Chapter 18: The Blue Spirit vs. the Blue Dragon

Location: Fire Nation Fortress, Earth Kingdom

"I told you, Commander Zhao, I'm not going to accept your request for your project!" a colonel scolds Zhao.

"You don't understand Colonel Shinu, you are wasting an opportunity with the Yuyan archers as pesky guards and not use them to hunt down the Avatar and the Blue Dragon," Commander Zhao complains.

Commander Zhao has been pestering Colonel Shinu to let him use the Yuyan archers to help him achieve the Avatar's capture and the Blue Dragon as a bonus. He wanted to take away the banished prince's glory due to seeing him like a spoiled little rat who bested him in Agni Kai. Or more accurately, was humiliated by the banished prince AND General Iroh when he refused to take him out. This was his little way of getting revenge for that and the second humiliation at Avatar Roku's temple.

"They're my archers, Commander, I can do whatever with their talents. If you have forgotten, we are facing a real war here," Colonel Shinu said.

"But—"

"That's final!" the colonel shouts at the commander.

Zhao didn't want to argue anymore, but it would seem that fate decides to be nice to him. A messenger hawk flew down towards the two men, landing on Colonel Shinu's arm. The Colonel grabs the rolled-up note from the hawk, beginning to read the message. Commander Zhao snatches the paper from the colonel.

"A message from the Fire Lord?" he questions whilst reading the note, "It seems that I'm promoted to Admiral."

He smiles evilly at his former superior. "My request's now an order."

Colonel Shinu begrudgingly bows down to the Admiral. He doesn't know why the Fire Lord promoted the self-centered former Commander, but he can't argue the ruler's orders. But he can wish that he fails in capturing the Avatar, whilst it is treason if one says it, Shinu just wants nothing to do with capturing the Avatar. Unbeknownst to the two officers, someone has heard the entire thing from above. A being covered in black and their face mask by a blue and white mask, resembling a demon in Asian folklore.

The figure knew what must be done.


Location: Ruins, Earth Kingdom

Ricky was able to set up the fire while Aang and Katara try to care for Sokka's illness from the terrifying storm a few days ago. Ricky was glad he didn't get sick thanks to the special heat inside him, as Aang said, but he was still had a running nose and his sinuses were going bonkers.

"How is he?" he asks.

"Not good" Katara responded, "The storm took a toll on him."

"Oh Appa, you're so funny." Sokka laughs weakly.

The sky bison growls only to have Sokka laughing again.

"Okay, so bad news: we don't have any ginger root to make tea", Aang explains, "But the good news is there's a herbalist institute on the mountain. We'll be getting Sokka better in no time."

Aang was certain to get Sokka better and Ricky, just to get rid of Ricky's sinuses problem. He just needs to get enough for the two and continue their journey to the North Pole. But Katara had other things in mind.

"Aang, Sokka's not fit to travel all the way there. I believe he'll be feeling better tomorrow morning," she said until a cough escapes her mouth.

"Oh no, not you too!" Aang exclaims.

Katara waves her hand at the idea. "No, it's fine."

"That's what Sokka said, now look at him! He believes he's an earthbender!"

The three looks at the sick Water Tribe boy acting as if he was punching a rock, flailing his arms around. Ricky felt bad for Sokka and only wish he could in some way help. He notices Aang walking out of the ruins before turning his head towards him.

"Ricky, I'm leaving you in charge to watch them until I come back," he said.

"Are you sure?" Ricky sniffs.

"I'm sure. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

With that being said, Aang jumps from the ruin and begins his mad dash towards his destination. Ricky didn't say anything as he heard the sounds of thunder in the background and watch the grey clouds rolling in the sky from the aftermath of the storm.

"Ricky, I need you to follow Aang," Katara spoke.

Ricky looks at the waterbender in confusion. "Really? Aang told me to watch you guys until he gets back."

"I know, but I'm just worried about him being alone out there with the Fire Nation still out there." she points out.

