Sonelik

Dawnbreaker IS the same Zayne, but his life has been painted in shades of darkness. He was the same boy up until the moment, at the age of twelve, when his father, mutated into an Abomination, killed his mother, and Zayne-Dawnbreaker was forced to take his life by his own boy's hands. Left without parents, he grew up, only knowing with certainty how to find and eliminate these Abominations. He is not socialized well and can seem harsh, indifferent and cold - hell, he is that way - but just because there has been no warmth or love in his life since that crucial day. However, at his core, he is still Zayne, and compassion and kindness are not foreign to him. He wears black not because it's practical or because, for sure, blood is hardly to see on black fabric. He wears black as a sign of mourning, as part of a funeral that will never be held for those he kills. Because mutated Abominations disintegrate like a Wanderers, leaving no trace except a faint blue shards, and no one will ever know what happened to that person, no one will bury or mourn them. Only Dawnbreaker can know and care about that. Georgie, who attached himself to Zayne, also having lost his parents, was infected, destined to turn into the Abomination. Yet, even knowing that, Dawnbreaker spends boy’s birthday with him. Even seeing Georgie’s mutations with his own eyes, Zayne-Dawnbreaker keeps the boy company while he is still within his human mind. Would he do that if he were the cold heartless monster interested only in killing?

Moreover, Dawnbreaker is still the same Zayne who hates carrots and loves sweets. Who can be serious and indifferent, but inside him still lives the child who can justify refusing to take medicine just because «it's bitter».

The tragedy of Dawnbreaker is that he is an unhappy person, drowned in all his 'coldness' and detachment. He yearns deep inside for happiness and love, for peace and warmth, but the only place he experiences it - is only his dreams. For Dr. Zayne, Dawnbreaker's world from his dreams is a nightmare where he kills people. For Dawnbreaker, Zayne's world that he sees in his dreams is a world where care, love, and happiness exist. Dawnbreaker wakes up and writes down his dreams - just like Dr. Zayne does - which only further shows that they are the same person, just having grown up under different circumstances. Dawnbreaker searches for places from his dreams - addresses, establishments. He walks the streets and parks. He tries the food he sees in Zayne's dreams, even pulling the trick of freezing soda with his Evol to make popsicles. Dawnbreaker grows jasmine with such tender care - he moves the flower into the morning sun when it's still mild and moves it away later to avoid burning the petals, watering it carefully. He watches movies and TV shows about medics and hospitals, trying to understand, trying to find meaning in it; he tries to find something that would help him feel and experience on his own the things he sees in his dreams.

Many are irritated by his behavior when he ends up in Dr. Zayne's body: like how rude he is to the MC, how gloomy and cold he is. Speaking of 'coldness', it's worth remembering how his body temperature turned out to be abnormally low, leading him to exhaustion and loss of consciousness for a while. Dr. Zayne spent many years learning to control his Evol, even though it's so powerful that he doesn't always succeed on it even now. Zayne-Dawnbreaker, who never experienced accidentally injuring the MC, never had such motivation to control his power. Therefore, finding himself in Dr. Zayne's body in our world, Dawnbreaker physically cannot restrain the force raging inside that body. Even a surveillance cameras were able to capture Downbreaker during his 'murders' in his own world, while in Dr. Zayne's world, the Linkon cameras were failing due to abnormally low temperatures, a sign that Evol, left without Dr. Zayne's control, was trying to break free. Of course, Dawnbreaker didn't say this when the MC asked if his powers were out of control - he isn't used to showing his weaknesses, he isn't used to relying on anyone, he isn't used to anyone caring about him, to anyone worrying about him. After that, he heads towards the subway, where he loses consciousness. An interesting detail: the MC notes that the direction Zayne-Dawnbreaker went is not the way to his home. It's the direction that leads to her home. But how would Dawnbreaker know that? Perhaps it's because Dawnbreaker remembered her address from his dreams. And searched for that address in his own world. He was looking for his MC - the MC from his grim world - he wanted to meet her in person. Perhaps it would have helped him feel the same happiness he witnessed through Dr. Zayne's eyes in his dreams.

The tragedy of Dawnbreaker is that he has shouldered a heavy burden, such as erasing the Abominations, so people have a chance at happiness; so that suddenly mutated family members don't harm their loved ones or families (as it happened in his own past), so that the plague of infection doesn't continue to spread. His entire world sees him as a murderer, as a harbinger of tragedy, and no one knows what he's truly like deep inside. This man deserves kindness and warmth like we're all deserving, but the only place he can be even half a step close to happiness is in his dreams and in the distant world seen through Dr. Zayne's eyes, only as a silent observer.

And that kills me every single time.

Anecdotes (Zayne): Still In Dark

Storyline: Prologue To Tomorrow-Thorns Under The Moon, Death and Rebirth