Waking up, Eian yawned before piecing together the events of the previous day hazily, looking around in mild confusion he shook the last vestiges of sleep away.

Anger, shame, mostly anger flooded straight from his chest, mastering himself as he knew how by exhaling slowly, he reviewed his turmoil with an objective mind, anyway her turned it his mother should have been on his side.

He could understand part of her actions, as well as surprise, but if their roles were reversed he was sure he would have sided with her over a man they barely knew, Ezrael.

Discounting all evidence, she should have asked what happened, he was not a child to be yelled, nor berated, he noticed this was becoming a trend of late, her raising her voice.

His stomach growled, alerting him to more pressing needs, despite having to confront Elisa again, he decided it was best to get it out of the way later.

There was nothing she could actually do to him anyway, what was she going to do? Hit or spank him? The thought made him chuckle.

Edward's sisters were also still in danger, that soured his mood quickly, Anna and Alisa were not going to save themselves.

Anger fading it was quickly replaced with bitterness, he took a deep breath and got up, he still had to train that lousy group to be useful in record time.

Already the tunnel was being built, so the time for confrontation was nearing if not quickly, they needed more combatants, as well as supplies.

Eian was not an idiot, he saw was that their side had all the disadvantages, they lacked fighters with experience, they lacked quality weapons, and they had nothing to defend themselves with from ammunition.

In all, they were placing their bet on being sneaky smart, he hoped there would be other advantages also, he had to discuss more of these concerns with Russ, an idiot he was not.

Their one advantage seemed to be that their enemy was lacking in people with powers, there was that one guy with healing powers he remembered but very few others seemed to even be aware of it.

'If only we had bulletproof armor.' Eian sighed, already negative thoughts were dampening a new day.

Stretching, Eian delighted in the feeling of his joints popping and flexing first thing in the morning.

He needed to grow stronger, yesterday had not yielded a power-up to Eian, he needed more, much more, enough to protect people he cared about and not be taken advantage of.

If he had power like those who created the dream he and his mother would never have landed in this mess, and more possibly Ul had assured him with enough power regular projectiles would become harmless.

He wondered how far that was, a small part of him wanted to find out, he wanted to rush out murder his way through a throng of vicious monsters and emerge the victor.

Chuckling at the image he realized that part of him was rather childish, something akin to the want of being a hero, a dream not too long ago, now something similar could be achieved.

The more mature part of himself realized that growing stronger meant more opportunity, once the world stabilized, people would likely employ people with these various powers.

THAT part of him, on the other hand, realized money was at his literal doorstep, which was fine as long as he wasn't used to committing murder, that was however for the future, first, he had to survive.

Not that any of that was a guarantee, if none of that worked, Ul guaranteed him more training that meant other worlds placed value on soldiering, he was sure he could find opportunity there.

*****

Walking towards their base he noticed the usual hard-stares and angry muttering, as long as it stayed at that level he was fine.

He walked towards the apartment room his mother, he, and both Ezrael's shared, Kristal had bunked with other women, the unguarded door was wide open and yet several people were waiting nearby with diverse expressions, mostly confusion.

Worried, Eian began to jog up and upon entering he was stopped by two familiar men or rather young adults like him, Bruce and Aaron, they let him pass further in once they recognized him.

Inside he found his mother speaking with his friend, Russel, he turned to look at Eian and his face lit up.

"E! We got a problem." Russel invited him in with a waving motion at himself.

"What?" Eian was confused, he wondered where Ezrael was, he was sure he did not injure the man terribly, his mother was tending him immediately after either way.

Elisa began to speak, but Russel quieted her, asking her to let him explain.

"That kid's real gold. He's fucking dangerous." Russel started by surprising him, Russel wasn't one to cus lightly in front of older people.

"Kid? You mean Ezrael's son?" Eian was referring to Ezrael.

"No, well, yes. Let me explain." Russel rubbed his chin in an inquisitive way.

Eian stared at Russel waiting for him to continue.

