Natalie called out to both April and Don. So much so that there were tears in her eyes. She was now begging for Don to let Mark go and April to reason with him. No one came forth or tried to reason with Don. Everyone knew why he was like this. They had all heard it and going based on Mark's actions, it only made sense that Mark would end up betraying them. Even Ion and Jessica had their doubts about Mark but figured they would deal with it if the time came.
They knew that Don wasn't a liar, and he hardly even made jokes. So, there was no reason to not believe him. April would look up from Don's chest and tug on his shirt, which caused him to look down at her. "Promise.... you will never leave my side. Promise... that I can always be by your side. Promise... that you will stay alive." April's eyes were puffy and red. She looked unstable even right now, and just seeing the condition she was in only caused Don more harm. He would nod softly, "I vow to you, with everyone as my witness, that I will always stay by your side. That I will always let you stay by mine. That I will never die." Don's words weren't like before. They were usually warm and gentle, even full of conviction and resolve, but this was different. They were nearly empty. It was the complete opposite, and yet, for some reason, everyone believed his words.
Why? It wasn't his words that made them believe. It was his actions. The first thing he did was come out to see April. April was the reason he woke up. Even now, he did not answer to anyone other than April. April nodded softly, "Kill him." April would comment. Everyone was shocked and stunned. No one ever expected those words to come out of April's mouth. "As you wish," Don commented in return and close his hand. In an instant, Mark's head exploded; however, it wasn't messy. Everything seemed to splatter against a see-through helmet of some kind. Don had created a separate space and reversed the suction of the space, filling Mark's lungs with immense pressure to the point where his entire head started to blow up until it exploded. Yet everything splattered against the space he had created. Don would move his hand towards the door, and the ball of mush made its way outside. Once it was there, Don released it onto the streets. As for the body, he used his Spatial Distortion to move Mark's corpse outside and drop it onto the street. There was no mess since Don had created a separate space for both.
Natalie was silent now. In fact, everyone was silent. No one said a word. No one made a move. No one could. Don would circle around to sit on the couch, and April sat against his body. Holding on his arms while lacing their fingers. The actions weren't what kept them from doing anything. It was the creepy smile on April's face. She looked happy. Happier than they had ever seen her. A soft giggle came from her lips, "Thank you, Darling~" April looked up to place a kiss below his chin.
Hearing those words and hearing April giggle caused something inside of Natalie to snap. She quickly rose to her feet and made her way over to Don and April. It looked like the barriers that Don had put up were gone. As she stood in front of them, her hands were balled into fists, and she was shaking viciously. "Tell me.... why...?" Natalie spoke, trying to hold back her anger. April looked towards Natalie. The look in her eyes wasn't normal. It was as if she was a completely different person. This wasn't the first time they had seen that look.
The entire time Don was out, she had this lingering look of darkness. As if she had given up on something. Yet, now it was more apparent than before. The vibe that came off April was similar to the one that Don gave off when everyone first met him. Someone that one shouldn't take lightly. "Why what?" April asked innocently. Don was sitting there with his eyes closed, so he wasn't paying much attention.
"What? What do you mean what? Why did you kill him!? Why did you let Don kill Mark!?" Natalie shouted at the top of her lungs. When she saw how April pretty much blew off Mark's death, it set her off completely. She pulled her hand back and threw a fist towards April; however, the fist stopped in place. It was as if she couldn't move her arm. She looked from April to see Don was looking directly at her with a creepy black glow in his eyes.
"You will do well not to hit my girl. The only reason I have not shattered your entire arm is that you are still a companion, a friend. However, make no mistake... If you try to pull that again, I will tear your arm off." Don's words were cold and ruthless. He would release the space around Natalie's arm, and the glow in his eyes vanished. Natalie took a step back. "Friend?" Natalie muttered. She didn't get it. She couldn't understand.
"The same can be said for all of you. I only killed Mark because he would later betray us. Traitors are not friends. If you backstab anyone here even once, I will kill you." Don would speak aloud. April would move Don's arms, so they wrapped around her. After a moment, she seemed to just pass out. Natalie couldn't stand anymore. Her legs gave out, and she sat on the table before them with a downcast gaze.
John had overhead Don's words. He saw Don's strength and knew that he was no match for him. This only reinforced his initial thoughts. He would need to kill Rose in secret by getting closer to her than asking her out on a date. John wasn't going to give up his plan. In fact, he even thought of bringing Rose's actions to light; however, Don had yet to even do anything to her while he killed Mark off without batting an eye. So that went out the window. For now, he needed to play it safe.
