Boboiboy: Elemental Tales

Leadership

A/N: So - I was in the mood for some angst. Or is it hurt and comfort? Anyway, this is the second draft in one day - and funny thing is, the first one, written 1 hour ago, is the (lighthearted and fluffy) "How two rival siblings interact" (which will be published later). Talk about mood swings. Also I've never actually experienced real grief so the descriptions might not be accurate.

Warning: Major character death.

***

"Blaze, burn down their barricade!"

("Hali, get Taufan!")

"Already on it!"

"Duri, shield!"

("Ice, slow them down!")

"Woven Leaf Barrier!"

"Solar, prepare to finish them off!"

("Run, I'll hold them off!")

"Roger that, Hali!"

It was just the elemental siblings against the Power Sphera thieves this time; with the spike in crime rate, TAPOPS's forces were spread rather thin lately and so Gopal, Yaya, Ying and Fang were off on their own mission.

As Halilintar barked out orders to his younger brothers, his ears rang with similar shouts, coming from a voice identical to his own and yet not quite the same. Visions of a past mission danced in front of his eyes as he surveyed the five elements fighting alongside him.

The longer he fought, the harder they became to ignore.

Ice had to nudge the lightning element a few times to refocus his attention. The latter, shaking his head in an attempt to clear it, yelled at Blaze to "stop cackling at your fire like an idiot and cover for Solar until he gathers enough energy!".

As he did so, a pang of guilt struck. Giving orders was - should have been - Gempa's job. Not his. But Gempa wasn't here, and it was his duty to fill in as second-in-command.

But still, doing this felt so wrong.

As Solar delivered the finishing blow, he turned and sprinted back to the spaceship, ignoring his brothers' surprised calls.

***

Halilintar lay on the roof of Tok Aba's house that night, gazing at the stars. Thankfully no one else was up there - he didn't feel much like talking at the moment. In fact, he had gone out of his way to avoid the others during the flights back to TAPOPS station and then to Earth. (Actually, they should have gone back to Earth sooner, but one Power Sphera had been in danger and they had been forced to delay their return to save it. That was Halilintar's first mission as team leader, and he did not enjoy it one bit.) Giving orders had made him remember Gempa, and he couldn't help but feel like he didn't deserve the right.

"Gempa, we're not leaving you behind!"

"You have to! Or would you rather we failed the mission? Get the Power Sphera back to TAPOPS!"

"But-"

"No! I'll catch up with you later! Run - that's an order!"

If only he had disobeyed his leader for once and stayed with him...

Halilintar had had plenty of time to wallow in his feelings in solitude. After going over the mission time and again, he had come to the conclusion that if he'd stayed with Gempa and let the others go on ahead with the Power Sphera, they might have all returned to TAPOPS station in one piece. But instead-