"The kid is Ezrael. THE only Ezrael." Russel that like a bomb, only to further confuse him.

"What? Ezrael isn't... did I?" Eian grew a bit concerned, Ezrael was the name of both father and son.

"That's what I'm saying... he's not the kid's father," Russel explained further.

'A kidnapping?" Eian remembered the kid was terrified when the adult was injured, so that didn't make sense either, maybe an older brother or uncle?

A chill ran down Eian's spine, it couldn't be could it? No, there would have been signs.

Then again, he never questioned it, the kid rarely spoke, and while the father and son were both Caucasian in truth Eian had not tried to find facial similarities or any.

Events had caught him by so quickly he really didn't have time to process everything, including what the kid even looked like.

"The kid is an esper E, he has been in control the whole time." Russel broke the news to him, blunt as a sledgehammer.

As Russel explained Eian got the picture slowly, the boy, Ezrael had been controlling the adult 'Ezrael' and pretending to be his son.

The 'Ezrael' who Eian knew was actually named Nathan, Eian jotted that down, this above all was the weirdest thing happening to him since the dream started.

They pieced this together last night when Russel came to see the commotion that was occurring, as Elisa healed Nathan, Russel examined his mind and found a 'mental-link'.

He found it curious and broke it, after breaking Nathan free to gain control, they puzzled everything out easily from there, though Nathan was near incoherent.

Elisa chose this time to break into the conversation.

"Please remember he IS a scared little boy," Elisa said that got an eye twitch from Eian.

"Are you sure she isn't a zombie?" Eian asked his friend, who nodded.

Elisa stared at him with a frown, opening her mouth before Eian cut her off, he wasn't in a good mood for her optimism or whatever she had, nor her ignorance, Society was dead and social norms with it.

"Even if he is eight or ten. There is a reason criminal children are put in Juvie mom. You realize this kid killed that man back when we were captured? He was the one controlling Jacob." Eian explained, he let his mother digest that horrifying fact.

"Golden. We got a homicidal kid." Russel sighed, he looked worn, with dark bags visible even with his dark skin.

Before Elisa could speak Russel explained he had two people with high mental attributes guarding the actual Ezrael, for now.

A high mind attribute made being susceptible to Psychic forces less effective, Russel used himself as an example.

A person with Mind at a high level was near impossible to control by someone in the same weight class once they had their defenses up.

Eian wasn't so sure, but he didn't know what else to do with the kid, or rather Ezrael as it turned out.

"What will we do with the kid?" Eian asked, feeling a bit leery at being near him.

"We don't have much free time, I hope he'll cooperate for now and then we can deal with this later." Russel shook his head sadly, clearly not about to enjoy the duty.

"That's it Russ? You're just going to let him off?" Eian was a bit skeptical as he had been controlling a grown man, not to mention murdering a guard through someone else.

"I want to hear his side of things before we make a decision E." Russel sat down, shrugging.

Eian pondered on the subject of the kid some, Ezrael had been hiding behind a mask this whole time, he likely didn't trust Eian and for good reason as the sentiment was mutual.

"I am going to talk to him again, I thought you would want in, so I put it off." Russel looked at Eian, questioning.

"...as long as you guarantee I won't get turned into a mindless zombie. He got me in the head pretty hard." Eian scratched his head, remembering last night's headache, he did not want a repeat.

"You got it E." Russel patted his back encouragingly, smile wide.

Elisa surprised them by telling them to be careful, Eian wondered if she even understood what was going on fully, his mother was stuck in the world of the past.

With that Elisa remained silent looking at the floor, lost deep in thought, Eian hoped she wisened up soon, her behavior of late was extremely jarring.

******

Walking into the particular room Aaron and Bruse were guarding, both Eian and Russel passed them with a simple nod.

A small child of perhaps nine or ten sat, his bored expression brightened immediately upon seeing them, now Eian got a clearer view of the kid.

