La la la la la" an angelic voice sings.
In a secluded area of the small town, lies a secret garden, full of flowers and other delicate flora. Standing in the center of this garden is a fountain, and sitting on the side of it is Nightingale. A young man whose hair is black as the night sky and skin is pale as ivory. He also has a voice which is beautiful and angelic, but can't use it when he is around his mother. She hates all kinds of music, especially from the voice of Nightingale. As a matter of fact, here she comes now, yelling in a rat like voice for her son.
"Nightingale! Nightingale! Where are you?!!!" She yelled.
She continued to do this until she spotted Nightingale sitting on a lone bench in their secret garden. This garden may be surrounded by age old stone, overtaken by vines and flora alike. Yet in this corner of the world, the inside could even top that of the Garden of Babylon. With its specks of gold and lavender across the lower flowers, its intricate blues and greens high into the leaves of the trees, its diverse yet simple splashes of color onto the wall and floor, and it's natural arch created out of vines and different flora. Some say this arch was made by a celestial being as a testament, for their human lover fell from the graces of those above and their life gave birth to the beauty that is this garden.
As always, these are just whispers and gossip, for if such a thing was true -
These thoughts were broken by a screech, from none other than Nightingale's mother.
"I swear, I will tear this garden down if I can't find you one more time! Now come on or we will be late!" She yelled with the same rat-like voice, just angrier.
" As if you don't swear enough already" Nightingale whispered.
"What did I just hear" his mother yelled.
"Nothing, nothing, I'm coming" Nightingale said.
"Finally, now come on or we will miss the arrival of the Duke Median" she said while hurrying with a death like grip on Nightingale's arm towards the town square.
A few moments later, they reach the town square just before the carriage stops. When they join the crowd of familiar faces, Nightingale's mother lets go of his arm and clasps her hands together in anticipation for the duke. Nightingale just says his hellos to the town folk and waits to see the duke.
What came next was unexpected entirely to everyone.
When the carriage stops and the footman opens the door. Out comes the middle aged duke with jet black hair and nice noble clothes in a turquoise color that compliment his eyes. He says, "It is a pleasure to be here today to meet you fine people ... and as a surprise for my son's 17 birthday, I have brought him with me."
A collective gasp come from the townsfolk, which includes Nightingale, when they see the duke's son. A young man comes out of the carriage with brown hair and red noble clothes that compliment his blue eyes, same as his dad. He says, " Hello, my name is Alexander, and it is my greatest pleasure to meet you kind folk today."
When Nightingale and Alexander's eyes meet, Alexander pauses for a moment, he thinks "No, it can't be him, he died, but his face is almost identical to this man."
Within a few seconds of awkward silence, the Duke speaks again, saying "Well, my son is very new to this, so we will see you all during the festival tonight in honor of her majesty."
With that, the Duke got his son's attention and walked with him to their house, which is not that far away from the center of town. When what felt like minutes pass, Nightingale finally regains his senses and claps along with the other town folk in thanks to the Duke and his son. Hours pass and the festival of Her Majesty comes close to beginning, Nightingale's mother never attended these festivals and he never knew why. So he never questioned it, and as the beginning drew nearer, the Duke sat with his son and spoke to him about his behavior during their entrance. He asked, "Alexander, my boy, what came over you this morning? Why did you pause for what felt like eternity?"
Alexander responded with, "If I tell you, than you have to hear me out, it might sound crazy at first, but please."
His father said, "You're starting to scare me, but ok, I'll hear you out."
"Thank you, now, do you remember the queen's heir?" Alexander asked.
"Yes, of course I do, everyone does, he has a painting in the main hall of the castle" His father answered.
"Good, because I think I just found him," Alexander stated.
The Duke spit out his drink and said, " What? Son, you do know he's dead right, and if he somehow is alive, he could be anywhere?"
"I know, I know, it's just that, I swear I saw the same face of the heir on that young man during our entrance" Alexander said.
"If what you say is true, then we must get to him without his guardian knowing, for it could be his capturer" said his father.
"We could do it during the festival, at the last dance, I'll find him and ask him, then I could bring him to you when I am done so you can certify that it's actually him" Alexander pleaded.
" Fine, but do it discreetly, and if you are right, then we leave right after the festival" his father stated.
"Yes, father" Alexander said with a look of determination on his face.
