"I see you brought me those sexy women magazines I asked for, Xiuhcoatl,"
I said as I looked him up and down. "But from the look on your face, I can tell you have something else on your mind?"
With his usual sarcasm, he scoffed,
"Yeah, I brought them, you dirty old man. Still don't get why I waste my time delivering these damn magazines every two weeks just to satisfy your disgusting cravings."
"But what's really bugging me… is how your granddaughter—Miss Fancy Hairdo—has that special bond with this 'Índigo' guy, now known as the Technopathic Autist. I mean, you trained him to help her beat Trump, right?"
He tossed the magazines onto my table and scratched his serpent chin. I struck my cane against the ground, trying to suppress my less-than-pure urges, and answered,
"It's just a vice I can't shake off."
"As for your question… it's a long story. The bond between my granddaughter and that almost-shredded apprentice of mine goes way back—to the day they were born."
As I began to explain, Xiuhcoatl rested his snake jaw on his hand again and muttered,
"Figures, explains why they're so close… but I'm still not buying it. I want the full story, old man!"
"And I want a tequila."
He slammed his fangs into my table, pissed off and demanding answers. I sighed and said,
"Alright, alright. I'll tell you everything. But only if you pour me a tequila too."
"And don't act like you weren't just as grumpy back when you served the Aztec gods."
After a begrudging sip of tequila from each of us, I began to tell him the story that had been weighing on me for years.
"It all started two months after Jolie was born," I said, my tone shifting as I remembered.
"My daughter and son-in-law brought her over so I could watch her. They didn't even tell me I was a grandfather, the bastards. But when I had her in my ritual chamber, I noticed something... a mysterious, invisible thread tied to her tiny hand—something divine, woven by the Aztec gods."
"I stared into the water to trace the thread's other end... and what I saw shocked me. It was connected to a newborn boy in Cartago, Costa Rica. His name was Índigo Vicente Pereira Adame."
"I couldn't believe it. Later that night, after my daughter took Jolie home, I had a vision—of teenage Jolie bringing that same boy, also a teen, to my house so I could train him to defeat Trump."
"But as usual, I ignored the vision. Still, I had a feeling—those two were destined to find each other."
"Ever since they were little, both of them felt like they were missing something. Searching for someone. They even felt each other's pain... like the day my son-in-law's sister died. A criminal gang shot her through the heart before she could escape. Jolie was just a child, but she witnessed it. The poor girl tried to be strong, but at the funeral, she couldn't hold back her tears."
[Flashback begins]
"Jolie, sweetie, I know it hurts to lose your Aunt Jenell... but you have to calm down and accept that she's gone."
I placed my hand gently on her back, trying to comfort her. But she looked up at me and screamed,
"How do you want me to calm down, Grandpa?! I lost my favorite aunt! I don't know if I'll ever be strong like she wanted me to be before she went to Heaven!"
Tears streamed down her face. I tried to hold mine in.
"Then let me help you," I told her. "Let me train you. I'll teach you to be strong like she wanted you to be."
"Even if I'm still recovering from that fight I had a year ago with a certain orange gringo..."
She smiled a little.
"Thanks, Grandpa... you're way more helpful than Grandma," she said with a little chuckle, wiping her eyes.
"I still have this purple hair tie she gave me. I'm gonna wear it in a bun for her. I want to stop people from getting hurt... just like she did."
With resolve in her eyes, she tied up her hair into her now-iconic circular bun.
Meanwhile, in Costa Rica — Llanos de Santa Lucía...
"Hey, what's wrong with you, Índigo? Just a second ago, you were crying like a little girl, and now you're busting out martial arts poses?"
Joshua, his friend, looked at him, confused.
"I don't know, man. I suddenly felt like crying, then I just started doing that pose," Índigo replied.
"It's like… I'm connected to something. Something I've been searching for the last two years. But maybe it's nothing."
Joshua frowned.
"Yeah, you've been acting weird lately. Like, daily weird."
Back to the past—I kept training my granddaughter. I taught her Northern Shaolin Kung Fu, which took her eight months to master, and Taekwondo, which she got the hang of in about five months. Though at first, she was terrible, six months later she had it down.
I also taught her how to cook traditional Mexican dishes, though she wasn't so great at making the more complex ones.
After each training session, she'd chill out watching The Powerpuff Girls and Sailor Moon on TV Azteca. Around then, I forged her an Aztec choker, enchanted to help unlock her chi when the time was right.
She also got into acrobatic dancing and painting her feelings like Frida Kahlo.
Time passed. Three years later, Índigo lost his grandmother and uncle to the Trinaranuvirus in July 2021, when he was just thirteen. Being autistic, he struggled to process the grief.
Then, when the day came for him to get his first dose of the vaccine, he looked up at his grandfather and said,
"I can't believe I'm getting vaccinated, Grandpa. I don't want to die like they did."