His moppy black hair was coarse and dry, his nose pointed, and his clothes were a striped colorful t-shirt with a short kakis pants.

"About time." Ezrael looked at Eian in the face neutrally.

"You little shit." Eian grit his teeth and held in his anger.

"You already beat me once. Are you going to do it again? That HAS to be abuse." This time Ezrael's neutral look vanished, and Eian thought he could see some concern there.

Briefly Eian was at a loss for words, then he got angry again.

"I punched some poor bastard because of you." Eian accused, feeling weird for glaring at a kid.

"So what? He is not innocent, did you ever wonder what he's done to others?" Ezrael got up and glared at him, balling his hands.

It was funny, a kid that reached him to his chest at around five feet was aggressive, Eian chuckled.

"Both of you relax, AND kid, no funny business." Russel glared at him.

Eian closed his eyes and calmed himself, anger would not help him here.

"Is your name even Ezrael?" Eian asked curiously, Ezrael looked at him seriously before nodding.

Ezrael remained silent for some time before their combined glares pressured him to elaborate.

"...Yes, lying about my name is hard, I don't always respond to a different name." Ezra huffed, crossed his hands and sat down.

"But pretending to be someone else is easy," Eian grumbled, feeling stupid for being tricked by a kid.

"It's not all that hard really, fooling people's a lot easier than it looks. A bit of crying here and there, an innocent poker face, and tadah." Ezrael explained, waving his hands about dramatically without humor.

"How old are you? You don't talk like a normal kid." Russel inquired, head cocked to one side while massaging his jaw.

"I'm fourteen," Ezrael said almost defiantly, sticking out his chin proudly.

Eian snickered, the kid looked ten, by any standard, that earned him a glare from Ezrael.

"That IS not funny. ...always the same." Ezra glowered at Eian, the second part was mumbled as he stared accusingly at his stubby legs.

"Why were you possessing Nathan even after you escaped?" Russel asked seriously, arms crossed.

Ezrael looked at him with calculating eyes, Eian wasn't sure they could trust anything he said at this point.

"Nathan and I were in a cell with a few others before they moved me. Long story short, I got people killed with a breakout attempt." Ezrael looked at the floor and sucked on his teeth.

Eian and Russel listened to him, one frowning, the other patient.

"That does not explain why you did not let Nathan go after you got out." Russel pointed out, patiently.

"Yes, it does. I got HIS people killed in my dumb escape. He is also going to want to kill me once he knows I took control of him forcefully, not being treated like a kid was just a plus." Ezrael looked at the floor, remorseful, Eian wondered if it was even real.

"What do you mean his people?" Russel rubbed his head while frowning.

"...Check his back, I'm sure you'll find what you are looking for." Ezrael snorted.

"Did I sound like I wanted a half answer? OR do you want to waste my time? IF you want we can just let you rot here." Russel threatened imposingly, raising both eyebrows.

"Fine. He is part a damn gang. There happy?" Ezrael sat down and folded his hands.

"Golden, just golden." Russel threw his hands up irritably.

"Hey! In my defense I was desperate! Who knows what those people were going to do to me! For all, I knew they were going to harvest my organs or sell me to some pervert. Also, Nathan deserves all he got and more." Ezra argued with a half-pout.

Ezra embellished his story a bit more, but they could not prove anything, all they had was his arguably questionable testimony.

"How did you make that guy use your power?" Eian asked, referring to Nathan and Dominion.

"I got Dominion pretty easy, everyone wants to help a small defenseless kid. After I woke up, I was caught by Bradley even before... everything started so I tried to escape...Dominion works sort of like, ...like computer connections? I can send the signal through other people under MY Dominion." Ezra explained glumly.

"You know we cannot trust you, right?" Russel tapped his head for emphasis.

Ezra nodded meekly, looking at the floor like a scolded child, even now Eian wondered if this was all some convoluted act.

"I can't keep you here forever, but I'm going to lay some ground rules, and eventually, if you behave, we can find some middle ground," Russel explained.

