Ch. 7-The Very Later Valentine's Special

Yes, I know I'm over a month late. But I already outlined this, so gosh darnit, I'm posting it!

So anyways, I'm back, and on spring break! And as I promised, I've brought a fresh new chapter with me.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Except maybe L.J., Mary, Isaac, Damian, John, Adam, Leah, and well-everyone else you don't recognize, minus Kira. Kira belongs to Midnight.

BE WARNED: This was written under the influence of high amounts of caffeine.

"Kiiid! There's a package for you!" Patti sang, springing into the living room.

"Huh?" Kid retracted the measuring tape as he finished aligning one of the portraits.

Patti set a basket down on the table, which was filled with cookies.

"There's a card…" Liz said, picking the small scrap off the table. "'To: Kid, Happy Valentines Day! L.J.' Huh, I didn't realize you two were that close. You went to see the wedding planner with her yesterday, didn't you?"

Kid was quiet, staring at the basket pensively.

"Uh…Kid? You gonna share?" Patti prodded.

Kid silently, squinted at the cookies. Each and every one had perfectly aligned chocolate chips, the edges all evenly trimmed.

"I get it." He said finally. "She's trying to poison me."

And with that, he picked up the basket and chucked the whole thing into the garbage can.


"So the meeting with the wedding planner didn't go very well, huh?" Leah asked, feet propped on the table as she did her nails.

"Ugh…" I groaned in response, head buried in the couch. "I think the planner is gonna need therapy. As will I before this week's over."

"What happened?" Mary prompted, digging around in the kitchen.

"Well…it started nicely enough, with Kid saying he'd rather die then have a cake with less than eight layers. Then he wanted to know if the venue floor had been 'marble tested' to make sure it was built on an even foundation. He was just getting into the basics of color-coordination when the wedding planner started to cry." I recounted dryly.

"And what did you do?" She asked, now rifling inside of the fridge.

The way she said it sounded innocent enough, but I knew her well enough to know that under that sweet tone she was really saying: 'And you expect me to believe you had nothing to do with it?'

"The man's crazy, Mary!" I ranted, sitting upright. "He wanted chocolate cake! Do you realize-I will not get married against my will, and on top of that, have chocolate!"

Okay, it's not that I hated chocolate-it was cool in moderation, but after a while it just starts to taste bad to me. It seemed that Kid and I really had nothing in common, right down to our desert preferences.

'Ding-dong.'

Leah tilted her head to the door. "Expecting anyone?"

"No." I shook my head. "It can't be the guys. They'd just barge in."

I pushed myself off the sofa and over to the door, undoing the deadbolt and swinging it open. I immediately regretted it, and lunged the door shut again. Unfortunately, someone had stuck their foot in the way, so it just bounced off.

"You'd better be ready to lose that foot." I said dangerously, ready to lop it off with my lethal door-slamming skills.

I was about to condemn that shoe and possibly kill the door in the process when I felt the force of more than one person push it open again.

"Now that's just not nice, Junior."

"I'm not nice. Deal with it." I snapped. "Better yet, go home."

Three nearly identical boys with pale strawberry blonde hair and strong builds were standing on my front step, grinning in the sort of way that made you want to check your car for bombs.

"Hey, now. After all, you called us." The boy in the middle said, leaning on the doorframe.

Maybe if I could slam the door now, it would hit him in the face…

"And of course we want to visit our favorite cousin on this special day."

Special day? Good lord, they were finally going to kill me.

"Oh my god!" Leah waddled off the sofa as best she could with wet toenails and managed to trap my cousins in a gripping hug.

"Pete. Joey. Mike." I folded my arms. "What do you want?"
"Nothing really." Joey said, cracking his neck back into place as Leah released him. "Are you still mad about us going to Spain without telling you? Look, I promise, next time we take a vacation we'll call you from the airport and let you know."

I was about to rampage about how he'd completely missed the point, but I refused to supply them with more ammunition by pissing me off further.

"I know there's no more serum, guys. So whatever you found in the archives, you don't- what's that?" I backed away and Pete shoved a tattered old book in my face, which gave my cousins the opportunity to step inside the apartment.