"It's hard to understand… because of my Asperger's."
His grandfather placed a hand on his shoulder and replied,
"I know it's tough. But you have to accept it, even if it hurts. They're watching over you now, from Heaven."
"Get vaccinated, kiddo. Do it with confidence."
"Okay, I will… even if it messes me up a little," Índigo said with a small smile, rising from the chair.
Meanwhile, Jolie felt something too.
During a video call, her friend blurted out,
"Jolie, what the hell?! First you were all sad, and now you're posing like a Ginyu Force reject, spouting nonsense like that clown Peña Nieto!"
Confused, Jolie replied,
"I don't get it either, Mari. I'm not bipolar or anything, I swear. It's like I was feeling someone else's emotions—while still being me."
"But forget it, let's go back to talking about how weird the name changes were in the Sailor Moon Crystal dub."
She adjusted herself, dismissing the odd feeling. Her friend sighed,
"Okay, but ever since you turned thirteen, you've been acting strange… like you're looking for something—or someone."
But that bond they shared never really faded.
I could mention the day Indigo unlocked his chi—one year later, when he turned 15. That same day, Jolie started experiencing similar sensations during her P.E. class. She was acting strange, almost like she could control machines, just like him. Her teacher was stunned and decided to teach her how to run in high heels to improve her agility. After about four hours, she managed to pick it up pretty quickly.
But from that day on, neither Indigo nor Jolie experienced that kind of connection again… at least not until their final year of high school.
That was the same year my granddaughter became obsessed with dating guys who looked like Alfredo Adame. During that time, there weren't any real signs of their mysterious bond, even though they went through a lot.
Until October 5th, 2024—the night of their respective graduation dances.
Both of them felt overwhelmed.
Jolie felt unappreciated by her male classmates. They treated her like she was fragile just because she had a slim, beautiful figure. And they feared her slightly aggressive personality, worried she might beat them up.
Indigo had an even rougher time. He had tried to find someone to go with, but when he asked Azucena to take a picture with him, she refused. Later that night, when he asked her to dance, she turned her back on him and chose to dance with her friend instead.
At the exact same moment, they both ended up alone—writing and sketching their experiences. Eventually, they wandered off to the bleachers, raised their hands to the sky, and said the following words to their bisexual friends, Noah and Araceli:
"Indigo, what's wrong with you?" asked Araceli. "You should be down there enjoying the dance."
Indigo, sitting slumped, replied:
"Sometimes I feel like I never should've come. I thought I might dance with someone tonight… but it didn't happen. Azucena made me cry."
"I don't know why these things don't go the way we imagine them. Graduation dances used to feel elegant and magical—now they're just fancy parties."
Meanwhile, at another graduation party in a ranch in Nuevo León, Noah told Jolie:
"Jolie, what's wrong? You suddenly got all down again. The DJ's playing Para Siempre by Vicente Fernández—you're seriously going to miss that?"
Jolie, holding back tears, replied:
"I don't know, Noah. Lately, every guy here treats me like I'm fragile just because of how I look… even though I know two martial arts."
"I can defend myself just fine, but this whole dance feels like a nightmare."
Noah tried to lift her spirits:
"I don't think you're fragile at all. Just enjoy what you can of the night, even if it sucks."
Araceli gave Indigo the same advice, but he shook his head and snapped:
"Enjoy it? No way. I don't even know if I can dance with someone else just to shake off this sadness."
Jolie said something similar at her dance, gritting her teeth:
"Dance with someone else? My jerk of a boyfriend just sees me like some kind of object!"
"But yeah… sometimes I wish I could have a dream… where I could dance—"
And in that same moment, they both raised their hands toward the sky and said:
"With a beautiful girl with wine-colored eyes and reddish brown hair…"
"With a skinny guy with a golden heart, golden eyes, and black hair…"
They both whispered those words at the same time, miles apart.
Later that night, around 1:00 AM, they returned home and went to sleep—each carrying the emotional weight of that disappointing night. And that's when they had the same dream… a shared dream where they met.
"Hey… what's with the sad face, cutie?" said Jolie, surprising Indigo in the dream world.
He jumped a bit, startled.
"Don't sneak up on me like that… I was just feeling down because I didn't get to dance with anyone."
"Who even are you?"
Jolie smiled with her eyes closed and replied:
"Don't ask. I'm feeling the same. Just call me Ávila. We're not allowed to share our real names in this dream."
"So, you wanna dance, skinny boy?"
Indigo hesitated but eventually took her hand.
"Fine, Ávila is a weird name for a girl… but sure. I won't tell you my real name either."
They began dancing a ballroom waltz. Jolie kept teasing him because he was shaking from nerves. She told him to hold her properly, calmly, and without fear—even though they didn't know each other yet.
