The Ink Family Legacy: Generation 5 Chapter 4 Part 2
Surprise! The next four chapter title pics are all sad/apprehensive expressions. As they should be.
You didn't come here without reading Part One, did you? For shame!
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It wasn't unusual for Seth to be by himself, but it was unusual for him to stare aimlessly out of windows. If he had time to himself, he'd much rather be doing something productive, hence Sparrow's concern.
"Hey, Seth? What's wrong?" she asked gently.
"Nothing." he replied immediately out loud, then switched to telepathy. "Just...wishing somethings were in my control."
"In control? Seth, you didn't have another vision, did you?"
Seth didn't respond, fixing his gaze on the far wall.
"Is it bad?" Row mumbled worriedly.
"Nothing that bad." he replied.
Sparrow sighed, wishing she could be of more help. "If it's nothing really bad Seth, don't tear yourself up over it, okay? Things will happen the way they happen and we'll be alright. Now c'mon, aren't you going out tonight?"
"You're right." he finally said, looking up. "Things will happen the way they happen."
--- --- --- --- ---
She had moved since the last time he saw her - from an apartment downtown to a coy house on the outskirts. The house was certainly quaint, if a little cookie cutter.
Seth took a deep breath and rang the doorbell, trying to gather all his courage for the next step.
"Seth!" Stella gasped. "Yo-you're back!"
He smiled. "Evening. Mind if I come in?"
Stella stepped aside awkwardly, saying, "Er, sure. Sorry, I was just cleaning up..."
"The house is really nice." Seth mused. "Much bigger than your apartment."
"Ah, yeah. There's three of us living here now. My sister graduate and came to live with me. And the other person..."
"Seth, there's something I need to-"
"Oh, how's teaching going? I noticed that you were transferred to the school closer to here." he continued as if he hadn't heard her.
"Seth, I'm dating someone."
"We haven't been together long, but I think I'm pretty serious about him. I can't go on that date with you. I've decided to bury my feelings and move on, Seth. We're just too different."
"I know." he replied, a bitter smile on his face.
"You...you did?"
"I came here knowing that you had a boyfriend. I heard about it."
"I guess I just needed to say goodbye properly."
The irony was not lost on him that he lost his first love after he became rich and famous. But he knew what had been at the core of their argument all along - Stella could not be with someone who was vastly different from her. Someone who didn't fit into her ideal of a normal life.
And Seth was the farthest thing from normal. A telepathic vampire rock star with occasional psychic visions? Perish the thought.
It had seemed so surreal in the vision, but the weight of it started to sink in. He had pined after her for years, had been so close a friend to her throughout school...and now it was all over.
Seeing Seth's crumbling expression, Stella closed the gap between them and pulled him into a tight hug.
And for a second, Seth dreamed. Dreamed it was more than pity drawing her to him.
But the time for dreams were over.
"Goodbye, Stella."
With that, Seth left the house as suddenly as he came, disappearing into the night.
"Sis? Hey, did something happen?"
"..."
"Okay, don't talk to me."
"No, it's...it's Seth." Stella whispered.
"That guy you were telling me about? You didn't actually run him off, did you?"
"It's none of your business, Diana."
"Ugh, you're always like this!" Diana retorted. "If you won't apologize for being so wishy washy this whole time, and I'm sure you didn't, then I will!"
"Hey!" she shouted down the road at the rapidly retreating figure. "Hey, wait up!"
Seth stopped and turned back, curious.
"God you walk fast!" Diana wheezed when she finally caught up to him. "But I'm glad I caught you. You're Seth, aren't you?"
"Yeah."
"I'm Diana, Stella's sister. I came to apologize to you." she explained, trying to catch her breath.
"Apologize? For what?"
"For her being so wimpy! She's always been like that, unable to go out of the box. God forbid she date someone a little younger and a little famous!" Diana huffed.
"I figured that someone had to apologize for her behavior, so on her behalf, sorry."
"There's no need for that." Seth replied.
"After all, I did this to myself. I saw all the signs and ignored them, thinking that if only I was an adult I could change her mind. The only mature thing I ended up doing was ending it before it got any worse. Get closure."
He hesitated, then added, "But thank you anyway, Diana."
"Well, hey, maybe now you can celebrate your single status! I'm sure your fangirls would be overjoyed." she encouraged.
"I'm not much the celebrating type."
"Aw c'mon! I bet you reserved a restaurant or something in case she changed her mind. Why not go and order the best they've got anyway?"
