Matarra: Hey, so I thought I'd answer some questions posed in a few of my reviews for fun!
Misael: About bloody time.
Matarra: Butt out! Anyway, to snowgem33 (and I KNOW you left this review a while ago, on chapter 4, but still) who asked what Don would do if he became reformed and gained his powers back, he actually has no idea whatsoever. At the moment, he is enjoying himself by living as a human teen(most of the time anyway) and has not given much thought to what he will do when he gets back because he knows he has nothing there for him. He also in the back of his mind knows he has to interact with the emperors because he's the patron of Barian World. He can't escape his patronage because it's as much a part of him as being a barian is. And to your recent review, yeah, Lyle will eventually find out about her home life. Although he may not be quite so shocked as Don was over her living conditions, but you'll have to read on and find out why.
And to the guest, Yup! He does, or will, but not on Aida. She's just a friend to him and he treasures her for it because he hasn't had one in so long. He's naturally being very protective of the few friends he has and won't hesitate to harm those who hurt either her or Lyle or comfort them when they've been hurt. And to jamjam9, I know you just said this in a wish, but replying anyway, oh hell yes you'll learn a lot more about Lyle and Aida, as well as Don Thousand.
Misael: Are you TRYING to make the most screwed up characters you can?
Matarra: *hits him over the head with a heavy, hardcover book*
Don played with his pencil while listening idly to the science teacher prattle on about ions and whatnot. Like Don Thousand didn't know all this already. He was almost thanking whatever god was out there that it was Friday. He was actually looking forward to the basketball game.
Aida sat next to him, taking notes. He had been protective of her ever since he found out about her mother. If any of the "mean girls" or "bad boys" came within even ten feet of her, he would give them a death glare that made most of them wet themselves and run like hell. Alright, he MAY have been getting a little overprotective, but he couldn't help himself. She was his friend! He hadn't had even one friend in over 10,000 years! Now he had two of them and he wasn't about to let one of them get hurt on his watch.
He got up and gathered his supplies as the bell rang before walking out of class with Aida. Aida sighed, "Don, I appreciate that you're trying to protect me, but I've been dealing with this for a while and I've survived so far. I'm fine!"
"Yeah, well with all the shit you have going on at home, you do not need to deal with any shit at all here," Don Thousand said firmly.
"Well, what about during cheer practice, huh? You can't follow me there, you're not allowed to watch the cheerleaders practice! The school passed that rule after some perverts got a little too handsy with some of the cheerleaders during practice," Aida said.
Don frowned as he realized he had been beaten. "...you win."
Aida smirked, "Of course I do. Although, I'm really glad you're still my friend."
"What? Why the hell wouldn't I be?" Don asked.
"Well... everyone else I've ever brought home just kinda... left. They didn't want to have anything to do with me," Aida said sadly.
Don Thousand gritted his teeth, "Point the people who did that out to me, will you?"
"No, because you'd make them all wet themselves at best and at worst you'd put them six feet under," Aida sighed.
"Well, yeah, what's your point?" Don asked.
Aida rolled her eyes, "Honestly Don?"
"What?" Don asked.
Aida laughed, "You're impossible!"
"Hey Don! Hi Aida!" Don and Aida turned to see Lyle running towards them.
"No running in the halls!" Aida yelled.
Lyle threw one arm around Aida and another around Don. "Are you guys excited for the big game?"
"Yep, but what have I said about touching?" Don asked testily.
"Not to!" Lyle replied with a laughed, removing his arm from Don but not Aida. To Don's confusion, Aida didn't complain about Lyle touching her except by sighing. "What about you Aida?"
"I'm ready for it," Aida replied.
"Not exactly what I asked, but okay!" Lyle said.
Aida sighed, "What class do you have next?"
"Math, you?"
"History. Don?"
"English."
"Well, time to get going. I'll see you two later," Aida said and she quickly strode away. Lyle turned to Don and grinned.
"You know, now that I'm not scared of her, Aida's really nice!" Lyle exclaimed.
"I wouldn't call her nice, but I know what you mean," Don said with a slight smile, "I need to get going. See you later, Lyle!"
"See ya!" Lyle waved goodbye before dashing off. Don walked to his English classed and sat down at his desk.
As the teacher prattled on, Don began to think about actually important things. At least important to him; the other students seriously needed to pay attention in this class. Honestly, some were stupid enough as it is.
He almost smacked himself. This was what he was talking about! He was actually giving random humans a few moments of his thoughts. He actually was thinking about these human classes, interacting with humans, and becoming friends with two of them! He really changed, a lot. He preferred their company to that of his own species! Although, really that was not saying much. He only really knew seven barians, all the barians he had known before he was sealed would've died by now. And let's not forget that those seven absolutely loved him. It wasn't like they agreed to this reformation plan only because it would piss him off or that he had orchestrated all of their demises in their past lives.
