Chapter 5
"GEMPA!"
Blaze shot up his bed, hands outstretched, eyes wide in horror. The remnants of his dream- his memory, still fresh from his mind. Then his head gave a painful throb, making him groan and curl forward as he clutched it in pain.
He then realized his head was wrapped in bandages and sighed.
Blaze always hated waking up like this- confused, in pain and always panicked. Was this going to be an everyday thing?
He took deep breaths trying to relax through the pounding of his head, getting worked up while injured never worked in anyone's favor.
Though, he was still trying to remember how—
Adudu.
Probe.
Kidnapping.
Bomb.
Ah, he remembered now.
He took another deep breath and tried to look around his surroundings with squinted eyes.
He was back in his room, alone. And everything was dark and quiet.
He couldn't tell what time it was and he really couldn't find it in him to care when he realized that his friends and brothers had been in the same room during that explosion.
And Gempa had been the forefront of it all.
"Gempa!" He exclaimed in realization and hastily kicked the blankets off of him, guilt consuming him with his flashback of a dream only amplifying it.
Grabbing his cap by his bed side, he went for the door only to stop in his tracks when it opened to reveal Solar. He looked surprised to see Blaze up and about.
"You're finally awake." He said, looking relieved.
"Solar! How's the others?! Did anyone get hurt?" Blaze grabbed him by the arms while shaking his brother slightly. Solar broke free from his hold and instead maneuvered him back to the bed.
"Hey! I was—"
"They're fine. Both Gempa and Fang's shield protected all of us from further injuries."
"Further?! So there were others who got hurt!"
Solar sighed as he pushed him back to bed and pulled up his right glove to reveal bandages, "Yeah... but not as bad as you... and maybe... Gempa. He's still knocked out."
"WHAT-"
"But, the medics already checked on him and they said he'll be just fine and that he will be awake soon enough." His brother assured as he sat next to him, "You need to rest more. You've got a concussion."
Blaze wanted to snap at him and just storm out to go see Gempa and make sure he was alright, but instead he finds himself looking down, eyes welling up with frustrated tears, "This is all my fault..."
"What are you talking about? You didn't throw that bomb—"
"I know! But if only I managed to fight off Adudu then this wouldn't have happened! I could've also controlled that explosion!"
"Okay, first off—you really didn't have a choice since you're still recovering and your powers are disabled. And second—since when can you control explosions?" Solar turned to him, bewildered.
"What are you talking about? You're the one who told me I could do that and tried teaching me with these boring presentations and theories." Blaze remembered that moment as clear as day, and couldn't help but feel smug when Solar had totally been dumbfounded when he managed to perfectly control an experimental explosion in one try.
"No, I didn't." Solar frowned and Blaze scowled, about to call him out when it clicked.
"Oh... I guess it was future you."
He watched as the other's expression morphed to annoyance and he quickly finds himself turning away, starting to feel a bit of resentment at the fact that his brother still refuses to believe him.
"Tell me... about this future you saw."
He swirled and looked at Solar, totally baffled, "I thought you didn't believe me."
"I don't." His brother replied bluntly, "But... it won't hurt to humor this idea of you coming from the future."
Blaze, for some reason, found that thought insulting as his scowl only grew deeper. If he was going to share something that the other wasn't even going to believe in, then why bother?!
"I'd rather not." He said through gritted teeth and crossed arms.
He'd rather not relive those horrifying moments to someone who'd just write it all off as a dream.
Solar wouldn't understand.
The fear, the horror and the pain when he watched them one by one turn into reverse and fight against each other. It was heart wrenching as they were forced to fight against their own flesh and blood.
It was even more painful to watch them turn to the villains that they swore to protect everyone from.
"What?! I thought you wanted to prove to me that you were from the future or something!" Solar turned to him, his face was hard to see, but the light from the stars outside the glass window illuminated the look of disappointment.
The same look that Solar had given him that day they had to go back to the station after Gempa had been shot by RevBot.
"So the current situation stands. Gempa was left at Planet Rhadamanthus and is currently wreaking havoc with RevBot." Solar said, swiping at the control board with urgency and holographic screens appeared.
In one of the screens, there was Gempa walking about, and everyone gaped at his different appearance. His face was calm and unnervingly smug despite the lack of emotion in those ruby eyes. Three giant golems followed behind him as he occasionally looked around and destroyed everything that got in his way.
May it be trees, boulders or houses of the aliens that lived there.
Fortunately, Fang and the others had the foresight to evacuate the residents there before fleeing and forcing to leave Gempa behind for the time being.
Halilintar scowled as he caught sight of RevBot in Gempa's arms.
"That power sphere is going down." He turned to Solar, "We have to go get Gempa. Now."
"Not so fast." Fang said, wincing as he shifted his position on his seat. The alien was covered in injuries and they all knew who had caused it, "As much as I don't like to be a demonstration of what would happen if we go against... Reverse Gempa... may I remind you what happened when we did try going against him?"
He practically gestured at his bandages.