As the dream started to fade and they began to wake up, they said:
"You dance pretty well, even if it took you a while, skinny boy."
"Yeah… but I think we're waking up soon, Pereira…"
"Guess so," Indigo replied. "But… how will I remember you, Ávila?"
"Just try your best," she said, touching his shoulders.
"And if we ever meet in real life, remember this—I'm a girl with brownish red hair, wine-colored eyes, a bun, and a signature flower in my hair."
"Oh, and take this…"
She gave him a passionate kiss, imprinting the memory as they faded out of the dream.
Indigo woke up almost forgetting the whole thing… but that one moment stuck with him. So, he decided to build a cybernetic flower with a one-time defense mechanism and planned to give it to Araceli when he confessed his feelings.
Indigo finally gathered his courage and confessed to Araceli using words he had been holding back for weeks. He even planned to give her the cybernetic flower he had built with so much care.
But Araceli, not interested in being in a relationship, rejected him gently but firmly—almost as if it didn't mean much.
Crushed, Indigo walked away, flower in hand. He sat alone and stared at it, whispering:
"I can't believe she said no. I put everything into this… I even made this beautiful cyber flower with a one-time defense system… worked on it for two weeks straight."
Suddenly, a gust of wind swept the flower from his hands.
"Wait—what?! Where is it going?"
He stood up, reaching out as it flew away.
"I put my heart into that… and now the wind's just taking it…"
"But… wherever it ends up, I hope it falls into good hands."
The wind carried the flower across borders, across skies… all the way to a secondary school in northern Mexico.
It struck Jolie right on the head while she was sitting outside during break.
"Ouch! What the heck?"
She looked up, rubbing her head.
"Wait a sec… this isn't just any object—it's a flower. A cybernetic one. Looks like it came from Costa Rica or something… but who made this?"
She turned it over in her hands, puzzled.
"Whoever did… I'm not complaining. I'll wear it in my hair—it'll make up for the crap I've been through today."
Jolie stood up, brushed herself off, and clipped the flower into her bun. The reflection in her phone showed her looking even more powerful with it. As she headed back to her final class, her friend Mari noticed and said:
"Jolie, you look different with that flower. Where'd you get it?"
"I don't know. I was just outside thinking about… ugh, all the nonsense with my ex," Jolie said, pausing for a second. "Then this thing just smacked me in the head. I don't know who made it, but they must've put a lot of effort into it. That means something."
Mari smiled softly.
"Well, I hope you find out who made it someday."
"And maybe stop chasing guys that look like Alfredo Adame?"
Jolie rolled her eyes with a half-smile.
"Yeah, I should. He's one of my favorite actors, along with Adrián Uribe, but still…"
"Honestly, I feel like I'm halfway to becoming the Mexican version of Momo Ayase. If I ever had an adventure in that universe, I'd probably be her older sister."
"But anyway, let's focus on this last class."
She closed her eyes and smiled, trying to act like everything was okay.
Later that afternoon, around 4:00 PM, Jolie left school while Indigo was just leaving a tutoring session back in Costa Rica.
As they walked toward their respective bus stops under a drizzling sky, both felt the heavy weight of the day on their shoulders—Jolie still aching from a violent confrontation with her now ex-boyfriend, and Indigo still heartbroken after being rejected.
Suddenly, mechanical figures emerged through the mist.
Water-resistant, weaponized machines blocked their paths—one in Costa Rica, one in Mexico.
"Indigo Vicente Pereira Adame."
"Jolie María Ávila Rodríguez."
The robots spoke simultaneously, facing each of them.
Startled, both teens raised their fists instinctively.
"Who are you, and who sent you?" they asked in unison from opposite sides of the continent.
The machines leveled their twin rifles and answered:
"We are acting under orders from our commander, Vladimir Putin. Our objective: eliminate you immediately… to prevent interference with his plans."
"And neutralize you and your destined life partner."
That last line stunned both Indigo and Jolie.
"Life partner?! What are you talking about?" Indigo barked. "This really isn't the time, but I've got a lot of anger to burn."
"If that guy sent you to finish me off, tell him he won't succeed. Not now, not in three years."
"I'm ready to use everything I know—my chi, my technopathy—to destroy you."
Jolie added with fire in her eyes:
"I might not have unlocked my chi yet, but I've trained in martial arts, and that's more than enough to break you down, you tin can!"
The robots tilted their heads, almost impressed.
"A promising start… boy."
"A promising start… girl."
Then, the first strike came.
Gunfire erupted.
Jolie dodged most of it thanks to her acrobatic skills, though the rain made it harder to move. Indigo struggled a bit more, but he used the environment to get behind his attacker, managing to rip off the machine's gun arm.
Angered, the robot retaliated, slamming Indigo with a brutal series of eight hits, tearing his jacket and shirt, leaving him bloodied and bruised.
