Boboiboy: Elemental Tales

Return to Us: One

And here's the final part! Warning: fluff overload... mostly.

***

When Ice regained consciousness within the confines of the glass tube, it was usually to several guards waiting with handcuffs, and to a drained, half-frozen body. Usually, he dragged his feet back to his cell, battling the urge to just collapse and snore the rest of the day away.

This time, however, he woke to none of those things. But that was not to say that he woke to nothing.

In fact, the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was green light, followed his restraints turning into phở noodles. The next thing he knew, Gopal was pulling him bodily out of the tube and crushing him in a hug, sobbing loudly.

When Ice's mind finally caught up to his senses and realised what was happening - it screeched to a halt again. Gopal... was in Pemberontak's fortress... without restraints or guards??

Wait, the plan! 

Ice hadn't had very high hopes for it despite the others' approval, because he'd been afraid of what it would do to him emotionally if it failed. That was how he coped: by not feeling much for anything. But if Gopal was here of his own free will...

Did he dare hope that Pemberontak had been defeated?

He looked over Gopal's shoulder, steadfastly ignoring the rush of emotions.

Duri was sawing away at Blaze's bindings with a hybrid rock-leaf dagger, sped by Ying. Yaya had broken apart Taufan's cuffs barehanded. Solar was burning through Halilintar's restraints.

The cracker crumbs heaped around the open doorway showed exactly how they'd gotten in.

And... no, this didn't feel like a trick or an illusion. So that - that meant... it was over.

When Gopal finally deigned to let him go, all four of them had been freed. Sensing the atmosphere, Yaya and Ying dragged Gopal and Fang outside to stand guard, Pocketbot following suit. The seven brothers were left alone in the room.

There was a long stretch of silence, no one quite knowing how to start. After all, what did one say to someone who had been imprisoned and essentially enslaved for years?

"This is real, right?" Taufan asked quietly after a moment, contrasting the cheerful personality they were so used to, "I'm not just dreaming again?"

"Not unless I'm dreaming too," Gempa replied, smiling tightly, "In which case I'd rather not wake up."

Blaze gasped in mock-surprise, though it sounded a little choked, "You?? Mister Precise Schedule, sleeping in? That's it, no way this isn't a dream!"

"A-Actually, there's virtually no chance of that, seeing as we can't tell time in dreams and yet here we can clearly read our watches-"

"Shut it, little lamp."

That seemed to break the ice. *1

Gempa gave a wobbly smile, eyes glistening, "I missed you guys."

Duri let out a sob that could possibly pass for agreement; Ice patted him on the head while trying to contain his own tears.

"We missed you all too," Taufan choked out, and then proceeded to throw his arms around Blaze and Ice, pulling them in, "Come on, group hug!"

Crying, Duri instantly leapt on Taufan, knocking him over and causing a chain reaction. Gempa dropped down next to them, chuckling weakly. Meanwhile, Halilintar edged slowly away, and Solar deliberately looked elsewhere.

A moment later, an abnormally strong gust of wind knocked the former into the pile, while a vine wrapped around the latter's waist and pulled him in with an 'oof!'... not that there was really much resistance from either boy in the first place.

No words were needed. They just sat there on the cold floor in a tangle, soothing the ones more prone to crying (even though no face was dry), taking comfort in the familiar touch of those they had been parted from for far too long.

And at last, they were whole again.

(Fang snapped a photo from the doorway. When Ying glared at him, he hastily defended himself by saying that some of the brothers would appreciate the sentimental value; of course he wasn't going to use it for blackmail. Certainly not.)

(Alright, maybe a little. But what were friends without blackmail, right? Right, Ying?)

***

Epilogue:

The rest of the day was rather uneventful, but no less emotional. After being assured that TAPOPS would take care of the legal side of things, the team returned to Earth, where there was a large welcoming party unexpectedly waiting for them; all their parents were there, as were Papa Zola and his family, their classmates from school, and the people they'd helped over the years. At the front of the group was a teary-eyed Tok Aba who pulled his grandsons into a hug one by one, lingering on the newly-freed brothers.

To Gopal's immense joy, he offered them all free drinks as either a "thank you" or a "welcome home". To certain brothers' considerably dimmer joy, Papa Zola also proposed a special program to catch up on the education they'd missed. *2

That night, the siblings unanimously agreed to have a sleepover in the living room. They didn't voice it, but none of them felt like letting the others out of their sight just yet. (The bedrooms needed cleaning anyway. Speaking of, it was touching that all their old possessions were still there despite their long absence - dusty, but none sold or given away).

Taufan, Blaze and Duri set about making a blanket fort, but the foundation soon fell to stray projectiles from Halilintar and Solar's very competitive pillow fight (which, caught in the crossfire, the trio soon joined). Laughing, Gempa kept the pillows from knocking anything else over and occasionally swung one at whoever happened to be within range. Ice half-dozed, half-observed on the remains of the blanket fort, somehow managing to avoid getting hit.

When they at last settled down to sleep, it was well past midnight (Tok Aba hadn't had the heart to tell them off). Unbeknownst to one another, as they cuddled together, they were all recalling the same thing: sleepovers, both planned and unplanned, of long ago, where they could momentarily forget about the worries of being teenagers and just have fun with each other well into the night. Even though years had passed since then, that aspect was still very much the same.

The time they'd spent torn apart had forced them to mature earlier than they should have. The psychological effects would be felt for a long time, perhaps well into their adult lives; they were all quieter, and they clung tighter to one another. But-

"Stop fidgeting, Blaze."

"But there's something poking me!"

"Get your arm off my face before I electrocute you, you windmill!"

"That's not my arm, Pikachu!"

"Oh, sorry, Hali, I didn't realise that was you! Please don't zap me?"

"... Fine. Just this once, Duri."

"Ohh, is someone getting soft-?"

"Shut up, lightbulb."

"Will you guys go to sleep already??"

"... Right. Sorry, Gempa."

"Sorry, Gem."

For now, at least - for now, everything was as it should be.

***

The End.

Do leave a short review if you have the time, it'd be very much appreciated! And again, thank you for all the support you've given me!

As for when the next update is: as usual, I don't know. I do have several ideas, though, both oneshot and multi-chapter. Obviously, update time will depend on which kind I choose to write first.

*1: No, I don't mean Ice the fifth sibling. The idiom 'break the ice' means to do or say something to relieve tension or get conversation going in a strained situation or when strangers meet.

*2: I wanted to include Ochobot in this part too since he and Boboiboy obviously have a very close relationship, but I couldn't find a way to fit him into the story naturally. Sorry. Just imagine that he was waiting impatiently for them when they exited the pocket dimension.

Lola, signing off!