Rebecca inhaled a deep breath, then exhaled slowly and made her way over to Don. Rebecca sat down beside him and April. "Donathan," Rebecca called out to him in a normal tone of voice. Don shifted his eyes towards Rebecca. "I won't say what you did was right or wrong. You did what you had to do, as you always have. What I will ask is why you did it? You said he would betray us, but you haven't told us how." Rebecca spoke.
Don nodded lightly to her remark. "Very well. Allow me to explain then. This isn't my first time here. In fact, this is my tenth time." Don stated. Everyone was shocked, but no one said a word. Natalie still had her gaze cast downward. "I had no recollection of anything until I died. Then, I met the boy, and he explained quite a bit about my Seed Power. Apparently, my Seed Power was originally a Time Seed. Still, during one of my runs, I tried to travel to another timeline that mutated my Seed Power, giving me a Space Seed Power. Thus, I have Two Seed Powers and only One Seed." Don would explain. Everyone was following along as best they could.
"But I am getting ahead of myself. On the first run, you all died. All of you. Everyone in this room died. First, it was Juan and his family, then Alice and Sarah, after that it was Noah and Tyrone. Then, Rebecca and Natalie. John, Josh, and Jake all died shortly after. Ryan, Dillian, and Susan ended up killing themselves after Jake died. Finally, it was just me, April, Ion, and Jessica. Boss and Jen died before we even met up. We lasted till the final two months, but by then The World Order surrounded us. It was a fight to the death. Ion and Jessica tried to buy me and April time, but we didn't last long. During the final month, April was in my arms. She had bled out, and there was nothing I could do. Funny, at the time, everything stopped. I think my Seed Power evolved, and I was able to stop time itself. During my final month, I took down The New World Order as much as I could, and when it came time, I tried to revive all of you." Don stopped for a moment and shook his head.
"But, it was impossible. Without a brain and a heart, there was a way for the spirit to return to the body. So, I used my wish to go back in time. I told myself I would keep you all alive. Did you know, though, the wishes have a cost. When you go home, you lose your Seed Power. When I went back in time, I lost all recollection of what happened. I knew nothing, and I did my second run. Apparently, each run was different. Some people lived longer than others, some did not. Some people were not here, and some were. But the result was always the same, I was always the only one left by the final month, and I tried to keep you all alive." Don started to wrap up his story.
"It was on one of my runs, I think the fifth, that Mark betrayed us. He always died early on, so he never got the chance to. But during this run, Mark was approached by the Sin Squad. He was promised safety for Natalie and himself in exchange for information on our location. They had already hit us once as they did now, and we moved to a different location. Mark was with us at the time. As soon as I went off to scout a new area for us to build up and lay low in, Mark called in the Sin Squad, and they killed everyone on sight. They kidnapped April and used her as bait to bring me in. When I arrived, April was nothing more than a mindless doll that followed the orders of Fam. I believe my Space Seed Power evolution started there, and I destroyed him and his dolls. I had to do something I never want to experience or do again either..." Don closed his eyes and shook his head while recalling the memory. It was the first and only time he had to kill April. He used his Seed Power to keep her from moving then shot her in the head and the heart.
"I had to kill April. I couldn't save her. My voice never reached her, and no matter what I did, she did not respond to me. She kept attacking me over and over even after I killed Fam. I will never experience that again..." Don would pause to keep his emotions in control. "So, that is why I killed Mark. Hate me, don't hate me. Leave or stay, do as you wish. My goal remains the same. To keep you all alive. We already lost John's mother. I will not lose anyone else." Don finished speaking, leaving out Mark from his group. In truth, Don didn't care about Mark. He probably would have just killed him with or without what happened today.
Everyone was silent. They listened in-depth. It sounded like Don had gone through a lot. He went back in time and struggled to keep them all alive for nine years straight. Nine years straight, he watched them all die, and even if he didn't remember during those times, it seemed like he did now. When thinking about it this way, it made sense that Don didn't seem like his usual self. Ever since April said what she did about Don, they tried to put themselves in his shoes. No one really knew what his life was like, but everyone knew he must have been some kind of trainer killer or something. So they tried to think about what he had to go through, and as they did, they started to realize that they couldn't fault him for being the way he was.
Even now, they couldn't fault him for his actions. He did what he did to keep them safe, right? Rebecca exhaled heavily. "I see. I am sorry you had to go through all of that. It looks like I have failed you as a guardian... I am sorry, Donathan." Rebecca spoke softly. Don shook his head. "No. If anything, I am the one who should be apologizing. I could never save any of you. You all died over and over again. But this time is different..." Don closed his eyes as he spoke.
