The Ink Family Legacy: Generation 4 Chapter 10 Part 2
Please read Part One first.
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What do you do when someone dies before their time?
What can you say, what comfort can you offer?
Do you stand stoically by, letting grief consume you inside?
Or do you express it freely and fully, without a hint of reservation?
Or might you stand a distance away, saying nothing...
...and allow your every thought to be devoured by guilt?
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Clover's grave had visitors the entire day. Word got out that she returned only to die a short time later, so everyone had to say their goodbyes in turn.
Three familiar figures from Bridgeport arrived very early.
Things had not changed much for Danny, except that he was now a father, and Ida and Parker had somehow fallen into dating before getting married about two years after Clover was kidnapped.
Daniel was speechless. Clover was his little cousin, the third musketeer of their group. How many times had he held both her and Ida's hands leading them on adventures through the apartment complex where he lived?
Parker wasn't nearly as speechless.
"Clover! Wh-why did you...?! We...we never made up! I never got to say I was sorry!"
"I was lying when I said that I didn't love you anymore when we broke up!"
"The truth is that I was hurt, so much, because I loved you so much!"
"And even after the hurt faded, I was bitter because you seemed to move on so quickly. You were in his arms before I could even process what happened."
"But even though I moved on, I still missed being friends with you, Clover. I wanted us to be friends again. And now...now it's too late."
"I'm sure she knew, Parker." Ida said softly. "Clover never meant to hurt you and I'm sure that in someway, she still loved you too."
The next group of visitors was Paige and her family, who had been at their apartment in Riverview at the time.
Paige, of course, was inconsolable. Nothing Aleksey said seemed to make it through her grief.
Ryder and Katie stood quietly by. They remembered their Aunt Clover and couldn't believe that someone so good could just be gone like that.
Sienna and Theresa were too young when Clover went missing to remember her, but they could certainly sense the sadness all around.
"Paige, it's okay. Your sister is at rest now. She won't have to suffer from her heart anymore." Alec said in another attempt to soothe her.
"You don't understand!"
"She was my little sister! My goddamn little sister and she's gone! She...sh-she and I..."
'Paige, what the heck are you wearing?'
'This is my outfit for going out tonight.'
'You're going to leave looking that ridiculous? Even the red wig was better than this!'
'Don't be jealous of my awesome looks, dearest sister.'
Clover rolled her eyes. 'Jealous of what?'
'I'll have you know that this is one of the highest fashion items you can wear when going to high end lounges!'
'The only thing high about your outfit was the designer when they made it!'
'Y-you take that back!' Paige gasped in horror. 'Alec said it looked great!'
'Well of course he did, but that doesn't mean he's right~!'
Paige made a dash for the bed and hefted her sister into the air.
'Say you're sorry!'
'AAGH!! I'm sorry!'
'Say my dress is amazing.'
'It's amazing!'
'Say my fashion sense is awesome.'
'The best ever!'
'P-put me down, I hate heights!'
'I don't think you're sorry enough~'
'You're the meanest big sister ever!'
'Oh, am I? Guess I can't put you down then. I wonder where Nessie is - she'll help me get you dressed up in something really fashionable...'
'Noooo!'
Paige had known the day that Clover was born that she would probably attend her sister's funeral.
But damn was she unprepared for it being like this.
And of course, with Paige's family there, Ethan's wasn't too far away. The entire family showed up to pay their respects.
Luna even brought along her son, little Aries. She couldn't believe that Clover was gone - she was practically raised with Clover as one of her role models, having lived with her until she was thirteen.
The triplets remembered their aunt fondly, but were mostly sad for the quads, with whom they were very close. They hated to see their cousins suffer like this.
Levi, especially, was worried at how much this was going to tear Rhyme up. Losing a mother not once, but twice? She was going to be a mess.
The two hardest hit in the family, though, were Nesrine and Ethan. Nessie had spent years in that house, coming to see Clover as a little sister of sorts over time.
'If you want to play this note, you must hit these keys here.'
'These?'
'Almost. Try these.'
Clover furrowed her brow and tried to get her tiny hands to hit all the keys quick enough, but it was difficult.
'I don't know if I can do this.' she sighed.
'Of course you can. You are a very quick study you know.' Nesrine replied.
Clover stopped playing and stared up at Nessie.
'Hmm? What is it, Clover?'
'Do you think that if I practice long enough, I can become as good as you?' Clover asked honestly.
'Certainly. I did not sound half as good as you do when I began my lessons.'
'Besides, if you keep practicing, soon you might surpass Ethan in his musical ability.' Nessie bribed.
Clover's eyes sparkled at the prospect. 'Really?!'
'If you practice.'
