Shady Royalty

Chapter 3 - Hot headed

◇◇◇ Ashton's pov ◇◇◇

Ashton yells in frustration.

"This is ridiculous!", he exclaims as he failed once again to take down the robot target that he used for combat training.

"The only think ridiculous is your attitude right now", a female voice says from behind him.

Ashton sighs, instantly recognizing the voice.

"You do realize that your fire powers aren't fueled by anger, as most outsiders think", his mom says teasingly.

"Yes. I know", Ashtons says while rolling his eyes.

"In fact-", she starts.

"In my case it would work better when I remain calm", Ashton finishes.

"Correct. You're a fast learner", his mom congratulates him with a side hug.

"I have a great teacher", Ashton says with a smile.

"Aww. I'm sure that Alfred will be thrilled to hear that", his mom says playfully.

"Haha, very funny. We both know that I was talking about you", Ashton turns to face his mom and give her a proper hug. His mom chuckles at his response.

"Well, since you're calm now, why not give it another try?", his mom encourages him.

Ashton takes a deep breath and aims for the target once again. This time, he times it perfectly and lands a hit on the moving target.

"Yes! Well done, Ashton!", his mom quickly pulls him back into another hug.

Ashton laughs happily as he lets himself get pulled into his mom's warm embrace.

Ashton sighs as he looks at his gloved hands. He takes off the gloves, putting them on the wireless charger, before looking back down at his bare hands. He lifts his right hand closer to his face and examines it. There are still a few burn marks from the countless times that he had tried to use his powers, hidding the fact that it hurt him from his mom. He then examines his left hand. His left hand was free of any burns whatsoever. Since he is left-handed, he intentionally avoided getting any injuries on this hand as to not raise any suspicions if he suddenly couldn't write properly for some time. This is the hand he uses whenever someone asks him to take of at least one of his gloves. He wouldn't have listened if it weren't for the fact that his mom raised him to obey his elders.

"Ashton?", his mom's voice breaks him out of his thoughts.

"Hmm?", Ashton replies, still not completely present.

"Are you alright?", his mom asks, her voice filled with concern.

"I'm fine mom. Please don't worry about me", Ashton says with a reassuring smile.

"You're doing that thing where you look at each of your hands again", his mom points out.

Ashton looks back down at his hands. He sighs.

"Fine. You got me. I'm just...", no matter how many times they have had this conversation, it still pains Ashton to talk about it.

His mom slowly walks into his room, closing the door behind her. She gives him a hug from behind and looks at the both of them in the mirror.

"Tell me, what do you see?", his mom asks with a small smile.

Huh. She's using a different approach this time, Ashton notes to himself. He looks up and meets his mom's gaze in the mirror. He often forgets that this mirror is even here. He never dares to look into it.