"A journal your mom kept. It covers the time of the serum's creation." He said as I took it gingerly. "Thought you might find it interesting."

"Thanks." I said flatly.

A ticket to the inside of my mother's mind was not the sort of gift I relished, but it was better than that snake in my backpack they'd given me last year.

"Are you leaving now?" I asked impatiently.

Mike tried and failed to look genuinely hurt. "Now Junior. We came all this way to visit. Don't think we'd leave without meeting your new boyfriend."

I nearly choked to death on my own tongue. "What?"

"You don't know what day it is, do you?" Joey sighed dramatically, as if I was a little kid again, so naïve and ignorant.

"Tuesday?" I answered stupidly.
Joey blinked. "No. Valentine's Day."

My heart stopped. Now, most girls hate Valentine's Day because they're bitter. Because it's a "Hallmark Holiday." Because it's tacky, or they just got dumped, or something stupid like that. But no, I hated this cursed day because my cousin's, being sons of Love, always came around to torture me on Valentine's Day. Always.

"Actually, we're touched that you didn't flee the country or anything this year, cuz." Mike said, patting me on the shoulder. "You would've put us through the trouble of activating that tracking device in your molar."

My eyes bugged out and I was about to reach into my mouth and yank out my teeth when my cousin's laughter stopped me.

"You're so gullible, L.J." Pete chuckled. "That's why we love visiting you the most."

Yeah. Great. I feel so loved. If it wasn't already apparent, my childhood was a little bit stressful.

My cousins had been here for literally five minutes and I was already prepared to throw myself off the nearest building. It wouldn't kill me, but maybe a couple hours of unconsciousness would be a sweet escape. Somehow, in the lull of my own daily activity, what with me looking out for Kira, dealing with crying wedding planners and missing serums, I'd completely filtered out all the clashing colors and girlish squeals that usually accompanied the week of February 14th. If I had known, I'd be shivering in an igloo somewhere in Alaska, eating seal meat and melted ice for the rest of the month just to remain hidden.

Because that's how much I didn't want to be with my cousins.

"L.J.?" I heard John's voice as he and Damian appeared at the door. "We've got to get to school."

School! Yes! Sweet freeeeeeedom! I was about to break into song, but restrained myself.

"Yeah, school. See ya." I saluted my cousins mockingly and grabbed my bag (I'd check it for snakes later) and heading for the door.

"You're not cutting?" Mike asked. "Our little Junior really has grown up!"

If he weren't immortal, I would have killed him. Right there. I would've gotten the umbrella from the corner, shoved it down his throat, and then opened it. But instead I said something I shouldn't have,

"Nope. The boys have a soccer team today, and we don't want to miss it."

Apparently it had started with Damian calling Black Star a spazz (pot calling the kettle black, if you ask me), and it all went downhill from there.

"Ooh, sounds fun. We'll come too."

"Yeah, we don't mind tagging along." Pete said, throwing an arm around me. "After all, we came here to see you."

I made a sound that sounded like something between "No way" and "Help".

And they ignored me. Bastards.


Growing up with Pete, Joey and Mike was not fun. Peter was the smarter of the three-but he used his intellect for evil. He usually dressed the most casually, in a white t-shirt and jeans. Joey was the complete idiot of the group. He acted rashly and impulsively, and never thought before he spoke. He was the easiest to confuse, but impossible to predict. In many ways, he was the most dangerous of them all. He wore black leather and a bunch of metal rings on his fingers, but despite the badass wardrobe, he was like a rubber ball. Hyper, crazed, and useless for anything other than fun antics and entertainment. Mike was debatably the most mature, but not by much. He knew how to get inside your head, confuse you, and mix you up. A sophist, in other words. It was almost not worth arguing with him-too exhausting. Every now and then, he'd get this little twinkle in his eyes that if you were smart, you run the hell away from. They all represented three sides of Love. Peter was the rational side of love. Joey was fluffy wild side of love-the sort that makes you stupid and blind. Mike was the passionate side-like infatuation, only deeper. I'd say sexual, but that would make me throw up. As sons of Love, they somehow managed to appear and disappear whenever they wanted. They gathered out of nowhere, and scattered into nowhere when they needed to, which is how they got their notorious reputation as thieves. They had a penchant for shiny things, but mainly I'd find my more embarrassing belongings missing whenever they came around. Thus, I'd stopped using journals when I was five, and never wrote the names of my crushes on my notebooks like most girls do. In fact, I'd made up my own frickin' language of symbols and pictographs to keep them from reading over my shoulder. Speaking of crushes, I'd once mentioned how I'd never had a real boyfriend before. Well, it was because of them. The three little cupids who were more like demons to me than anything else, and made scaring away any potential dates for me one of their favorite hobbies. They themselves never had trouble with girls. I mean, being who they were, they gave off this aura that made a lot of girls swoon over them. Including my friends. It was a comfort to know that at least Adam and Isaac hated them even more than I did.

