Chapter 19 Family Drama

The door closed behind her, and Celia took in a deep breath. The weather in the Mushroom Kingdom had always been wonderful, and this day was no exception. She listened to the birds tweeting as sunbeams flew onto her face, bathing her in their celestial warmth. She walked forward, deciding to sit on a rock a few feet away from her house, right on the edge of the road. She took another deep breath and took off her hoodie. While only wearing her peach tank top, she didn't have to worry about becoming a messy, sweaty mess. She could just sit back, relax, and sunbathe, with nothing to make her high strung and absolutely nobody bashing her because she was different.

She placed her hand down on the rock, parallel to her lap. A whoop bombarded out of her house, one filled with excitement. Celia grinned when she heard it; she could tell it came from her cousin. Man, she couldn't even begin to express how pleased she was about Albert. Not only was he playing with a Koopa, but he had even complimented a Koopa. Yes, the boy who had turned his nose up at the race, the same boy who had prompted Roy to almost punch him in the face, was slowly easing up around them. Honestly, Celia couldn't say for certain if Albert was afraid of Koopas like Roy could, but if he was, that just made the hurdles he jumped over all the more impressive. Heck, Celia could almost consider him a friend! Almost. The fact that he lived so far away, and still had some slightly spoiled tendencies, did turn her off a little. But then again, maybe that was a little hypocritical of her to think, considering that her boyfriend lived in a completely different kingdom and was raised by Koopa Kingdom royalty.

Oh well. She could at the very least say she was happy for Albert. Not necessarily proud, but definitely happy for him. The fact that he was loosening up did make her feel more comfortable in his presence. She no longer had the fear in her gut that he would be nasty to her, her Dad, or Roy, and she certainly knew now that the whole thing where he went out of his way to provoke Roy's anger was a one time thing.

So yeah. Overall, she was feeling rather well about this situation. Sure, the mystery of what happened to her aunt certainly provided her with concern, but it didn't detract too much from her happiness. As soon as she was finished sunbathing, she was going to go back inside and rejoin the race Albert and Roy were taking part in. She was going to put all her concerns behind her and just have some good clean fun with her cousin and boyfriend.

She took another deep breath, listening to the birds having conversations with each other as they laid perched on top of buildings and in trees. She smiled, just about ready to go back inside like she set out to do, when the door to her house opened. Blinking, she turned to see Ruby. The sight of her mother ignited curiosity inside her.

"Hi Mom. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," Ruby said as she curled a strand of hair out of her face. "Everything's fine with me." She gave Celia a furrowed brow. "Is everything okay with you though? You seemed pretty eager to get out of the house…"

Celia felt a pang. "Oh! Yeah, I'm fine. I just wanted to get a little fresh air. I didn't mean to worry you; I'm feeling just fine."

Ruby nodded. "Well, okay then." She walked over and took a seat on the rock right next to her daughter. This actually made Celia want to stay outside for a little longer. Sure, most teenagers in her position would probably want to stay far away from their parents for fear of tracking the "lame" germs, or whatever the heck. Not Celia though; she quite enjoyed spending time with her Mom. Sure, they didn't see eye to eye on everything, but Celia had no intention of avoiding her.

So, they sat on the rock. After a minute, Ruby took hold of Celia's hand and squeezed. Celia squeezed back, all without taking her eyes off of the picture's perfect scenery. Seriously; if she had the ability to draw something that didn't look like dog shit, she would try to capture the scene in front of her onto the canvas. Alas, she couldn't draw to save her life. Ah well; at least there was always photography.

"How do you feel about your cousin?" Ruby asked, shredding the silence.

Celia smiled. "He's…" she giggled. "He's something else."

Ruby snorted. "Yes. That's the most apt way to describe any child of my sister."

Celia giggled and shook her head. "I've gotta admit Mom, I'm actually really happy for him." She grinned into her Mom's face, staring into the emerald green eyes that she shared with Albert. "He's making really good progress with Koopas."

To Celia's surprise, Ruby blinked. "You think so?"

Celia did a double take. "Well….yeah. Haven't you noticed? He was willing to actually try Dad's food. He wouldn't have even considered that earlier."

Ruby thought about this. "Now that you mention it…" she looked back out at the road. "I suppose he's getting better."

"Oh, he definitely is." Celia smiled. "I…I don't feel so jittery around him anymore. He's dining with koopas, playing video games with koopas, actually giving koopas compliments… overall, I just feel like he's taking major steps to be less….*ahem* prejudiced."

Ruby nodded. After a little bit, she put on the tiniest traces of a smile. "Well….I'm glad you're feeling more comfortable around him. If nothing else, I can feel good knowing that you are."

Celia nodded back. Albert, while far from perfect, was making progress. And to think; most humans and toads she ran into over the course of her life stubbornly refused to even show a shred of respect towards her. When she was in elementary school, those types of people always reserved the nastiest names just for her. And the time that passed over the course of the school year didn't help, oh no. They were the same assholes on the last day of school that they were on the first day of school. With very few exceptions (which, sadly, Celia couldn't even recall off the top of her head), they all held the same hatred toward her because of the fact that half of her DNA came from the turtle dragon monsters they despised so much. Not only was the fact that Albert was changing welcome, but also surprising to Celia in the best ways possible because she had believed throughout most of her childhood that humans and toads were incapable of changing. She was happy to be proven wrong though. Very happy indeed.

Just as Celia was thinking about this, Ruby let out a sigh. This not only surprised Celia, but also alerted her to the fact that something was off about her mother. "Mom, what's wrong?"

Ruby hesitated before shaking her head. "It's nothing. You're having fun with Albert. I don't want to take that away from you."

"How would you take that away from me?" Celia asked. When Ruby didn't respond, she leaned forward. "Mom, what's going on?"

