Alright, so I have one important author's note and one silly one.

Important Note: I retconned when Circe left Ceres and Loki- you'll see it if you go back to chapter 2, as well as when you read through this chapter. Rather than leaving when Ceres was a baby, she left when she was a small child.

Silly Note: Cars? Isn't this set in The Sims 4 Universe, where there are no cars except for the fake decorative ones your sims can stand in front of and they'll just go right through them? As with the Simlish vs. English, it's a practical addition. I mentioned a bus in the previous chapter as well. It's just not practical for everyone to walk everywhere, like in the game. Seriously, EA, it's not. Just saying.

1...2...3…4… Ceres was once again somewhere between consciousness and a deep sleep, unable to move. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't come out of it.

I can't breathe, I can't breathe… 1...2...

She couldn't count anymore- she was too scared. Her lungs were burning again and her limbs were tingling.

This is it.

She was phasing out of reality completely, for the last time. But then her eyes popped open and her head turned to the side. There was a silhouette standing across the room- it was completely black. It was holding something. A scythe. Ceres wasn't breathing anymore and her limbs were now heavy, but somehow she was aware of everything happening around her.

The silhouette approached her. It appeared to be walking on thin air. Ceres then felt something cold on her forehead- it was a hand. A very cold, bony hand. Everything faded to black, and then there was a voice.

Ceres. The voice was low and demonic, and it sounded like it was in her head. She opened her eyes, only to find herself in complete darkness.

There's less and less of you every time.

What do you mean? She was somehow talking back in her head voice.

There was no response and suddenly she was very cold.

Hello?

Her eyes popped open. She was on the tiled floor of the lab, though she couldn't remember falling asleep there. Had she tested something for her father and fainted? It wouldn't be the first time that'd happened.

"Rise and shine, Ceres." Her father walked into the lab and she looked at him in confusion. He was referring to her, but her name sounded foreign.

"It's almost time for school."

"What… what day is it?"

"Thursday. Get up, you're going to be late."

"Thursday?" She sat up and rubbed her head. She could have sworn it was still Saturday night. And what the hell was she doing in the lab? She couldn't remember ever going down there in the first place.

"Thursday?" She repeated, "That doesn't make any sense. I went to bed and… and it was Saturday night."

"I'm afraid something went wrong with the sedative this time around." Loki said calmly, "You were asleep for four days. Don't worry, though, I was still able to run some tests." He knelt down next to her and picked up her hand, pricking her thumb with the blood sampling device.

"Ah!"

"Really now, Ceres, it's just a prick. Must you be so dramatic every time? Get up and get ready for school." Loki said nonchalantly.

"Okay, okay… just give me a minute to..." Ceres stood up and stumbled to the bathroom, grabbing either side of the gold-colored pedestal sink. She took a deep breath and looked in the mirror. There she was- blond hair, blue eyes, strong brow bone. But somehow she wasn't convinced that the girl in the mirror was her.

My name is Ceres. I'm 17. I go to Oasis Springs High School. I'm working on a project with that ditzy idiot Nicola Curious. She thought, splashing some water on her face. She watched it run down her cheeks.

Dad made me test something and it fucked with my head. This isn't the first time it's happened.

"Ceres! Come on, it's time to get dressed!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming." She looked at herself one last time. I am Ceres Beaker. There's nobody else I could be.

"Hey, girl!"

Ceres looked up from her Stephen Prince novel as Nicola sat down next to her, setting her pink backpack by her feet. She was wearing another stupid outfit- a purple tank top, dark wash bootcut jeans, and a matching purple necklace and earrings set. At least her eyeliner was a little more even this time.

"I missed you in class these past three days."

"I… I was gone for three days?" She still couldn't believe it. Everything and everyone said that it was Thursday: her father, her phone, Ms. Darves' chalkboard, and now Nicola.

"Um, yeah? You said you and your dad went to Granite Falls so he could do some research."