So I was sitting on the sidelines of the large field as my classmates zig-zagged over the grass. Apparently regular soccer was too boring for this place, so instead of one ball, there were four. It was very difficult to keep track of all the different strategies and sub-divisions, but I guess that was the point. At the moment, Adam and Isaac were playing, but their team was losing badly, considering all the guys were distracted. I looked at what they all seemed to be glaring at, and groaned out loud. Nearly all the girls, Leah and Mary included, were giggling and crowding around my cousins. I sighed heavily.

"Yo."

I looked up, and saw Kira plopping herself in the grass next to me.

"What are you doing?" I asked, surprised.

"Sitting. Ice cream?" She offered, and I took the cone gingerly (and it wasn't chocolate, thank you very much).

"No, I mean, why aren't you over there? With all the other girls melting over the three stooges?"

Kira glanced over in their direction, and shrugged. "Too many people."

Huh. I knew Kira's mind was a bit unhinged, what with her different disorders, but apparently schizophrenia made you immune to Love's power. Good to know.

"Plus, my voices told me to stay away from them." Kira said casually, as if she were speaking of the weather. "They said there was something wrong with them."

They had no idea just how right they were.

But still, it was curious that Kira, who knew nothing about what my cousins were, would know that they're presence was intoxicating. Almost as if these voices she heard were real. Only girls already in love, plus guys who didn't care about romance remained immune to Love's power, but apparently Kira's voices had protected her. In the game, John and Damian were secretly pushing their limits and playing pretty well, but Adam, Isaac, and the other guys kept fumbling. Black Star completely ignored the commotion going on in the sidelines, and apparently he was so determined to "be a star" that he was zipping around the field, playing at least ten positions at once so that the clumsiness of his teammates didn't slow him down. It didn't really surprise me that he wasn't bothered. He was too in love with himself already.

"Hey, cuz." Joey's voice stirred me.

I looked up, and saw him and Mike standing beside me. Pete didn't seem to mind keeping the other girls company, I suppose.

"What?" I asked boredly. "Leaving?"

"Nah. But your friends seem to be having a bit of trouble." Mike nodded to the game.

He said 'your friends' because even though he'd known Adam and Isaac for as long as I had (which had been my whole life), Mike was very aware of how hated he was. And he loved it. When you live to piss people off, Hate is a welcome friend. Ironic, isn't it?

"I wonder why." I said wryly. "What's up?"

"Don't say I never did anything for you." Mike said, pointing a finger at me.

"But you haven't." I said blankly.

He ignored me and trudged down the hill.

"What're you going to do?" I called after him.

I saw him wave to Damian, who called a time-out.

"What's going on…" I murmured to myself.

My cousin and Damian joining forces? If that isn't a sign of the apocalypse, it should be.

Damian and Mike did some weird dude-handshake-fist pump nonsense before Mike began talking. I couldn't hear what he said, but Damian looked ecstatic.

"So who's your friend, Junior?" Joey prodded me.

"Eh?" I looked up absently. "Oh. Joey, Kira, Kira, Joey."

Joey smiled, and immediately I could smell faint traces of some cologne-like scent. It didn't do much for me, but it drove other girls wild. Kira wrinkled her nose and recoiled slightly-her voices were probably sending off alarms and bells in her brain.

"I gotta go." She said finally, standing up and walking away.

Joey tilted his head to the side like a confused dog. "What was that all about?"

I looked at him boredly. "No idea."

