Disclaimer: Siriusly, not mine.
A/N: This is the start of a frame tale, there will be more characters. The following chapters will be set in the past. And I will also explain why he can be nuttier than a fruitcake on a good day. This story will be heavy on the angst with moments of brevity rather far and few between. I am focusing on all the major events many of which happen to be very tragic. The gender swap should be a fairly amusing chapter though. Also this is my first attempt at structuring a story as a frame tale.
Summary: A short chapter where we are given a glimpse of Vega's family. This will also be one of the more light-hearted chapters.
The sky was clear, the sun vivid and bright against the azure background. The birds greeted each other with song while squirrels foraged for nuts and acorns. It was spring. The air held a promise of early summer with high temperatures and more rain. It would still be a few more weeks before that happened though. A slight crack, not nearly as thunderous as the many times before announced the arrival of Vega. His silver pendant and wrist bands glinted in the sun as he walked briskly towards the wooden fence. He took a direct route today.
"Hey, everybody, I'm back," Vega said.
He ran his hands together and looked at the sun.
"There were some complications, I can't see him yet," he said.
He shrugged.
"It's going to rain again, I've always loved it when it rains, do you remember, big brother," he said.
He addressed the marble tombstone directly in front of him. He knew that there would be no response that there never would be. Most days he remembered that. Other days he forgot or pretended that there was someone listening. It wasn't healthy to find a graveyard home while still alive. It didn't stop him. There was nowhere else.
"I remember mama used to make you or one of the others drag me into the house that was fun, we used to have so much fun, remember," he said, "I do."
He closed his eyes and tilted his head backwards as his mind drifted to time long past. He could feel the water on his skin even though it was dry. He could feel the wet in his clothes, in his shoes. He could see the house as it used to be, as if it were in front of him. It was three floors and a basement, though it looked smaller from the front. There was a garage and small front porch with a pair of maple benches. There was a wooden balcony attached to the second floor with a staircase that led into the backyard. Where a worn tree house that had been built years ago, and a swing set were. The same swing set had been bought four years after the tree house was built. At the time he was still a she, and had spent many hours in the tree house imagining grand happenings. And when it rained she would often stand in the backyard, content to let it soak her to the skin until she was dragged inside by one of her ten brothers.
"Aria, get out of the rain," said Mama.
Mama stood in the sliding glass door though she was careful not to step to far outside. Mama looked at Aria with a mixture of fondness and exasperation. Aria jutted out her chin stubbornly. She didn't want to go inside yet. She hadn't even made any mud pies to throw at Ro.
"Why?" she asked.
"You'll catch a cold," said Mama.
"But I like it, it's fun," Aria said, "ooh, look mama it's a thunder cloud. Maybe we'll see lightning tonight"
"You have five more minutes before I send one of your brothers out there," said Mama.
"Fine mama," she said.
Mama went back inside the house. Aria knew she would be starting to get dinner ready. Mama was making a special dinner because everyone was home. Aria was happy too she missed her brothers and sisters when they were gone. Aria got to work making mud balls to throw at her brothers later. She completely forgot about Mama's warning as she busily hid her mud. She didn't want them to be taken before she could use them. She decided to hide them in the tree house since she was the only one who used it now. She saw Jay walk out the sliding glass door and hopped out of the tree house.
"Okay squirt, it's time to get out of the rain," Jay said.
"But I don't wanna," Aria said.
"Well if you don't you'll get sick then you won't be able to go to mom's party," Jay said.
"Fi-ine," she said.
"That's a good girl," Jay said.
He scooped her up and carried her into the house. She giggled and ordered him to take her to the living room. He carried her to the bathroom first and made her was her hands and gave her dry clothes. He went back to the living room while she changed. She changed as fast as she could and then ran down the hall and into the living room. She launched herself onto Li's lap. He was sitting in a large recliner. Jay, Ry, Jeff, and Ben were all sitting on the couch.
"Are Em and Di coming?" Aria asked.
"Yeah, they'll be here tomorrow," said Li.
"Yay, that means everybody's gonna be here," said Aria.
"Yep and we're all going to stay in town for a while," said Jay.
"It's been a while since we've all been together," said Ben.
Aria nodded. It had been four years since everyone was together, even during Christmas. There had always been someone missing. It wasn't that surprising as most of them no longer lived at home. All of them had busy lives, but they made sure to visit when they could. Aria knew this because she always heard Mama talking to one of her brothers or sisters about schedule conflicts. She was just glad siblings weren't like Aunt Janice, who was Daddy's younger sister. She was always so busy that she never visited. She just sent cards. Sometimes she even forgot to do that.
"Yes," said Aria, "and we're going to have an adventure and you can all be my crew. Ben, Ry, and Li will be pack mules because they broke their promises, they missed my birthday party."