"There's more of us though!" Taufan insisted, eyes already filled with tears as he kept looking at Gempa through the screen, "We can- we can take him on without hurting him-"
"That's the problem." Solar interrupted his visor gleaming from the light of the screens in front of him, "We can create an entire army against Gempa... but our hesitance to hurting our own brother will be our downfall."
"Gempa... he's stronger." Yaya's voice trembled and everyone looked at the end of the table where she sat. Ying placed a comforting hand to her friend and spoke, "And he knew all our weaknesses. Not to mention his powers... it's like they're more amplified."
"It's the effect of RevBot." Solar explained as he revealed another screen showing the power sphere, "RevBot is all about reversing everything and anything it shoots. When he shot Gempa, everything good about him had been reversed to this...this... person capable of harming anyone and everyone who got in his way. So that means no holding back... even if it means it kills someone."
There was a sharp intake of breath from Taufan as everyone looked down in silenced horror.
"I guess that's our own fault for assuming that the reversing only meant inanimate objects." Solar muttered, "We should've researched more."
"What do we do?" Came Thorn's scared question.
"We fight." Ice said, face calm and determined, "There's no other way to it. What's important is that we don't get hit by RevBot as well."
"What happened with Retakka is proof of why we shouldn't turn into Reverse." Solar said, face grim and serious, "Even if one of us was left. Then there will always be a fighting chance. What's important is that we don't get caught."
Halilintar frowned as he crossed his arms, "Then tell us, what's the plan?"
Solar's eyes then landed on Blaze, the only sibling who had been silent the whole time.
The fire manipulator flinched as he saw the other stared at him with so much disappointment before looking away, "First things first... we can't risk all of us getting caught. That's why- Thorn, Hali... you're coming with me.
We'll try to contain our brother and save him."
.
.
"I want to go see Gempa." Blaze scooted farther from Solar as he started rubbing his leg once more.
"He's resting." Solar sounded like he was about to lose his patience, "And come on, just tell me about the future you saw—"
"STOP IT!" He yelled before turning to look at him with uncontained rage, "STOP ASKING ME LIKE IT'S JUST SOME MADE UP STORY!"
"I didn't—"
"That was..." His eyes were tearing up as his breath started to pick up, "What happened in the future was the worst thing that happened to me and just thinking about it scares me!"
"Api..."
"You wouldn't understand what it felt like!" Blaze scowled as angry tears started to pour down his face, "I was alone and cornered. I wanted to feel like a hero, but at the end of the day, I knew I failed everyone. I-I was the reason you guys turned into Reverse."
"Re...verse?"
Blaze looked away and curled in on himself as he continued, "I'm starting to remember things more clearly and the more that I do—the harder it is to tell stupid brothers who just won't listen to me."
"It's not re—" Solar caught himself as he watched Blaze's back go tight, "I'm sorry. I... I didn't realize you feel that way."
"It doesn't matter..." Blaze rubbed his leg once more, "Just go. I'm tired."
There was a moment of silence before Solar stood up and started walking away. Blaze listened as the footsteps paused by the door way before deciding to leave as the automatic doors gave a final hiss of shutting close.
He felt his breath hitch, his eyes burn and his chest go tight as he curled forward. He buried his face into his hands as he let out a cry and let all the anguish he felt finally overcome him.
The crushing weight of guilt and fear from those times seemed to only amplify his frustrations and anger for the whole situation.
He couldn't understand why now of all times was he crashing down like this?
Was it the fact that his brothers refused to believe him? Or that he now finally realized how all alone he was in all this, and despite his friends and family being there—they will never understand what he had to go through. The memories and dreams only seem to weigh him down more into this suffocating helplessness and misery and there just doesn't seem to be any way out of this spiraling—
"Api."
Hands were suddenly over his shoulders and he snapped his head up to see the blurry form of Gempa. His eyes widened and was about to call out his name but his voice was stuck in his throat.
He kept seeing Reverse Gempa, and he wanted nothing more than to back away.
But he was frozen in place.
A bandaged hand was suddenly on his face and he felt the other try to wipe away some of his tears, Gempa's face filled with worry but he tried for a comforting smile.
"You're stressed out again." Gempa said, trying to sound light and soothing, "Guess it's time we head home to Tok Aba for the time being, hm? I mean I probably need it right now too... to recover and all that. I just woke up not too long ago and decided to drop in and see how you were..."
And just like that, the image of Reverse was gone and was replaced by his real brother who continued babbling about some nonsense Blaze usually didn't care to listen about. But hearing his brother drone on at the background always calmed the storm in him.
He felt his breath hitch and tears were once again welling in his eyes. Gempa saw this as his own eyes softened and pulled him into a firm hug while still talking about Tok Aba and how he probably needed their help at his shop.
That's right... he was given a second chance.
He can still change this.
Even when the outcome from that alternate timeline had a bad ending... he still had a chance.
Blaze clutched at the other's shirt tightly as he buried further into the embrace.
He will do whatever it takes to protect Gempa and his brothers from that future.
End Of Chapter