'Then what are we waiting for?! Let's get playing, Nessie!'
Ethan, too, found himself overrun with memories of his little sister.
'You promise to keep quiet Chloe?'
'I pwomise, Efan! Let's watch teebee!'
The usual rule was that if you found Clover awake and crying, you were supposed to keep her in her crib and try to get her back to sleep. Ethan had always cheated a bit, taking her into the living room to watch a little TV to get her to sleep. Couch potato that Clover was, she loved it.
'Wat's dis show about, Efan?'
'Well, this is about a scientist who's trying to take over the world with a robot army...'
'Wobots, Efan! Beep boop bop!'
'That's right, Chloe!' Ethan laughed, wondering where she heard that.
Clover could never stay awake through the whole show, and it turned out that Ethan couldn't either. Both usually ended up passed out on the couch.
It was hard to believe that his little sister was gone.
It was a wound that would take a long time to heal.
But it would heal. It had to.
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The time right after Clover's death was a tough one for the family, naturally. Seth was almost exclusively in his room, painting pictures of Clover over and over again.
But they never came out right - they were always too blurry, too distorted...
So he would trash it and start over yet again. He never finished her portrait to his satisfaction.
Sparrow had neglected the garden quite a bit and was just now getting around to fixing it up in a feeble attempt to get things going again.
A bit of life would be good for the house, it seemed.
Sparrow was just about to start another row of seeds when she heard shouting from the back deck. Worried, she dropped what she was doing and followed the sound...
"What business is it of yours?!" Noah spat venomously.
"Noah, chill!" Abel retorted.
"Then stay out of my business."
"It's my business now. You can't keep getting into fights at school Noah, or you'll get suspended again or even expelled. You think that's what Mom would've wanted?"
"Who the hell are you to know what Mom wanted?!"
"Well it's not you, definitely, if this is what you keep doing!"
Sparrow finally caught up to them. "Guys, don't-"
But Noah had already taken the first swing, bashing his knuckles into Abel's jaw. Abel staggered into the window, but Noah grabbed his collar and pulled him upright again for another hit.
"Stop it!" Sparrow shrieked. "Stop it you two!! Please!"
Abel finally shoved Noah off of him, causing Noah to fall over backwards. He was on his feet again in a flash, though, still boiling with rage.
"Don't you dare try to talk about Mom to me, Abel!! I know damn well what she said to us, but you know what? She's dead! She's dead and nothing you say is going to make me feel any better about it!" he snarled.
"SO LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE!!"
And before either Abel or Sparrow could even register Noah's newly sprouted fangs -
- Noah dashed off.
"Abel! Oh my god, Abel, are you bleeding anywhere?" Sparrow said frantically.
"I'm fine." he chuckled. "Did not expect the sucker punch though. He's getting better at that."
"Abe, lift up your head, let me see." she said, checking for any sign of blood or broken bones.
No blood, but there was an angry looking bruise on Abel's jawline where he got punched. But even as Sparrow looked at it, the bruise was fading into a yellowish shadow.
"See, not a speck!" Abel reassured.
"I can't believe he did that to you."
"Don't blame him, Row. If I know Noah..."
"...he's suffering as much as the rest of us."
"Thank you, Abel." Sparrow said quietly.
"Eh? For what?"
"For always smiling like you do. You're so cheerful that most of us can't help but smile with you around. You really help keep the morale up, you know?"
Abel grinned. "What can I say? All in a day's work for Abel, leader of the quads!"
All in a day's work. But what happened when the day was over?
Abel was happy. He really was, most of the time. But even when he wasn't, he had to smile, right? They were counting on him to take everything in stride. And he loved to do that, but...sometimes he wanted to cry too. To let people cheer him up for once.
But he couldn't. They needed him to smile.
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Time really does move when you're not watching it.
Then one day you'll look in the mirror and find a stranger staring back.
Someone older and wiser, hopefully.
"Well, I suppose twenty isn't all that bad."
No doubt about it, Rhyme was now a certified young adult. She had taken up vegetarianism after her long standing organic trend, but other than that she didn't change too much. She still wanted to get into a culinary school and meet a lot of people there. It would be nice to be super popular for a change...
Rhyme's phone rang and she picked it up absent-mindedly. "Hello?"
"Hey, aren't you supposed to be taking entrance exams right now?! No business college is gonna let you in if you don't at least-"
"Ha! Thanks for the birthday wishes, Levi." Rhyme said softly. "But seriously, go take that exam. Okay, bye."
Rhyme probably would've forgotten her own birthday if Levi wasn't so adamant on reminding her at every opportunity. She knew he was making a big fuss to make up for Clover being gone, and she appreciated it.
