Domino was rarely confused, rarely left himself in such a position to get confused. Confusion didn't make him happy, and he didn't want to be not happy. Being not happy lead to not nice things.

But, even with the steady thrum of the pendent against his chest, he couldn't focus his scattering thoughts as well as he'd like to. Maybe if he was with someone he would've been able to talk his thoughts into order, but, here he was, alone.

So, he started from the top.

His name was Domino Ace, which used to confuse him since his moms last name was Bandit, not Ace. He looked a lot more like his mom than his sister, but instead of dark brown highlights he got dark blue, from his dad he guessed. He was short and magic ran through his veins, making little bits of him kinda float off, it also substituted certain parts of his body. Like wrist and ankles.

His moms name was Alaska Bandit. She was taller than him, but much shorter than his sister. She was a ferret like him, she was pretty, and caring, and she really knew how to cook! Well, certain dishes that is, she didn't cook that much anymore, but PB did that for her.

Alright, Domino decided that this wasn't getting him anywhere. This was pointless, he wouldn't be able to gather his thoughts like this. So, maybe it was better to just go with what he got recently?

Well, his sister Pasig Bluefield Ace, or PB, was a magic eight ball. She didn't have a mouth, but she didn't like talking anyway. She knew sign language, but he didn't know enough to talk to her. But, her hands had these little glass panes, so if she showed them to him, he could ask yes or no questions.

And, it was just the two of them and their mom. For the longest time, that's all it was. PB and Dom, bestest friends, and it was awesome! They were amazing at being friends! PB was great at magic, and card tricks! Dom was good at making her laugh, but not much else. But that was fine! He was perfectly happy not having anything to be great at, he was good in a lot of different things, so that was fine with him.

Then, they learned they had a half sister.

And, well, Domino supposed all hell broke loose after that.

Galaxia Ace was her name, and at first, she was okay. She was nice and all, she treated them like they were little kids, and okay maybe Domino was but he was okay with that. She wasn't mean, and she liked to smile at him a lot.

But then she started taking lessons from PB and Alaska, not school lessons like he did, but battle, magic. He didn't like her too much during this time, it's not like they were surrounded by people to talk to. But, Domino wouldn't complain. So he went off with his little cape and magical pendant, deep into the woods and explored.

Domino kept himself occupied during that time, and he knew now what it was all about. PB was teaching Galaxia how to harness all of that magic inside of her, how to concentrate it into a molded form to use as a weapon. How to cast spells, how to master shields, how to fight a person with more extensive magical abilities and practice.

Domino kept his nose out of it, no matter how many times he heard Galaxia scream in pain or frustration, no matter how many times he saw his sisters blue and yellow magic glide past the window in a orchestrated demonstrated of magic. He just went to the woods, no matter how hard the pendent dug into his chest for him to go back.

Maybe he was scared, maybe he was indeed jealous even for the painful parts. He was the older brother, the big brother. And yet he was useless in the grand scheme. No, no he wasn't useless. He just didn't know enough to help her out magically, but that didn't stop himself from being fearful, not only about what they were doing, but about what they were capable of.

Then, came their training with Alaska.

Alaska Bandit never really struck Domino as the type to be violent, she was his mom after all, that and he never saw her get really angry. Annoyed, sure. Pissed? Most certainly, but never angry. She never really seemed violent either, she was sly and cunning, but that's all there was to it. She slipped in, and slipped out without a trace to be seen.

But, as it turned out, Domino wasn't the only one wrong about that. Galaxia was strong with magic yes, swordsmanship was excellent, but, that was all. And chances were that there would be times where neither would work out, so she needed hand to hand combat training, at least the basics.

Domino knew she never meant to insult Alaska, but when she laughed at the older woman's offer to train her, it was safe to say that the crack that covered half her face wasn't from tripping up the stairs.

Really, she was lucky PB knew any healing magic at all to get rid of the awful thing.