Seth laughed despite himself. "You're on target there. Maybe I do need a good meal to forget a broken heart."
"There you go! Food heals wounds." Diana smiled. "Don't suppose you've got room at that table for me?"
"You want to go to dinner with a stranger?"
"Sure! We don't know each other so we'll have lots to talk about."
"Alright Diana. Let's go eat good food and stranger talk."
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As it turned out, dinner with Diana was actually quite interesting! She was quite a bit more chatty than Stella and a lot more blunt - Seth was surprised at some of the things she would say.
"So I'm in the middle of this tiny town north of Twinbrook, and this lady gets all offended at me, right? Threatening to break my camera, have me run out of town, that sort of thing."
"All this because I told her that if I zoomed any further in, I wouldn't be able to see her feet. Which is okay, because she probably couldn't see her feet either. She did not take that very well."
The sisters, though definitely different in personality, were quite similar in their features. Their eyes were different colors though, and Diana had freckles from being out in the sun.
"But hey, I've talked enough for three evenings. What about you Seth? How's that job of yours?"
"Nothing as exciting as cross country photography, I'm sure. The band keeps me pretty busy, but I'm also a part time art teacher to little kids." Seth replied.
"Hmm..."
"What? Didn't like my answer?"
"No, it was fine. Light on detail, but fine. I was thinking more about what those eyes of your would do to flash photography. You've got real laser there, buddy. Why're they like that?"
"Er, it's -"
"Ooh, did you eat a firefly as a kid? Because that story would totally rule."
"Ha! Sorry, but no. Genetic disease." Seth replied casually as he could manage.
Diana nodded and she switched to another topic just as quickly as always. Seth was always amazed at how well people accepted genetic disease as an answer to all that was wrong with him.
"Well, I guess I could learn more about your genes next time, huh?"
"Hold on." Seth immediately. "Next time?"
"Look Diana - I can't go on dates with you. It isn't fair to you, with me still hanging onto feelings for your sister. I won't treat you as a rebound."
"Hey, now you hold up! I never said date, did I?"
"But you -"
"Listen!"
"Seth, cute as you are, I get it. You love/loved my sister and I look like her. Neither of us would be happy like that. But there's no reason we can't be friends, right?"
Seth looked unsure, so Diana added, "Here, I'll even leave it up to you to call. You don't want to hang out, cool. You do, even better. Not a bad deal, huh?"
Finally, Seth laughed. "Alright. You win. We'll be friends."
"Excellent!" Diana replied as she checked her watch. "I won just in time for the restaurant to close. Walk me home?"
"Of course."
Diana was a whirlwind, that's for sure. He had gone from being sad over his first love to eating dinner with a chatty new friend. It lessened the pain just enough.
"It's almost morning~!" Diana hummed. "Think it'll be good weather today?"
"Hope so. I've got class outside today."
"Alright, I know my constellation is in her somewhere..." she mused, trying to connect the stars with her fingertip. "Seth, help me look."
"Ah, there it is!"
"Where?"
"That mess of stars over there is my constellation! I can tell because it doesn't look like anything but a big old lump. A lumpy space princess."
"I wonder what the world must be like through your eyes, Diana."
"Pretty awesome, I assure you."
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"What if they don't like me?"
"Amy, hush. They're our family! They've been wanting to meet you since we found you, you know."
Where were Abel and Amélie? On visits to Paige and Ethan, of course! They had been stunned to find out that Clover had another child all this time and demanded that Abel bring her over. Paige won the coin toss, so she was up first.
"Abel, you made it!"
"Hey Sienna! Geez, you got tall. How old are you now?"
Sienna frowned. "Hey, I'm only three years younger than you! Quit treating me like a kid!"
"Right, right. Everyone home?"
"Katie's still at her boyfriend's house and Ryder couldn't come today, so it's just the four of us."
Abe greeted Aleksey in the hallway as he encouraged Amy to go into the living room.
"Uncle Al! Still working at the station, I see."
"Still a wanna be pop star, I see." he replied with a smirk. "Though I see you're still wearing the goggles I gave you."
"Of course! Hey, where's Aunt Paige?"
Aleksey nodded towards the living room and Abel wasted no time.
"Hey! See, I kept my promise!" Abel declared after giving Paige a hug. "Brought Amy right here."
"You're still almost a month late! I told you to bring her over right away!" Paige chided.
"We were all kind of dead from jet lag." he laughed. "And I had to get Amy settled in school, and my girlfriend moved in...it was busy and we were exhausted! I don't know how you guys traveled all the time."
