Hey! Welcome back to The Four Legacies! I’d like to apologise for the long wait since last chapter. As you might know, I had to rebuild. That went fine and everything’s as it should be. But since I finished that a couple of months ago I have no excuse for why this chapter’s taken so long. I just got distracted with working on another project.

Anyway, if you want to know what happened lat chapter then reread it. No recap now, instead we’re going to dive straight in.

“This is so unfair, Gem,” Ruby grumbled to her twin as she looked over the brand new school uniforms. “This is totally not cool!”

“I know, Ru,” Gemma rolled her eyes at her sister’s complaints. She’d been listening to them ever since the new uniforms were announced.

“I mean, seriously!” Ruby said as she looked herself over for perhaps the millionth time. “How could they do such a thing to us?”

“I don’t know, Ru,” Gemma said, yawning. She’d stopped attempting to sound interested some time ago. “It’s a crime, a travesty, yada yada yada.”

“Damn right it’s a travesty!” Ruby turned and looked at her front, having been satisfied with the view of her rear. “They actually make a worth wearing – and we only get to wear it a week – one freaking week! And we were the ones campaigning for the school to upgrade the uniform from the dark ages in the first place! Are they playing some sort of sick joke on us?”

Gemma refrained from commenting that they’d be able to wear whatever they wanted when they went to college. Almost immediately Ruby went back to complaining about the unfairness of it all.

She shook her head as Ruby did another twirl in the mirror and let out a yell of frustration. The new uniforms had been announced in an assembly a couple of weeks ago, and they’d all been given their today at lunch. The new uniforms would be compulsory from Monday. Plenty of people had questioned why, of course. After all, it was the last week before the seniors headed off to college. Personally Gemma didn’t really care, but Ruby was convinced it was a slight against them that they only got to wear them for a week before they finished high school and headed off to college.

All of a sudden Ruby stopped complaining and turned away from the mirror with a grin.

“I s’pose at least we did something for the future generations.”

Ruby flopped down on the bed next to Gemma. Gemma quickly sat up.

“So what do you think the boys’ uniform’s like?” she asked.

“Only one way to tell,” Ruby said. She turned her head towards the door to the bathroom and yelled, “Oi! Henry! Get out here so we can look at you!”

“Oh, leave him. You know how self-conscious he can be.”

“Oh please – these uniforms are only an improvement, and guys even looked hot in the old one. HENRY! Get out here or I’m coming in!”

There was no response from the bathroom to begin with. Ruby was about to yell again when the bathroom door opened and Henry stepped out.

He shut the bathroom door behind him and nervously leaned against it.

“So what do you think?” he asked, glancing between his sisters.

The two girls sat up and looked him over, taking in every detail of the new boys’ uniform. After a moment they looked to one another, an identical gleam in their eyes.

“The uniform passes,” They declared as one, then Gemma added alone as she took in Henry properly. “And the contacts look good on you. You should have got them years ago.”

Henry just shrugged. He didn’t really care about that. He only hoped that not wearing his glasses anymore might get him a girlfriend.

“All right,” Ruby sighed as she got off the bed. “We better head back to our rooms and change. Dinner’s in half an hour and Dad said he wanted to talk to us before, didn’t he?”

It turned out he did. Less than ten minutes later the three teens were changed out of their uniforms and sat at the kitchen table with David. He looked between the three of them and then started to speak slowly.

“Girls, Henry,” David said, trying to figure out how best to phrase this. “As you know we’re a legacy, and I need to choose an heir. I promised myself years ago I’d decide by the time you girls left for college, and lately I’ve been thinking of it a lot. You’ve each got your own strengths that would help you so much as heir.”

“Ruby, you’ve always been so self-confident. There’s never been a moment where I’ve doubted that you could do any you set your mind to. I can practically guarantee that one day you will be a Hall of Famer like you want. But...” David sighed as Ruby grinned at him. “You’ve been independent from the moment you could walk without falling. You’ve always said that you never want to settle down, that you want to stay single forever. Now, while that might change,” David held up a hand for stop her objections to that, “it may also stay the same. Either way I would not feel right in asking you to ever settle down, to move back here, marry and have children.”

