Recap: Feign and Russel became adults. After accomplishing his lifetime wish, Feign and Colette moved out of the house. Araceli gave birth to a fairy named Asellus and a human named Vincent, then discovered she was pregnant again.

Despite the fact Araceli was beyond upset with Russel, she could not leave the Thrones Household until she gave birth to her fourth child. She went into labor in the middle of the night and Russel witnessed her distress. He insisted on taking her to the hospital. She shoved him away several times before screaming in agony. Russel didn’t take no for an answer and practically dragged her to the taxi and went off to the hospital.

Araceli gave birth to a fairy girl and named her Ayumi.

She was born with the Easily Impressed and Brave traits. Her sign is Aquarius, her favorite color is Hot Pink, her favorite food is Stir-fry, and she loves Indie music.

Russel cried at the sight of her. Araceli’s eyes glanced from her new daughter to the floor. She suddenly felt ashamed. Of what exactly? She wasn’t sure. Giving Russel another child? Giving Russel another fairy child?

Or maybe she was ashamed because she was considering the possibility of leaving Russel altogether, meaning her four children would be left in his care.

The minute the two returned home, Russel passed out on the couch, falling asleep with a smile on his face. Cid was trying to handle taking care of Asellus and Vincent while Hercules was attempting to keep the house clean. Araceli placed Ayumi in a crib and broke into tears staring down at her.

She was beautiful. She was surely going to be a stunning woman one day.

All of her children were gorgeous. They had such potential in life. Araceli was humiliated. How could she have fallen for Russel? How could she have been so stupid as to actually birth him children?

She wanted to punish him. She wanted to divorce his ass and leave him… but she couldn’t abandon her four children. They needed her… her two human boys especially were going to need her guidance. Russel wasn’t going to snap into adoration for them anytime soon, how were they going to grow without their mother by their side?

She couldn’t leave. She had to stay.

For their sake.

Asellus grew into a child with the Charismatic trait.

Russel took her shopping so she could pick out everything for her new room (which was Fantine’s old one). Asellus was delighted. She didn’t think too much about matching decor, she just pointed to whatever looked appealing and asked Russel to purchase it.

She came across a dollhouse and begged him to bring it home with them. He smiled and happily paid the amount it cost to take it home.

Asellus adored playing with it every night.

Cid overheard the little skits she performed with her dolls and became slightly concerned…

Every play time, Asellus was pretending her female doll was Araceli and the male was Russel. She would actually reenact various arguments she had overheard. At first, she would simply mimic their voices and attitudes, but eventually, the scenario would escalate into some sort of situation wherein the ‘Araceli’ doll wound up… dying…

Unbeknownst to the rest of the family, Asellus was feeling a strong desire to cause discomfort to those around her. It was surely her Evil trait beginning to show itself.

It started off with the violent play times with her dolls and then slowly escalated into playing pranks.

Asellus’s usual victim was her Uncle Cid.

He always wound up being the butt of her jokes. Russel found it cute that Asellus was setting up these little booby traps. Araceli scolded her. Cid knew there was a deeper meaning attached to the pranks, but he didn’t bring it up to her parents. They would never think twice about it.

Russel couldn’t stay away from Ayumi. He ran to her side if she cried, he made sure to heat up a bottle if she was hungry, and he played with her every single time she felt lonely. He needed to make sure Ayumi would want for nothing.

When Ayumi was old enough to stand on her own two feet, Russel was right there by her side helping her keep balance.

Hercules aged into a teenager and learned he had become a Perfectionist. Araceli was almost positive that trait was due to the fact Hercules was always trying to impress his father. Despite his perfect grades, nothing ever seemed good enough to win Russel’s affection. To Araceli, it made perfect sense that Hercules would become a Perfectionist.

She had realized his eyesight was deteriorating as he grew older, so she took him to see an optometrist. He was not happy with his diagnosis, as it meant he would need to wear glasses for the rest of his life. To Hercules, wearing glasses would only hurt his chances with his father.

Araceli tried to comfort him, but to no avail.

Asellus picked up on his low self-esteem pretty quickly and targeted him for her pranks. He was so easy to manipulate into falling prey to her schemes that his gullible attitude almost ruined her fun.

Almost.

Watching her older brother wipe away tears from embarrassment caused by her constant pranking kept Asellus satisfied enough to continue hunting him.

