The Chosen One But Don't Tell Him That. It rained that night. She went into labor near nine, and he came out at twenty minutes before midnight. Thunder made the world shake, but he didn't cry. He looked happy, rubbing his little blue eyes and looking up to both his parents, then going quickly to sleep through the sound of the rain. It was later that night. Lightning lit up the entire room, and it woke him. Those cloudy eyes found a huge figure in his doorway, and he cooed, reaching out with chubby fingers. The figure in the doorway came close and put a massive finger in the little baby's hand, beginning to hum a lullaby. It wasn't long after that he was asleep.

Aaron was a happy baby, he really was, until his brother Jason got ahold of him on his fifth birthday. It was during dinner, when his Father gave his usual birthday speech, when Aaron would blush, and smile, and swing his feet then hug his Father, the the blond boy knew he wouldn't be happy again.

He didn't blush, he didn't smile, and he didn't swing his feet. He leaned into his Father when he was hugged, but he didn't really hug him back. He whispered that he wasn't feeling well, and asked to be excused, rising and taking his plate into the kitchen. Jason followed.

He went to bed early that night, it just hurt too much to stay awake. That's when the first nightmares started, and it was around midnight that he woke up and stayed awake. That's when the insomnia started. He learned to live without more than a couple of hours of sleep. Maybe five if he was sick and slept through the dreams.

It was Gabriel that kept him quiet. It really was. Jason would hurt him if he said anything, so Aaron was trained to Jason's liking. To be a good boy. Obedient. Quiet. Willing. He hated it. Aaron was twelve when it hurt too much. He had gotten into a fight, or at least, that's what he told Michael when he got home. He met a man on the way home from school, who gave him something to make him feel better. It made the pain go away.

He was only told to take a little bit though, but it hurt so much, he had to take more. He had to. Soon, he was out of the white powder and searched for the man who gave it to him.

He had nothing to pay him with, but the man said it was alright. That he could pay him back some other day. Aaron always spent his allowance on lunch but soon he started saving it for the man.

He was always so cold... So cold it hurt.

He began pulling at his hair when he needed it, starting the cutest little bald spot. Daddy found it, and quickly put a stop to that. The pulling at least. Somehow, he always found that man just in time before it started again, but there were some days. That was when he began to cut.

It was also about the time he entered into high school, and with the gentle guidance of Michael and Gabriel in most of the finer arts that Daddy insisted he learned, Aaron was turning out to be an alright kid. Except for his constant habit of trying 'new things' from his 'secret friend' and being late for class. Or sick. Or the 'fights' he kept getting into. Aside from all of that, Aaron was shaping up to be alright. Friendly, generous, shy, modest and capable. Probably why Angela decided she wanted him.

Angela approached him in the second semester of his first year in high school and became his friend, and while she was over one day for homework, staked her claim.

Aaron was sort of stuck then. She said she'd tell his father about his little habit-- which mind you fell out of his drawer while she was holding onto it-- if he didn't. Begrudgingly, Aaron made himself love her, for the simple purposes of fooling his Dad into believing that he wanted to marry the woman in his second year of high school.

Shortly after the wedding, Aaron had to drop out. She wanted a house. A car. Kids. She didn't want to work for any of it. Aaron put his full being into three jobs, one for the clerk's office, one on an assembly line, and the last one was a janitor. Not exactly princely work, his Father scowled, but they were the only things that he could get without saying he was still in school. And besides, being a janitor in the palace and working for the clerk's office gave Jason easy access, even though Aaron was getting a bit too old for his tastes.

It was about this time that Aaron learned how profitable the skills Jason taught him could be. He always needed more money for Angela. Or the kids. Or her car. Or she wanted a $500 outfit to go to dinner in. Once. Then give it away to a friend. Or burn it.

Coming to work with black eyes, bruises and bloody noses wasn't more than enough, he occasionally came with glass his hair, hands or feet, no sleep for days, no food for days and missing a clump of his hair to boot. Angela wanted what she wanted, when she wanted it, and not even Aaron was going to stop her from getting it. That's why she was sleeping with someone else.

That was alright though, Aaron was getting more than what he could handle from Lucifer, who had turned out to be quite the bad seed. Starting riots, breaking precious statues, burning files, speaking out against almost everything that was said by his Father.. and now bothering Aaron almost nightly for exactly the same thing Jason wanted. Luckily, Aaron already knew what he was doing, and Lucifer was more than happy with that. He didn't like getting his hands dirty.