The Return of the Colorful
You probably think that you are the first one who realized that the current system is driving us all into the abyss. I want to disappoint you, it all started not with you, not even a generation before you, and not even with your parents' parents. Many tried to change the situation, but, as you can see, to no avail.
From birth, the three of us stood out from a large group of our peers. In addition to the fact that our parents were friends and we had to spend a lot of time together, besides the fact that there were many objective reasons for our friendship, there was something else invisible and inexplicable that connected us. Together, we learned to walk, distinguish between good and evil, and of course, resolved to change the world.
On her fifteenth birthday, as a gift, Nicki asked us to swear that we would never be ordinary. Oh, how incredible your mother was, my dear Fia. The real leader of our little gang, or rather the captain of our pirate team.
Then Markus wanted to join our group. Your father, my dear Fia, at first was not interested in anything but Nicki. We knew she liked him too and welcomed him to the group with open arms.
Time passed, and we did not even notice how childish determination dissipated and our rebellion turned into simple conversations. Marcus graduated from college and continued his studies at the military academy. It was as if everything was ending, as if our group was disintegrating, as if we were becoming gray, ordinary people, and at this decisive moment in our lives, Didi appeared.
The three of us were twenty at the time, Marcus was twenty-four, and Didi was seventeen. In our world, where mediocrity was the most natural condition, Didi stood out to absolutely everyone. She was the smartest, the most cheerful, the most purposeful, the most reckless, in general, the most. So, that fall, seventeen-year-old Didi entered our course. From the first day, as before, in childhood, we felt the power of attraction to each other. Of course, Val also felt a different kind of attraction. Sorry, I'm giving too many details.
His Holiness sighed heavily and handed me an empty glass. He looked at us intently, realized how much we were carried away by his story, and continued:
In short, Didi's arrival breathed new life into our group. We decided to move on to real work and started gathering friends. Soon there were about two hundred people in the group. These two hundred were the children of the most distinguished families in this country. Today they hold the highest positions in all spheres of the government of the republic. If they had remained true to our ideals, you probably would not have to do what you are about to do. Unfortunately, as at most turning points in our history, there were traitors in our midst. Then we did not know anything about betrayal and considered the following events to be random. Markus was transferred from the Ministry of Defense to the position of commander of a combat unit. He left his newborn daughter and wife to the care of friends and went to war. A week later, Markus was killed during an artillery attack. Just on the day of Marcus's funeral, I received a very honorable appointment, in one of the provinces of the republic. I had to leave the capital and my friends.
I want you to understand how a system that no one likes persists to this day. For some reason, when one vibrant person becomes dull, they usually influence those closest to them, and the cycle continues until all the vibrant people are either dulled or destroyed. This is exactly what happened in our group, and it broke up by itself. Five years later, a new misfortune befell us, we learned about Nicki's illness. She convinced Fia's grandfather, he was then the head of the academy, that she wanted to spend the last months of her life surrounded by childhood friends, I was promoted and transferred to the capital. Our little gang was back together.
It seemed to His Holiness that each subsequent word was growing harder to say. It was clear that he simply couldn't tell about the death of Fia’s mother. I had to do something to give him time. I couldn't think of anything else, I went up and hugged him. I hugged him as I hugged him a long time ago, when I still called him Uncle Max.
“David!” I called the butler.
“Yes, Mr. Ace,” how funny was this old man, "Mr. Ace."
“I know it's very late, but we haven't eaten anything yet. Is it possible to arrange something easy?”
“Of course, Mr. Ace. Where would you like to eat?”
“In the dining room, David. In the dining room.”
“Everything will be ready in a minute” David quickly went to give orders.
“Let's go to the dining room and have a little snack” Offered to the completely weary ones. Neither of us was hungry, but the chance to rest a bit before continuing with the weighty storytelling was an appealing prospect.
In the presence of the servants, the conversation naturally turned to distant topics. A few minutes of rest allowed His Holiness to regain his composure, and when in the room, from the servants, only David remained, he continued:
Nicki knew that her father would not be able to properly raise Fia and asked Didi and Val to take care of her daughter. As always, Nicki had a deeper and more comprehensive plan. She made us promise that Fia would grow up to be a free colorfull woman. Of course, we made such a promise. Nicki's idea was great. She knew that none of us would break their word. At the same time, it is impossible to raise only Fia as a free person. In order to fulfill the promise, we had to take back our freedom and we had to raise our children in freedom, I think we succeeded. For almost ten years everything went perfectly. We also grew up with you and were proud of how beautiful, free and bright you were. At some point, we let our guard down, and our difference from the rest became too obvious.
The retaliation came swiftly in the form of that terrible car accident. There was that terrible car accident. I don’t know how many days have passed since the funeral, Val and I didn't go out anywhere these days, we drank continuously. That bastard, Cardinal Demetrius, came to us, along with the Assistant Prefect of Security and the Assistant Consul. He told us everything directly - why this tragedy happened and why the "Republic" decided to kill Didi. Then we learned a lot about our "friends" and the republic. Demetrius announced to us that our rebellion is over, that we still have someone to lose, that we are idiots because we did not understand how to behave after the death of Marcus in the so-called bombing, and if we do not want one or all three of you to become victims of the next „car accident“, Val must distance himself from Ace as much as possible, Fia must move in with her grandfather, Val and I must return to „normality“. We had no other choice, and we agreed to all the terms. When he realized that he crushed us, he decided to finish us off, he demanded to become your mentor, Ace. In a word, we retreated into the shadows, hoping that it was no longer possible to break you, and that grain of freedom that was already in you would blossom even surrounded by the poisonous spikes of Demetrius.
You briefly broke up with each other. Then at the college, Fia and Ace became close again. Fia's decision to go to the Security Prefecture was shocking, to be honest, but we knew it would work in your favor in the end. Then my daughter and Val's son got close, we were happy about it, we laughed at how awkward you hide the relationship, then we laughed at how you pointlessly showed what was hidden a few months ago. You thought you were putting us in an awkward position, but we were happy. When you created your discussion club, we laughed for a long time and talked about the fact that everything repeats itself. We wanted to somehow get Fia back into your orbit. We knew for sure that Nicki's daughter could not become a traitor, and the story with your club would only push her in the right direction. If you knew how much effort was spent, so that it would seem to Fia that she herself went on the trail of your club. But enough, it's time to call the guests.