Meanwhile, Jolie delivered swift and powerful kicks using taekwondo. She got some solid hits in, but her opponent was stronger and eventually countered, knocking her down with a blow to the nose.
He raised his arm for the finishing strike—
—but the cybernetic flower in her hair suddenly activated its defense mechanism.
A powerful electric pulse surged through the robot, amplified by a lightning strike from the passing storm.
It froze in place, then collapsed.
Jolie stared in disbelief.
Back in Costa Rica, Indigo fought on, despite his injuries and exhaustion. He crafted a pair of makeshift cyber-punching gloves and landed ten full-force strikes—seven of which were absorbed, but the last three smashed the robot into pieces.
After nearly two hours of fighting separately, the two teens said—each to themselves:
"I don't know why that Russian sent a robot to take me out."
"Or why it said something about a 'life partner.' I've failed like twenty times in love."
"But maybe… in three months, I'll meet someone. For now, I need to focus and get home fast."
"I should probably build myself an anti-gravity bike too…"
Jolie echoed that same line in Mexico:
"I don't know why that Russian guy sent a robot after me—but at least this weird flower saved me."
"And I have no clue why it called me someone's life partner… I've dated six dudes who looked like Alfredo Adame and none worked out."
"But maybe… in three months, I'll meet someone."
"Right now, I just need to get home—and maybe think about working as a flight attendant in Tijuana to save up for a good university in Nuevo León…"
She took her bag, stood up, and walked off into the rainy evening.
To finish this story, a lot happened in the three months before Indigo and Jolie finally met.
For example, Indigo got yelled at by Azucena, which made him cry after she showed him a list of 100 things he should know about himself. Meanwhile, he also managed to build his anti-gravity motorcycle.
On her side, Jolie started selling some of her paintings to help her uncle Elías get a job as a voice actor.
Finally, they both graduated from high school, but still carried that strange feeling that they were searching for each other.
At the end of the next month, Indigo entered Rosanelda del Palacio University, while Jolie started working as a flight attendant with a special permit for minors.
On her seventh day at work, Jolie struggled a lot, questioning her uncle Elías's words. She hadn't yet shaken off her obsession with dating guys like Alfredo Adame, but she told herself she would meet a man who treats her well within two weeks.
Two weeks later, on February 14th, the day came.
Jolie woke up expecting the worst at work as usual. She showered, had breakfast, put on her uniform, and headed to the airport.
While putting up Valentine's Day decorations and organizing luggage, she saw a boy arrive on a very futuristic anti-gravity motorcycle just a few meters from the airport where she worked.
Surprised and curious, she muttered:
"What the heck was that?"
"Looks like some skinny kid just rolled up to the airport."
"I think I've seen him somewhere, but should I interrupt my part-time job to help him before he dies of dehydration?"
She remembered herself at 10 years old, the moment her aunt Jenell passed away.
"I have to prevent others from getting hurt, no matter if it means trouble with my boss."
Determined, Jolie decided to help.
She brought the boy to a chair at the airport.
He woke up briefly as she dragged him, looking at her like he knew her. She looked back the same way and asked:
"Who are you?"
He whispered:
"Shh… don't talk, you're very tired. You'll be okay, Hoodie."
"I just want you to know that, for now, I'm a girl with reddish-brown hair, wine-colored eyes, and a beautiful bun."
Jolie tried to calm him while carrying him to a chair.
And so began the adventures of these two, trying to find those threads of love and destiny to prevent dictators like Vladimir Putin, Daniel Ortega, Nicolás Maduro, and Kim Jong Un from finding them.
I finished telling Xiuhcoatl the whole story.
He looked amazed and impressed as he finished his last beer and said:
"Wow, I didn't know Indigo and your granddaughter Jolie had such a special connection. But now, apparently, according to some TikTokers, they have a fragment of that thread made by the Aztec gods destroyed during the colonial era."
"But I still don't understand how you know all this, you old pervert," Xiuhcoatl asked.
I stood up from my chair and replied:
"Yes, and surely they'll have new adventures to find the other fragment before Indigo dares to make a move on my granddaughter."
"As for that, seeing Jolie's growth from birth to adolescence, and Indigo told me many things about his life while I was training them together to defeat Trump."
Before leaving, Xiuhcoatl said:
"Alright, I'm off. Next time, get your own magazines."
"But I'm left wondering if, in all universes, both Indigo Vicente Pereira Adame and your granddaughter Jolie María Ávila Rodríguez share that same bond as in our universe."
Xiuhcoatl opened a portal and asked.
I answered:
"It depends on the universe. In many, Indigo and Jolie are villains."
"But there's a small chance they have that bond in their worlds, though things are completely different from ours."
I said, as silhouettes of different Indigo and Jolie variants appeared in my mind—from the most evil to the kindest.
After saying goodbye to him, I sat down to meditate as usual...