It was true that the Fire Nation is still out there and they have to continue going after Sokka gets better. But Aang is becoming a sitting duck out there with no one knowing where he is if he gets caught. Aang is the Avatar after all and he can take care of himself... That is if he wasn't a literal child. He barely mastered waterbending and he hasn't begun his other bending, even Ricky hasn't mastered his firebending. Though fighting with the now soon-to-be sick girl wasn't a good idea. He sighs reluctantly, getting up from his spot and walk towards the flying lemur.

"Momo, Appa, you're in charge of watching them okay?" he told Momo.

Momo cocks his head while Appa just groans, with no idea what the mid-teen was talking about. But they didn't say anything as the firebender climb down the ruins. He bent down as if he was in a foot race, raises his hips before pushing his hands and legs lunging. He clutches his hands and fires two azure blue flames behind him and launches him in speed he couldn't handle.

"OH GOD WHY DID I DO THIS?!" he screams.


Out in the road, two Fire Nation scouts hid inside their hidden outpost keeping an eye out for anyone passing by. One of them was reading a wanted poster of Aang.

"It says here that the Avatar can create storms and run faster than the wind. Pretty impressive huh?"

"Bah! It's nothing but propaganda the Fire Lord created!" the other scout scoffs, "No, it may be true."

"But what about the Blue Dragon?" the first scout questions, "It says that he can create a fire tornado and can blast a Fire Nation ship with just one blast of his blue flames."

"Again, nothing but Fire Lord propaganda."

Before the two can argue some more, Aang race past by them as he continues to race towards the herbal institute. The two within shock to see the event they have the witness and can't tell whether or not they witness is real. But they know one thing; they need to set off the signal that they spotted the Avatar.

"So... What was that about it being propaganda?" the scout asks smugly.

"S-Shut up."

On the other side, Ricky was following the trail Aang left behind from his rapid dash, with blue flames behind him from his fists. He can feel his legs are beginning to wear out and he can't seem to stop himself. His eyes water from the wind blowing through his face and he looks like a complete moron who tried to run like Naruto. As if fate decides to humiliate him even more, he tripped on a root and his balance begin to falter. He fell right off the trail, the fire begins to die off, and he tumbles down the hill. He continues to roll down the hill before his hit bottom of a dead log. His eyes seeing stars and his body already give up moving.

"Follow me... Set me free... Trust me and will escape from the city." Ricky sang nonchalantly and his voice cracking.

With only what felt like a few minutes he woke up with the rain falling on him, his eyes flutter as he struggles to get up. His body still aching from the fall already acknowledging his run was ridiculous.

"Okay, never going to do that again."

He stretches his back with some sounding pops and cracks his neck to be less stiff than before. He ruffled his hair to get rid of the small debris he created from the impact of the dead log and looks up at the hill he fell. It wasn't steep, but it did show where he fell with his body and the addition of the hill also being slippery. A sweatdrop formed onto his head, sighing in defeat as he looks at the forest behind him. He could climb up the hill and get coated in mud or travel in the forest hoping to find Aang.

Option one was more likely his best option.

"Great, hopefully, I can get to Aang before something bad will happen," he muttered.

He begins climbing the slippery hill until he felt something cold pressing the back of his neck. A small warm trickle down his neck, instantly recognizing it to be blood, but what he didn't know what or who caused it. That is when he heard a raspy voice behind him.

"Don't move."


Aang was confused as it is with the crazy herbalist. For what she told him; he has to get some frozen frogs for Sokka and Katara to suck on to remove the sickness in them. For Ricky, she just told him he needs to drink enough water to get rid of the sinuses. He doesn't know how frozen solid frogs are going to help his friends, but who is he to judge? He grabs a few touches of frost covered amphibians and place them in his pockets, it wasn't what he considers fun, but he wants to get his friends better so they can get to the North Pole with no problem.

Though, it seems fate has other plans. An arrow whiz towards him, only hitting the water near his feet. He drops the small frozen creature and picks up the arrow.

"Um, I think you drop this," he calls out with no one responding.

