Chapter 63: The Forgotten

  "Well, you see, " Colin babbled to himself, "no one listens to me, no one sees me, it's like I'm the forgotten child!"

 

 
   Colin made his hand into a mouth form.  "But we has a plan Precious!" He talked to his hand, "Isn't that right?  A plan, and we'll never be ignored again!"

  "Hey kid, who are you talking to?"  Hades asked as he came around the corner.

  Colin looked at him and blinked.  And then blinked again, before saying, "The pink haired one is stupid Precious.  We won't waste our time on him."

  Hades stepped back a little.  "Hey, whoa now!" 

  Colin turned to his hand.  "What's that Precious?"  He brought his hand up to his ear so he could listen better.  Colin grinned.  "That's a great idea Precious!  We'll help the stupid person out!"  Colin advanced towards Hades, Hades stood his ground, warily.

  "What are you doing kid?"  Colin used his wings until he was eye level with Hades.  "You're not planning on kissing me are you?" He asked suspiciously.

  Colin sighed.  "See Precious, he is ever so stupid.  No Stupid, we are not interested in kissing you.  Look up Stupid, and we will help you out!"

 

  Hades automatically looked up, and he saw sparkles float down.  "Hey..." he started to say, but then uncontrollable shivering overtook his body.  "Wwwhhhaaat dddiiiiddd yyyooouuu ddddooo tttooo mmmeeee?"  Hades body was shaking so hard, he could barely utter the words out of frozen lips.

 

  Colin looked at Hades like a scientist might look at a bug.  "We are attempting to freeze dry your brain for scientifical research, then we'll be able to dissect your brain and when we know why you are so stupid, we can fix it."  Colin said matter of factly. 

  Hades forced himself to stand up and then he glared at Colin.  "You are insane!" he sputtered angrily.  "And I'm not letting you anywhere near my brain!"  His teeth chattered.

  Colin nodded thoughtfully.  "Yes, we are so genetically superior to you, your feeble brain may only be able to conceive of our superiority and your inferiority by calling us insane."  Colin shrugged.  "It's of no consequence.  You have to sleep sometime."

 

    "Sleep sometime?"  Hades echoed in horror.  "Ryder!" he hollered.


  "Your little brother is insane!"  Hades told Noelle.  In the background he could hear the arguing of Ryder and Cherie, as they discussed how to best handle Colin.

  Noelle looked at him, a little confused.  "Brae?  Why would you think..."

  "No, not Brae."  Hades said impatiently.  "The kid one, what's his name?"

 

  "Oh, you mean Colin!  I forget about him.  What did he do?"  She was still a bit confused on that point.  Hades sighed, and told her the story again.

  "It won't work Minions!" Colin hollered out from the kitchen.  "I am wise to your stupid plans!  You cannot poison us so easily!"

 

    "See, like that!"  Hades exclaimed.  "He's crazy!"

  Noelle shrugged.  "Oh that.  I thought he was just being a boy."


  Colin smiled, as he rubbed his little hands together.  His plan was working beautifully.  He knew exactly how everyone would react, and he had planned accordingly.  He knew his dad and his grandpa would be suspicious of him, but he knew his mother would win out in the end.  She was the knowledgeable expert, and she would say the best thing to do, is to ignore it, it was just a phase he was going through, and he would outgrow it.  He would show his mother though.  Just watch.

  He could count on one hand the number of times he had spent alone with her.  She was always in a hurry, too busy to spend time with him.  Too busy with her patients, too busy taking Noelle to ballet, or too busy watching Brae's football games, too busy studying her books, she was far too busy for him.  Everyone was far too busy to pay attention to him, but he would show them all.

  He heard the school bus pull up, he put the plate down, and reversed his direction and headed for the front door.  He eyed his siblings balefully as he found a seat towards the back.

 

  He glared at their backs.  "They are the Perfect Ones, Precious." He muttered under his breath.  "Straight A honor students."  He stuck his tongue out at them.  Blech!  Goody goodies.  He'd show them all.