In the midst of being ignored by his father, picked on by his sister, and self-loathing his own appearance, there was one shining glimmer of light in Hercules’s life.

Cassandra Ludwig.

He met her in an advanced science class where the two had been assigned as each other’s lab partners. She greeted him with a smile and was so astounded by his intelligence that she couldn’t keep away from him, even outside of class. Cassandra was often waving at him in the hallways and passing him notes in the middle of other classes. Hercules wasn’t sure what to do with all of this attention at first, but eventually, Cassandra made the first move and asked if she could come by his house one day.

She was his only friend (save his Uncle Cid), but seeing her in his own house made him view her in a different light. Her smile seemed to sparkle when she laughed at his jokes. Her eyes looked at him in a genuine manner, as if it didn’t matter he wore glasses 24/7. She always wore a perfume that gave off an alluring scent that only intensified when she stood beside him.

Having asked Cid prior to this situation how to handle it, Hercules approached her with confidence. He handed her flowers that had grown from Cid’s garden and asked her if she would attend prom with him. Cassandra’s expression glistened with delight. She hugged him tightly and accepted his invitation.

In the days leading up to prom, Cid took Hercules shopping for nice clothes and pep-talked him as much as he could.

“Thanks, Uncle Cid,” Hercules said one night after the two of them returned home. He smiled and pushed his glasses up his nose. “I don’t know how what I’d do without you.”

Cid grinned. “You’re going to do fine, Herc. Cassandra will love being your date.”

“I hope so…” Hercules glanced to his feet. “I wish Dad was excited for me…”

Cid sighed quietly. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number. Hercules watched as Cid began renting a limo directly in front of him.

“Uncle Cid! No! Really, you don’t have to—“

Cid held up a finger and raised an eyebrow, quieting his nephew. He finished the phone call with his credit card number and hung up. Hercules was stunned. “You deserve an epic night, my friend, and that’s what you are going to have!”

“Cassandra is going to flip when she sees I’m picking her up in a limo!” Hercules flung his arms around Cid and squeezed. “I don’t know how I can thank you!”

Cid chuckled. “You’re on the Honor Roll, you don’t have to thank me. You pretty much earned this yourself.”

Cassandra was certainly impressed on prom night when Hercules showed up at her house in a limo. She happily sat beside him in the back and grinned.

She did not want the two of them to overdress for prom night, so she had shown up in nice-but-not-fancy clothes. It was something Hercules loved about her — she wasn’t high maintenance.

They walked into the school that night and straight onto the dance floor. Cassandra kept the grin on her face the entire time. She danced beside Hercules and even followed him to the punch bowl when he was thirsty. It was as if she simply couldn’t leave his side. Hercules took this as a sign that she might have a crush on him.

“So, Cassandra,” he started, one hand holding a drink, the other in his pocket.

She tilted her head, flashing that beautiful smile at him.

“I’m having a really great time.”

“Me too, Herc!” She placed a hand on his shoulder. He jumped a little. “Thank you for asking me, I was hoping you would!”

He perked up. “You… were?”

“Of course! I knew we would have a great time.”

He scratched the back of his neck and shrugged. “I’ve been having a great time with you all the time, actually.”

Cassandra’s smile started fading, but she nodded anyway. “So do I.”

“I was thinking that, maybe you would want to… I dunno… date?” Hercules awkwardly set his drink down on a table and cleared his throat, waiting for her answer.

Cassandra took a moment before opening her mouth, and when she did, no sound came out. Hercules felt his heart drop to the pit of his stomach. Cassandra shook her head and grabbed his arms, making sure he was looking into her eyes. “Herc, I love spending time with you. I think you’re the smartest guy in Moonlight Falls. I think you have a wonderful personality.” Her eyebrows furrowed, sending a look of pity his way. “I just… I’m not attracted to you like that.”

She may as well have plunged a knife through his chest.

“Herc, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know you felt that way.”

He shook his head and gently moved her hands away from him. He tried to crack a smile and pushed his glasses hard against his nose. “No, no it’s perfectly okay. Don’t worry about it. Let’s just pretend I never asked and have a good night, okay?”

Cassandra nodded slowly. “Okay,” she whispered.

Just then, the principal approached the stage to announce the king and queen of prom. Hercules wasn’t paying any attention until his name was called. Cassandra happily slapped his back and the crowd started clapping. He looked around in disbelief. How… how had he been voted king?