Without warning more arrows came from the trees, heading straight towards the Avatar. As instincts took control of the young airbender, he blasts a gust of wind at the arrows, making only a few hit his pants. He created an ice wall from the pond as several arrows hit the ice. The wall did so much, only to have it break and made Aang flinch. Without any time to react, a net was thrown over him and drag him towards his captors. He couldn't believe he was capture... Again. But the main question remains: who hired them?

Aang didn't know that time has passed and reality where he found himself chained up by some kind of device, but the room he was in was decorated with Fire Nation banners. The large metal door opens to reveal Admiral Zhao walking into the room, looking up at his prize with a smug look on his face.

"Well, we meet at last Avatar," he said grinning, "You have been hiding from us for a century, not sure how you did it. But your game of hiding and seek has come to an end."

"I would never hide from you!" Aang yells, "Let me go and I'll show how powerful I am!"

Zhao only scoffs at the young Avatar's threat, not fazed by it whatsoever. "I'm smart enough not to fall for that kid. Tell me something; how does it feel to be the last airbender? Do you miss your family?"

Aang's heart stops a beat at the mention of his people. Oh, how the pain still hurts inside the airbender and to have this man mock him about the death of his people is an arrow to the heart. Admiral Zhao notices the lack of a response from the boy, taking it as his question irk him. It was all to clear to him.

He smiled. "Well, I'm not going to kill you. I know how this works."

Aang glares hatefully at the admiral.

"If I kill you, then another Avatar would take your place and the search must continue. But I'm going to keep you alive for now... Just barely of course. But the question I want to know is your friend: The Blue Dragon."

Aang kept quiet when he heard that title, knowing well that it belongs to Ricky. He can't let Admiral Zhao get his hands on his friends, no matter how important they are. Prophecy or not.

"I will never tell you about Ricky," he sneered.

Zhao only scoffs at Aang's threat, "Doesn't matter, your situation is futile. No one is going to come to save you, not even your precious Dragon will come."

The admiral walks away from the airbender with the door closing behind him. Everything is going according to plan, he will live in luxury once he gives the Fire Lord the Avatar and makes sure that Zuko will never return home.


"Are you sure this is where Aang is being held at?" Ricky asks his mask partner.

The blue mask assailant didn't say a word as he kept eyeing on the Fire Nation fortress that was standing from afar. At first, he was scared stiff when he discover his attacker hours ago and told him that Aang was captured. Ricky was still skeptical about this person's motive and he would've pinpointed the voice he heard, but the mask seems to muffle it to make things difficult to where the blue firebender has heard that voice before. He can't tell if the partner was either boy or girl with no signs of sexuality, but that didn't matter. What matters is that Aang was captured during his hunt to get medicine and was taken to a heavily guarded fortress. He was able to sneak in the prison where Haru and his father were imprisoned due to his lanky body and quiet demeanor, but the metal base he was seeing is a whole another league of its own.

The masked figure motions their hand for Ricky to follow as they spotted a wagon heading towards the fortress. Ricky followed them to the wagon as they sneak inside the wagon without causing any alarms. The dark brunette kept his breathing in a nonexistent level, though the sounds of footsteps coming inside the wagon were not making his anxiety lessen.

"All clear," a voice calls.

It was not belonging to the masked figure, but one of the guards. Another call responded the same thing as the previous guard before the wagon begins to move again. Ricky held his breath, not noticing the masked assailant appeared behind him. But that didn't matter to the stranger, all they care about is getting the Avatar out of prison and escape. Ricky pokes his head up to see they're in a courtyard. Without any time to react, Ricky's collar was pulled and fell backward with the masked figure pull him away and into the shadows outside of the wagon.

Ricky quickly glared at his assailant before they point at the tall tower that was standing in front of them. It was then he noticed at the center of the inner courtyard, Admiral Zhao was in the middle of it all and making a speech.

"Today is a remarkable day for the Fire Nation! I have captured the Avatar and this year where the Sozin's Comet arrives and we will rule the world! And this will be the day where we take down Ba Sing Se!"