Paige grinned. "Not as easy as you thought, huh? Try raising four kids while globetrotting!"
"Ha ha, no thanks - Riverview is the best."
Amy was immediately descended upon by Sienna and Paige, who were eager to talk to the little girl. Amélie was shy, but was encouraged by the fact that they had the same eye color as her - definitely family.
Sienna's twin Theresa, meanwhile, had Abel cornered. "Hey Abe! I need help with something. Homework, to be precise."
"Er, I don't know Ree, I've kinda forgot a lot of stuff from high school."
"C'moooooooon!"
"Okay, okay! Geez."
"Are you sure that's how you do a proof in geometry?"
"Best I remember, yeah."
"Ugh, this is stupid! I don't need to prove it's a right angle - the little square in the corner tells me that!"
"That's math for you."
Abel's distraction meant that Amy couldn't cling to him as closely as she normally did, but she was actually having fun talking with her Aunt Paige!
"Aunt Paige? You were a lot older than my Mama, right?"
Paige laughed. "Depends on what you mean by a lot! I was about ten when Clover was born."
"In fact, it's pretty much the same distance between you and Sparrow that it was between Clover and I!" she continued.
Amy's eyes lit up. "Ooh! And both the little sisters had black hair, while the older sisters had sandy brown hair!"
"That's right!" Paige replied, surprised. "You've seen my hair color in its better days, huh?"
"Don't worry Auntie, white hair is cool too!"
Paige's laugh ended in a heavy sigh. "You're a lot like Clover, I think."
"I'm like Mama?"
"Yes. Clover was very clever too. But I guess it's been a long time since Clover was a child...almost forty years."
Paige trailed off, causing Amélie to worriedly tug on her aunt's sleeve. "Aunt Paige...?"
The older woman snapped out of her reverie and smiled sadly, patting Amy on the head. "You're a good girl, Amélie."
Soon it was time to go - the night was wearing on and they still had to visit Ethan. Paige scooped Amy up into a big hug.
"It was wonderful to meet you, Amy."
"You too Aunt Paige!"
"Please come over a lot, okay? We don't live that far away, and there's a park across the street that your uncle and I can take you to as often as you want." Paige promised.
Amy smiled up at her aunt, giggling. How weird and happy it was to have family like this! Clover hadn't been lying when she said that the whole family would love her.
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"This is Uncle Ethan's house?" Amy asked as they approached.
"Yep! Levi used to live here too before he got engaged to Rhyme. I think only Mina's home now, but the rest will be home soon..."
Sure enough, it was Mina who invited them inside and sat with them while they waited for the rest of the family to arrive.
"We taped all the concerts." she told Abel as Amy sat next to her, kicking feet nervously. "You guys were really good! Guess Ryder wasn't lying."
"Why do you all sound so very surprised by that?" Abel said, rolling his eyes.
"Oh come on Abe, you know that wasn't an insult. But when we were growing up, could you really imagine No, Seth, and Row socializing normally and being onstage?" Mina replied.
"That's true. Come to think of it, didn't us boys used to chase you girls around the yards and threaten to bite you or something?" Abel recalled.
"Yep, and throw our teddies into the pond. Row was bawling one time and your dad had to step in. You still haven't matured!" she laughed.
The door opened behind them, signalling the arrival of another Ink.
"Kenny!" Abel cheered, jumping up to greet her.
"Abe, what have I told you about calling me Kenny? It's Kendall!" she snapped back, smiling despite herself.
"Ah, tomato tomahto." he teased. "Theater work?"
"Yep, it's been crazy ever since you guys came back to town. It's weird, all these people moved here all of a sudden..."
Mina called, "Ken, are Mom and Dad with you?"
"Oh, right, they're on the porch. You guys can go and greet them!"
Amy got up from the couch and nervously followed after Abel. "What if they don't like me?" she whispered again.
"Don't worry kiddo, my parents are really easy going." Mina assured her.
By the time she got outside, Abel was already chatting with Ethan.
"So the thing just exploded, right? And it totally wasn't my fault, because the blowtorch was faulty..."
"Maybe you just shouldn't invent, Abel. You've always managed to blow things up once a week." Ethan sighed.
"Oh, this must be Amélie!" Ethan said, smiling down at her. "Definitely ours - look at those Croix eyes!"
Abel laughed, "Aren't there like nine of us with the same eye color?"
"What can I say, my dad's genes were strong."
"Abe, help your aunt bring the groceries in so we can start dinner. I want to talk a bit to Amy." Ethan said.