Right. Granite Falls. Her lie was coming back to her, but she couldn't remember why she'd told it in the first place.

"Oh. Yeah. When you're on vacation, your brain also goes on vacation."

Nicola laughed.

"You're funny. That's so true, though. My family went to Twikkii Island last Spring and I couldn't concentrate in school for like, a week after we got back."

"Uh-huh." Ceres went back to reading her novel, Minimum Overdrive. She was relieved when Nicola pulled out a book of her own, a collection of poems by Emilia Stickenson.

She would read poetry. Ceres smiled and rolled her eyes. She is a stupid simlish nerd. She suddenly found herself gazing at the other girl.

But if she's so stupid, why can't I stop looking at her?

"Sul sul, everyone!" Ms. Darves greeted her class as usual. She was wearing a blue scoop neck dress and a cow print cardigan, an outfit even stupider than Nicola's.

"Please take out your textbooks and turn to page 253, chapter 5. We'll be learning about photosynthesis today."

Ceres reached into her backpack and groaned. Of course she'd forgotten her text book.

"Fuck."

"Don't worry, we can share." Nicola whispered, pulling out her own textbook.

"Thanks."

As Ms. Darves began to lecture and the class started scribbling down notes, Ceres turned to stare out the window. There were dark storm clouds brewing in the distance, and she suddenly found her thoughts drifting away from the classroom completely. She thought of her encounter with the strange sim, though she could no longer remember his face. She did, however, remember his words.

I'm a friend.

The clouds were drifting closer and closer to the school and the bushes outside began to shake in the breeze. There was a growl of thunder and her thoughts drifted further away from the classroom. She was now sitting on the floor of her room, playing with a toy car. It had a small doll in it. The thunder sounded again and lightning flashed in her eyes.

"...And then the rocket ship takes off!" The blond boy sitting across from her picked up a rocket ship toy and stood up, waving it in the air and mimicking blast off sounds.

"Hey! Priscilla isn't there yet!" Ceres protested.

"Too bad! The rocket ship already landed on Sixim and aliens came out!" The boy said dramatically.

"Yeah, well, Priscilla's car is a rocket, too!" She proceeded to mimic blast off sounds and lifted the car into the air. She and the boy then burst into laughter- until thunder shook the castle-like house. They both screamed and ran out of the room.

"Mommy!" The boy trampled down the stairs, his sister following closely behind him.

"In the kitchen!" A female voice called. The children rushed there to find their mother standing at the counter, making something. Another sim was sitting at the nearby kitchen table, drinking a soda.

Ceres hugged her mother's legs.

"Our house is going to fall down!"

"Oh, for crying out loud, it's just a little thunder, Ceres." Her father entered the kitchen, clad in his lab coat.

"She's five, Loki. Of course she's going to be scared." The sim sitting at the table piped up. Ceres glanced back at him, but not long enough to register his facial features.

"You shut your fucking mouth." Loki snapped, "What are you even doing up here? I explicitly told you to wait in your room until my invention is ready to test."

"Loki!" Ceres' mother scolded her husband, "He just wanted a snack. It's allowed."

"Not this again. You've gone soft, Circe. That… that scummy moocher only lives here because we have things to test! He's not our child, so stop treating him like he is!"

Circe threw the spoon she was using to stir whatever she was making onto the counter.

"If loving all of my children and realizing they're not just scientific tools or emotionless robots is going soft, then YES, I have. Testing sims who willingly sign up to be subjects is one thing, but I draw the line at my own fucking children."

Loki let out a boisterous, mean-spirited laugh.

"HE'S our child? No no no. He's nothing but a subject. Always has been, always will be."

"I beg to differ. We adopted him, didn't we?"

"YES, but solely because of WHAT he is."

"WHO he is!" Circe shouted. Ceres and her companion were frozen with fear as their parents stared each other down.

"I can't believe you. The woman I married would LAUGH at the absolute bullshit you're spewing right now!" Loki said finally, "I should just divorce you right now."