"Nothing," Ruby responded.

"Mom, please!" Celia took hold of her hand again, squeezing it just like she had done last time. "What's wrong?"

Ruby hesitated. Celia could see the conflict brewing behind her eyes, and it only made her more determined to know what was the matter. Just as she was about to probe Ruby again, she looked her right in the eyes with a very serious expression.

"If I tell you this, you have to promise me you won't tell Albert. I don't want to drive a wedge between him and his mother, especially seeing how close they are."

Celia's eyes grew wide. She nodded at her mother, non-verbally promising that this would stay between the two of them. Once she did was when Ruby took a deep breath and began speaking.

"About two years before you were born, Alicia's and my mother got sick. Now, our mother came from a very wealthy background, and as such had set aside some money for Alicia specifically to inherit when she passed away because she's the oldest. Now, Alicia and I were very close back then; in fact, we could easily be considered friends."

That almost made Celia chuckle. The irony of her mom ever being friends with someone like Alicia was just so prevalent that she couldn't help but find it humorous. That is, until she realized that something had to have happened, something that brought upon the death of their friendship and served their bonds.

"We were so close," Ruby continued, "that your aunt struck a deal with me. She promised that when the time came for our mother to die, she would split the money with me. We would then use it to go after our dreams and build new lives for ourselves."

Celia's spirits sank. She remembered how Ruby had wanted to become a doctor when she was younger. She reasoned that her mother probably would've used the money to do just that. However, she knew something happened, something particularly awful. She slowly began to theorize what exactly that something was, and it made her feel really really really bad.

"What happened?" Celia asked. On some level, she didn't want her theory to be confirmed. She prayed in her head that what she theorized wasn't what actually went down.

"Well…" Ruby appeared extra hesitant as she said this next part. The way she looked at her daughter made Celia's stomach churn. "Do you remember when I told you about what happened when your Aunt came to visit me in the hospital after I had you?"

Darn it, it seemed Celia's theory actually was being proven right. She could barely speak to respond to her mother because she felt that bad. "Y…yeah, I remember. She screamed when she saw me and yelled at you."

Ruby cringed. "Well…after she found out I had a baby with a Koopa, which was a species that she had despised for years on end, she immediately took back the deal. Our mother died three years later, and so Alicia got all of the money and kept it to herself." Ruby's face grew somber, displaying a sort of bitterness that she didn't usually feel (or at the very least didn't usually express). "This left me without any money, meaning I had to make do with what I had."

Silence. Celia's stomach gurgled, and she felt a very deep sense of guilt. It was because of her. It was because of her that Alicia and Ruby severed ties with one another. That…oh man, that did not feel good.

"I…I'm really sorry, Mom." She looked down at the road, feeling so much shame that it felt as though she had a large weight on her back.

"You don't have to be sorry, Celia. It wasn't your fault."

Celia looked up in surprise. "But…but it was me who…."

"Celia." The way Ruby talked was very stern, sterner than she was usually used to speaking. "Don't. It wasn't your fault. At all. Don't you dare feel guilty about this; you did absolutely nothing wrong." Her face looked angry. "It was your aunt. She couldn't open her mind enough to accept you. She couldn't see that I was allowed to make my own choices and live my own life. It was her fault for keeping the money. Not yours."

Celia's stomach stopped churning, at least a little bit. Ruby was right. It had nothing to do with her. So what if she was half koopa; tha didn't give Alicia the excuse to break a promise like that. She acted horrible to her sister, all because she didn't appreciate the fact that Ruby had a baby with a Koopa. Alicia had been horrible; absolutely horrible.

"You're right Mom." She looked back into her mother's face. "That was an awful thing for her to do. Like seriously; why would she do that?"

Ruby sighed. "She always despised koopas. Not as much as our mother, but she definitely felt that they were….well, she didn't see them as equals."

Celia sniffled as she hung her head. "That's awful. She should've kept her promise. Especially seeing how much you've struggled financially afterwards." She felt a surge of fury well up inside her. "I mean, you two are family! Family is more important than anything else! You shouldn't give up on your family."

Ruby frowned. "As I said before Celia, family is something you choose. Blood matters very little in the long run." She put her hand on her shoulder. "I know it might be a little difficult for you to accept that, but it's the truth. Alicia isn't my family. You are."

Celia sniffled again. She put her hand on top of her mother's, patting it with a gentle weight. Honestly, if it weren't for the progress she had been seeing out of Albert, she would've instantly regretted inviting them to the house. Sure, she had seen Alicia be nasty. But this? This was beyond nasty. This was beyond horrible. This was a terrible thing for Alicia to do to Ruby, her own sister.

Except…they weren't sisters. Alicia didn't view Ruby in that way, and as a consequence, Ruby had been forced to accept that she really didn't have a sister at all. And to think; they had been friends before this. They had loved each other enough to split the money their mom left them. This…this was unreal. Celia actually couldn't believe this happened; it was so bad that it made her physically sick.

"Th….th…." Celia couldn't even bring herself to speak, to reassure her mother in anyway that was necessary.

"It's okay, sweetie." Ruby wrapped her arms around her. "Try not to worry about it. It's my problem, and you did nothing to cause it. It's just…it's just an unfortunate event that we can't do anything about."

It took a minute for Celia to hug Ruby back. "You're right Mom." She turned and gave her mother a hug. She held on extra tight, not wanting to let go. Even if she couldn't reassure her mother through words, she could reassure her through actions.

She turned her head, hoping to set her face on Ruby's shoulder. However, just as she did, she saw something that made her seize up. She looked up at the door to her house, her heart pumping extra fast as released her grip on Ruby.

"Celia?" Ruby turned to look where she was looking. She gasped and her face went pale when she saw her nephew. He stood in front of the door, and if his face was any indication, he had heard the whole exchange.