Yeah, those seven hated him, that was a fact that wouldn't be changing. He may be mostly reformed, but he still had a whole book full of sins he couldn't ever atone for. Even if you count his previous species, astral being, he was screwed. He tried to destroy their entire planet and kill them all. That's definitely the sort of thing that made someone want to hang out with you. Besides, Eliphas absolutely despised him.
Eliphas... Don hated him. That f*cking jerk! He was a heartless bastard! He banished him from Astral World for literally no reason at all except he had chaos energy. Eliphas never had a problem with it before, but once he became the patron of Astral World and gained power over the entire planet, his first action was to banish everyone with chaos power. Even him... Don still couldn't understand why he did that. Don Thousand never did anything to upset him! Well, maybe he scaled the wall to sneak into Eliphas' room through his window, but the stupid blond had shut himself in his room and wouldn't come out to even eat! Don Thousand HAD to get in to at least bring him food and perhaps hit him with a few water balloons. But banishing someone over water balloons and breaking and entering was a complete overreaction!
Don snarled slightly and broke the tip of his pencil on his paper. Whatever the hell that effing order freak patron's reasons were for banishing him, Don almost didn't care anymore. That damn bastard betrayed him! How could he have done that to him back then?! Don sighed. He needed to calm down, he'd think about it later.
... (^0^) ...
Don relaxed against the trunk of the tree he had pretty much claimed as his own since he slept there every damn night! Time to think about things that he hated about his life. Number one, Eliphas.
Don swallowed down a wad of emotion. That stupid bastard! He hated him! He hated him so, so much! He...
Don punched the ground. Who was he kidding? He hated Eliphas, but only because Eliphas hated him. Sure, the blond bastard had royally betrayed him, but Don could almost get over that after all this time. It had been 10,000 years for crying out loud! He hadn't been thinking clearly during the number war, at all. That probably should've been evident by his goal of destroying the multiverse.
Don Thousand felt like he would've missed Eliphas, but hey, they had too much history between them for him to do anything but continue to hate the jerk. Hesitantly, he allowed himself to think about the time he and Eliphas didn't hate each other. Not many people were aware that there was any time like that, only one other person to Don's knowledge aside from him and Eliphas, but there was a twelve year period when the two of them were inseparable.
*Memory*
"Eli! Wake up, Eli~" A small, eight year old Don sang softly into Eliphas' ear.
Eliphas barely stirred and Don Thousand smirked. "Come on, get up~ Get up or I'll have to dump a bucket of water on your pretty blond head~" Eliphas didn't get up. "All right, suit yourself," Don said, heaving a huge bucket of water and holding it over Eliphas, "Heads up!" With that, Don Thousand dumped the water on Eliphas' head. The blond astral being yelped and fell out of bed, soaking wet and shivering while Don Thousand laughed.
"DON THOUSAND, I WILL KILL YOU!" Eliphas shouted.
"You'll have to catch me first~" Don sang, then ran away laughing as Eliphas chased him. He darted down the hallway and slid down the stair banister while Eliphas gave chase. Don Thousand raced outside and collided with someone. He lay on the ground, dazed for a few seconds, then he jumped up and hid behind the person he had ran into, prompting a sigh from said person.
"Don Thousand, what did you do?" she sighed.
Don grinned at the young girl, "Just woke Eliphas up. He got upset for some reason."
"You dumped water on his head, didn't you?" she asked.
"...maybe," Don admitted before Eliphas threw open the door and stormed up to Don Thousand and the girl.
"Hand him over!" Eliphas snarled at the girl.
She rolled her eyes, "I take no sides in this idiotic fight. He's just hiding behind me."
Eliphas glared at Don. "Really, Don Thousand? Hiding behind Ena?"
"What can I say? I'm a coward," Don Thousand replied shrugging.
"Remember that you said it, not me," Eliphas snorted.
Don stepped out behind Ena. "Well, you can't say I let you sleep in."
"True. Also," Eliphas grabbed Don in a headlock, "Time to die."
Don mock gasped for air. "Ena... save... me..."
Ena threw up her hands, "I just told you, I'm not taking sides."
"Please... I'm... dying..." Don Thousand gasped as Eliphas dug his knuckles into Don's skull.
"I'll write you a heartfelt epitaph," Ena said dryly, but she was smiling.
"I... see... the... light... goodbye... everyone..." Don Thousand went limp. Eliphas let go and Don slumped to the ground.
Eliphas prodded Don with his foot. "Well, he's dead. Ena, get a shovel. We need to hide a body," the ten year old astral being said with a smirk.
Suddenly, Don grabbed Eliphas' foot and yanked it, causing Eliphas to fall to the ground. Don jumped up and pinned Eliphas down. "Hah! Got you!"