Domino found himself in another position, where magic wasn't the object causing Galaxia to cry out in agony or pain. It was his mother, for all her size Alaska Bandit made it work. She was quick, cunning, and while not strong, extremely flexible. And it was horrible to watch Galaxia try to fight her like that.

So, Domino took to the woods. Again.

Not that there was anything really interesting there to start with, but it was the only place the noises didn't carry. And the pendent around his neck didn't try to burn through his chest to get back to where the action was.

Domino, well, even after all of that, he wasn't confused. The answers were simple, if not horrifying, but he wasn't confused. He knew the answers, he asked the questions, and he was fine with that.

But, Galaxia changed. It started slowly with her magical training, but with her physical training it ramped up until it was her now. She was driven focused, but not in a good way.

This was like madness. An obsession of horrible proportions, a need to grow stronger and stronger, an obsession to take take her parents for leaving her behind. All she could think about was killing them, all she could think about was hurting them worse than they hurt her.

That's where his confusion started, she'd talk about how abandoned she always felt. (But didn't she grow up in a loving family even if it wasn't her family of flesh?) She cursed her family of flesh and blood to the high heavens for leaving her in such a way. (But did she ever ask if the reason they left her was for her own good? Maybe things were dangerous and they didn't want her to die. Maybe?)

She had so much, she was happy, but she let this little tidbit about her life ruin who she was. Turn her into a bloodthirsty animal looking for revenge, turned herself in a killing machine over a simple grudge.

That made Domino think about Alaska Bandit.

Was his own mother like that?

Well, she didn't seem to be at least. She was calm, she was gentle, she was motherly. Domino never saw her hold a grudge, or try to kill anything other than food. Sometimes she looked sad, but one hug and she looked just as happy as usual!

Unless, she was just a good actor.

He was more confused than before now.

The pendent felt like an ember against his chest, he didn't understand that either, but it didn't confuse him. The pendent had moods, just like he did, and the more excited it was it got hotter and hotter.

How funny it was that a non sentient hunk of metal that turned hot and cold was easier to understand than his whole family. People were confusing, everything was confusing, nothing made sense anymore!

Gods how Domino hated being confused, it made his mind all fuzzy and he wasn't happy. Not being happy wasn't a good thing, it never was ever since he got his pendent. Well, it never was before, but more so after wards. He got really sleepy and passed out when he did get really angry, or even frustrated.

Well, he supposed, Even then everything was still straight foreword. Then, he learned more about his mother. Alaska Bandit. Her name, well it wasn't her name in the end. She had no name before all of this, she was just, a ferret.

There was this whole experiment, this whole series of events that lead to the creation of his mother. Which, is why they are the only two anthropomorphic ferrets, She was artificially made.

Domino stumbled upon this conversation when three weird people came to their house, each one a different species of animal. There was a type of dog who liked to smoke a lot, she seemed to get angry pretty quick and left to smoke even more soon after she appeared. The next one was kinda mouse looking with a really long tail, he stayed the longest if you don't count his little intermission.

With the first two it was fine, they talked in soft whispers with Alaska so he couldn't pick anything up, but with the third one, he was kinda like a skunk with a smaller tail. He was wearing glasses and his voice was so deep Domino could feel it in his chest.

That man never gave him good feelings to start with, after all, Domino had never heard a voice as deep as that before. And just feeling it as it rattled his very core, his pendent going ice cold against his chest, sent a horrible feeling through his whole form.

But, in the same way, the words he heard happened to be much worse.

"Alaska, we were family. But, when you left, you made it apparent you have no family. I wouldn't count on it if you stayed here for your own children." And with that, he left, the other mousey one returned and they talked more, but it was the larger mans words that stuck the most.

Domino never really took words at face value, mostly because of PB, she didn't talk at all, and so he had to understand her by how she was moving, gesturing. But that man, he was absolutely still, not a nervous twitch nor a sign that he cared.