She did still have another parent, but Jin's presence around the house was ghost like at best. He rarely came downstairs to eat and always seemed in pain one way or another. Rhyme couldn't recall him speaking more than once every few days at best.
Today, however, he seemed more alert than he ever had in the few months since Clover died. It reminded her of the day Jin left, and she suddenly got a sinking feeling in her stomach.
"Dad? You're leaving, aren't you."
Jin chuckled weakly. "You've always been unusually perceptive, kiddo. Though I suppose you're not so much of a kid anymore. Happy birthday, by the way."
"Thanks, Dad."
"So this is really the end then? There's no one you can go to that can fix you?"
Jin sighed. "No one gets away from a fight with Anne alive. Mine just took longer, is all. She went for the kill, and I don't think anything could save me now. I can't even really eat, as much as I've tried."
He laughed weakly. "At least I won't be around to ruin your lives anymore."
"Dad, don't you dare say that. You know that we want you to stay." Rhyme pleaded.
"Rhyme, from the moment I entered this family, I've caused nothing but tragedy. Clover died because of me. You guys are orphans because of me. Ethan and Paige lost their sister. I've done a fairly good job of destroying everything."
"And I still have the gall to be glad I was your father, Rhyme. Every homework assignment, every Halloween escorting you from house to house, every Father's Day mug. Even if I made everything worse, I still loved you crazy kids."
"And even though I have no right, Rhyme, I want to ask you for one last favor."
"Dad, I don't know if I can do anything else. I'm barely getting by as it is."
"Can I at least tell you? Whether or not you do anything is up to you."
"I...fine. I can do that much."
"Well, the truth is..."
"You...y-you're kidding. You've got to be kidding, right Dad? Tell me that's a joke."
"I wish it was."
"Why didn't Mom ever-?"
"There was no time, Rhyme. And I have no time left to do this. I had to let someone else know."
Rhyme frowned. "This is huge, you do know that, don't you?"
"That's why I could only trust you, Rhyme. You've always been able to go above and beyond what anyone could expect for you."
Jin reeled, stumbling backwards. Black blood leaked from the side of his mouth.
"Dad?" Rhyme whispered, her voice wavering.
"I have to go now if I'm going to make it. I'm sorry, kiddo."
"Please, take care of them. And never forget to take care of yourself, Rhyme."
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If Jin had to pick any place to die, it would be here. Anne had controlled every bit of his life, right down to ending it, but she couldn't take this away from him.
At one point, as he was fading in and out, he realized that he wasn't alone.
"So it was true." Eve said softly. "You did kill Anne, and she's killed you."
"I can't believe you killed her over a human, Jin. That seems...incredible to me."
"I don't expect you to understand it." he replied.
To his surprise, she sat down in the grass next to him. "You loved her that much? Enough to die for her?"
"Yeah."
"That seems almost kind of noble."
"What's gotten into you?" Jin chuckled weakly. "Normally you'd yell at me for going soft."
Eve toyed with a blade of grass. "I've been doing some thinking ever since you took over Bridgeport. My fiance was dead, and I was no longer of any use to my family. I wasn't useful to any vampire, really. So I eventually got lonely enough to talk to humans."
"I think you were right all along, Jin. Humans are just like us. I know you've only told me that a million times since we were kids, but..." She fell silent, thinking. "But it scares me that I'll outlive them."
"Well Eve...that's something you may have to deal with the rest of your life. Should I turn them? Should I leave them? In the end, you can only do what you hope is right."
More silence passed between them.
"So this is the end of Anne's legacy, huh?"
Jin realized with a start that Eve had no idea that he had children. In fact, no vampire did. That little reassurance made him feel a lot lighter.
"Yes, I suppose it is." he answered evenly as he could manage.
"I'm going to go home now, Jin."
"Okay. Goodbye Eve."
"Goodbye, Jin."
...
"Jin? What are you doing sitting here?"
"...Clover?"
"Of course, silly, who else would it be? Now c'mon, get up!"
"My mom's making dinner right now, and you don't want it to get cold! Dad's waiting to meet you as his son-in-law - you know he hates that he missed our wedding! I think Nana might drop by too, since you're home now."
"Jin? Are you...crying?"
Jin threw himself into her arms. "I'm s-sorry. S-sor-ry that I couldn't protect...I c-couldn't..."
"Oh Jin." she said soothingly. "Please don't cry. It's all okay now."
"You see? We're together and nothing can separate us anymore. This is much more than twenty years. This is forever."
"Now let's go! If you show up late you'll make a bad impression on my dad!"
Together.
We're together now.
And it's okay.
And we're going to be happy.
I only wish they could be happy too.
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