Eliphas laughed. "Oh no! I feel weak. Am I...? Yes, I'm dying... good... bye..." he closed his eyes and went limp as Don laughed.
"I just used that ploy, Eli! It's not going to work!" Don giggled. He waited for a minute for Eliphas to get up and when he didn't, Don frowned. "Get on up. C'mon, get up, it's really not funny anymore." When Eliphas still didn't get up, Don began to get really worried. "I told you, it's not funny anymore! Eli, wake up!" Eliphas didn't show any sign that he had heard him. Ena looked worried now too. "ELI!" Don Thousand, now at the brink of tears, started shaking the blond astral being. Eliphas slowly blinked open his eyes and Don threw his arms around him, almost cutting off his breathing. "Eli!"
"What? I guess I fell asleep again, which can happen when someone wakes me up before I'm ready with a bucket of ice cold water!" Eliphas snapped. He then seemed to notice something was wrong. "Donny?"
"I... I was scared you were dead or hurt..." Don Thousand muttered, feeling slightly embarrassed at being so scared.
"Oh... I probably shouldn't have fallen asleep while playing that game. Hey, don't worry, Donny. I'm not going anywhere, okay?" Eliphas murmured.
Don Thousand sniffled, "Promise?"
"Promise. I won't ever leave you."
*End memory*
Don frowned and scowled as that memory came back to him. Promise, huh? Not much of one if Eliphas utterly and completely broke it a mere four years later. He scowled as he remembered Eliphas' smile from when he was ten and Don himself was eight. Eliphas didn't smile much anymore, or at least Don hadn't seen him do so. Of course, he hated Don's essence so if he did smile, it wouldn't be around him.
Donny... that was the main reason Don hated that nickname. It reminded him of Eliphas since Eliphas used that nickname a lot with him, and Eliphas' betrayal.
Don Thousand had to wonder if any of those moments were ever real, or if Eliphas just decided Don Thousand was trash that the great patron of Astral World shouldn't associate himself with. Either way, Eliphas thought it would be alright to banish all those with chaos power flowing through their veins to a desolate wasteland.
Don wondered what Ena was up to. He knew she was still alive, she was one of those astral beings who had been dubbed, "immortals". Most astral beings and barians lived for about 200 years, but some, for some reason, lived for much longer. So long in fact that no immortal had ever died of old age. The emperors were immortals, so was Ena. There were probably a few more, but none that Don knew of. Immortals were very rare. Don wasn't quite sure if he and Eliphas had ever been immortals, but the point was moot even if they were. When they became patrons, they took on their respective planet's life force, aka they lived as long as their world did.
Ena had always been a good friend to him and Eliphas. She was one of the few people he had ever counted as a friend and as far as he was concerned, his only true first friend, since Eliphas did that little thing with banishing him to a wasteland. She had appeared confused and horrified when Eliphas announced he was banishing everyone with chaos power, the same emotions that Don himself was feeling at the time. She had even tried to grab Don's hand when he was forcefully dragged away.
Don Thousand realized for the first time that his era of insanity had most certainly cost him his only true friend. Ena wouldn't have cared that he was from a distant world and technically a different species, she would still have wanted to visit him as often as she could as soon as she learned how to overlay travel. But when he started his warpath, he had destroyed any chance he had for having her remain his friend.
Don put his head in his hands and felt a tear trickle down his cheek. His mind was almost completely clear for the first time in what felt like forever and he was hit with the realizations of his actions and all the consequences they entailed. He had decimated a friendship, killed millions of innocents, ruined the lives of seven certain individuals beyond belief, and he had no one to really blame but himself. And Eliphas, but then again, Eliphas' betrayal was just the catalyst that spawned all his insanity. The blond bastard hadn't ever told him to go and kill everyone.
Don Thousand was laden down with the guilt of all the pain he had caused. In an effort to escape his pain, he had turned to making all those who hurt him pay and not caring who he hurt along the way. It had felt so good at the time, but now he just felt sick at himself. There was no way to escape this pain, he would have to live with it and be reminded of it with the glares he got from the emperors, Eliphas(although that wouldn't affect him too much since Eliphas hated him before he even DID anything), and Ena probably if he ever saw her again. Scratch that, Ena would probably just look at him with a pair of sad eyes then turn away, which would be a whole lot worse than a glare.
Don closed his eyes. He needed to get to sleep, if only so he wouldn't have to think about all the pain that would await him as soon as this "punishment" was over. The air quotes were because this was heaven for him right now. Come to think of it, after Lyle and Aida died of old age sometime in the (hopefully) distant future, he probably would beg Eliphas to seal him away. Don shivered slightly as he fell asleep, the air was getting kinda nippy but it was nothing compared to how cold he had felt inside before he came to earth.