Everyone cheered for Zhao's speech, minus the two that snuck inside the base. Ricky's anger rises at the admiral's high and mighty speech, it irks him to no end. It just reminds him of how there are those people back in his world who are like that. The boy looks ahead to see that his "partner" was already gone.

"Are you serious?!" he hisses.

If he wasn't already stuck in a heavily guarded fortress, he would've screamed in anger. Though if he bet his life on where they went, it was the tower. The best guess where Aang is being held at. Ricky quietly tiptoes his way to find the entrance to the tower or at least a group of knock out soldiers that acknowledges that where the masked person is.

"Alright Blue Spirit, let's see where you went off to," he mumbled. 'Wow, did I just name that stranger the Blue Spirit? Real original, Paul.'

Ricky continues sneaking inside the base as he found a door, hopefully somewhere inside has a stairway that leads to the tower. Only to be greeted by an empty hallway with Fire Nation banners on the walls. It didn't seem to have any end on either side, much to Ricky's dismay. He doesn't even know if he'll take the right way or his demise of being captured and tortured. He took a deep breath and took a random turn, hoping he went the right way, only to be spook by the Blue Spirit jumping out of nowhere. If he could see their eyes, they would probably be glaring at him for being absent-minded.

"Don't look at me like that, you're the one who left me out there to be caught!"

The Blue Spirit didn't say anything, only motioning their finger to follow them. Ricky groans as he follows his "partner" to their destination.


Aang struggles to get out of his chains, but it doesn't seem to budge. To make matters worse, the frozen frogs are starting to thaw out and are escaping his pockets.

"No wait, come back! My friends need you!" he cries out but to no avail.

He continues struggling with his chains but to no avail, only to hear the sounds of frogs croaking as they continue their escape. Aang continues to watch his frogs go until he heard a new sound: violence. To what he's hearing, someone is beating up the guards from the outside. It was then the metal door opens to reveal the Blue Spirit, entering the chambers with two swords in hand. Aang has no idea who this person was, but before he could ask the figure ran up to him at great speed.

"NO WAIT!"

The Blue Spirit didn't respond only to raising their swords and slashes them without warning. Only it hit the chains, setting Aang free from his bondage. He rubs his wrists as his rescuer moves their finger to follow them. Aang doesn't know who this person was, but was grateful to them.

"I'm going to guess you're here to save me," he asks his rescuer.

The masked stranger didn't respond, only to move to follow them. Aang didn't protest as he follows the stranger out of his cell, only to see the guards knock out and Ricky looking out of the corridors. Ricky turns around to see Aang's surprised and shock expression on his face, only to give him a nervous wave

"Hi, Aang," he chuckles worriedly.

Aang doesn't even know how to react other than the few selective words that process in his mind. "What the heck are you doing here?!"

Ricky scratches the back of his head, trying to summarize the events that lay before him.

"Well, Kat sent me over to follow you in case you got caught, but this fellow here told me where you were and... Here we are," he explains poorly.

Aang doesn't even know what to think, but if Katara sent him to follow him meant she was worried that he might not return and thank the Spirits she did. It was then he heard croaking of frogs and try to grab them, but the masked vigilante grabs the back of his collar and drags him away.

"Wait, I need those frogs," he pleaded.

Ricky was confused about why his airbending/waterbending-in-training friend needs those frozen amphibians.

"Wait, why do you need them?"

Aang responded to Ricky's question, "I need them so Katara and Sokka can suck on them."

Silence filled the room. No one spoke of what the Avatar had just said, it was too confusing. But to Ricky... It was something else entirely.

"...What?" he spoke dumbfounded.

"I'll explain later, but we need to get out of here," Aang told his blue firebender.

Ricky didn't respond, only his feet and legs did as his mind was processing what Aang just said. It just rang so many alarms in his head in all the wrong ways, it baffles to think that his mind can conduct the conclusion, though not entirely true and it made him sick to the stomach the thought of it. But just as his mind was still wracking around the weird thought, the alarm went off. He was snap back to reality as he knew what that meant: The Avatar has escaped.