Alaska in turn was still, cautious, as if she never knew that man before and was meeting him for the first time. But, underneath it all, her tail twitched. Such a small, unnoticeable unconscious twitch of the tail that revealed more than anything else.

That he was telling the truth.

Domino didn't come home that night, or many nights after. He was afraid and confused, so dearly confused at the mess that flung itself at his doorstep and squirmed its way into his head and made everything hurt. He hated it. HE HATED IT!

The pendent burned hotter than ever before against his chest, making his dizzier and dizzier, he might've passed out if it wasn't for a hand on his shoulder. A huge hand.

That hand belonged to the skunk man from previous days, the one with the deep voice and stoic motions. He was so much bigger up close, his fist could have easily been bigger than Domino's whole head.

And just like that the pendent went ice cold, just like before and just like many times after a chill ran down his spine. The man was huge, so much larger than anything Domino had ever seen before. It was horrifying.

With Domino's mouth clamped shut in fear it gave the man the chance to climb up and lean on the branch next to him, the thick branch groaning under his massive weight. Yet, he didn't try to get the upper ground, he stayed at eye level. Domino didn't get that, why would he act as if they were equals?

"Your mother is worried." He had said eventually, much to Dominos surprise, his voice was softer up close. Or at least, it was when he was calmer? Domino couldn't tell, the man sounded calmer, but, that could've just been something else all together.

The conversation was very one sided after that point, Domino only asking questions now and again. The conversation was simple, nothing extravagantly worded or extremely detailed, it was simple.

It had been so long since anything had been simple.

Domino listened as the man talked, his name was Arkansas, but everyone just called him Ark. He talked about who they were, the four of them, they had been experiments. And after they had became what they were, they were giving a code name and a rank, for example. Arkansas as a code name, and Raider as a rank. But, once the facility was compromised, and they all escaped, that became their names. Arkansas Raider.

Alaska Bandit.

That was why his mother never gave them her name, it never really was a name. It was a class, a nasty blotch on her skin that she could never rub out. She wanted to best for them.

For the first time in a very long time did Domino feel the confusion melt away, the concern the fear, it all disappeared. If only for a few, blissful moments, He was at ease.

His mother love him, the big scary man wasn't scary after all. And, for the first time, everything was all right.

They talked for a while, they talked for a long while. Ark listened as Domino unloaded months and months of confusion and unrest onto him, and Domino in turn listened to Ark as he gave out advice from a man who had been there before.

Soon enough Domino found himself asleep, not on purpose of course. He didn't want Ark to leave, he was the only thing that managed to make him feel at ease for months. But he woke up eventually, but not in the woods or with Ark, but in his own bed sandwiched between PB and Bandit. Even Galaxia was there, in a chair in the far corner of the room sharpening her blade.

Domino felt better after his talk with Ark, and only then did he realize how much his disaperance effected his family. And he certainly got the scolding of his life when they all woke up, it was probably going to be worse if he didn't start crying in the middle of it.

And for a while, everything was fine.

Then, he met, them.

They didn't have a name, or at least that noise they made was suppose to be their name, he just couldn't pronounce it.

So he called them, Foggy.

Fitting really, since their entire form was a foggy substance.

Alright so Foggy said it was the 'ashes of the burned out spirits that he had consumed in previous lifetimes' and 'while Dominos soul was bright and pure it was corruptible and could be added to the collection as easily as possible' Domino would pretend to know what he was talking about, and prentend not to be scared.

He had been alone when it happened, the pendent around his neck jumped from hot enough to burn into his already attached and scalded skin, to ice cold and nearly shattering the bruised flesh. Then like soft trickle of water, fog crawled out of the pendent and into the air in a swirling mass. It smelled like burning flesh and a rotting corpse, but there was a sighs a sweet undertone to them he couldn't stop sleeping the air.

Their conversation held the same feel as the smell. Horrible, rotting and all over a disgusting conversation to be holding, but that same sweet undertone kept Domino from turning away, from calling for PB or Bandit, or even Galaxia.