“So I’m not heir? Sweet!” Ruby grinned broadly and relaxed in her chair a little. “No marriage or kids for me!”

David chuckled for a moment before turning to Gemma. He smiled.

“Gem,” he said, and Gemma looked at him anxiously. “You know, I can see a lot of your mother in your sister, but I also see a lot of myself in you – and I don’t just mean my nose. You’ve chosen a path in life that won’t be easy - family is always going to be a tricky secondary for a romance sim. In many ways they’re opposites and though I believe one day you’ll work out how much the family sim in you will affect you. I have complete faith in that, but...”

He trailed off, still trying to think how to put this. After a moment he had it.

“Romance and family are an unpredictable combination. Your family secondary may mean you one day do want to settle down but have no kids, or have kids but raise them alone, or marry a man and have children with him. Like Ruby, I don’t want you to feel obligated to do something you would be uncomfortable with.”

“So it’s me?”

“You’ve been saying for a couple of years now that you want a hoard of kids one day with the love of your life. The only change being heir would mean if you’d have to move back here after college,” David said with a shrug. “Yes, Henry. The heirship is yours if you want it and neither of your sisters do. If you don’t we can wait a few years and choose then.”

“I don’t want it,” Gemma said. “If I ever do get married I think I’d want to take my husband’s name. Couldn’t do that as heir.”

“And you know my opinion,” Ruby added. “So what do you say, bro? You gonna be our heir?”

David watched Henry. At first he looked thoughtful, and David could practically see the cogs turning in his youngest’s head. He was probably trying to weigh up all the pros and cons to make his decision. Any second now he would give up on that and go with his gut. And sure enough, the moment David thought that Henry grinned.

“All right,” he said. “I’ll take the heirship.”

----

“Sorry I’m late,” David said later that same week as he pulled up a chair at Ross and Kaylynn’s kitchen table. “Mel and I were-” he stopped abruptly and shook his head. “Well, you three know what she’s like.

“Yes, we know what she’s like,” Kate said, clucking her tongue disapprovingly. “I can’t believe you’re still together with that harpy! You’ve done nothing but fight with her since Henry was born!”

David grimaced. They’d had this conversation before – several times, in fact.

“Kate-”

“No! You’ve been miserable for years, and I hate it! We all do! And now she hasn’t even come to this meeting which will affect us all!”

David scowled, glaring at Kate.

“And I suppose Waylon’s so perfect,” he all but spat back at her, quickly reaching the end of his admittedly rather short rope. “I don’t see him here. Where is he? Too busy to even come to a meeting about his darling eldest daughter?”

“Don’t you dare bring Waylon into this, David,” Kate said. She glared back at him. “He’s done nothing wrong and he really wanted to be here for this.”

“Oh? And where is he?”

“Working,” she replied shortly, then added at David’s triumphant look, “We decided that since he’s only one promotion from permaplat – something, may I remind you, your wife got years ago – that it was more important for him to work today and perhaps come home permaplat when I can quite easily tell him anything important.”

“Sure-”

“Guys!” Ross’s sharp tone stopped any further bickering as they turned to face her and Ross. “We’re not here for you two to argue.”

“Right, we’re here so Ross could tell you what he’s found out,” Kaylynn agree. “Now, is Quinn coming?”

“I wouldn’t count on it,” David replied. “She’s still going through that midlife crisis of hers.”

“Midlife crisis?” Kaylynn asked incredulously. “She’s sixty-five!”

“We know,” Kate answered with a shake of her head. “But she started it when he was thirty-seven and hasn’t quite moved passed it yet. And she isn’t coming. I stopped by on the way and knocked on her door. She’s busy with one of those boy toys of hers.”

“Well since Quinn’s busy right now, we’d better move onto why we actually came here today,” David said. He turned to Ross, looking hopeful. “Have you spoken to the matchmakers yet? Or the vampires or witches?”

“No,” Ross said with a sigh. He waited for a moment for the David and Kate’s inevitable demands for an explanation to die down before he spoke again. “I haven’t spoken to them yet, and I don’t think it’s going to be possible to speak to them unless they contact one of us.”