"Guys, stay close to me!" Aang yells.

The two ran beside Aang, finding an exit as the sirens continue their blaring and guards already on their tails. Ricky looks out to find themselves on the wall of the fortress and spotted the gate.

"Guys, over there!" he points out.

Aang spots it and saw the Blue Spirit was already throwing guards off the wall. Aang helps them using some airbending techniques while Ricky fire some of his blue flames at the guards behind them. They were able to deflect them of course, but what they didn't expect was the brunette lunging towards them and punching them in the face and grabbing one of their spears and start whacking them with it, sending them falling to the ground. The three saw a ladder and came up with the idea.

"Ricky, get me one of those things and hand them to me!" Aang yells.

"You got it!" Ricky complies.

He grabs the ladder and uses his firebending to cut it into one large stilt and gave it to Aang.

"You there, get me another one!" Aang orders the Blue Spirit.

The masked figure complies and uses their swords to slice the other stairs to make another large stilt. Aang quickly grabs the stilts and got them. The Blue Spirit jump onto Aang's back while Ricky took a huge leap in hoping he could catch up to them, only to use his firebending to break his fall. Luckily, it did and he made a mad dash towards the entrance while Aang struggles to keep his balance with the extra weight on him. The two collapse and fall onto Ricky with a loud "thud", only to get up merely in seconds as the three were surrounded by firebenders. Ricky and Aang stood in front of their mask acquaintance as they block the soldiers' attack with their own. Admiral Zhao came up to the trio with anger in his eyes.

"Hold your fire! The Avatar must be caught alive!" he orders.

Only to have the two's neck met with a cold thin metal contacting them. Everyone was caught off by surprise by this sudden result to the Blue Spirit and Ricky was already having flashbacks on how the two met.

"Seriously man?!" he yells angrily at the masked figure, "If you weren't hiding behind that mask, I'd punch you in the face right now!"

Admiral Zhao looks straight to the mask figure's "eyes" with pure anger and hatred. But he knew if he screws this up, it'll be a bad reputation for him and he'll be drop-down to Commander.

"Let them go," he says.

One of the officers looks at him in shock.

"But sir—" he objected but was interrupted.

"That's an order!"

No one said a thing as the gate slowly opens behind the three as the masked assailant walks backward with Aang and Ricky as their hostage. Ricky looks closely at the admiral's face and he could see he was smiling. Something wasn't right, he wouldn't let them walk away unscathed and live another day and once again his mindset off an alarm.

"Aang, don't think it's weird that this guy is letting us go?" he whispers to his friend.

"Yeah. But I don't know what, as long we're out here and they're over there I'm good," he whispers back.

Just as they reach the end of the bridge, a faint whirring sound was heard and it got louder as an arrow hit the Blue Spirit's mask and knock them out. The masked figure drops their swords, leaving Aang and Ricky gasping for air. Aang saw the soldiers were racing towards them, he launches the giant smoke and block the firebenders' vision. Aang sighs in relief, turning towards his brunette friend.

"Come on Ricky, let's get out of here!" he said.

He saw Ricky kneeling to where their blue mask partner was knocked out and his face was lacking any color. His eyes dilated and his mouth ajar. None of them could prepare what was to come. In front of them was none other than the Fire Nation prince himself: Zuko.

"What the—" Ricky murmured.

Aang steps away from his enemy to see why on earth did the scarred prince that chased him across the globe would be here and save him with Ricky no less. He wanted to escape and run away from this crazy guy, but something in his heart told him not to. If he can save his life, maybe he can make a friend right? Ricky was more shocked to see that he was helping the Fire Prince to bust Aang out of his prison and not even bat an eye about this. How can he explain this to Katara and Sokka? How is any of this make any sense? But he knew that he rather let him be captured by Zhao than him and Aang.

"Aang we need to go," he said getting up.

Aang didn't budge a move, only staring at the unconscious prince with compassion in his eyes. He just knew Ricky's going to hate him for this.