He accepted his crown on stage and looked at the girl who won queen. She was someone incredibly popular who had never given him a second glance. The principal called for the official king and queen dance and Hercules led the girl to the middle of the floor. It wasn’t ten seconds into the song when a bunch of kids in the crowd started throwing toilet paper at the couple.

No, not at the both of them, at Hercules.

He let go of the queen and watched as more kids started bombarding him with toilet paper. A few actually ran around him in circles until he was covered from head-to-toe. Everyone laughed. He heard people chanting something in an attempt to mock him.

Then, it became apparent that his kingship was a farce. They voted him in just so they could humiliate him in front of the entire school.

Hercules’s face turned beat red. He yanked the crown off of his head and ran for the door, ignoring Cassandra threatening to fight the kids who started all of this. He felt tears in his eyes as he grabbed a bike and rode it all the way home.

His father didn’t want him, Cassandra didn’t want him, his own classmates didn’t want him.

Hercules had never felt so low in his entire life.

Hercules silently made his way through his home to the bathroom, trying to shower his shame away. His phone was ringing off the hook. Cassandra was trying to call him. He ignored the sound and changed into his everyday clothes, shoving his prom outfit into the washer in an attempt to rid himself of the humiliation that way.

He forgot Cid didn’t sleep and jumped when he walked into the laundry room. “Hey, how’d it go tonight?” Cid asked.

Hercules bit his lip and didn’t turn to face his uncle. “Fine.”

“Did Cassandra like the limo?”

“…Yeah, she did…”

Cid could sense something was up, but didn’t want to push. He stood in the doorway for a minute or two before realizing Hercules wanted to be alone. Cid turned to leave, uttering “I’m here if you need me,” on his way out.

Vincent’s birthday came and went quietly in the Thrones household. He aged into a child with the Frugal trait and wasted no time starting on his build.

He hogged the television as much as he could, watching work-out specials and copying their moves and routines. His athletic trait had clearly become his dominant one, for being active was all he talked about.

He asked Araceli to play ball with him when it was nice outside. He begged for sports video games. When he wasn’t working out with the TV, he was watching basketball games and rooting for his favorite teams.

Araceli was incredibly supportive of Vincent’s newly-found hobby. She happily signed him up for every sports team that was offered at the school and helped him practice before big games. Vincent quickly became the star player on the Jr. High team and was praised by not only his coaches, but other inhabitants of Moonlight Falls. He had basically carried the basketball and football teams to State Championships and was the leader in the hockey and swim teams. Araceli and Cid attended every game he had and cheered him on with big paper signs and whistles. Vincent enjoyed the attention. He liked the fact that his family supported him and the community appreciated his talents.

It actually didn’t bother him that Russel never attended a game or asked about practice. Vincent was never connected to his father emotionally. In a way, it was a good thing, because he didn’t have to experience any disappointment from him… but Cid hated the fact that Vincent was missing out on that relationship entirely.

As far as the relationship between Russel and Araceli was going, nothing had improved. In fact, things were just getting worse.

The two had stopped arguing and talking altogether. Araceli no longer slept in the same bed with him. She spent all of her free time in her Fairy House. Russel didn’t seem to even notice. He stopped approaching her. He stopped acknowledging her existence. All of his attention was put on his music career and his two fairy daughters.

Obviously, Cid’s lecture to him didn’t sink in.

In a last-ditch effort to get her husband to open his eyes, Araceli walked up to him and hugged him before he could say anything. Russel wasn’t sure what to do. He allowed her to sink further into the embrace, but didn’t return it. She pulled away with tears in her eyes. Russel watched as she placed a hand on his cheek. “Russel, please,” she began.

He felt his heart start beating faster. It had been years since Araceli had touched him in such a gentle manner, let alone try to start a conversation with him without screaming.

He set a hand on her hip, assuming she was in a romantic mood. She shook her head slowly. “I know what this is,” she whispered.

“What… what is?” he echoed.

“You and I. You never loved me. You loved my wings. I’ve known that for a long time and I have finally come to terms with it.”

Russel swallowed hard, unsure how to respond to her.

She continued. “I understand you used me to get what you wanted. I understand you just wanted fairy children from me… and… and that’s okay. You don’t have to love me. You don’t have to be my husband, Russel.” She slid her hand down from his cheek to his palm, holding it within her own. “But…” She let herself start to cry. “But you do have to love your kids. You do have to be a father.”