 

 

~<>~

  "I think the Brownies poisoned all the hamburgers Grandpa."  Colin mumbled around the food in his mouth.  "You might not want to eat that."

 

  Alder set the burger down and turned to his grandson.  "The Brownies you say?"  Colin nodded.

  "That's why I am eating chocolate for dinner.  Mom says I have to eat a balanced meal, but if it is poisoned, it can't be so balanced now can it?"

 

    Alder smiled slightly.  "That is true enough."  He agreed.  "But, I have special powers."  He nodded his head sagely.  "Poison cannot kill me."

 

    Alder caught Spring sitting down across from him out of the corner of his eye.  He turned to face her, and noticed that she had a cupcake.  "You're eating a cupcake for dinner?" he asked, surprised.

  "Grandma says poisoned hamburgers is a good excuse as any for eating desert for dinner."  Colin answered.

  Hades, who had refused to sit at the same table as Colin, looked at his half eaten hamburger and began choking.

  "MMh, hmmm."  Spring agreed.

 

  "What about your figure?"  Alder asked, confused.  The Spring he knew, would never ruin her figure by eating desert at all, let alone for dinner.

  "I'm old, what do I care about my figure?"  Spring responded.  "I only cared because I thought you cared.  No fat people remember?"

  Alder stared at the hamburger he had just taken a bite of.  He chewed the bite slowly, while he thought about what to say.  The resentment in Spring's tone, told him his next words to her would be very important.

 

  "I did think that about other people."  He said apologetically.  "Lia has told me often enough that I am a shallow person.  But I've never thought that about you Spring, ever."  He stared at his hamburger, afraid to look at her, and see her reaction.  Only time would tell if she would believe these words, when she had never believed any of his other words.

 

 
~<>~


  "Dad, how do you take over the world and rule as Emperor?  We have decided that we would make an excellent Emperor."

  Ryder looked down at his son.  "Take over the world?" he questioned, not certain he had heard Colin correctly.

 

   "Yes, rule the world!  Supreme Emperor of All,  we even have our royal robes."  Colin tugged on his clothes.  "We just need a little help on the logistics.  Should we take out the police first, or the military?"

  Ryder's eyes widened a bit, then narrowed as he looked at his son, whose face was a picture of guileless innocence.  "I think his Supreme Emperorness, needs to do his homework first.  Conquer the homework, the world can wait for another day."

 

  "Dad!"  Colin groaned.  "That is not helpful to us!  We hates our homework.  It is for the stupid ones, we are too smart for boring old homework."

  Ryder grunted, and hid a smile.  "Then that homework should be a breeze for you, o genius child.  So get to it."

 

  Colin grumbled, but did what he was told.


~<>~


  Morrigan nervously waited in the parlor for Brae to show up.  She'd had a crush on him since the day she met him, but Sophie had struck first.  Sophie and Brae had been going steady ever since. Sophie had always loved to lord it over Morrigan that Brae was her boyfriend, and not Morrigan's. 

  Sophie and Morrigan had always been competitive with each other.  What one had, the other wanted.  Sometimes Sophie won, sometimes Morrigan won.  Brae was just the newest trophy for them to fight over, but he was quite the prize.  He was the most popular guy in school, he was the head quarter back on the football team, and as the saying went, all the girls wanted him, and all the guys wanted to be him.  It didn't hurt that he was genuinely nice either.  Or that he was so good looking. 

  Morrigan had just heard though the grapevine that Sophie and Brae had just broken up.  So now was her chance, she'd show Sophie.  Sophie may have got to Brae first, but Morrigan would marry him, that would trump Sophie.


 

   "Hi." she said shyly, as Brae bounded into the room.

  "Morrigan!"  Brae said with smile, like he was glad to see her.  "What brings you over?"

  "I just heard that you and Sophie broke up, and I thought maybe you could use a friend?"

  Brae shrugged.  "It was a mutual thing.  We just discovered our life's ambitions were polar opposites.  She's been hanging around a rough crowd lately, and I have political ambitions."



