It had been days since his debut, and the newspapers and television was all abuzz about it. What had settled down to a background concern was refreshed in the minds of all those in Destiny City and now it had a name. Ladon was proud, but was also feeling a bit surreal about it all. To see himself live on television was an odd experience not only because he never expected to ever land his face on television (He didn't want fame and usually avoided the spotlight), but because he felt it wasn't him giving out those lines and that speech. A speech he had practiced over and over in his room in hushed voices until the big day. There was also a distant worry that everyone would recognize him, and he was on edge for the first day or so around his mother and the children and teachers at school who had read the newspapers and replayed clips on youtube. But no one noticed him – not that that wasn't new, but he never stood out. It also helped he no longer wore his eyepatch, now having a fake eye, but he wasn't even a blip on the radar of the other students. He was, as usual, nothing to them.

And yet, for once, this was a blessing.

He felt higher than anyone, and took great pride resting in class and listening to theories that only made him laugh, and insults that made him want to reach out and steal the starseeds of students for making snide remarks about him. Still, they hated the senshi, and better yet, the monster he appeared to them as. Now was the time for the Negaverse to step in, and he worked hard, musing to himself, on what they could do from here. Tanzanite had given them a great opportunity to win over the city, and he wondered if that could work in their favor in a greater way.

His mind was solely on the Negaverse now, and he couldn't even bother with faking any look of concern when the teachers noticed his lack of homework and attention. Some felt he must be stressed over what had happened and, remember the memo given to him about his missing eye, that he was just suffering some emotional stress. He didn't care. They could give him a F or an A at this point. School seemed so unimportant with what he was thinking of now. What a waste!

The worry wasn't with the students either. His mother had worked herself into a frenzy, moving about and talking to relatives on the phone as if she had been there in the studio to see it all. While she looked worried, he was glad her attention was elsewhere. Ever since she woe from the coma, her concern and pity had been on him in thick layers that made him feel heavy with guilt and suffocated with unwanted attention.

He never knew she was thinking of his wellbeing while she was on the phone or going to work to handle other things that needed tending too at Crystal. A lot of the girls were creating drama over the news of terrorists and wanted to go home or question the security of the school. Not to mention that parents were flooding in to either take their daughters out or demand higher security without increasing tuition dues.

It was after school when he returned home to see his mother on the couch, watching the television and with the cellphone closed in her hand. Dropping his bag off and hanging up his coat, he walked in to see the news on. It was another news channel than the one he spoke on, but the footage was playing in the corner all the same. It was the same thing and he only watched now to see if they would make any decisions on the senshi invading the city. It was when the channel switched to the fiancé of the now deceased newscaster that he leaned down and turned it off. He didn't like thinking about that.

"You shouldn't watch that. They keep saying the same thing." He pointed out. "What do you want me to make for dinner?" He asked, looking at his mother who turned her eyes too him.

"Ladon, sit down a moment." She patted the couch, and not liking the idea they would be talking, he eased down with a degree of apprehension.

"I talked to your father. I think it's best if you move in with him for a while."

"Wait? What? Why do I have to move out?" He didn't have any warning about this, and while he didn't hate his father, he didn't like the news of just being sent away either.

"Honey. It's much too dangerous here. The school you go to isn't that great either, and I think that a change of setting will be good for you."

"Good for me? How's that? I'm doing fine right here." Better than fine. He was useful here. He had a job, a duty, that required him to stay here and do his part.

"This city is a horrid place. It was bearable enough before, but with all that has happened and now this, it's too much for me to let you stay here.


"But I don't WANT to go. I like being here. I have friends here!" He said, his voice rising, and his mother was losing her patience in trying to just talk this out and was switching back to her desire for stern discipline.

"Ladon. I already made up my mind. You're –"

"I'm not doing anything. I'm staying here! I've been taking care of myself all this time when you've gone off to work, and even when you weren't around."

The jab at her being in a coma didn't go unmissed, and though she was pained by it, she also grew firmer in her conviction to send him away. He could see it in her eyes.

"You can't take care of yourself, Ladon. You are just a boy, and you'll get hurt again if you –"

The fact she mentioned his eye made him rise up and he moved away, heading to his room. She rose up with him. "Ladon! Don't you walk away –"

"Why are we even talking about it if you don't care what I think? If you are just going to say things, then talk to yourself. I'm NOT leaving. I'm going to stay here where I'm needed. You can do what you want. I've been taking care of myself for years now, and just because you don't think I can doesn't mean I have can't. I know I can. I can take care of everyone and everything." He rose up and once upstairs, slammed the door.

While his mother was furious and chalking the entire act to teenage hormones and the need to rebel, Ladon was moving about, pacing, before he started to grab his suitcases. He started to load them up. He wasn't about to be sent away. He couldn't. He was NEEDED here.

If she was going to send him off, he'd just have to leave before she had the chance. He knew he'd be fine. He did a lot on his own. He could do this too.