"Joey! Come sit with us!" I heard a girl call.

"Yeah, Joey. Go. Right now." I pressed.

Joey was obviously troubled. "I think I'm gonna go see if she's okay."

That said, he took off after Kira.

I could have told him that she was a type two schizophrenic.

I could have told him she had dissociative personality disorder.

I should have told him she could turn into a missile launcher.

But I didn't. Heh.

I stood up as Mike and John switched places on the field. What the hell?

All of the boys from that team were gathered around Damian, who was giving some motivational speech. I neared the edge of the field and stood beside John. Immediately, I could smell traces of a new smell. Mike was using his powers to rile up the players.

"What's going on?"

"They swapped me out with your cousin." John shrugged.

"I'm pretty sure that using your powers to make players more passionate about the game is cheating. Plus, Mike's not even a student here." I said wryly. "...He's not a student anywhere, I don't think."

"Well, he's doing something, unless you wanna stop him."

I gaze over at the huddle of Damian's team. And began to catch pieces of his speech.

"Oh good lord."

"…playing in defiance of tyranny! You've come to fight as free men, and free men you are."

"Tell me he's not doing this." John buried his face in his hands.

"Will you fight? Aye, fight and you may die. Run, and you may live at least a while."

One confused boy backed up slightly. "Damian, are you seriously-"

"Drunk people don't feel pain! And neither do Scottsmen!" Damian said, pointing at him.

"We're not S-"

"And he's the drunk one." John muttered.

"-And Adam here? Look at him. Just a nice kid from Cleveland-"

"Devon." Adam corrected, looking a little frightened.

"And I know when he's dying in his bed, many years from now, he'll be willing to trade, all his days, from this day, for one chance!"

"I actually don't ca-"

"Just one chance! To come back here, and tell our enemies, that they may take our lives, but they'll never be able to take our FREEDOM!" Damian plunged his fist, half-morphed into sword mode, into the air, and was accompanied by his teammates in a war cry.

The guys cheered, and charged back onto the field.

I looked at the same space in stunned silence.

"He just watched that movie last night, didn't he?"

"Yup."

"…We're going to forget that happened."

"Done."

I shook the memory from my head as I strode alongside the field, until I'd caught up to where Mike was playing defense.

"What was that?" I said, a little tiredly.

"Eh? I just told him to just say something to help motivate the team. Didn't think he'd-well, it turned out well anyways."

"Turned out-? You cheated."

Mike looked at me, and shrugged. "Yeah. Probably. So?"

I opened my mouth, but no noise came out.

"You never used to care about that sort of thing, Junior. Guess you really have grown up." Mike said, intercepting a pass and lobbing it in the opposite direction. "Personally, it doesn't matter to me. But you might want to give some consideration to what you're doing."

"Pardon?"

"Look around you, L.J. When are you going to stop worrying about what your mother wants of you?"

"The hell is that supposed to mean! ?"

"Oh come on. After everything she's done, after all that's happened? You're still desperate for her approval. Just look at the stiff you've got for a date. That's not you. I love Aunt Life, but you've got to stop depending on others. You don't need it. I don't do what I'm told because I can. I'm a person. Just because I'm some clone doesn't mean I'm a robot."

"You've-"

"Yeah, I've seen him. And he's a perfect gentleman. It's disgusting. He's a bit on the weird side, but-look L.J. It comes down to this, plain and simple. I want to be more than just a fragment. A piece of my mom. And I know you don't believe it, but we do care about you L.J."

"Really." I stated dubiously. "And you want be to do what? To lie, cheat and steal like you?"

"We only ever wanted you to be happy. To get an idea of what it's like to live by your own rules. Just how much are we supposed to sacrifice for the Balance?"

I was silent because I knew the answer: Everything. That was the job and curse of a Force and it's successor. To spend an eternity ensuring the survival of the mortal world, no matter the cost. As a daughter of Life, I was one of those who would bear that burden most. And I was already bearing it.

"…He's not a robot, you know."

"Sure he's not. He just worships the ground Death walks on and wants to be just like his daddy. You know there's no such thing as divorce in what you're doing, L.J. Has that occurred to you? It doesn't matter if he cheats, if he hurts you-you don't know how long forever is. I do."

