All Of This Past

Author's note: I have looked around on , and I realize some other people like to think that Frank was royalty as well, and a few of the things in my story will coincide, but I swear it is not because I am stealing their ideas. I had the ideas for this story a long time before I checked on here to see what everyone else was writing. So please, I'm not plagiarizing anyone!

Disclaimer: I own nothin'.

Introduction.

It had started when their father left them.

Magenta remembered the day clearly, she was thirteen, Riff was seventeen. It was a cold winter day on Transexual, and the teenagers had opted to stay inside the house, spending time together and doing something that involved staying warm the whole time—sharing a blanket in the living room by the fire, and reading books. They didn't have many books, or really much of anything for that matter, so for Magenta to be able to lean against her older brother and listen to him reading to her from their favorite novel was good enough for her. She closed her eyes as he quietly read from the pages of the worn book, but both of them froze when they heard their parents' voices rise.

An argument wasn't uncommon in the household, but one this loud was. Of course, they always heard them, but this was madness. They were screaming at each other. Magenta made a quiet whimpering noise and looked up at Riff Raff, who wrapped a reassuring arm around her and shushed her.

"They are just arguing, as they always do, sister. It will be alright." He said quietly, kissing the top of her head. Magenta nodded, but reluctantly. She wanted to believe her brother, but something about this was different. Bad different. She bit her lip and closed her eyes, hoping it would all end soon.

But it didn't.

The yelling got louder, things were thrown. Eventually, Riff even began to look worried. Something definitely wasn't right with this. When their father stormed out of the bedroom with his bags though, the siblings knew that it was only going to get worse. Riff and Magenta stared up at their father with frighteningly confused expressions, and the man merely glanced down to them in disgust.

Then, he walked out and slammed the door.

That was the last time they saw him.

It took a while for them to really grasp the concept that their father was gone and wasn't coming back. What didn't make things better was their mother's now avid alcohol abuse. She would go out at night and not come back for hours upon hours, leaving Riff and Magenta to fend for themselves off what little they had in the first place. Magenta often worried about Riff not being able to go to college, but he constantly reassured her that the money was already taken care of, he would be going for his science career and nothing was to stop him. She knew that he would be leaving in about a year's time, and she would be left with their mother…she couldn't burden him.

To Magenta, Riff was the smartest man she knew. He could make something out of nothing, and anything that was broken he could fix. He was always tinkering with something in his room, and he quite liked when Magenta would scurry in to play the part of his assistant. While she was a beautiful young woman, she cut herself off from a lot of the social activities offered on their planet to spend time with her brother. Riff sometimes reprimanded her for that, but the pleas fell on deaf ears. Magenta was happy the way she was, with a couple close friends and one wonderful older brother.

The realization that Riff was truly leaving didn't hit her until the night before he was to leave town. It was a stormy night, and trying to sleep was something Magenta couldn't do any longer. She threw the covers off her pale legs and swung them off the bed, her bare feet touching the cold floor of their home. She pulled her feet back up for a moment with a quiet gasp. Did their mother really forget to cut on the heater again? She sighed quietly, hopping off the bed quickly and making her way down the hall into her brother's room. When she opened the wooden door, the hinges creaked, and she worried that she would wake him. However, Riff Raff was already awake, and sitting on his bed, back against the wall, eyes on a photo frame in his hands.

"…Riff?" Magenta said quietly, taking a step into his room and shutting the door. He looked up from the photo frame, and gave her a soft smile.

"Hey, 'Genta." He replied, still holding onto the frame. "Why aren't you in bed? Can you not sleep?" He asked, furrowing his brows in worry.

"Not really, no." She answered, walking over and taking a seat next to him, pulling his blankets over her legs.

"Is it the storm, or…?"

"…do you really have to leave tomorrow?" The fourteen year old asked, looking up at him with watery eyes. Riff glanced down to her, and sighed heavily. In truth, he knew that leaving Magenta with their mother wasn't the smartest move he'd ever made. He knew he would worry everyday while he was away; the woman was an unfit caregiver.

"I do, Magenta…but I'll be back every chance I get." He said reassuringly, softly. This wasn't the answer his younger sister wanted, and the tears that were forming in her eyes began to stream down her beautifully pale cheeks. "…No, sister, please don't cry…don't cry." He reached over, wiping the tears from her cheeks as she took in a shaky breath.

"You can't go! You simply can't!" She cried, placing her face against his chest and beginning to really cry. Riff wasn't sure how to deal with this situation. He left his arms at his sides for a moment, before deciding that hugging her would be the best idea. He wrapped his arms around her gently, placing his chin on the top of her head.

"Aren't you the one that always wanted me to go to college, Magenta? You know I can make a name for us, I can do something big…give us a better life, give you a better life." He said softly, curious as to what her reaction might be. She only began to cry harder.

"I do not want a better life if I have to live without you for four years!"

More than that…Riff mentally corrected his sister, not daring to say it out loud. He couldn't break her heart anymore than he was obviously already breaking it. He stroked her hair softly, trying to tell her to calm down as best he could. It was at least ten minutes of her sobbing into his chest before she regained composure. Once he was sure she was okay, he pushed her back gently, his hands on her shoulders, and looked into her eyes.

"I will be back for you. Focus on finishing school; I'm not that far away." He said softly, wiping the tears from her cheeks, which were now red from her sobbing. Magenta couldn't argue with him. He had to leave, and that was that.

Magenta recalled, that was the last time she was truly herself.

