Not Like A Zippo Lighter Anymore [Lyssa]

[Semper Capone]

It had been roughly ten years since Chicago had died. Ten more years than Semper would have liked to live without the love of his life. Ever since she had died, his health, both mental and physical, had down-spiraled quickly. The memory loss part of his Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome had turned into an early form of Alzheimer's, making it much more difficult to recognize people and places. Bell had once kicked him in his left knee, breaking the joint and leaving him with a permanent limp and forcing him to take longer to get from point A to point B.

Since Chicago had left, there wasn't anything that could fill that massive gaping hole in his heart. Waking up alone in the morning was becoming more and more difficult to bear, and facing each day by himself had led him to breaking his sobriety more than once. He was never reduced to more than a sobbing drunk, but the high was enough to alleviate the heart ache he felt -- when he remembered that the love of his life was dead.

He was sitting out on chair out on the back porch, staring blindly (the cataract had reformed on his right eye) into the pasture that was the backyard. He had lost track of time, but he didn't care. Every day had become something of a hazy blur, each one hardly any different than the previous. The fire department had let Semper go years ago due to the development of early Alzheimer's, so he had become very reliant on his children even though he felt guilty about it. He knew that it would only be a matter of time before he forgot everything completely and permanently, and it usually brought tears to his eyes. He didn't want to forget what few memories he still managed to hold onto: Chicago, Sage, Xander, Amberlyn, Dream.... all of the people he cared about most in the world. Semper would have rather died than forget everything he cared about, and he was ready to die. He wanted to be with Chicago more than anything, but he knew that killing himself would bring injustice to her memory, so he held on, only to be plagued by down-spiraling health and depression.

Forcing himself up off the chair, Semper slowly limped back into the same house that he and Chicago had first moved into together nearly twenty years ago. He had forgotten to eat again, and the gnawing feeling in his stomach drove him into the kitchen, but he didn't get past the end of the hallway. Instead, he stood silently, staring up at the pictures that were hanging on the wall, trying to recognize the faces in each of them.

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[Deleted]

Xander Bastian and Amberlyn Mikkaela Capone


Xander pulled his car up in the driveway of his parents house, the house he grew up in, and hopped out swiftly, then ran around and opened the door for his twin sister, Amberlyn. They were coming around to help their dad out for abit, as they did once a week. Their younger siblings Lorenzo and Peyton took turns helping too. He had never been the same since their mother died around ten years ago. Who would? It had been hard on the whole family, their grandfather and Uncle Sage had been pretty shaken, but the kids had decided that no-one took more of a blow that their father.

None of the kids saw it as a hassle, coming to help. They loved their dad to bits, but it was taking their toll on all of them having them be so depressed and lonely, and struggling to remember things. Locking the door after Amberlyn got out, the twins moved up the stairs of the porch and Xander opened the door, letting Amberlyn walk in first (his mother had raised him a gentleman) and calling a greeting out through the house "Dad! It's Xander! Me and Amberlyn are here!"[/center]

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notes: *sobs* and fail post D:[/size]

[Semper Capone]

Semper vaguely recognized half the people in each of the pictures, though he knew all too well who was in one of the very last ones. It was Chicago and him out by the barn, just a few days before she died. She hardly appeared any older than she looked the day he had married her; the same dark brown hair, those lively, intense blue eyes, that same smile that was so contagious and made him smile no matter how shitty his day had been. Now, though, he never smiled the same way since she was gone. Every year on the anniversary of her death, he would go out to the graveyard and sit on her grave, facing the headstone, and talk to her about everything that he could remember that happened during the past year. He would spend hours there, some of them staring at his own name that had been engraved onto the headstone beside hers: Semper Reijnder Junaluska Tsali Raccoon Capone, 1992-. There was no death year engraved, much to his dismay. Many people had told him to move on from Chicago's death, but he couldn't. He couldn't just get over the person who had changed his entire life.

Hearing voices in the house, Semper's head snapped around, a faint smile drawing across his face as he recognized the sound. He limped down the hall, occasionally running his hand out along the wall to keep himself balanced, coming to the part of the house that Xander and Amberlyn were. However, when he saw them, his mind didn't register them as the 23 or so year-olds they were; instead, he saw them as the 17 year-olds who had just come home from a long day at school. "Xander! Amberlyn!" He exclaimed, but then the smile fell from his face. "My Ripred, y'all're home already 'n' I don't even got supper started." He went over to one of the cupboards, opening it and pulling out a pot. "Your mother's out with Dom, gettin' him shoed, I think. She should b' in here soon." He set the pot down on the stove, turned and looked back at Xander and Amberlyn. "Y' want anythin' specific for supper? I haven't asked Peyton or Lorenzo what they want... or what your mother wants.... I should probably ask her...."

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