"Will do!"
"Would you like to sit on the porch with me, Amy?" Ethan said, trying to make her comfortable as possible.
"Um, okay." she replied.
Ethan was startled - she even sounded just like Clover, much like Sparrow.
"Alright Auntie Nessie, what's for dinner?" Abel asked.
"Nothing, if you are just standing there. Come on, help me me bring the food from the car."
"Also, is mon idiot de fils still in China?"
"Levi? Yeah, he and Rhyme are still there. But you know, it's kind of sad that I knew you were referring to him like that in French."
Nessie smiled. "Un sarcasme peu culturelle n'a jamais tué personne. Now let us get dinner ready, yes?"
"We'll call you when it's ready Uncle E!" Abel called as he and Nesrine left the porch.
Nesrine smiled at Amy as she passed. "Amélie, huh? It is a good name."
Amy quirked an eyebrow but Nessie never elaborated, wandering off after Abel.
"What did she mean by that, Uncle?" Amy asked.
"Oh, your aunt is French, and your name is French! She was complimenting you on it. I think Amélie means 'hard working' or something along those lines." Ethan replied.
"Oh, Mama said the same thing! She also said it was good because it was an unusual name."
Ethan chuckled, "Yes, that does sound like your mother."
Amélie looked up at him and said, "Uncle Ethan, what was my Mama like? Am I really like her when she was a kid? Aunt Paige said so."
"Mama never really told me about when she was a kid." Amy continued. "She said it wouldn't be very interesting."
"Did she say that? Well, I can see how she would feel that way." Ethan replied thoughtfully. "Clover was always in and out of the hospitals back then. She had to spend her seventh birthday there, even. She was kicking and screaming so loud to go home that they had to sedate her - Mom was in tears."
"Hmm." Amélie said quietly.
So Mama hated to be kept confined? Then the last few years of her life were...
"Oh, but don't worry Amélie!" Ethan added hastily. "All your mother ever wanted was healthy children that would grow up into happy, good people. And you and all of your siblings would make her so proud if she could see you now, I'm sure."
Amy smiled timidly. "Thank you Uncle Ethan. That makes me feel better."
Still, she whispered, "I miss Mama."
"I miss her too."
Inside the mood was much lighter, with the rest of the family watching TV while dinner was cooking. The channel of choice was the entertainment one, with celebrity news and trivialities.
"Wait, Abel is it true that you stage dived down a forty foot incline?!" Mina asked, mildly horrified.
"Please, I'm not stupid! It was thirty feet."
Nathan had made it home in time to catch up on the gossip as well.
"Dude, Kira Days is your girlfriend? Damn, she's hot."
"Nate, I'm revoking your 'drop by anytime' license to the house." Abel warned.
"Nah, don't worry. I'll pick up tons of groupies on basis of being the first cousin of Abel Ink."
"There is the timer - sounds like dinner is ready!" Nessie noted. "It is too bad Luna could not come. Aries is about Amélie's age, they could become friends."
Right after dinner, Ethan and Amy went right back on the porch to talk some more. It seemed that they were both a little eccentric and understood each other quite well!
"Amy! Time to go!" Abel finally called near midnight. "We've got a lot to do tomorrow too."
Ethan hugged his niece tightly. "Thank you for stopping by Amy. It was good getting to know you."
"It was really fun, Uncle! You have a really busy house!"
"Ha ha! That's true. My kids may be grown but they mostly act like big kids."
Amy nodded in agreement. "Just like Levi!"
Ethan laughed and released her. "Now don't be a stranger. Come over whenever you want. I have a grandson who's six, so if you want to meet a cousin your age, let me know!"
He turned his attention to Abel. "That goes for you too, Abel. You older kids are never over either! Come for dinner every now and then."
Abel chuckled, "Don't worry Uncle E! We're going to be around - we can spend plenty of time together."
Ethan smiled wanly. "I hope so. I've learned not to take anything for granted though. Learned that lesson twice."
"Gotcha." Abel replied, understanding. "Next weekend then? Kira eats almost as much as me, so be prepared."
Ethan laughed, "Next week would be wonderful."
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Ethan and Paige, y u so old? ;A; Seeing them as elders always makes me feel bad, especially since I raised them from birth. They're all I have left of gen four and that makes me sad. :c
When I take pics of Ethan's kids, I can't help but remember that we were two votes away from having Luna, Levi, Nathan, Mina, and Kendall be our gen five heir candidates. Can you imagine?
Alright, onto Part Three!