“What do you mean, Ross?” David asked. “One of them – maybe more – always turns up on a community lot. You’ve probably just been missing them.”

“I suspected that might be the case as well, even though it wouldn’t explain why no playable’s been able to contact any of them by phone,” Ross said with a shake of his head. “I spoke with some of my townie and downtownie friends, asked them if they’d heard anything from any of the supernaturals or even seen them.”

“And?”

“And nothing – no one’s seen a vampire since the night Ivan got vamped, or a witch since Charlie got turned. We’ve all seen the wolves, but they don’t can’t exactly be understood by sims and they run off the moment anyone gets within a hundred foot of them. And no one’s seen a matchmaker at all since the Ivan and Alice tried to get cured – she hasn’t even been answering her phone, as we all know.”

“Well that doesn’t tell us anything,” Kate grumbled.

“Yes it does,” Kaylynn said, speaking up for the first time in a few minutes. The three founders looked at her curiously.

“What do you mean, dear?” Ross asked, a quizzical expression on his face. “All I’ve been able to figure out is that they simply don’t want to talk to us.”

“That’s because you’re looking at this like playables.”

“Don’t tell me you’re prejudice against-”

“No, never have been. Always thought those who were prejudiced were a bit silly, to be honest.”

“So what do you mean?”

Kaylynn looked between her husband, and Kate and David, thinking about how best to explain it.

“You three, Quinn, even all the kids, you’ve always been playables,” she said. “You’re either created, or you’re born. You’re brought into the world. Townies... Well, townies predate playables by a long way. Townies, on the other hand, exist from the very moment the universe was created. We’ve always been, and we always stay the same until the moment we move into a playable’s house. Because of that, we remember stuff that happened long before playables were born – before they even existed.

“So what-”

“Kate, please don’t interrupt me. What I’m telling you in something no townie – or ex-townie for that matter – had ever told a playable. It almost feels wrong but I know you guys need to know this,” Kaylynn said. “Ever since matchmakers, vampires and witches have existed there have been times when they’ve all vanished. I don’t know exactly how often it happens – time is a very different thing when you’re a townie – but I can remember it happening at least a dozen times. They always comes back but-”

“-well, something huge always happens, something bad. The supernaturals – they know in advance. No one ever knew how, but they always knew. When they come back they start preparing for whatever it is, trying to prevent it. That’s only worked once that I can remember. Entire regions have just vanished. No all that’s left of them is the sea, or a lake – Twikkii Island used to be in the centre of a huge country called Twikkii – not it’s only big enough for a few hundred residents and tourists. Three Lakes used to be a massive mountain city, not it’s only a small town.”

“What about Takemizu?” asked Kate, not at all liking where this was going. “Was that some huge city or a country or something too?”

“What? No, Takemizu’s always been a village out in the Far East. It’s just there used to be more to the Far East than Takemizu. There even used to be playables living there, but they got wiped out too.”

“So what can we do?” David asked. “All of this sounds like we might not exist before too long.”

“I don’t think there’s anything we can do – at least not until the supernaturals emerge.”

“Well that’s just wonderful.”

---

About a week later four new young adults stood outside one of the smaller dorms on campus. Three wore their winter clothes, another stood there in just a shirt. They looked up at their new dorm in silence for a few moments before one of them spoke.

“So, this is it?” Gideon asked. “We’re sure this is the right place?”

“Yes,” Ruby said, grinning broadly at the dorm. She could have a lot of fun here over the next year or so – in fact, she fully intended to have as much fun as she possibly could.

“You’re positive? Because you said that at the last fifteen dorms,” Gideon wished he was exaggerating there. Unfortunately he wasn’t.

“Of course I’m sure!” Ruby said, turning to look at him, the smile still playing on her lips. “That guide said there were sixteen different dorms. We’ve been to all the others, so this has to be the place!”

Gemma and Ivan were careful to ignore Gideon and Gemma’s bickering. They’d been doing it ever since they found the third wrong dorm and it had gotten tiresome pretty quickly.

“So what do you think?” Gemma asked Ivan in a hushed voice.

