The back story of Lexi's parents is very important for the main storyline in
The Start Of A New Era. It explains why Lexi is the way she is, her heritage, and the creation of the Resistance. It all starts not with Lexi's parents, but actually her grandparents. Her grandfathers in particular... now just bear with me for this one:
Victor Popescu was born in America to a third-generation Romanian immigrant couple in 1945. When he was twenty years old, a cousin of his decided to travel to Romania. Victor thought he was crazy. At the time, Romania was under communist rule, and America was very much against anything to do with the communists. But his cousin, through much persuasion, convinced him to at least come and visit. He spoke of the beautiful landscapes, and rich culture despite the oppressive communists. Finally, he was able to convince Victor to come and stay for a few weeks during the summer. There, Victor met Lucia Ionescu. He fell in love with Lucia over the three weeks that he stayed in Romania. When the three weeks were over, he asked her if she would like to come back to America with him. She could be free there, he said. Lucia knew that it would be difficult to escape the communists, and she loved Romania. So Victor agreed to stay with her instead. They were married two years later, and then they had three children: Vladimir (1970), Alexandru (1972), and Stefania (1973). In 1978, Stefania was killed in a tragic accident involving a wolf. That, combined with the increasing pressure from the communists, caused Victor, Lucia, and their two remaining children to flee back to America. Victor never gave up his American citizenship, and his children were in turn born with dual citizenship. Only Lucia had to apply for citizenship, which was granted to her. From that point, Vlad and Alex grew up in America.
Brian Cavanaugh's story starts out similar to that of Victor Popescu's. He was a descendant from Irish immigrants who had fled Ireland in 1847 during the Great Potato Famine. His family lived in a primarily Irish-Immigrant Community. Brian was born in 1947, in America. He was not forced to return to Ireland, nor did he need convincing. He heard all kinds of old stories that had been passed down about "the home land". As soon as he turned 18, he set off to see whether Ireland was as grand as the stories said. Brian was amazed by the beauty of the Irish countryside. He was also amazed by the beauty and strong spirit of Maeve O'Connell. You know where this is going. He and Maeve fell in love, and were married a year and a half later. They ended up having two children: Brendan (1969) and Aislinn (1972). They did not leave Ireland, even though Brendan and Aislinn were both born with American citizenship because of their American father. At the end of Aislinn's public education in Ireland, she was offered an excellent scholarship to come a university in America. That was in 1990.
It would just so happen that Alexandru "Alex" Popescu and Aislinn "Ash" Cavanaugh would meet at the same university. They both immediately recognized each other as Insurgo, and they both had a lot in common. It was there that the also met the parents of Riley and Gabe Hearson, Mitzi Whitlock, Katie Teal, and Lucy "Goose" McCarley. They were all Insurgo, and they all became extremely close friends. During their time at the university, Alex and Ash also met Ryan, though he was not a student there.
Alex and Ash were both highly charismic, and highly determined. They had both been bothered for a long time about the actions of the Insurgo Grand Council. They banded together with the others, and began spreading the word. Because of Alex and Ash's ties to Europe, the Resistance movement became International. Soon there were Resistance movements showing up all across the globe. Alex and Ash continued to lead the movement.
Alex and Ash also fell in love during their time at the university, and while they ran the Resistance Movement. Shortly after both of their 20th birthdays, they were married. They had decided to wait on having kids, in fear of the Council using their children against them. That didn't go quite as planned, however. Their first child, Kory Victor Popescu-Cavanaugh, was born within the next year. Three years later, their second child, Alexius Moira Popescu-Cavanaugh was born.
Alex and Ash continued to lead the Resistance, but they took every measure possible to protect their children. They knew there was a possibility that they could be killed in their line of work, so they made sure that Kory and Lexi would be put under Ryan's protection if anything were to happen to them. Unfortunately, 8 years after Alexius was born, Alex and Ash were killed by the Council during an attempt to protect each other and their terrified daugther (to read more about that part of the story, visit
The Start of A New Era Writing Piece (Prologue).
I know that's a lot of information, but it's sets the stage for the entire story of
The Start of A New Era.