I bit my lip. Mike may have looked eighteen or nineteen, but he was older than that. A lot older. And I knew he'd seen a lot of nasty things.

"What happened to you?" I asked finally. "I want you to be honest with me."

"And I want a statue of myself in town square, holding a saber and staring down danger, but we'll both have to move on."

"But-"

"If 'ifs' and 'buts' were candy and nuts, we'd all have a merry Christmas, but there are some things you're not ready for. You're still just a kid." Mike said, cracking his back.

So he wasn't going to tell me anything. Fine.

"Mike!" One of the teammates called out.

"I'll see ya, Junior." Mike waved dismissively as he jogged off to the center of the field.

"Yeah…" I put my hands in my pockets and sighed.

What was I supposed to do? I'd always been the rebellious daughter, but I knew my duty. I would spend eternity maintaining the balance, taking care of the other Godlings, and frankly, married to Kid. The other Gods would look to us for guidance, leadership…I wasn't a responsible person, but I was starting to feel the heat. I'd never really wanted this. She was the smart one. She was the one everyone said would go places. But I was here instead. I was now expected to make the big sacrifices, my life was not my own. Instead, it symbolized life for the rest of the world. Ironic how whatever Force we embodied, was what we didn't have in our own lives. I had no Life of my own, just as Mike, Pete and Joey would never know Love or have a real relationship. They'd never know if the one they were with truly loved them, or was just around because of their powers. That was the curse of a Force. And as Jr. Forces were merely fragments of their parents, we were not spared. Jr. Forces were insurance policies for the balance. The original Forces realized that if they ever were killed in battle, then the balance would be in chaos. So they created us from themselves. We were less than clones. We were pieces of something that had once been whole. If an original Force was killed, we would step up and take their place. A piece substituting for a puzzle. It was just how our world worked. Sometimes we didn't come out right. It wasn't uncommon for Jr. Forces to buckle under pressure, run away, or even lose their minds. Like she did.

"L.J.?"

"Hm?" I woke from my brainstorming session and turned to see Kid standing awkwardly on the sidelines. "Hey."

"Hey." He returned. "I, uh…got a package in the mail today."

I blinked.

"Okay."

Was this some sort of 'what-I did-this-morning' game? I didn't get it.

"Uh…I got a newspaper that I don't remember ordering?" I said, confused. "I didn't read it though. John only wants the current events section and Damian reads it for the comics."

He looked just as perplexed as I did for a moment. What? Did I break a rule or something? Why couldn't the world make sense!

"Uh…Kid?" I asked, putting my hands in my pockets because they were starting the quiver. "I'm, uh sorry."

He looked surprised a moment, and opened his mouth to reply before I cut him off.

"I made things difficult for you when I shouldn't have. It's just that…ugh. I'm just sorry."

"You don't need to be sorry." He said finally, all of a sudden becoming interested in straightening out the clasps on his suit. "I understand."

It was then that I realized that he probably did understand. The only difference between him and me was that he took it the way a future God should. Head on.

"But we're still not getting chocolate cake." I warned.

"That's okay." I had the feeling he was smiling, but I was determined not to look at him.

"Right…well then, I…" I forced myself to look up. "What's that?"

Out of the trees, large clouds of blue smoke was wafting around the field, closing in on us. My mind began to fog up, and I began to feel a little dizzy.

"Not again." I muttered, watching as students backed away from the edges of the clearing.

"That witch must be around here somewhere!" Kid said, looking around. "But why would they come back? They got what they wanted."

Gee, maybe they wanted to see me get beat down again. But I didn't say that because my legs began to feel kinda shaky. The last time a smoke like this had invaded the school, I ended up having my head bashed against the entrance hall floor (probably killing what valuable brain cells I had in the process). But that mist had been orange. With this blue smoke, there was a stifling humidity. Breathing became difficult, and it was becoming hard to see through all the pastel clouds.

What was going on? Why was it so damn hot? And what the hell was my name?

My eyelids began to droop, and my movement became sluggish.

"Damian!" I shouted tiredly-he was the only one fast enough to maybe outrun the smoke. "Get out of here and warn the school!"

