love to make a baby just to urge to have sex with someone. She there were people that she herself could say were attractive but she couldn’t stand them as people.

She sighed as she rounded and corner suddenly realizing where she was. Somehow she’d found her way to Fenice Dojo. There wasn’t really a crowd outside this afternoon watching. So she carefully approached and looked inside. Sitting in a line were two girls with raven black hair, one being much taller than the other and a guy with black hair as well just a bit taller than the taller girl. In the middle of the room she saw her father, the same blue scarf wrapped around his head hiding his white hair. She smiled a little remembering how Alec told her that the scarf was once her mothers and he wore it to remember her. Oh the surprise her father was in for once Alec had gotten the meeting arranged. She watched as he moved forward and was sparing with a young man. She blinked her eyes going wide as she saw the uncovered white hair of the man. She looked between the two and saw the strong resemblance. She smiled soft looking at him. This had to be her brother, Alexander was what Alec had called him. As she looked at him sparing against their father she could tell what Alec meant. Other than the shade of blue that their eyes were and obviously being different genders they could be twins. She watched intently not noticing that the three other pupils inside had saw her. Talia, her inducer watch active since they were in public turned her gaze and glared at the girl seeing her looking directly at Alex. Her inducer hide the flicking motion of her tail in agitation. She nudged Artemis who in turn nudged Apollo. The three quietly rose, neither of the Petridis men even noticed as they were too busy with their match. Zoe also didn’t notice that the three had risen and went around the back.

It was when she noticed shadows over her shoulder and a reflection of a very large man behind her that she realized they’d moved. “Enjoying the show?”, Talia hissed. “Um..Non parlo inglese. (I don’t speak English)”, was Zoe’s immediate response. She had been warned about a welcoming committee and that her brother was part of it. So it dawned on her that perhaps these three were part of that. And given how they were glaring and standing she was accurate. “Bullshit.”, Artemis declared. “I say we welcome the fresh meat to Bayville.”, Apollo suggested. “That actually sounds like a good idea Apollo.”, Talia said moving to step closer. Zoe started to step away, slowly at first and then spun on her heels and set in a dead run. She of course had no clue where she was running to. She didn’t know her way around the town enough for that. She knew how to get from the Dojo to the restaurant having remembered the drive with Alec from last night. But she didn’t want to bring these three to the restaurant. So she just ran and the three were hot on her heels. She went to take a turn but she found herself running in the barreled chest of the man called Apollo. She wasn’t sure how he’d gotten ahead of her, unaware that he’d taken a risk and grew his wings to fly ahead to cut her off. She spun to get away and ducked down what she hoped was a connecting alley but realized it was a dead end. And there the three of them were approaching her. “Aw she’s shy. Let’s make her feel welcome and show her our true selves.”, Talia hissed. The twins nodded in agreement. Talia hitting the button on her watch and her disguise disappearing and showing her true blue demonic form. The twins’ changed growing in height their wings sprouting and becoming their true gargoyle selves. “Now come here then…try to play nice and you’ll get hurt much less.”, Apollo taunted stepping forward trying to grab Zoe one hand reaching for her head his claw nearly pulling her bandana off. “Lasciami andare! (Let me go!)”, Zoe yelled glaring up at him. And in the instant she made eye contact Apollo became a stone gargoyle. Artemis and Talia stayed back a bit wary of the girl now, but both knew she had no where she could run.