With that, the Duke and his son get ready for the festival, just like Nightingale is doing at his mother's house. When the time comes, the festivities start and the festival is in full swing. The town square is filled to the brim with decorations like, a band of musicians from the neighboring town, a set of tables filled with delicacies and hors d'oeuvres, and the flowers were beautiful as they were posted around the center fountain. Town folk are dancing and the musicians are playing while the children sit and eat all the delicious sweets.
However, off in a corner table was Nightingale, sitting alone as he always did. For no matter how kind and helpful he was to the town folk, they resented him for reasons unknown. As the night went on, so did the festival and it's participants, a grand time was upon the town folk. In addition, the Duke and his son were enjoying the festivities as well, but when the last dance was announced and everyone found a partner. Alexander did as he promised and went up to Nightingale and asked, "May I have this dance, for I have seen that you have been sitting here all alone, and that is no place for a gentleman as handsome as yourself."
"Oh, before I answer, may I ask who you are?" Nightingale asked, already knowing the answer.
With a chuckle Alexander answered with, "My name is Alexander Abele, the son of Luca Abele."
Nightingale smiles as he says, "Well with that sort of title how could I say no."
"So ... is that a yes?" Asks Alexander
"That is a definite yes" Nightingale says as he grabs Alexander's hand and leads him to the makeshift dance floor.
As the two young men start dancing, the Duke is sitting at a grand table just for him and his son. He looks at his son and gives a knowing smile, but when he turns to look at his sons's dancing parter. He pales to the point of looking like marble, he finally sees it, he sees that face, he sees the face of the young heir that was stolen 17 years ago. After the Duke calms down and realization hits him, he stands up and goes to his personal footman.
"Harry, ready the carriage, we leave right after the festival" says the Duke.
"Why?" Asks Harry the footman.
"I have found some very interesting information that the queen must hear as soon as possible" The Duke says.
"Oh, well then I will be as fast as possible" says Harry.
"Gods speed Harry, gods speed" the Duke leaves with that.
As the night continues on, so do the rest of the town folk, as well as Nightingale and Alexander. As they dance together, they look in each other's eyes and anyone who saw would say it was something truly magical. As the festival winds down, Alexander asks Nightingale if he wants to meet his father. After some hesitation and reassurance from Alexander, Nightingale finally agrees. When they get to the Duke's table, Alexander introduces Nightingale to his father and vice versa.
The Duke asks Nightingale, "So ... do you have any family here?"
"Yes, I have my mother, she doesn't like going outside so I usually do the shopping, but it means I can go to these events without her following my every move" Nightingale says.
"And does your mother have a name?" Asks the Duke.
"Yes, my mother's name is Maria" says Nightingale.
Alexander breaks in with, "Not Maria La Rasputina, right."
"That's actually spot on, good guess" says Nightingale a little confused on how Alexander knew his mother's name.
Both the Duke and Alexander have pale faces, they stop laughing and look at each other with scared eyes. No one speaks for a few minutes until Nightingale says, "What's going on here? How do you know my mother's name?"
The Duke is the first to respond, "Your mother is not who she says she is, I'm still surprised she's been hiding here all this time."
"What are you talking about, your starting to scare me" says Nightingale with a look of growing fear in his eyes.
"My father is telling the truth, Maria De Rasputina is not your mother, she is your capturer. She stole you when you were a few months old from your real mother. Doesn't it seem odd that she watches your every move, that she never shows her face?" Says Alexander.
"But ... how can I be certain that you are speaking the truth?" Asks Nightingale.
"If you come with us to Apathia, we can prove it to you, you just can't tell anyone, especially Maria" pleads the Duke.
"I ... I ... ok, I'll go with you, just let me do one quick thing before I leave forever, please" says Nightingale with tears in his eyes.
"Ok, we will wait for you in the carriage, just hurry, we have no time to lose" says Alexander.
With that, the Duke and Alexander head into the carriage and wait for Nightingale to come back. Nightingale hurries as fast as his feet will let him to his house, where he opens the door as silently as possible, goes up to this room, grabs the only thing of any real importance to him and hurried outside as fast as possible. The only thing he didn't notice was that his "mother" was looking out the window this entire time. As he enters the carriage, the footman starts the horses and when they ride off into the night.
His "mother" screams at the top of her lungs, "NIGHTINGALE!!!"