I don't know if he heard me or not, because that was when I blacked out.


"L.J.? L.J! Come on, wake up!"

I sat up groggily. "Ugh, I feel like I got drugged."

"Close." An arm reached out and I grabbed it, pulling myself up off the field.

Around me, people were beginning to wake up.

"You alright?" Pete asked, steadying me.

"Yeah. Great." I grumbled. "Where's Kid?"

"He woke up a little while ago and went to go find his father, I guess." Pete shrugged. "Joey and Kira are fine, they were in town when it happened. Damian managed to get to the school and warn everyone."
"That's good." I nodded drowsily.

"It's really good, actually." Pete said, handing me a bottle of water.

"How so?"

"Because they caught her. They caught the witch that's been assaulting the school."


School was canceled for the rest of the day, because the teachers were interrogating the witch. She didn't have the serum on her, and from what I'd heard, she wasn't talking. Big surprise. Kid had come to see me after talking to his father, and told me what he knew. It was nice of him, I guess. I was a little envious of him, too. Kid was everything I wasn't. And his relationship with his father was more than I could ever dream to have with my mother. Mutual trust. My mom had practically kept me locked in Life Metropolis all my life, but Lord Death trusted Kid on some of his most important missions. Was it because Kid was more mature than me? Or because Lord Death was more confident than my mom? I sighed and sat on my bed back at the apartment, examining the tattered old diary my cousins had brought to me from the archives. Did I really want to read it? What would it solve? Why were my hands shaking? My mom and I never really saw eye-to-eye, even before the incident. But maybe by reading this, by invading the privacy she'd maintained for a century or more, I'd be able to understand. I'd find some clue as to what was happening. I placed the book on the counter.

'Ding-dong.' For the second time today, I opened the door.

Only this time I saw a delivery man in a white uniform, holding a basket.

"What's this?" I asked, taking it from him.

"Delivery from Gallow Manor."

That was Kid's place. Of course his house would have it's own title.

I took the basket and removed the covering, and saw that it was filled with cookies. There wasn't any note, though.

"Miss, this was taped to your door." The man handed me a scrap of notebook paper with some tape hanging off it.

"Thanks." I unfolded it and smoothed out the creases.

Dear baby cousin,

Sorry we didn't say goodbye, but it's time for us to jet-Mom expects us back before the holiday's over. It was nice seeing you, and we'll be seeing you again real soon.

BTW, Joey wants your friend's number.

See you later,

Pete, Joey and Mike

P.S. Be safe.

I put the letter down. "You too."


"Are you sure we should've left without saying goodbye?" Joey asked, his legs swinging off the edge of the rock formation they stood on, overlooking Death City. "I really wanted her friend's number."

"It's better this way." Mike shrugged, reaching out of his pocket and pulling out a cookie, chomping on it. "She'll be fine, anyways. Besides, her mom wanted to see us. And Aunt Life is a scary woman to say no to."

"True." Pete eyes the cookie Mike was chewing on. "Why'd you do it? If you're so set against L.J. getting married? Why did you send them the cookies?"

"I'm a complicated man, that's why." Mike grinned. "Besides, I only sent them to L.J.'s boyfriend. He sent them to her on his own. Guess he felt bad about throwing mine out."

Mike turned away from the city. "I just hope she has better luck than I did. Now come on, we've got to get to Metropolis before Aunt Life starts getting impatient."

"I wonder why she wanted L.J. to have that journal…" Pete said pensively. "She said it was important."

"Who knows. It's not our business."

And with a gust of wind, the boys were gone, leaving only faint traces of a cologne-like scent behind.

Whew! Another long chapter. Though this one is a bit more serious than the others, because we get to have a closer look into L.J.'s background. She's starting to feel the pressure that comes with being a Jr. Force, and she seems to be becoming more mature. I know it was a more family-oriented chapter rather than romantic like most Valentine's stuff, but I think it was important for L.J.'s development. Plus, it looks like she and Kid have finally made peace-at least for now. Be sure to review, okay! I always love to hear feedback!

Oh, and it's probably best if you don't ask about the Braveheart scene. Like I said, it was the caffeine's fault. Revieeeeeew!