 

 
  "You say that so nicely."  Morrigan praised Brae.  "I know for a fact that Sophie has been caught stealing from stores, and just the other day she was caught with a stolen vehicle.  If her dad wasn't the Chief of Police, she would be locked up in juvie right now."

  Brae ignored the compliment.  "Sophie has made her choices, I had to make mine." he said diplomatically.

  "You know, " Morrigan tugged on his shirt, and pulled him into a small hallway off to the side of the parlor.  Curious, Brae allowed himself to be led.  "I think you would make a wonderful Mayor." She whispered as she casually reached her hand out to touch his shoulder.  "My Dad is part of the Governing Committee, and I'm sure we could work out a mutually beneficial arrangement between all of us."

  Brae caught her other hand.  "How so?"

 

  "Well, " she said coyly, "Daddy has the power to make you Mayor of our little town, and Daddy likes to make me happy."

  Brae stepped closer to Morrigan.  "And what would make you happy?"

  "To be the Mayor's wife."

  "Really?" Brae said skeptically.  "We've been friends for a long time now, but you don't love me, and I don't love you."

  "I don't need love."  Morrigan said.  "I already know that your ambitions line up perfectly with mine.  I think we'd make a good team."

  Brae smiled at her.  "I agree."

 

~<>~

  The woman in black approached Reilly.  "I'm just a messenger.  I've been sent to fetch the Book.  Give it to me nicely, and your descendants may live a long and happy life."

  "I have no idea where it is."  Reilly lied.

 

  "You grow old and weak Reilly Kahekili, you cannot protect your family forever.  Soon you will die, and then what will happen to them?  I'll tell you what will happen to them, my Benefactoress will make life so miserable for them, they will wish they could die.  But she'll let them live on, in pain, and suffering, uselessly dreaming of the day when they can finally rest in peace.   Give us the Book now, and your family will live in peace for all eternity, and nothing bad will happen to them."

  "It is true that the days of my life are nearly gone.  But it is also true, that your Benefactoress will not touch them, even after I am long gone, because of the Protections placed on the Book, and the Prophecy that your Benefactoress is well aware of.   Only an heir of Wolff's true blood, can open the Book, and use it's secrets there, and..." Reilly paused, "It must be done, without coercion, of their own free will."

  "That Book belongs to us!" the Messenger hissed.  "And know this Reilly Kahekili, while it may be true that we cannot touch your family just yet, the day they open that Book, is the day we wipe your family's name from this world and all others.  Not one of you will survive, we promise you this."  She smiled nastily.

 

  Reilly nodded.  "You can certainly try."

  "Try?" She said scornfully.  "We will do, not try.  Your family is pathetically weak, your powers die with you Old Man, not one of them have inherited what you have.  We will be watching them, you can be sure of that, and when the time comes, we will be ready."  She chanted a few words, and with a swirl of her cloak, she vanished into the dark night.

  Reilly walked slowly back into his house.  He stared at his books, all stacked in nice, neat rows.  He picked one from the shelf, and looked at it briefly, before letting it rest at his side as he stared at the stacks of books again.

 

    He would be lying to himself if he said he wasn't worried about his family.  It was true that none of his children, or any of his grandchildren, held even a tiny fraction of the power that he had.  He placed the book back on the shelf, and paused to stare at his hands.  Old Man hands now.  His days were coming to an end, and soon.

  He had never held the mysterious Book in his hands.  His father wouldn't let him near it, and his Grandfather told him he didn't need it.  That the Book would be passed down through the family, until it was needed again.  Reilly had asked Puck if he had received it, but Puck had said no.  When Reilly had asked his father about it, Kit had told him not to worry, the book would be passed down to the rightful heir when it was time.

