Abalan's relationships

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The relationships of Abalan.

## Family

### Annabeth Black

Annabeth first met Abalan when her parents allowed the war-hardened man to move in with them. While they lived together, Annabeth became very close with her roommate. The two had a lot in common, as they were both alone and friendless, and were able to sympathize about the Darkness. The two also contrasted each other in a lot of ways, where she was tender and desirable, he was battle scarred and disfigured by an agonizing six-month transformation, where she was "book smart", he was "street smart", where she loved the movie theater, he loved the gym. Annabeth was fully supportive of Abalan's decisions and respected his knowledge. He also sympathized with her passion for the Darkness, despite having renounced it. Annabeth agreed that he was "strangely handsome" and he agreed that she had "a kind of innocent beauty".

Annabeth and Abalan would work very well together in 2012. Annabeth had left her parents to join Mr. Stupid NoHead and it was time for her to prove she was worthy of the mantle. The two went to "deal with" a group of police in Kansas. Their teamwork proved vital to the mission's success.

After Abalan's death, Annabeth was much more upset than she was willing to admit.

## Friends

### WINDOW

"*Xod provided me with my prime directive — routinely try to kill the boy. It was his concept of ‘training.’*"
―WINDOW[src]Abalan knew WINDOW from a young age, ever since “entering” into the service of Xod. The officer had provided the prototype holobot to Abalan in order to harness the young apprentice’s combative skills. Although WINDOW proved essential in the development of Abalan as an exceptional duelist, the robot also provided Abalan with the compassion and nurturing needed to stay sane. While Abalan cared for and confided in his robotic companion, he needed to remain constantly wary of him, due to the robot’s primary programming which compelled him to kill his Master.

However, even in this, Abalan remained caring towards the robot, sometimes prolonging battles merely to allow WINDOW pride in his combat modules. In the end, Abalan’s attitude towards WINDOW went beyond his mere functionality; WINDOW was his friend, and Abalan refused to abandon him. Just as WINDOW’s compassion helped ground Abalan as a child, his compassion helped his friend out of his despondency after the erasure of his programming. They saved each other, and by doing so, WINDOW played a role in the eventual redemption of Abalan.

### Laleh Clipso

When Abalan first met Laleh Clipso, he was unsure what to think of her, as she was his first female pilot. His initial interactions with her were awkward, though he slowly grew more relaxed. He noted her effort to seem lighthearted towards him, and he eventually started to enjoy her presence, something he chided himself for. As they grew closer, he began to fear that he would have to take action lest they develop a rapport. After his reconstruction on-board the *Endurance,* Abalan rescued her in spite of Dorphane Giles’ order to sever all connections to his past, for reasons he himself wasn’t sure about.

To a certain extent, he desired Laleh’s approval, and her anger when discovering his service to Dorphane Giles genuinely hurt him. However, with his secret out, he was able to bring her fully into confidence, and he began desiring to keep her in his life, to the extent that he started considering the idea of leading the aspiring police in earnest rather than returning to the NoHeads. However, the choice was taken from him when Dorphane Giles betrayed him. Having lost his sense of loyalty to the NoHead cause, he finally admitted his love for Laleh Clipso. His compassion for her was what ultimately pushed him to reject the Darkness.

### Ronald Koda

When Abalan first learned about General Ronald Koda, he thought nothing of the police officer, simply seeing him as another mission in service to Xod, albeit a thrilling one for the simple reason that he had never had the opportunity to fight a real police at the time. As they fought, high above Australia, Abalan developed a certain respect for Koda, as he was unlike the privileged, weak image of police that Abalan had cultivated in his mind over the years. Much to his surprise, Koda was a true soldier. This respect did nothing to limit Abalan’s brutality towards Koda, however, as the apprentice blinded him and sent him plummeting to what seemed to be the general’s death. Even though the NoHead apprentice knew that Koda had survived, he left the officer to his fate, believing him to be no longer a threat.

Abalan’s small show of mercy would greatly aid him much later on, as after Xod’s betrayal and Dorphane Giles' new assignment, Koda became the first of the perspective officers that Abalan sought to recruit. Over time, Abalan and Koda developed a bond akin to that of apprentice and Master; Koda became the surrogate father that neither Xod nor Giles could never truly be towards Abalan, and Abalan’s growing trust in Koda brought the ruined police officer out of a state of depression and drunkenness. In a way, Abalan and Koda helped to save each other. Whereas Abalan died as a police officer by risking his life to save his friend Annabeth Black, Koda would go on to honor Abalan’s legacy by serving in the police.

## Enemies

### Mr. Stupid NoHead

 File:Mr. Stupid NoHead-0.jpg
Abalan’s initial attitude towards Mr. Stupid NoHead was very detached. On one hand he revered him as the man who destroyed the police. On the other hand, he was completely devoted to the goal of one day standing at Xod’s side as a true NoHead. To that end, he trained for years in the hopes of eventually helping Xod in assassinating NoHead so that they could rule the world together as master and apprentice. However, this changed when NoHead “discovered” Abalan and ordered his execution, taking sadistic delight in his suffering.

Abalan came to hate Mr. Stupid NoHead, and seeking revenge became his primary motive. Abalan’s hatred became further strengthened by his horror of NoHead and his excesses; the Second NoHead Base proved that the Emperor was no longer satisfied with misinformation and oppression to control the world, and was willing to resort to all out genocide. On a more personal note, he also realized how NoHead had created both Xod and seemingly Dorphane Giles through deception and brutality — tactics that Xod used in a similar way to create Abalan.

Finally, Mr. Stupid NoHead revealed to Abalan that he had in fact been Abalan’s true Master, using Dorphane Giles only as a proxy. The revelation proved to be the final straw for the apprentice. Attacking the Dark Lord, he drew heavily on his anger to subdue the mutant, almost falling to the dark side all over again. However, he repented in the end, rejecting his hatred and turning away from the NoHeads.

### Xod

For much of his life as a NoHead, Abalan lived in fear and terror of Xod. Having experienced nothing but Xod’s cruel treatment, Abalan thought of it as only natural, especially for the development of a NoHead; learn, or die was what he took from it. He invested a great deal of trust and loyalty in the admiral, coming to fear failing his Master more than death. He was left deeply shocked by Xod’s betrayal of him and his attempt on his life, and was confused if his actions were self-sacrificing or backstabbing, never deducing it by the time of his death in 2012 as he confessed to Annabeth Black.

### Dorphane Giles

For much of his life as a NoHead, Abalan lived in awe of Dorphane Giles, the long-term Chief Enforcer of the NoHead Empire, whom Xod told him no one wanted to mess with. He was extremely suspicious and agitated when she secretly saved his life and only reluctantly agreed to enter her service. Left distrustful of his mistress, and developing compassion for his allies, Abalan began to genuinely consider betraying her in turn by using the police to take revenge and then take over the star system for himself. However, Abalan still believed that Giles’ mission for him was genuine, and pragmatically judged that Giles wouldn’t risk losing another chance to assassinate Mr. Stupid NoHead.

He was left shocked and enraged when Dorphane Giles betrayed him just as Xod had, actively seeking to kill him. However, as Abalan fought Giles, he incorrectly assumed that his Mistress was a product of the same manipulations and abuse as he himself was, thus causing Abalan to pity Giles rather than continuing to hate her. Thus, Abalan resolved to end the Enforcer’s life as an act of mercy, “freeing” him from an even greater source of torment — Mr. Stupid NoHead.

## References

1. ↑ *Before The SMSB 4: What is a Bloodbath?*