One-Shots [Boboiboy]

For Her Son

Supra grew up knowing only his father, his cousins whom he considered his brothers, his uncles and aunt Thorn; yet he never questioned the whereabouts of his own mother, with Frostfire and Glacier also unaware of their mother's origins. They were raised by Uncle Quake and Uncle Blaze, but there were many questions among them. Why did Glacier have ice powers? Why can Frostfire make a bow crafted from both ice and fire? Did the fire not come from you, daddy? Who gave me ice?

On the other hand, Supra's powers were unqiue and powerful. His father always told him he was like his mother, but Supra couldn't see the resemblance, for his powers were from Solar, his DNA codes overrun by his only. There were no signs of his mother on him, but they told him otherwise. Do you see the red sparks on your watch? That's your mother. See the red stripes on your cap? The sickles that you use? They're from her too. Yet he never saw why, and he never saw her mother. As he was brought into this world, he knew only his father.

He and the others lived in the same house, large enough to accomodate all of them together in one space. Supra would play with his older cousins Frostfire and Glacier, testing their powers against one another, playing in the dirt until their Auntie Thorn stormed into the garden, sighing in exasperstion as her lovely flowerbed was ruined. She would send them back inside, where Uncle Cyclone was waiting with a bath freshly drawn, then he would wrestle the three rascals into the bubbly waters, scrubbing their bodies with soap (helped by Solar or Quake) until they were clean.

As they grew, their personalities slowly surfaced; as did the first generation did. Despite the same childhood they shared, the same roof they lived under, they grew to be exactly the combination of their parents; Supra was brooding and intelligent, Frostfire was calm but quick to anger, and Glacier was apathic yet responsible. The adults expected their development, and didn't question anything when Frostfire began to squabble with Supra, with the traits and choices that their parents would have made.

Sometimes, Supra would see his uncles and aunt staring at the pictures of their earlier days, the photos that laid on the highest shelves where he could never reach. More than once he asked to see those photos, but they would always give him a pat on the head, and a smile to say: "It's best not to take them down. The others might see it and be sad." He never asked since.

Supra was 17 years of age now, and he wamted the truth as he deserved. He walked up to the shelves one night and took the frames down, his eyes falling on the colours of the pictures, depicting a group photo of his uncles and aunt, and two more he didn't recognize. One of them must be his mother, and the other was Frostfire and Glacier's, as the colour scheme and symbol suggests. They had said he'd taken most from his mother, but he couldn't see why. His mother was hostile, her brows creased, lips pressed tightly together, and her eyes were startingly crimson red, a trait that Supra had barely inherited.

His mother was beautiful, for sure, but he couldn't help but be jealous of Glacier and Frostfire, because their mom looked so kind and calm, just the person to be there for them whenever they needed, or always be tolerating and kind. Had they seen this picture? Should he ask? How would they feel if they saw their mother? Like him, the pair of twins' mother had left when they were born. To where, no one told them anything but the fantasies of a faraway land. Supra suspected they were dead, but they had no graves nor did the others mourn openly.

Supra had asked his father later that night, as they were both night owls, a trait that both of them shared.

"Where did my mother go?" he asked bluntly, holding the picture in his hands.

Solar looked up from his book, his expression wary than surprised, for he knew that this day would come eventually—it was either his story to tell or his son would seek other sources. Sighing, he closed the book and turned to the child, worry lines appearing on his forehead.

"When we elementals accept our powers, our body gets reformatted," Solar said, leaning back in his chair. Supra had sat on his father's bed, acknowledging that this was a potential history lesson. "Our bodies almost turn to pure energy, and if we lose too much of our powers—"

"You fade," Supra guessed.

Solar nodded, smiling sadly.

"Did mom use too much of her powers?"

"Never. She's been an elemental longer than me, but she reckless as ever. We both died for a short while but we'd turned out fine." Solar paused, looking away. "And when we were married for a few years, we decided to have our own child."

Supra leaned closer.

"But the only problem was that female elementals can no longer give birth, because they're practically pure energy. I looked for so many ways to fix this—she was willing to sacrifice her own powers, but in the end, she lost her physical form to form you."

Supra swore his jaw was dropping, but he daren't confirm it yet.

"Did…" he stammered. "Did the same thing happen to Glacier and Frostfire's mom?"

Solar nodded, no longer able to hide the truth. "The reason you have a physical form is because of your mother. That's why most of your powers and appearance are inherited from me. When I pat your head or touch your skin, I always feel your mother and you. She never left, Supra. You are her and she is you now."