“It’s definitely the right one – I can see Todd’s door from here,” he said, nodding to the front doors. Indeed, there was a door opposite it, and it bore the picture of a sim who could only be Todd.

“Yeah,” Gemma said. They were definitely in the right place now. “It’s a pity Todd’s only got a semester left until he moves to the Greek House. And kinda weird that the Académie lets anyone start mid-year.”

“I know,” Ivan replied. “Ivan explained it to me once – so did Dad and ‘Melia, actually. None of it stuck.”

Gemma chuckled for a moment, then glanced back over at her twin and Gideon.

Gideon and Ruby’s fight had escalated in the few moments Gemma was talking to Ivan and they looked about ready to come to blows. That was hardly surprising. You get two tired sims with 2 nice points apiece together and this was inevitable. Gemma shot Ivan a look, then spoke loudly enough to be heard over Ruby and Gideon’s yells.

“Guys, we’re going in now. Are you going to join or us freeze to death?”

They quickly joined them, argument forgotten.

Once inside they were greeted almost immediately by Todd.

“Guys! You made it!” Todd said enthusiastically, quickly pulling his brother into a hug. “I missed you guys! Did you find the dorm all right?”

“Oh, yep. Found it straight away, didn’t we?” Ruby replied with a smirk, shooting a look at Gideon. Gideon scowled but otherwise ignored it.

“’Course you did,” Todd said as he pulled out of his hug with Ivan. “Right, been told I need to say this since I actually know you four. Rooms have already been assigned, have been since Bayley and Cole moved in and claimed their rooms. They’re all the same though, so at least that isn’t a problem.” Todd paused and quickly gestured to a dorm behind them. “Ivan, they put me next to you, said they don’t want a legacy kid dying and I’m s’posed to look after you in the dorms. Gideon’s off at the end of the hall near the cafeteria and you two are down there.” Todd pointed off in one direction for Gideon, and a completely different way, down a hall by the toilets for the twins. “Now, we’re done with that, come on. We need to catch up in my room.”

“No thanks,” Gideon said with a shake of his head. “Just tell me how to get to the Greek House. I haven’t spoken to Bayley in months and I need to see him.”

“Oh, you just follow the path outside to the south side of campus. Follow it straight – ignore any junctions and crossroads. It’s pretty easy to find, you know. It’s right next to Boggs , you can’t miss it,” Todd replied. “You know, you’re taking this whole thing pretty well. I thought you’d be angrier about everything.”

Gideon shrugged, “It’s just a room assignment. So what if I’m a little way away from you our. Makes no difference to me. I’ll probably be back pretty late, so see you guy in the morning.”

And with that Gideon turned and walked out of the dorm.

Todd watched Gideon walk away in confusion. What-? Then, slowly, realisation dawned on him.

“Oh...” Todd glanced between Gemma, Ruby and Ivan. “He doesn’t know, does he?”

“Know what?” was their simultaneous reply.

The walk to the Greek House took longer than Gideon thought it would and as his walk wore on he slowly started to feel the cold despite this thick winter coat. A cold wind blew. Shivering, Gideon pulled his coat closer. He was almost there.

Finally arriving on the lot, Gideon could feel the excitement rising in him. He was about to see Bayley for the first time in a year. Hell, Gideon hadn’t even spoken to Bayley for the better half of six months. He figured that the amount of work Bayley had had picked up. Gideon himself probably would have done the same thing, but then he’d always been a little involved in his schoolwork.

Gideon smiled to himself as he got closer. The windows by the front door were open. He didn’t know how they could stand it with this cold winter air, but then he had always been a little sensitive to the cold.

As he got closer Gideon couldn’t stop himself from grinning even as the snow settled on the ground so thick it was up to his ankles. He was close, he could hear music and conversation drifting out of the open windows. Finally waiting all this time to see Bayley was going to pay -

Gideon didn’t know how long he watched Bayley with whoever it was, all he knew was that he could look away, couldn’t even say anything. Finally, after what felt like hours though in reality it was probably only minutes, Gideon tore his eyes away. Shaking with emotion, Gideon walked off. He kicked the snow as he walked, walking off in the opposite direction he came, trying to sort out his feelings.