  Reilly had thought with the death of his father, the Book had been lost forever.  He was quite surprised when Alder, his fun loving, live for the day son, approached him one day to say that Kit had given the book to him for safe keeping.  Reilly had wondered at his father's decision.  Wouldn't Puck, his warrior son, the oldest one, be a better choice?  Alder had offered the Book to him, to give to Puck, but in the end Reilly told Alder to keep it.  His father Kit had been the wisest man he knew, if he had given it to Alder for safe keeping, there was a reason for it.

  Reilly sighed.  It was time to have a little chat with Alder.  He used his new fangled phone, and invited Alder over.  Alder was over within minutes, a worried look on his face.  "Is everything okay Dad?" were the first words out of his mouth.

 

  Reilly smiled tiredly.  "Everything's fine son.  Just feeling my age tonight.  It's been a while since we just sat and talked, I thought it might be nice to catch up a little on your life."

  Alder looked at his father, trying to figure out if what his father said was true, was everything fine?  His father looked a bit fragile to Alder, and it scared him.  "It has been a while." Alder agreed.

 
  "Well?"  Reilly prompted, "Tell me how everyone is doing.  You can start with how you and Spring are doing?"

  Alder grumbled.  "Better than before, but no where near where we ought to be.  I just don't understand her at all."  Alder shook his head.  "Ryder's been busy with trying to get this town up to speed, and Cherie is gone all hours of the day and night either working in her free clinic, or at the hospital.  Noelle is about to graduate, as class Valedictorian too!  She's a smart girl."  Alder said proudly.  "Brae is going to be leading this town one day, I just know it.  And Colin, well...."

  Reilly leaned forward a little bit.  "Yes, what about Colin?"

  "He is a mischievous handful."  Alder finally said, with a big grin.  "He's got the whole house in an uproar, he's kind of a chip off the old block."

  Reilly smiled.  "Is that so?"  Then he chuckled.

 

  Alder grinned.  "I may have been the cause of trouble a time or two."

  Reilly grunted.  "Or three or four. "  Then he seemed to reconsider.  "No, definitely more."

  Alder sobered up.  "The boy worries me though."  Alder confessed to his father.  "He doesn't seem to mind when he hurts other people, and even goes out of his way sometimes to hurt someone.  I was never that way, I never intentionally hurt anyone."

  Reilly nodded thoughtfully.  "The boy has a rough road to travel.  You just need to stick with him, because when we are the hardest to love..."

  "...that's when we need it the most."  Alder finished, "I remember Dad."

  Reilly pointed a finger at his son.  "See that you do.  It's important.  Love conquers all."

 

    Alder rolled his eyes.  "Yes Dad."

  "Hmph." Reilly said, then he seemed to weave a little.

  "Dad, are you okay?"

  Reilly waved him off.  "I'm fine, I'm fine."

   "How about we sit for a spell?"

 

  Reilly looked at Alder suspiciously, but gave in gracefully.  "Fine, fine.  Let's sit.  Alder, you remember your grandfather's words to you, about the Book?"

  "I remember."  Alder said, surprised at the abrupt turn in conversation.

  "Good, good."  Reilly said.  "I have a little journal I wrote, for you to keep with it.  It has the little bit I know about the Book written in it, so that when I die, my knowledge is not lost with me."

  "You're not going to die Dad."  Alder said impatiently.

  "We all die Alder."

  "Who's dying?" a familiar voice asked.  Alder had not heard that voice in many years.

  "No one is dying."  Reilly responded as he stood up to greet his visitor with a hug.  "At least not yet." he amended.  Reilly turned around to face Alder.  "Alder, you remember my cousin, and best friend, Rhys?"

 

    "Rhys!  I do believe you look exactly the same as when I last saw you!"  Alder exclaimed.

  Rhys smiled, a little bit sadly.  "I haven't aged at all, that is correct.  It is a blessing and a curse.  I tried to run from the curse, but it didn't work."

  "Curse?"  Alder asked.

  "The curse of watching my best friend age before my very eyes, and knowing that someday, he will be gone.  But Reilly has asked for my help, and I cannot deny him anything."  Reilly smiled.

  "Why did you ask Rhys for help Dad?  I could have helped you."