Russel watched her cry. He kept silent and felt her hand squeezing his own in a desperate attempt to get through to him.

Had he ever loved Araceli? Maybe… maybe not. Did he want fairy children? Of course.

Did he want to intentionally hurt the woman he had married? No.

Russel had, over time, assumed the two of them were finished, so he refused to make an effort to keep up the charade of marriage. He devoted all of his time to his girls. He knew he was a great father to them… but he also knew he hadn’t paid any attention to his boys.

Araceli backed away from him. Russel shook his head and slipped his hands around her waist, pulling her towards him. “No.”

Araceli sniffed. “No?”

Russel felt himself shaking. He tried to stabilize himself by keeping her close to his body. “No, I won’t be this way anymore.” His voice shook as well, his own eyes drowning his pupils in tears. “I never wanted to hurt you, Araceli… I… I manipulated you into falling for me so I could have children with a fairy, yes, I admit it.”

His wife blinked and turned away from him. He lightly turned her chin back to him. He lowered his voice and tried to still his body. “I am sorry.”

The tone of his voice, the expression on his face, and his shaking demeanor made Araceli actually believe him. She nodded slowly, allowing herself to sink against him even more. “It… it’s okay,” she whispered.

Russel broke down and started sobbing, embracing her with everything he had. Araceli cried as well and buried her face in his shoulder. She believed he was genuinely sorry for using her.

Suddenly, Russel felt his knees give out and he fell to the floor, taking Araceli with him. The two were still locked in an embrace, only now, they were on their knees. Russel lifted his head and slowly pulled away from her enough to look her in the eyes. “My boys…” he stifled.

Araceli bit her lip. “Russel, Vincent doesn’t even know you and Hercules is so, so lost.” This made Russel press his face into his hands. She tried to lift his gaze. “It isn’t too late. You can reconnect.”

At this point, Cid walked into the house and witnessed the scene. He shut the door and made his way to the two. He sat on the floor and looked at his brother. Russel saw him and hugged him, falling into his shoulder. “I’m just like Dad,” he sobbed, “I’m doing to my boys what Dad did to you. I have been a horrible husband and a terrible father.”

Cid felt a sense of relief settle into his veins. Finally, Russel was coming to terms with his attitude. Finally, Russel was growing up. He returned the hug and looked at Araceli, who was wiping away tears. “They still love you,” he muttered, “they just want to know you love them as well.”

Later that night, once everyone had settled down and emotions returned to normal, Russel knocked on Hercules’s door. Hercules looked at the entrance and saw his father standing in the doorway. “H…Hi, Dad,” he said.

Russel pointed to his bed. “Can I come in?” he asked.

Hercules sat up straight and nodded, scooting over to allow his father to sit down. He watched Russel sit beside him and he stiffened. What was he in here for? Russel had never approached Hercules to talk before… what did he want?

The two didn’t speak. Hercules waited patiently, twiddling his thumbs on his lap. Russel was searching for something to say. He noticed a picture on his son’s dresser and took that as an opportunity to talk. “What’s that?” he asked, standing and walking toward it.

Hercules gulped. “My… prom picture…”

Russel picked it up and stared at it. There was a lovely girl standing with Hercules in the picture. She didn’t look familiar to Russel at all… when had they become friends? Next to the picture was a crown. Clearly, this was a crown meant for a prom king. Russel smiled and picked it up. “Hercules, you were prom king?!” He laughed in excitement before realizing the crown was busted. “What happened to it?”

His oldest child shifted in his seat and kept his mouth shut. Russel turned to look at him. He saw Hercules’s face was turning red.

Russel placed the crown back on the dresser and returned to his original seat on the bed. “Hercules…” He placed his hands on Hercules’s shoulders and looked him square in the eye. “I haven’t been a good father to you, and for that I apologize deeply. I can never make any of it up to you. I know I have lost so much time with you, I know I have missed your entire life… but I promise with all that I am that things are going to change from hereon out.”

His son gulped. He had never expected this to happen. He had certainly hoped and prayed for this moment, but it always seemed so out of reach.

Russel’s expression tightened. “I love you, son,” he said.

Hercules felt himself start to cry. This was all he ever wanted — his father to notice him and tell him he loved him. This was it. Russel was actually trying to change.