Domino had listened while Foggy learned that Domino wasn't scared, and switched gears. Trickery worked much better on a foolish mind than fear ever could. So Foggy became Dominos friend, and for once Domino wasn't alone. He had a friend with him, no matter how wrong it felt. No matter how wrong.

Then Galaxia told him she was leaving, leaving to do what she had trained to do for as long as she had stayed with them. The thought made Domino's blood run cold. that of course meant that Galaxia was going to go and try to kill her biological parents, his biological father.

Domino was never much of a killer, never much of fighter in general, he saw light in almost every situation. Almost every battle, every conflict no matter the turmoil or tripulation. There was always light, always promise in every moment, no matter how much change happened

Watching Bambi young killed his killer instinct.

But, Domino wanted to be useful. He wanted to prove that he wasn't a weak little brother, he was the big brother and he would prove that. Or, at least he would try to prove it. Foggy coaxed him into it more than himself, but Alaska was a factor as well. She wasn't going, and, as selfish as it sounded, he couldn't stand her worrying over PB and Galaxia.

So they went off on a journey like no other, one they never imagined taking before.

It was huge exploration! They went to places that would fill the pages of a mystical book of legends and myths. Low hanging branches hung with heavy ripe fruit, flowers taller than any of them combined, animals so smooth and graceful as they lept through the water as if they were flying. They traveled lands through the day, laughed and ate during the night, met so many people, so many species that only fairy tales could've imagined. And for the longest time, Domino forgot why they were even on that journey.

Then, they came across Lester Ace.

He was a soft muted blue, his crystal ball for a head floated above his neck like Dominos wrists. And like PB's neck. Galaxia, sweet dear Galaxia tried to make a plan before leaping into action, but the farthest she got was to shove Domino back so he wouldn't get hurt and tell PB to aim for the head.

Domino was forced to sit back and watch horrified as Lester Ace swatted them away like flies. Domino watched horrified as his magically gifted sisters magic was like a drop of water that slid off Lester's pearly skin, and Galaxias finely honed abilities appear dull in comparison to the raw power Lester seemed to hold. Once his sisters dark blue inky blood flowed freely from her body as she propped herself against the wall and Galaxias body gave out from exhaustion.

Then Lester approached Domino.

"Hello there, Son." Lester chuckled slowly as he stalked around Domino like a cat around it's prey, Domino smelled something sickly sweet and there was Foggy. Floating around Domino the opposite direction of Lester.
"ɦɛ ɦǟȶɛֆ ʏօʊ." The words came on the breath of rotting flesh, but, with a sickly sweet twist.

"You haven't grown much since I've last seen you, have you?" Lester asked crouching down in front of Domino, "small, just like your mother." He smiled at him, as he grabbed the boys chin.
"ɦɛ աɨֆɦɛֆ ʏօʊ աɛʀɛ ȶǟʟʟɛʀ."

"Although you lack her fire, you are certainly a spitting image of her." Lester said as he stood up, arms shaking around his waist from behind, and so did a head peak out from behind his back.

"This is the bastard child you had without me?" She had asked, looking Domino over before snorting, "Glad you left him to die with that whore of an assistant."
"ʏօʊ ǟʀɛ ȶɦɛ ɨʟʟɛɢɨȶɨʍǟȶɛ ƈɦɨʟɖ, ɦɛ ռɛʋɛʀ աǟռȶɛɖ ʏօʊ."

Domino backed away when he saw a gleaming sword of black metal in her hands, he didn't know who she was but his heart was pumping, the pendent was growing to a flesh melting heat as he blood ran cold.

"Yes yes," Lester waved his hand absently, "She meant nothing, just happened to be fertile it seemed." He said, the words seeming far too rehearsed to be natural, "I should've made her go for an abortion, but she so insisted." He looked to the girl, "Why don't you fix that."
"ʄɨռǟʟʟʏ, ȶɦɛʏ աօռ'ȶ ɦǟʋɛ ȶօ աօʀʀʏ ǟɮօʊȶ ʏօʊ ǟռʏʍօʀɛ."