  "Alder, while you will live a good deal longer than I, because of your fae blood, you too will someday die, but Rhys will still be around.  He can keep an eye on our family, long, long, long after we are gone."

  "Thanks for emphasizing the long."  Rhys grumbled good naturedly.

  "That is not a curse, but a blessing."  Alder stated.  "Long life is a gift to be embraced and enjoyed.  Just think, " Alder continued, warming up to his subject, "long life is something the Goths have searched for since the beginning, and we hold it in our very genes!"

 

  "That is such a Fae way to look at it."  Rhys remarked dourly.  "You Fae, you live for today, and never worry about tomorrow.  You never plan ahead, well, we vampires are not like that."

  Alder was confused.  "What good is it to worry about tomorrow?  Today has plenty of worries of its own, there is no point in worrying about tomorrow's worries until tomorrow.  Tomorrow may never even come, but today is already here!  Today is a good day to play and have fun!"

  Rhys rolled his eyes and Reilly laughed.  "Typical Fae logic." Rhys muttered under his breath.  "You are all alike.  Are you listening to this nonsense that your son is spouting?"  Rhys looked over at Reilly.

 

    "I have lived a great many years with Elly, a full blooded fae"  Reilly said, with a twinkle in his eye.  "I know better than to argue with one.  It is the way they see life, and I am sometimes envious of it."

  "I have never understood why you vampires are so glum, and favor black and darkness so much.  How depressing."  Alder commented.

  Reilly groaned.  "Okay, this is going to take a while.  I'm sitting down for this one!"  He promptly sat down.  Vampires and Fae were total opposites when it came to their worldviews, and neither side ever budged.  It would be a long debate between his son and Rhys, but eventually it would end, because Alder would tire of the game.  The fae always did, as soon as it ceased to be fun, the conversation was done, and the vampires would always assume they had won.  To the Fae it never mattered, who won or lost, the fun had been in the game itself. 

  Reilly yawned.  He was so tired lately, maybe he could a catch a nap while Rhys tried to argue with his son, a Fae.  It was a lot like trying to catch water with a bucket that a had a large hole in the bottom.  Just when you thought you had it, it poured right out through the bottom.

 

_______________________________________________________________

  Notes:  So that seemed as good a place as any to stop at, lol  Lots more coming up, but I didn't want the chapter to get too long.

  I adore Colin. <3  He is going to be a fun heir.  I usually roll random traits, even when it is not an official roll, and most times they all get pretty similar traits.  Not Colin, no sir.  Colin has rolled traits that I normally don't get.  One of which is insane. So be prepared for outfits that don't match, underwear in the snow, the whole bit.  He's very fond of talking to his hand, which I nicknamed Precious, because I am a LOTR fan, lol =)  He also rolled Inappropriate, so if it's the wrong thing to do, you can be sure he'll do it!  He's also evil (or was it mean spirited?  Can't remember for sure, but it was one or the other, I'll edit it in later when my game is open and I can look!), so---on top of it all---he enjoys other people's misery.  Couple his traits with his roll, and this is going to be fun! =D

  I know usually that the previous generations would either die off or move out, to help keep the cheaty aspect down, but I am going to hang onto Alder for a while yet.  I have decided to make him into a perfect sim, as something to do on the side, I have him perfecting all skills, and then I might have him work on the skill challenges.  So, he'll be around for story purposes, but not so much contributing to helping with the household.

  Rhys is another sim that I drag with me to every town.  There was a glitch where vampires weren't aging, as if vampires needed an even longer life than they already have, lol  Rhys is still a young adult. O.o  He'll be around for a while.  He's so cute!

 

    I have no idea who that baby is that he is holding in the story pic.  I think it is Mortimer Goth's and Regan (Atkins-Kahekili) Goth's baby though.  They were living with Reilly at the time, along with Rhys.  I knew Rhys would want to spend as much time with his best friend as he could, because Reilly's time was short, so I added him to Reilly's household using MC.  Best of friends until the end.

  Thanks for reading! =)