Inside, oblivious to Gideon walking away, Bayley sat trying to concentrate one what his date was saying. Well, boyfriend. Although he and Sterling had not been dating all that long, once they’d finally gotten together a few short months ago they had fallen fast for one another. But then, he thought with wry smile, three bolts will do that for you.

It probably helped that they’d lived in the same dorm for the entirety of Bayley’s freshman year.

“- and I can’t believe Professor Tellerman actually said that to her. It was bang out of line, don’t you agree?” Sterling asked, the same intense expression Bayley had become familiar with over the past year or so on his face before Sterling sighed. “You haven’t listened to a word I said, have you?”

“Of-”

“And don’t try and bluff your way through that like you did your last exam.”

Bayley stuck his tongue out.

“You’re right,” Bayley admitted with a sigh. “I wasn’t really listening. You see, I’ve got something pretty big on my mind right now.”

“Which is?”

“This.”

Bayley pulled a jewellery box from his pocket. He put it down on the table and pushed it slowly towards Sterling. He bit his lip with nerves as he watched Sterling’s reaction.

He watched as Sterling covered his mouth in shock, his eyes flicking between the box and Bayley in rapid succession.

It took a few moments before Sterling did anything else. Then he took a deep breath and looked to Bayley, concerned.

“Have you spoken to your old boyfriend yet?”

“Sterling,” Bayley whined.

“You haven’t have you?”

“No, but-”

“Then I can’t accept.”

Sterling pushed the box back towards him. He sighed, putting it away in his pocket again.

“Bayley, I’m sorry,” Sterling sighed. “But you were the one who made such a big deal about your old boyfriend, said you’d been best friends practically since birth and started dating the moment he teened. You were the one who said you couldn’t – wouldn’t – get involved with anyone for months because of him. I’m sorry, Bayley, but I can’t do it. Not yet. Not until you tell him.”

It was long past midnight by the time Gideon finally made it back to the dorm. He’d wandered around the whole of campus at least once, probably more. Everywhere was shut at this hour, everybody on campus was either asleep or passed out drunk, leaving Gideon with nothing but his thoughts.

On his walk he’d had plenty of time to figure out how he felt, and there was only one conclusion.

He was angry.

Gideon growled as he walked by the birch tree in front of the dorm. His rage building, he lashed out at it, punching the tree hard are he could. He pulled his hand back. It didn’t help the situation, but it certainly made him feel better. Scowling, he punched it again and again. He probably would have kept it up until he broke his hand when someone interrupted him.

“Hey, dude, you okay?”

“Okay? OKAY?! Do I look freaking okay? Do you normally find people punching trees outside dorms? Is that freaking normal?” Gideon yelled at the newcomer. “Well, it is so happens I’m not okay! I just found out my old boyfriend, a freaking family sim who insisted that we’d be able to beat the odds and would get back together as soon as I started here – and he didn’t even have the frakking guts to tell me.”

In a moment Gideon’s anger left him. He slumped back against the tree and slid down to the ground. He didn’t care about the cold, or the frost seeping into his clothes.

“He didn’t even tell me,” he muttered as he sat there. “I wouldn’t have cared, but – he didn’t even tell me.”

“Hey, is this your dorm?” the student he’d yelled at crouched down beside him. Gideon nodded, unable to bear the thought of looking up at him. “Good. I’m guessing you’re one of the new residents – one of the legacy kids from Quaver Kanyon, right?” Gideon nodded again. “Right, I’m Tazama. I’m one of your dormmates. Come on, let’s get you inside. You can tell me all about it over a nice cup of coffee. That sound good?”

Gideon chanced a look up at the guy – Tazama. He had long blond hair, thick, round glasses and behind them dark, chocolatey brown eyes. He felt his cheeks heat up a little as nodded. Yeah, that did sound good.

Over the next few weeks at the dorm Todd quickly came to understand why the townies always bemoaned the arrival of new playables. Quite frankly, first semester freshman were irritating! As much as he love his brother and the others they were a long way from settling in at the dorm. Gemma and Ivan in particular were having a bit of trouble recognising when others need to study.