How long had she been in that alleyway? Long enough now that her mother might actually have beaten her home. Seventeen year old Magenta leaned against the wall of a cold and damp alleyway on Transexual, strung out from her latest drug fix. Ever since her brother left, things around the house only got worse. She argued with her mother on a daily basis, stormed out, got high(which started when she was sixteen), and stayed out until nearly six am. It wasn't like her mother cared anyway, and Riff hadn't called home in so long that Magenta was almost sure he'd forgotten about them.

She sighed heavily, glancing over to the entrance of the alleyway, deciding it was best to stumble back home now and try to get some rest. She shakily stood, laughing a bit and running a hand through her fiery red hair. She wasn't sure how she made it home, and honestly couldn't recall much of the walk in question. Once inside, she dropped her key on the table by the door, looking around for her mother. If her mother was home, and she usually was by now, she could most often tell because she would be making a lot of noise.

"Mom!" Magenta called, slurring her words a bit. She leaned back against the door and caught her breath for a moment, pulling her skirt down from where it was slightly kicked up at the edges. Her clothes were messed up and her hair was in complete disarray, but no matter to her. She would sleep off the high, fix herself up the next day, and the vicious cycle would start all over again. Pushing herself up from the door, she began to walk down the hall and to her mother's room. The silence hadn't registered in her mind as a bad sign yet, but when she pushed her mother's door open and saw the woman lying dead on the floor, it registered.

And she screamed.

It took Riff Raff about an hour and a half of the normal two hour trip to get home. Their mother was dead? His sister was…under the influence of drugs? He'd made a mistake in getting wrapped up in his junior year of college, he'd completely forgotten about his family, about his little sister that he promised to come back for. All things considered, Riff was beyond disappointed in himself. When he arrived to the home, he jumped out and ran straight for his sister, who was sitting on the back of one of the ambulatory care vehicles wrapped in a blanket—looking as messed up as they'd told him she was.

"Magenta!" He yelled, putting his arms around her. She sat still for a moment, not really returning the hug. This alarmed Riff to no end, and he pulled back, his anger suddenly flaring. "What the fuck, Magenta? I leave for three years and—"

"Three years, yes." She said in her thick accent, the accent he strangely didn't share. "Three years and you only keep contact for the first one and a half." Her voice was low, dangerous, and he seemed shocked she'd even bring that up.

"It's not that easy when you are trying your hardest to get a career to support the lifestyle you've always wanted!" He argued in his defense, going to speak again, but getting cut off by Magenta.

"Oh how selfish you sound, dear brother." She said in a condescending tone, looking up at him through her bangs, her eyes narrowed.

This was not his sister. The drugs, the lifestyle, apparently she had been up to some things while he was out of contact with her, but no more. He was going to fix this, no matter what he had to do in order to do that.

"…get your things, Magenta. You're coming to live with me." He said, turning and walking away from her, leaving her to do the only thing she knew to do; obey him and get her things.

It was almost a dream come true, but Magenta was still mad at Riff for not staying in contact with her. She'd stashed the drugs she'd been taking daily in the bottom of her suitcase, and when she arrived to Riff's amazingly clean apartment, she didn't unpack. She set the suitcase by the couch, and began to look around.

"You keep this place strangely clean." She said simply. It felt to her as if they were strangers now, she hadn't talked to him in so long. The bond they once had didn't exist anymore, and Riff coldly looked over to her from the kitchen.

"My room was always 'strangely' clean too, Magenta." He said, walking out with a glass of water and leaning against the wall. "I don't really have a set place for you to sleep…I suppose the couch will have to do until I figure something else out." He said, the tone in his voice not one he usually used with his little sister. He felt it too; the bond was no longer there.

"Sure." Magenta said, sitting now on the couch to determine its level of comfort. It would do…

"Magenta." Riff said seriously, setting the water down and leaning over the back of the couch, grabbing her wrist and outstretching her arm. "These marks…what have you been doing?" His voice cracked a bit, the concern for his sister's health seeping through the anger.

Magenta snatched her arm from him, turning now to look at him. "I've been coping." She said, narrowing her eyes and pulling down the sleeves of her shirt. "I'm fine."

"Oh, coping. Is that what you call it?" He accused, getting a loud and angry scoff out of Magenta.

"What else am I supposed to d—"

"I heard you dropped out of school, as well." He said, his face not showing any features of anger. He was purely calm, and when he was calm is when Magenta knew he was truly at his breaking point. Was he really at his breaking point with her? She turned away from him.

"It's my life, I can do—"

"Of course you can do what you want! How silly of me!" Riff began to laugh, moving from the back of the couch to the recliner that was diagonally across from his sister. He sat down, laughing still. "If you want to completely ruin your life, go right ahead Magenta! You're old enough to make your own decisions, who am I to make them for you? Ahaha!"

Well, this wasn't good. Magenta knew this would only lead to big problems. She stayed quiet, showing she knew she was wrong to say what she'd started to say, and Riff's 'happy' demeanor quickly diminished, and he narrowed his eyes at her, getting up from the recliner and walking over to her, pulling her up to him.

"You are not stupid, sister. I know this. So what are you really trying to do?"

And again…she didn't have an answer.

Alrighty. I do hope this gets a lot of good reviews, but that's what I hope for with all my stories, hah!

The inspiration for this came to me over the time I spent brooding on the siblings and the movie. The movie I adore, but it leaves my curious and often too creative mind begging for more. So I'll give myself more. :)

I'll probably do a few more chapters, so keep a lookout! There's lots I plan to elaborate on, so anything you may think I'm not picking up here will be touched on later!