A wicked smile grew across the girls face as she walked around Lester, the tip of the blade nicking the floor, sending a shower of sparks over Domino. "It would be my pleasure to put Alaska's precious little toys out of commission." She said with a delighted smile.
"ʏօʊ աɛʀɛ օռʟʏ ɛʋɛʀ ǟ ȶօʏ ȶօ ʏօʊʀ ʍօȶɦɛʀ, ȶɦɨռӄ օʄ ɨȶ ʟɨӄɛ ȶɦǟȶ."

The black blade was raised to the air, Domino tucked his head away, tears pricking his eyes as he felt dizzy again. Hugging himself tightly as he tried to reassure himself, maybe death wouldn't be so bad? But then the blade fell and the girl yowled in pain, a throwing blade impaled her sword shoulder. "Don't you dare touch a hair on his head Vanessa 'Whiz'." Alaska Bandit snarled as she fell from one of the trees gracefully, twirling another throwing blade in her hand.
"ռօա ǟʟʟ ʏօʊ ǟʀɛ ɨռ ǟ ɦɨռɖɛʀǟռƈɛ."

Vanessa, the girl roared in return, yanking the blade out of her shoulder before picking her sword up against. They paused for a moment to gather themselves before going at it. They were evenly matched in skill, Vanessa in magic, Bandit in hand to hand.

Lester chuckled with a shake of his head, "They will never learn will they?" He asked, but his hand twitched as if he wanted to help. But instead he looked back to Domino, "Run home little boy before you get hurt." He said straightening his suit up.
"ɦɛ աɨʟʟ ռɛʋɛʀ ɮɛ ȶɦɛ ʄǟȶɦɛʀ ʏօʊ ɦօքɛɖ ɦɛ աօʊʟɖ ɮɛ."

Domino was overwhelmed, he was tired and hurt and confused. Scared for his family, scared he would die, scared of everything. He got dizzy, his stomach did flips, his vision blinked away. The last thing he heard was a dark laugh, on the breath of rotting flesh.
"ɢօօɖ ɮօʏ."

——-

When domino woke up the first thing he noticed was the smell, bloody, arty, ink. Then, the crunchy and wet texture of the ground in which he laid, there was a soft, unnaturally warm hand on his back. He sat up and they flinched away if only for a second.

Pb was there, as was Bandit and Galaxia, they were alive, they were safe. Domino was so relieved he could've cried, then he noticed PB's horrified face. And he looked down at himself.

Lester.

He was covered in Lester.

Domino made a strangled noise as he scrambled to his feet, but his legs gave out under him, if it wasn't for PB there to catch him he would've fallen and hurt himself. But now, all he could do was stare.

The crystal ball that was his head had been crushed, and it only got chunkier the farther down they went. The blood had long ago emptied from his body, and now much of it was on Domino.

"What- what happened?" Domino asked as fat tears rolled down his cheeks, the fur creating tear streaks that traveled down his muzzle. He was horrified, and the pendent around his neck was lifeless.

"You." Galaxia said as she stood up from the wall she was sitting against, and she told Domino what had happened. How he seemed to Black our, but then he grew, until he was huge, but, he wasn't himself.

Then he proceeded to slowly kill Lester Ace who was powerless against him, starting from the feet and working his way up.

How he almost killed Vanessa.

How he hurt them on accident.

So no, taking it from the top wouldn't help Domino. No, he was awake while the others slept, the fire glittering off the slow moving water of the lake and the weapons set aside.

Domino had been crying, he wanted Alaska, he wanted his mommy to hold him close and tell him everything was alright. But; he was scared now, scared he would hurt her, hurt them all.

It was time he grew up, even if Foggy only wanted him to be his monster, his little monster. Domino would be better than that, so much better.

He would be a Big Brother

(It's a mess but here you go SunriseShine88