Ricky watches the prince as Aang looks up into the sky after their hasty escape. It was already morning and already Ricky didn't say anything to Aang. It was uncomfortable when they argue if they should just leave the prince behind and escape. But Aang was able to win the argument and told Ricky to help him carry Zuko, much to his dismay. He doesn't trust the prince one bit; one moves and he'll be there to counter it with his flames.

"How long did you know he was with you?" Aang asks.

"..."

Ricky didn't say a word, only too focus on watching the scarred boy's every move.

"Just now," he said.

"Are you—"

"I'm not mad at you," he interrupted the Avatar's question.

The two stayed quiet until they both heard Zuko moaning. A sign that he's waking up. He looks and found the two boys he associates with not too long ago, only a full night before being knocked out by an arrow.

"You know what's worse than being born a hundred years ago?" Aang asks Zuko without hearing a response, "It's that I lost all of my friends. I had a friend name Kuzon. we used to hang out before the war began and the funny thing is; he's from the Fire Nation. Like you. Do you think we'd be friends back then?"

He looks down at Zuko with a smile and compassionate eyes, hoping they could turn over a new leaf and start fresh. Ricky kept an eye on him, waiting for him to pounce on him. And pounce he did. Zuko launches a huge fireball at Aang, only to have it deflect by Ricky's blue fireball. The brunette look at his friend that looks like a soldier would have.

"Get out of here Aang! I'll hold him off and you get that medicine!" he told him.

Aang wanted to argue, but the way he saw the brunette's eyes were already saying he's having none of it.

"NOW!" he yells.

Without warning, Zuko fired another one at Ricky, while Aang jumps off to tree. Ricky was able to block it with his blue firewall and launches a blue flamethrower at the prince. Zuko dodges it and the two begin to brawl.

Ricky starts to throw punches at Zuko as so did he. Both of them got hit square in the face, but they continue fighting. Zuko seems to have the advantage with his experience in training in both hand-to-hand and firebending, while Ricky only got is his agility and reflexes. He was still an amateur in the whole firebending, despite knowing the basic move sets from the scroll General Iroh gave him and some of his combat skills. But the last time he fought the prince was back at Kyoshi Island and it did not go so well for him. But he was able to pick up some pointers at their previous fight and begin to use it; instead of heading head-on, he had to keep a distance from Zuko's punches and his firebending. He was able to use his own as leverage to get above the tree branches and kept Zuko from arm's or fire's reach, but that can only go far in battle.

Zuko then fires another large fireball, this time with two, and hurls it at the Blue Dragon. He was so close to losing his honor from Admiral Zhao and he almost had the Avatar in his grasp. But then this guy everyone calling him the "Blue Dragon" shows up out of nowhere and a so-called prophecy was brought up, but he never believed in that. He cares about is getting his honor back and he'll do it, by killing the Blue Dragon. One way or another.

The two fireballs were too much for Ricky as it knocks him to the ground and hit his back hard, causing him to scream in agony. Zuko walks up to him, grabbing his collar with his hand curl into a fist and a small fire blade was formed.

"This time, I won't hesitate to kill you," he said threateningly.

Ricky was already feeling the pain, but his right hand was able to pick up a small rock, not letting his eye contact with the prince go.

"It's not about how hard you hit," he growls.

Zuko tilts his head in confusion on what he means by that, but then Ricky chucks the rock at his head causing him to let go of the brunette's collar and step back. Without any time to recover, Ricky tackles him to a large tree and throws him, arching his back like a bridge with his back popping. The immense pain was too much for the prince, not even giving himself a chance to breathe, Ricky then grabs him by the collar and he punches him straight in the face, with a broken nose ensue.

"It's about how hard you GET hit and keep moving forward!" Ricky finishes his quote.