"Go ahead! But I'm taking the kids!"

"There is no way in HELL. They're MY CHILDREN!"

"Oh, so NOW they're your children!"

"Not HIM, just THEM!" He thrust a finger in Ceres and the little boy's direction. Thunder shook the house again and lightning illuminated the whole kitchen.

"Ceres." A disembodied voice was saying her name. "Ceres?"

She screamed and jerked her head around. Nicola immediately recoiled. Ceres was back in the classroom- rain pelted the windows and the wind howled angrily.

"Ceres, are you okay?" Ms. Darves rushed over and the few students that remained in class were staring at her. The class period had ended.

"I'm sorry!" Ceres grabbed her backpack and darted out of the classroom, tripping upon setting foot in the hallway. She broke down sobbing. Her classmates either stepped over her or stared for a few seconds before going on their way.

"Ceres?" Nicola put a hand on her shoulder. She desperately wanted to shrug it off but she was feeling far too weak due to her sobbing.

"Hey… come on, stand up or you'll get trampled." The other girl helped her stand, and she wanted to bolt. But she didn't. She just stood there, her hands covering her face as she sobbed.

"Do you want to get out of here?"

Ceres wasn't sure what made her nod.

"Okay, let's go. I'm gonna call my mom to pick us up."

"Your mom? Why?"

"She has a car, silly."

"But we can't just leave school. We'll get in trouble."

"Girl, we both have perfect attendance. Missing one day won't hurt. Worst case scenario we get a talking to."

"O-okay." Ceres sighed, swinging her backpack over one shoulder. The girls walked out of the school without any issues- the tired security guard at the entrance glanced at them but did nothing to stop them. Once they were outside and standing under the awning, Nicola pulled out her pink phone and called her mom. She hung up and smiled a minute later.

"She's coming."

"Okay." Ceres felt numb now, but she was truly relieved to get out of school. She hadn't finished her simlish assignment for that day. A white sedan pulled up to the school 10 minutes later and the girls rushed to it due to the pouring rain.

"Nicola Ann, I told you to wear your raincoat today." Crystal adjusted her rearview mirror to look at her partially soaked daughter.

"Dad looked at the forecast on his phone and said it wasn't supposed to rain." Nicola retorted.

"He must've been looking at the Strangerville forecast again." Crystal rolled her eyes with a smile.

"That's where he works." Nicola explained to Ceres. She nodded absent-mindedly again.

"Are you doing okay, Ceres? Nicola said you were crying." Crystal inquired as she started to drive.

"Yeah. Um, I'm just coming up on my period. Everything's gonna make me cry."

Nicola gave her a look, clearly unconvinced. Ceres ignored her.

"Ah. All of us girls know how that goes."

"Yeah…" She turned to stare out the car window, watching the raindrops stretch and travel across it as the car picked up speed. It only took about ten minutes to get to the Curious House, and once they got there Ceres felt an almost eerie calm. Crystal parked the car in the attached garage and Ceres was relieved that she didn't have to set foot in the still-pouring rain again. The garage led directly into the kitchen, where a black-haired man in a purple shirt was sitting at the table reading the newspaper.

"Hey, dad." Nicola set her backpack down by the door. "This is my friend, Ceres."

"Nice to meet you, Ceres. I'm-" The man glanced up and then did a double take. "...Lazlo." He finished, setting the paper down.

"Hi." Ceres said simply, giving him a small wave. The man was studying her with an expression so intense that she had to look away.

"Did you have breakfast today, Ceres?" Crystal asked, walking over to the fridge.

"No." Ceres said quietly, "I could go for something if… if it's not too much trouble." She was grateful to focus on Crystal.

"Hmmm… how about some waffles? I can have 'em ready in about fifteen minutes."

"Yeah, sure, that… that sounds great."

"Waffles? Can I have some?" Darwin rushed into the kitchen, wearing a dark blue pajama set adorned with flying saucers.