Russel began a list of things Ezra could and could not do, most were common sense things, like not attacking peoples minds without permission.

Eian zoned out, wondering how he, or anyone, would sleep at night knowing what this kid had done, or could do.

An evil pragmatic part of him wondered if it was not best to just...snap his neck... or rather exile him, but that was a death sentence for a kid his size.

After their discussion was over, Russel herded Ezrael out and Eian went to sit down to talk to his mother.

*****

Elisa could not understand much of what was happening, everything was going so fast and felt surreal, the dream, the kidnapping, new powers, her son, everything was just...unsettling.

She thought things would calm down now that they were with a larger group, instead, she finds her son beating the man who helped them escape while speaking in what might as well be another language and right after they found out some innocent people were killed and kidnapped, it was just all so much.

To make things worse Russel, perhaps Eian's truest friend, came in and blew her mind by telling her Ezrael was not Ezrael, all of this in the span of a few hours.

Why was no one making any sense? Healing powers and her son's climatic muscular change along with that intimidating armor she could accept, she learned to expect that in the Dream to some degree, but mind control?

To be truthfully honest, her son's new look brought back many unwanted memories.

She spent all night turning the apartment over with worry, Eian had left last night and no one seemed to know where.

Everything was piling up on her, and perhaps she had finally reached her limit? Her son's new demeanor had been a cause for concern since their escape.

While he demonstrated some normal emotions, Eian's brutal murders were something she still had not made peace with, and she worried he was turning violent, or even apathetic, a result from hanging out with Ed and his little crew of miscreants perhaps?

Russel had brought more information, painting a completely different picture from what she had imagined.

Still though...the little boy? He seemed so innocent, but she heard what he said through the room walls, it hardly dampened sound.

Now here she, in the same position, AGAIN, having jumped to conclusions without giving her son a proper chance to explain himself, someone she was expected to have trusted fully.

How different would her life be if she had more patience? Perhaps her son would have a father, or perhaps not, but it was an old wound that still itched from time to time.

Now here he was before her, looking stern and arguably angry, not a surprise Eian always had a touch of anger in him and she did blame him unjustly.

The silence was uncomfortable, they rarely fought, and when they did it had always been Eian doing something he should not, she just wanted everything to go back to how it was.

"Have you eaten?" Elisa tried to break the proverbial ice.

"No, I'll get something downstairs before I go. Right now actually." Eian looked at her again, wearing a frown.

"I... I am sorry. I don't know what to say." Even to herself, her voice sounded like an excuse.

"...Look, I'm going, I have some people to train right now." Eian got up, massaging his brow and taking a deep breathe then exhaling slowly.

"I still want to talk to you." Elisa sighed, he was stalling, but perhaps some time would be good, for them both.

"Later, I want to help the girls first. That's more urgent." Eian was obviously referring to the twins.

When Eian left he looked oddly determined, but at least he was talking to her before he would have likely stormed off, perhaps not all his changes were bad?

*****

Having left his mother Eian felt something he had never felt before, a mixture of betrayal, anger, and depression.

She seemed uncomfortable and at least apologetic to some degree, but he felt it was best he stay away from her for now, she was judgmental, how had he missed that his whole life?

He had lived with her so long that the thought was foreign, and he obviously would not just up and leave, but he needed time to think over how he would live his life, not the way she wanted.

Starting with rescuing the twins, that was a goal he could see in his immediate future, after...well he could decide that after everything was over and if he was still breathing.

For now, it was time to train, no more Mister nice guy, the faster he trained weaklings the fast they could advance, then he could dedicate more time to train himself.

With Power that felt like the weight of mountains within his chest, and his swirling core bursting with Power he felt unstoppable, a landslide ready to be unleashed.

Feeling ready, he determined that killing a few mindless monsters sounded like a relaxing vacation.

As soon as he found a damn good weapon to kill with, a baseball bat sucked proverbial balls.