He choked back his urge to cry and instead smiled. “I… love you too, Dad,” he answered.

Russel nodded towards the dresser. “Now… do you want to tell me what happened at prom?”

The rest of the night, Russel and Hercules spoke to each other. Hercules confessed his humiliation at prom and Russel responded with a protective attitude, showing Hercules that yes, his father did care about him. They talked about his grades, about his school life, about his hobbies — Russel even offered up stories from when he was a kid himself.

At last, the two were bonding the way a father and son should.

—————————————————————————————————–

Asellus became a teenager with No Sense of Humor.

Now that she was beginning to hit puberty and feel hormones sweep throughout her body, her urge to cause harm to others grew even more.

While Asellus hadn’t truly wholeheartedly embraced her Evil nature, she did upgrade her pranking to people outside of the household.

Her favorite prank was the classic doorbell ditch. She only performed it in the middle of the night when she knew her neighbors were asleep.

She had become practically professional at pulling it off successfully. She perfected the art of hiding within shrubbery while the owner of the house answered the door only to discover they had gotten out of bed for no reason. It gave Asellus a sort of high to know she was causing inconvenience for someone.

She wasn’t able to continue this prank for long, however, as one night a cop discovered her in the middle of the act. She grabbed hold of a fence to stop herself mid-flight, knowing she was about to be taken in. She tried to fly away but the cop came prepared.

She was escorted home and promptly scolded by her Uncle Cid, who — of course — was the only one awake at the time.

“You are grounded, Asellus!” Cid shouted.

She shook her head. “You don’t have the authority to ground me,” she remarked.

Cid lowered his eyes. “Look, you aren’t fooling me, Asellus,” he said. She raised an eyebrow. “You may have been a bratty kid who liked to pull-off childish booby traps, and you may only be a rebellious teenager trying to act out… but I see what’s inside of you. I know there’s something lurking there.”

She smirked. “What ever are you talking about?”

“Don’t underestimate me and I won’t underestimate you. I know you have darker intentions brewing in that head of yours…” He pointed to her. “Your parents have given me full authority to ground you, by the way. You won’t be leaving this house anytime soon.” He watched her roll her eyes and turn away, hovering back to her room.

The next morning, Araceli got after her.

“Why in the world are you pranking our neighbors like a child?” she cried.

Asellus balled her hands into fists. “Are you kidding me? Mother, I’m not doing anything bad. My grades are fine in school, I don’t get detentions, so what if I ditch a few doorbells at night? I’m not hurting anybody!”

Yet, Asellus thought.

Araceli held up her hands. “Just stop, okay? I don’t want to deal with this. This is ridiculous. Fix your attitude and get your priorities in line. Pranking our neighbors stops right now.”

Asellus felt a rage build within her directed towards her mother…

…a rage that she knew would need to be satisfied somehow…

Ayumi aged into a child with the Family-Oriented trait. Having been too young to remember the tension in the house between Russel and the rest of the Thrones, Ayumi was under the impression everybody was close to each other and she wanted to one day have a family of her own just like that.

Now that she was a child, her parents noticed her wings were different from Araceli’s and Asellus’s. Ayumi’s wings were pure white and shaped differently. It was an interesting concept that Ayumi would have a wing-style all her own, but it just made her unique.

A bed was added in Asellus’s room for Ayumi.

Since Vincent was closest to her in age, Ayumi bonded with him the most. She talked to him about his love for sports and even went to his games to support him. Vincent became her best friend in a short amount of time and they were always playing silly games together.

In the middle of a game of tag she and Vincent were playing, Ayumi noticed a small chipmunk running around the yard. She stopped in her tracks and bent down to look at it. It looked back up at her and swished its tail a few times. She smiled. She held out her hand and stayed completely still. The chipmunk accepted her invitation and crawled into her palm, allowing her to pet it.

She begged her parents to buy her a terrarium to keep the chipmunk in. She had to convince them the chipmunk actually wanted to be kept as a pet, so she showed them how it allowed her to pet it. Eventually, they gave in and bought a home for the chipmunk. Ayumi excitedly placed it in her and Asellus’s room. She set the chipmunk inside it gently and watched it explore for awhile.

In that very moment, Ayumi decided she knew what she wanted her Lifetime Wish to be.

She was going to be a Zoologist of sorts and collect as many little critters as she could, giving them a loving home with a caring family to support them.