"Darwin Glarn, I told you to get dressed before I left! You're going to be late for school!"

"But dad said I could stay home!"

"Did he, now?" Crystal glared at her husband.

"He said his stomach hurt." Lazlo shrugged.

"Your stomach hurts but you want waffles?" Nicola chastised her little brother.

"Oops." The boy said quietly, looking down at his gray slippers.

"Alright buddy, the jig's up. Get dressed." Lazlo said firmly.

"Aw man…" Darwin stalked away.

"How many times do I have to tell you to check his temperature when he tries pulling that?" Crystal reprimanded Lazlo, pulling a box of waffle mix out of the cupboard.

"I did. The thermometer said 99.8."

"Dad, you just fell for the thermometer-on-the-lightbulb trick." Nicola giggled.

"Have a seat, girls. Do you want some coffee or hot chocolate?" Crystal asked.

"I'll have some coffee." Nicola said, "As long as we have the vanilla creamer."

"Umm.. hot chocolate please." Ceres said quietly. Lazlo was studying her again.

"Honey? Anything for you?" Crystal asked him, jerking his attention away from the girl at last.

"No thanks, I already had my coffee. If you wanted to make a few more waffles, though, I wouldn't be opposed." He said, turning back to Ceres.

Dude, what the hell is your problem? She thought, shooting him a death glare. To her dismay, he started laughing.

"What's so funny, dad?" Nicola asked.

"I knew it. You're Loki Beaker's girl, aren't you?"

"Um, yeah?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. But the look you just gave me, it's classic Loki."

"You… know my father?"

"Know him? Everyone at FutureSim knows Loki Beaker. He was a big shot before he quit. Not to mention he stole your mother right out from under my brother's nose."

"Huh? You.. you know my mother?"

Lazlo removed his glasses and wiped some tears out of his eyes before answering her.

"My brother, Vidcund, dated her in high school and the first few years of college. How is she, anyway?"

"Um… I don't… she doesn't live with me?" If Ceres wasn't confused before, she was sure as hell confused now. Lazlo frowned.

"Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't realize they'd separated. Last I heard about Loki, they were still married and had three children."

Three children? What on earth-

She suddenly remembered the flashback that set her off in the first place. She'd had a brother. There'd been a fifth sim living with them, too, but he wasn't her brother. At least, not biologically.

"Anyway, it's nice to meet you, Ceres. I know there's some bad blood between my brother and Loki, but it would be nice to see him again. See what he's been working on in that secret lab of his."

"Oh. Um, lots of stuff." Ceres stared down at the bamboo placemat in front of her. "I shouldn't say anything, because, you know, it's a secret, but he's working on… a lot of cool stuff."

Nicola picked up on Ceres' discomfort immediately.

"Hey, mom, would you mind bringing our stuff to us on TV trays? I just remembered that we have to start working on our project. Just because we're not at school doesn't mean we can be lazy about it." She said quickly.

"Hmm, okay, sure." Crystal said, "Food and coffee should be ready in about 10 minutes."

"Great. Bye!"

Nicola got up and grabbed her backpack, Ceres quickly following suit. Once they got up to her bedroom, she immediately sat down on the bear chair again.

"Girl, what's really going on? I've had period meltdowns before and what happened to you… that's not a period meltdown."

Ceres sighed deeply.

"There's… there's a lot." The emotional walls she'd built around herself for so many years were starting to crumble. She took another deep breath.

"So my parents are divorced… they… divorced a long time ago."

"I'm so sorry." Nicola said softly.

"It's okay. They weren't right for each other. I mean, they were at one point, but then… you know…" She trailed off. "Look, I really don't want to talk about it anymore."

"Ceres…" Nicola's hand was on her knee. Once again, she wanted to push the other girl away, but she just couldn't. Instead she found herself staring into her brown eyes. Her beautiful brown eyes. She finally nudged her hand away after a moment and picked up her backpack.

"Let's just start our research."