The Last Page

Army POV

"Did your ranks stay the same?" The boy asked, his tentacles were dyed dark orange that faded down into pink then into red. He insisted his color be like this, the most complicated thing possible, but, he was good with colors. In his hands, he limply held a sketchbook, open to a page of an unfinished sketch, forgotten as the story was told. His pencil and eraser laid next to him along with his colored pencils and markers, which littered the floor. His bright orange eyes stayed on me, wanting to hear the rest. His name was Alex.

"Yeah, did they? Did they?" The girl perked up, she was younger, her hair was a soft pink, a light soft pink that had a purple fade, much to her delight. Her pink eyes stared back at me, a smile across her lips, waiting patiently. Her name was Ally.

"They did," I say finally, "In fact, we ended up going back home after that..." I say, my voice trailing off. I flipped the page, the last page of the book.

"The last page? Nooo! Is there another one?" Ally asks.

"No, there's not another one, Ally, sorry," I tell her. "This is the last page."

"What? What happened after that? That was ended years ago! Fourteen years ago!" Alex explains, gesturing to the book in my hands.

"Ah, um, hun, let's not tell them that part, ok?" Aloha calls into the room, from the kitchen. I snicker a little.

"I know, I know," I assure him, smiling. He returns the smile and goes back into the kitchen. "Yes, in fact, it has been fourteen years since then. And you want to know what? That's when we finally realized that we needed something more to our little quiet house," I answered the question from Alex, without explaining what happened.

"Oh, so, that was when me and my sis came in?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, I suppose so. But, I really don't think anything's really changed much since then. Other than it seemed to have gotten messier," I tease.

Alex huffs, crossing his arms, in a pouting manner.

Then, Ally perks up. "Pa! D-Do you still have Dad's notebook?" She asks.

"Ah, yes I do. But, I'm not getting it out," I tell her. Aloha came into the room and stopped behind her. She frowned.

"Aw, why not~? Pa, please??" She whined, begging me to continue the story. I sighed, shaking my head.

"I will later, but, you know what time it is. Come on, everyone will be here soon!" I explain to her, Aloha picks her up from behind.

"Ahh! H-Hey!" She laughs, as he carries her into the living room, away from our bedroom and downstairs. Alex stood but stopped and looked back at me.

"Pa?" He asks. I look up at him from the book. "I'm...glad you chose to read that story. Even if Ally had to stop to look at all the pictures." He snickers a bit.

"They're here!" Aloha called from downstairs.

"Yeah, hurry up and get your butts down here!" Ally orders, she was only seven but she was the boss around here. I heard Aloha laugh before opening the door.

"Come on, let's go," I tell Alex, standing up, leaving the book on the bed, open to the picture of when Aloha and I first met. Of the first time we got together within the S4.

I walked alongside of Alex as we headed downstairs. The rest of Team Pink, my team, and the S4 were here. All together for the holiday. I was glad I could tell our kids that story.

3rd Person POV // Nobody's POV

It was quiet, all around. Ally knew everybody was downstairs, but she had to know...she had to see it. So, as she quietly snuck upstairs, her brother distracted Dad who was talking with Auntie Straw and Octo. I had Uncle Diver team up with me and distract Pa.

I crept up the stair case quietly, into my parent's bedroom, I ran to the bed, the book still laid open on the bed. I picked it up, gently. I flipped all the way to the back, there was no more after that, but there was a piece of paper in the back with a code on it, "56924," I read it aloud to myself, before putting the book back down and running out of their room, shutting the door quietly.

I was about to turn around when, "Hah...you're curiosity get the best of you?" I jumped, scared to turn around.

Shoot! Busted...! "I'm only playing," He reminded me. I recognized the voice that time.

"Daaaddd," I whined, turning to face him. "That's not funny! You scared me!" I tell him.

"What? Who did you think I was?" He asks me.

"Hmphf..." I cross my arms. He smiles at me, patting my head.

"Come on." He says.

"What?" I ask him, unsure if we were on the same page or not.

"Come on, you want to see more of the story? Well, I did record more of it. About a year or two more of it. Come on, I know you found the code. Let's go." He tells me once more, I followed him this time. "You too, Alex." He says, louder this time.

I could hear everyone downstairs, talking, laughing, joking. It was all a distant melody. I was used to it being loud. Alex suddenly comes into view, sighing.

"How did you even know I was there?" He asks. Dad chuckles.

"You're awfully loud at coming upstairs." Dad tells Alex. I look at Dad, who leads us into the spare guest room that was upstairs, beside their bedroom. The guest bedroom used to be downstairs, but when I was old enough I moved downstairs with Alex, into our own room. We still shared a room, though.

Aloha POV

I led the kids into the guest bedroom, receiving confused looks from both of them. I opened the closet and let them see the small locked safe, that sat on the floor in the guest bedroom.

Alex looked a little shocked, Ally squealed, dropping to her knees and putting in the code, quicker than I could imagine. She pulled out my notebook in joy. She then noticed everything inside of the safe, it was mostly empty, though. Just two books, identical to the one that I had written mine and Army's story in. But, it had their name's on them. Ally gasped.

"Oh my gosh!" She says, pulling out the book. "Oh my...Dad! Oh..." Her voice trailed off. "Are these...ours?" She asks. I smile at her.

"Well, they say your names, don't they?" I ask her. She beams at me, hugging the book to her chest in pure joy. Alex takes his out and opens it to the front page, he smiles at it, then looks up at me.

"Thank you," He says.

I smile, "We've had them for a while. All they'd be doing up here is gathering dust, why not start writing your story? So, that one day, when you have a family, you can tell them your own story," I tell him. He smiles then laughs. "What's so funny?" I ask him.

"Nothing, it's just...you seem so different from when you were younger." He points out.

"Heh...not really all that much. I don't change much," I admit, shrugging.

"What does that mean?" He asks me.

"Who says, just because I don't party or have fun in front of you, I never do it at all?" I say, hinting to him.

"Is that why you leave us with Caroline all the time!?" He accuses. "She's already babysitted us forever, Dad! We don't need a babysitter!" He whines.

"I'd feel better if you had her around..." I tell him. "It's dangerous, especially living in a big city like this," I remind him.

"Well..." He sighs in defeat.

"I like Caroline!" Ally says, huffing. "She makes me peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!"

"Plus, you're sister likes her," I tell him, adding that to list of reasons. He glares at me. I smile. "Come on, you're Auntie's are probably wondering where you two are," I tell them. They both stand, books in hand and follow me out of the guest room and back downstairs where Ally just had to brag about her new book that she was going to write her life down in.

Everyone was super impressed with her. Alex just put his in their room, before coming back out.

Fourteen years, huh? It sure doesn't feel like it's been that long...I can remember it all so clearly, still. It's not that hard to remember it. Remember everything that happened. I can't believe it all started with a stupid turf war game, me being used as bait...

...The End...

Or is it?

Now that Ally and Alex have their books...what will they write down?