"This time, I have the recollection of who our enemies are and who our allies are. This time, I know what to expect. This time I have the power to keep all of us safe. This time, you will all survive and go home." Don spoke out. Everyone was still shocked. Sure he had pretty much said it over and over again, but it didn't really hit until now. Don was throwing himself deeper and deeper into darkness just to keep all of them safe. So damned, be the consequences. As long as he had the power and ability to make sure they would all survive, he didn't care what happened to him or who thought ill of him.
Natalie finally looked up and look at Don. "That's not fair..." Natalie muttered. Don's eyes opened, and he looked towards her. "What isn't?" Don asked. "It's not fair if you say that. How can I blame you... how can I hate you.... when you say things like that. Who am I supposed to blame?!" Natalie exclaimed with tears running down her face. She looked like a total mess. Don shrugged in response, "Blame me if you want. I killed Mark." Don replied rather bluntly.
"I..." Natalie would grit her teeth, and as much as she wanted to hate him, as much as she wanted to loathe him, as much as she wanted to blame him, she couldn't. She could not find it in her to do so, not after listening to everything Don had said. Don never lied. Don always did what he could to keep others safe. She knew that. Even if he ended up killing himself, he would do whatever he could to keep another person alive. So, when she heard his story, she knew it was true. Sure, she didn't know him as long as the others did, but she knew him enough to know he wasn't a liar.
This was why she was so conflicted and why she couldn't just hate him from the beginning. It was why she went after April because April could have stopped him, but when she heard what Mark's actions caused, she thought for a mere moment that it could happen again. She recalled how broken April looked. So, she couldn't blame her either.
"I understand... I just need a moment." Natalie rose up and walked out of the house. No-one stopped her. Instead, Ion and Jessica followed her. They understood why Don did what he did. Even without the explanation, they knew just how important April was to him. They had seen it first hand; more specifically, Ion did. "Umm... I am gonna go make something to eat. It's getting later and later..." Alice stated, and Sarah followed her. "I'll be in the garage," Tyrone stated, and Noah joined him. "We'll do some training." Dillian would speak up, and Sussan followed him. It looked like everyone was leaving the living room. Even Juan and Catalina left and took Sofia somewhere else in the house.
This just left Don, April, Rebecca, Rose, John, Jen and Boss. Josh and Jake were still out, so they had yet to return, but they passed Mark's body when they did. They were confused, then saw Natalie being consoled by Ion and Jessica. "What happened?" Josh asked as he looked towards them. Ion saw them and made his way over towards them. He guided them away from Natalie and Jessica. "It's better if you ask Don, but the short story is Don killed Mark because Mark was gonna betray us. He did something to April, and April couldn't forgive him, so she didn't stop Don. Anyways, just go inside; they'll explain." Ion spoke only loud enough for Josh and Jake to hear what happened. When they heard it, they couldn't believe it. Josh did get a bad feeling from Mark, but he didn't think it would be like that. They hurried inside and saw the others; they would sit down on another couch and ask Don to explain what happened. He explained to Josh and Jake everything he told the others without skipping over anything.
When he finished, Josh and Jake didn't know what to say. "I see..." Josh muttered. "Well, it's good you are awake," Jake commented, and Don nodded. "Can I ask, in any of your runs, did you encounter Ferals?" Josh had thought about something. If what Don said was true, then surely they would have encountered Ferals before, so he wanted to make sure.
"Not on my first run. It was during my second run, but they didn't show up till three months in. Why? Did you encounter them?" Don asked. He wasn't going to take any chances. If Josh brought it up, it meant they encountered them. Still, it should've only been a few. "Yeah, two hordes worth," Josh replied, and Don's eyes went wide. "Two hordes? It's only the first month. That's!" Don stopped himself from speaking further. He recalled what the boy said—something about a paradox being created.
"I see... It makes sense. If that is the case, then we need to prepare for what else lies ahead. The Ferals are the least of our worries. Starting tomorrow, I will be holding a training camp. It's time for everyone to get into shape and unlock their Seed Power." Don would remark, which caused everyone in the room to look surprised. "Wait, what!?" Jake exclaimed. "What do you mean by what lies ahead?" Josh asked since it seemed Don was implying that there was something worse than the Ferals. "The Ferals are not the only form of undead we will encounter. You will wish it was. Eventually, our bullets and guns will do little for us. We'll need the Nano-Seed Armor that the Sin Squad uses if we plan to survive past the fourth month. So, we'll have to raid their fortress." Don replied, and everyone became even more surprised. It seemed like Don would need to explain a bit more about everything, so he took the night to do so. Eventually, everyone joined back in the living room since it seemed like things were going on, but not after everyone had time to sort out their thoughts.