"Whatever you say squirt," said Jay.
"Oh, I have a question, why did Prince call me Benedict," said Ben.
Aria tilted her head as she thought about it. Prince was the older brother of Briar, her best friend. He was two years older than her and had started calling people by their long names. Aria thought it was silly; short names were easier. She'd been using short names for her family her whole life. Prince said that he was too old to use nicknames. Aria told him that he was not old enough to be too old for anything but he didn't listen to her.
"I told him that was your name," said Aria, "he asked me a while ago but I couldn't remember what your whole name was."
"For future reference it's Benjamin," said Ben dryly.
"I know that now, I didn't know it then," said Aria, "I didn't remember some of them when he asked so I made them up."
"What were the others?" asked Liam.
"Well I told him there was Kevin, Diane, Jacob, Liam, Emily, Ryan, Jefferiah, Benedict, Lucario and Logan, Damion, and Ross," said Aria.
Li choked on a laugh as the others traded smirks.
"I don't feel so bad now," said Ben.
"Well better than over easy, but I do prefer my eggs scrambled," said Jeff.
"Shut it Jefferiah," said Ben.
"Make me Benedict," said Jeff.
"He asked me three years ago," said Aria, "if he had asked me later I would have known the right answer."
She wanted to explain it properly. She hadn't known everyone's full names until she was eight. She had too many other things in her head when she was seven. Besides she had always called her brothers by their short names. She had been very busy at the time too. She and Briar had been planning to lay siege on Tommy Jones. He had dumped paint on Briar the day before.
"Why haven't you told him the correct ones," said Ben.
"It never came up," said Aria.
"I don't find that too surprising, you still go looking for trouble around every corner," said Li.
"I go looking for adventure," said Aria.
"Same thing," said Li.
"The twins told me you put everyone under house arrest last month," said Ben.
"I wanted to see what Daddy's job was like," said Aria.
"So you arrested people?" asked Li.
"Yep, I even read them their Miranda rights and Briar was my partner," said Aria, "we also got in a high speed chase, ate doughnuts, and solved a real crime.
"A high speed chase," said Ben.
"A real crime," said Li at the same time.
"Yep we chased Tommy Jones all the way down Main Street because he kicked a cat," said Aria, "I caught him and Briar arrested him."
"And the real crime?" asked Li.
"We solved a missing person mystery, only it was a missing cat, Davie Thompson's got out. Me and Briar found him," said Aria.
"Better than I expected," said Li.
"Well, Daddy and Kev said I couldn't chase any real criminals until I'm old enough to own a gun," said Aria, "which I'm never allowed to have because I am already a weapon of mass destruction."
Everyone in the living room voiced their agreement. Aria ignored them. She knew they were like this because one time when she was seven a criminal was in town. He tried to grab her while she was on her way to the park. She did just what Daddy taught her and used her bat to hit him in the special place. Daddy told her she was never allowed to hit anyone in this place unless they were really bad. He taught it to her after her visit to the big city and someone tried to make her leave the bookstore without Daddy. Daddy gave her lots of safety lessons after that, so did her brothers.
"So anything else interesting, happen recently?" asked Ben.
Aria thought about it. Nothing really exciting had happened recently. School was boring. There hadn't been any criminals. Aria and Briar had talked about family recently. Briar's Aunt Anne, who ran a restaurant on Main Street, had visited last week. She was very nice and often brought left over sweets from her restaurant when she visited. Aria remembered the talk that she and Briar had about aunts. Aria had thought it would be good fun to be an aunt.
"Jay, I want to be an aunt," said Aria.
"Okay," said Jay.
"You have to make a baby with Angie," said Aria.
"Aria it is not that easy to make a baby," said Jay.
"Sure it is, I even have the stuff to do it, see," said Aria
She picked up a piece of paper from the coffee table and a pen. She held it up for him to see. Jay looked at the materials with confusion. Aria huffed and wondered how her brother didn't know where babies came from. He was married. She would just have to explain it to him.
"You write the stork with Angie and he gives you a baby and then I get to be an aunt," said Aria.
"Er, babies aren't made like that," said Jay.
"Well then how are they made?" demanded Aria.
"Erk," said Jay.
He looked at the others who were all shaking. Aria could see that Li was laughing.
"Well that's something you're too young to learn right now," said Jay.
"Fine I'll just ask Kev, he's married to," Aria said.
She hopped off Liam's lap and went to find Kev.
"Big brother, Jay won't get babies for me," Aria said.
She heard a clang from the kitchen, several thumps from upstairs, and laughter from the living room. She didn't pay her brothers any mind. She was going to be an aunt even if she had to write the stork herself.