Ch. 4, Part 2: Leaf and Nature

(Continued from Part 1.)

(Note: To explain the seasons changing drastically, just pretend everything took months or even years during certain events. In the game file this story was based on, each season only lasted seven days. Other than that, just try to ignore it. )

(This may also be one of the longest posts I've written so far. It's mainly because there was a lot of events I didn't want to split up, and whatnot.)

When the Rackets moved out after I brought them back to life, Shark and I realized we still had a plate of Ambrosia left.

The obvious first choice for me was: Jenni. I figured, I was essentially the one that caused her to kill herself all those years ago, so I wanted to make things right.

I was even about halfway to the graveyard and start to find her, until Shark stopped me. He first, told me to stop and think about this.

Second, he gave me reasons on why this was a bad idea. He told me that, yes, it seemed best to bring her back, but would she want me to do so?

He went on to say that the circumstances of her death had to be brought up. Even if Jenni was brought back to life, chances were seeing Goodwin and Amy still together would likely just push her over the edge again.

Did I just want to repeat history again? I gave it some thought, and by the time I got to the cemetery, I decided he was right.

But I didn't want to have gone all that way for nothing. There was no way I was going to leave empty-handed. So, I scouted the area for someone else that had died, and maybe I could give the Ambrosia to them.

I quick made my choice, and when I came back home, I brought her with me.

She told me her name was Wilhelmina Leaf. I was actually surprised to see a girl as young as her there.

If I had to guess, I would say she died at the age Amaranth was at that point, maybe a little bit older. That was way too young. Not to mention she said she died of Electrocution.

Not only did she die at a young age, but she died in such a painful manner. She never...

She never really had a chance to live her life. I suppose I almost pitied her for that. And she said she couldn't even remember how long she had been in that graveyard.

Then little Wilhelmina saw that Ambrosia I still had. I suppose I wasn't thinking before I handed it to her. Shark didn't stop me, either.

She looked at her plate for a little while, then she just scarfed it down like she was some kind of wolf. The Ambrosia worked its weird culinary magic, and then...

(That was Masaru's thought bubble in the corner)

She almost looked surprised to see herself alive again. And the way she looked, the outfit she had on...she really did seem to have been there for years.

Well, since she didn't have anywhere else to go, she stayed with us for a while. Lolly was staying with us, as well, and figured Mina needed a bit of a makeover.

New clothes, new hair, everything. After they were done, I almost didn't recognize her.

She was strangely cute. Well, she was definitely cute, but most children don't have green skin. Still, green skin or not, she looked like a normal little girl.

We enrolled her into school, we fed her, took care of her, all until she was old enough.

She grew alongside our own kids for a while. Then, she hit the teen years, and asked if she could live with someone else.

We told her that was fine. After all, we were just two guys that took care of her. If Mina wanted her own foster parents, that was fine with us.

A few days later, we get a call from Bill and Julienne, telling us that they got a new tenant in their house, and asked that we come meet her.

We visited them, and...guess who we saw.

When Mina saw us come into her room, she just jumped up and gave us both a big hug, thanking us for helping her live out her life.

I had to admit, it felt good to know we helped her out, just like with the Rackets. She loved Bill and Julienne like they were her true parents.

She's still that happy young woman, and she still keeps in touch with us now.

Speaking of growing up, Lolly stayed with us for a while instead of with her and Shark's parents, at least for a while after she graduated.

We didn't worry too much about her. Lolly was a big girl, and her big brother and brother-in-law didn't need to hover over her watching her every move. And she was an adult now, so it would've been even more awkward.

Then she started waking up early in the mornings, to use the bathroom. It was at least once she walked in on us on her way to use the toilet to throw up.

Shark insisted that we take her to the hospital, to find out what was wrong. He didn't want his little sister to have a horrible disease or other health problem.

Yeah...turned out she was pregnant. When we heard the news, Shark about fainted. And I myself almost felt the blood drain from my face.

Then, when we recovered, we told Lolly that she had to tell the father. We didn't want her to raise her son or daughter without a dad around.

When we returned home, she called the baby's father, and, well...

It turned out Lolly had been seeing DeAndre Wolf after she graduated. As in, the famous guitarist DeAndre Wolf. When he found out he was gonna be a dad, well...

That was all he needed to know. It was a good thing he was willing to take responsibility.

Shortly after he popped the question, they got married in...our house. I think at some point, Shark jokingly started calling our place "The Chapel" because of how many people got married there.

Well, it sort of was, if exchanging vows next to Masaru's cat condo and litterbox was one's idea of "fairytale wedding".

But he was good to her. DeAndre treated Lolly well, and Shark and I got along great with him. They had a great marriage.

After he died, Lolly never remarried. She said that no one could ever replace DeAndre, and that getting married again wouldn't be fair to either of them.

And sure enough, some time after they got married, we get a call saying that Shark and I were uncles.

Sheldon was just one of the happiest kids you'd ever seen. He was always laughing, ready to play with anyone he considered a friend.

He never had any siblings, but he loved spending time with his cousins, whenever they visited. When he got older, it was still true.

Even if his cousins were at least a little bit older than he was.

Everyone just kept growing, making memories, everything. Echo started high school, Amaranth went into Elementary School, but they still made sure to find the time for one another.

And, of course, at one point, even that couch-scratcher Masaru got someone he liked. I remember one winter, I was trying to search through the snow for something I dropped.

My hand brushed against her, and then she just popped out of the snow, like a little furry daisy.

(And yet, he wears that outfit)

I couldn't imagine how cold she was, and I hoped she hadn't been in there too long. I figured, well, why not take her in? At least she didn't try to take my newspaper like Masaru did.

The poor girl didn't seem to know what was going on, but damn, she was a pretty cat. I guess I took a liking to her when I was warming her up.

She got along with Masaru, as well. There was the initial hissing and clawing at, of course. Masaru wasn't too keen on sharing his turf with an interloper, at first.

Then Shark told him to play nice, or he wasn't getting any more kitty treats. There was more than enough room in the cat condo for both of them, so why couldn't they share?

Masaru got the idea, after that.

Soon, both of them were thick as thieves. They cleaned each other, played with each other, just like best buddies. You'd think they were from the same litter, and everything.

That's probably why she got a Japanese name, too. I asked Shark what the word for 'snow' was. Almost like he knew I'd ask, he replied with "Yuki".

So he added the "-ko" next to that, and we had Yukiko. Our little snow child. Well, she wasn't really a child. Found out when we took her in, she was just a little younger than Masaru, who was already starting to get up there.

So basically, we had a theme going on with our cats.

And later on, it turns out we weren't the only ones who were naming our new family members by themes.

Yeah, about that...Let's just say an old friend of ours got caught up with us again in a rather...unusual way.

(A/N: End of Chapter 4, Part 2.)