Something his father told him about when he was a freshman in high school. Of course, he got it from a movie, but to him, he took it by heart and never let it go since. He gave one more punch to make sure Zuko never got up for a while before leaving. Sure enough, he was knock out cold and he drops him to his knees and wipe the blood off of his mouth. He panted heavily as he turns around and walks out of the woods, in only a few feet away, he saw Aang with his hands holding a couple of frozen frogs. The two didn't say a word, not knowing what to say. Ricky was turning into a grown man and it dawned on him; he's changing into someone he's not. It frightens him to no end.

Aang got back to where Ricky and Zuko was and found Ricky already standing with the scarred prince out cold and a bruise on his forehead. He didn't know who he was looking at, but it was just like in his dream not too long ago. Ricky looks menacingly that so much hatred and anger manifested him into a Fire Nation soldier of today. He didn't want his modern world friend to be like that. Not now, not ever.

Ricky was the first to break the silence. "Come on, let's get those frogs to Katara and Sokka."

Aang only nods his head as the two walk back to their campsite.


Location: Los Angeles, California

Jonathan Richards waited impatiently for his wife to come back from work. He already wants to talk to her after what Nikki and Susan said about Ricky's demise. He didn't think she would stoop so low to not even bat an eye on her son's death, it disgusts her. He told them to wait in their rooms until he's done talking to her. The sound of a car pulling up the driveway signals that she's already here. Jonathan stood up from his seat and crossed his arms as the door handle turn and open to reveal Suki Richards.

Suki turned on the lights to be greeted by her husband standing there with a mix of anger and disappointment on his face. She didn't show her reaction, only displaying a fake smile and acted like nothing beforehand happened.

"Honey, welcome home," she cooed but he wasn't buying it.

"Suki, we need to talk," he said in a monotone voice only heard in the military.

"Well, what is it we to ta—"

"It's about our son's death," he interrupted.

Silence filled the room, only to have the wife's face change from her fake smile to actual disgust.

"Ugh, can we not? I already have enough of hearing of that sad sentimental story," she groans.

Jonathan's hand curled into a fist, "How can you say that about our son?!"

"No, he's your son. Not mine," she pointed out like a smart aleck.

"I don't care!" he yells, "You're supposed to raise him when I was gone to protect our family. But nooooo, you just leave him in daycare and let the girls get him!"

"So what?! Why should I care about that little rat?! He's been nothing but a nuisance and he doesn't even listen to me!" she argues.

"You barely are even in his life!" he argues back.

"Oh and you were?" she counters.

"Don't be Mrs. Know-it-all Suki Lang Richards! How can you be so happy about our son's death?!" he roars with tears streaming down his face.

"Obviously because he's NOT MY SON!" she yells.

"You were never like this since—" he stutters before she completed her sentence.

"—Since my sister died?" Suki spat with venom her tone, "I never like my sister. Ever since she married you and had those godawful kids, I hated everything about her. I was the perfect child, I was supposed to be betrothed to YOU. But no, you chose MY dumb sister over me! You were lucky I took her place when she died after giving birth to that parasite or else you would've been a drunk man with no way caring for them. You should be thanking me."

Jonathan didn't say a word, he had never heard of anything in his life about this. Of course, it was true he married his "wife's" sister instead of her, she just had that special feeling inside her that he admired all those years when he had Ricky, Susan, and Nikki. But now she died and he never told his son what happened to his real mom.

"Don't try divorcing me either?" Suki said with the same tone in her voice, "I have people that can make your life a living hell and mark my words, you can't do a thing about it."

She walks pass by her "husband" and up to her room. She slammed the door behind her with the two girls quietly coming out of their rooms. They heard the whole thing, seeing their dad broken before their eyes were heartbreaking. He just stands there, contemplating on the whole ordeal that just happened.

"Dad?" Susan spoke scarcely.

He turned around to look at his daughters. Both of them were sharing the same expression as he had and it was killing him. This is not what he wanted for his family, not at all. He just wants to have a happy family and now he won't get any; his son is dead, his so-called wife is proud of it and worst of it all... Is that he never got to hold his precious deceased wife's hand when she gave birth to their little Ricky.

"Go pack your bags, we're leaving."