“Guys! The door was shut for a reason! My term paper’s due tomorrow and I can’t concentrate on it with you two flirting in my doorway!”

Ruby wasn’t much better than her twin. She seemed intent on seducing everyone on campus with even a slight preference towards women. Todd was convinced the only reason she wasn’t woohooing anyone in the dorm was before there were no double beds and she didn’t want her first woohoo to be in a closet.

As for Gideon, he was going a lot better than Todd had thought he would. He didn’t know what happened the night he went over to the Greek House, but judging from the fact Gideon was refusing Bayley’s phone calls Gideon obviously knew about Bayley and Sterling. Still, he’d been surprisingly cheerful all the time, and nearly constantly in the company of Tazama Wilson.

Although, Todd supposed the evening after he handed in his term paper, that he and his girlfriend Sharlene may get a touch annoying for the dormies.

On one of Todd’s first nights in the dorm, back before Bayley and Cole had moved out to the Greek House they had dragged him out of there and off downtown. They’d said they wanted to explore the night life there since they’d never gotten the chance as teens. It was that night he’d met Sharlene Byall.

Todd had spent the best part of that night talking to Sharlene, and most of the nights that followed. They’d quickly gotten to know one another, their aspirations, dreams and hopes for the future, everything. The pair had fallen for one another incredibly quickly, faster even than any of the three bolts couples Todd knew had despite having just 2 bolts.

Then one night, shortly before he was due to move over to the Greek House, Todd invited Sharlene over. They cuddled for some time on the sofa, making out on occasion before he pulled away.

“Shar, there’s something I need to ask you,” he said, looking into her eyes.

“Oooh, what is it? Is it about kids? You know I wants lots of kids!”

Todd laughed. “I know – six, right? Three girls and three boys.”

“Yep!” Sharlene nodded brightly. “So was that what you wanted to ask me, Toddy?”

“Ah, not exactly.”

Todd slid off the sofa and stood before her. She stood up next to him.

“So are we going somewhere? Oooh! Can we go to your room? I like your room!”

“Not quite,” Todd laughed.

He took a deep breath, hoping he hadn’t misjudged how quickly their relationship had developed, and slipped down onto one knee.

“Sharlene Byall, I know we’ve only known each other for four months now and we’ve only been going out for three and a half but in that time I’ve come to feel more strongly about you than anyone else I’ve ever felt about anyone before. I can’t imagine my life without you, or with anyone else. I don’t want to imagine it. So even though everyone will think I’m insane for asking this so soon, I have to know...”

“Will you marry me?”

The dorms weren’t the only place where romance was flourishing. Everyone at the Greek House were busy with their own relationships. Cole had Professor Craig Kosmokos, Charlie had Amar Gilscarbo and Alice had Dominique Huerta.

As for Bayley and Sterling? Well that wouldn’t get any further until Bayley managed to talk to Gideon. And Gideon?

“Oh, hey Bayley,” Todd picked up the phone. “What? No, sorry. Gideon’s busy right now. What’s he doing? Err, studying anatomy – yeah, anatomy.”

Well, Gideon always managed to be studying anatomy whenever Bayley called. Odd, considering Gideon was a physics major.

With all this happening and everyone somehow managing to fit in school work in between, it came as a surprise to no one that that semester sped by. Before anyone knew it they were preparing their final exams, the Greek House was preparing for Todd to moving in as soon as the next semester started, Alice and Charlie were preparing for their final year. Back in the main hood Amelia, Declan and Edmund were all working hard in preparation for starting college in very little time at all, and needless to say there was some panicking on their behalf.

“No, Ed,” Alice sighed as she spoke to her youngest brother over the phone for what felt like tenth time that day. “Everything you heard from Bayley was a lie – no, it isn’t compulsory to turn up to class in your underwear, some sims just like doing it. No, the Greek House doesn’t have constant parties – we have like one a semester at most. No – ugh, look, just remember that Bayley has 1 nice point. If something he says sounds unbelievable then it’s probably a prank.”

“What do you mean, how can you trust me? I’m your sister! I would never –”

“- Uh, Ed? Can I call you back?.”