<<<>>>

It already feels like we've been waiting for BoBoiBoy for hours on end.

Time flies as our pod zooms through the intergalactic space, leaving our nerves suspended with inertia but steady of any unnecessary movement whatsoever. All of us don't bother to eavesdrop over BoBoiBoy and his father's conversation after what Commander managed to tell us. He continues maneuvering our pod. Where, I don't know, but most likely home. The excitement crawls up my spine, filling me with joy of seeing Mom again.

But the sensation thrumming up my ears never stops, flashing my chest with the dread I am still left to understand.

I look to Ying, if not for my strange nervousness. Her smile glistening still with the jitters she has for meeting Aunty Yang after a long time. It doesn't take long before she looks back at me, noticing me staring.

I feel a certain flush rising up my cheeks when she whispers for some reason. To comfort me, maybe. She knows me too much. "We're going home~" is all that comes out of her lips before a door bangs open at my left.

The room where BoBoiBoy and his father are.

I see him sprinting out the door with a mass aura I cannot explain. It makes my muscles brim with even more dread. The motions he makes are not to be mistaken; his arm swinging the door open in a furious manner, his eyes shaking, staring down at the floor, his mouth spread ferociously wide, showing his teeth grinding in unison with everything.

"BoBoiBoy, don't go, I can explain~"

"WHAT IS TO EXPLAIN?! I KNOW ENOUGH TO KNOW YOU'VE BEEN LYING TO ME THIS WHOLE TIME! WHEN DID YOU EVER BOTHER TO TELL ME THIS? YOU SHOULD'VE TOLD ME SOONER!!!"

"I did all that to protect you..."

"To protect me from what...?!" This is the first time I heard BoBoiBoy's voice boom with rage. Let alone, to his own father. "To protect me from being told that I'm different?! To protect me because I'm one of a kind?! To protect me...TO PROTECT ME FROM BEING HOW EVERYBODY IS?!" I can only hear his breathe hitching, and somehow, this makes me hear tears. "No...You protect me only because you don't want to lose me to some science matters!!!

"Is that all I am???!!! Am I just some...thing...that you can just use for a living?! YOU LIED TO ME! EVERYTHING I KNOW IS A LIE! YOU DIDN'T PROTECT ME, YOU BROKE ME! SHOULD I EVEN CALL YOU 'DAD?!'"

His voice cracking gets us all in a jolt, enough for me to rush to his back, yanking him, facing me. Darn the rules, darn my etiquette for just pulling him away from his father, he isn't okay. "BoBoiBoy, what's going on?!" I don't notice it, but I'm beginning to weep.

His face tints red at his cheeks, nose, forehead, and his eyes flash with something I regret to see in him.

Confusion, sadness, unfathomable anger...betrayal.

He only stares at me for one dead second before he swallows and chokes on his own tears. And whimpers, "Don't call me that," before swatting my hand away.

"What are you...talking about?" Now I'm crying. I hate seeing him like this. Like a battered hero, shattered to the core of his heart, a vision I never thought to see.

Now the nightmare lies in front of us, as we feared.

Commander is quick to respond, hearing the chaos behind him. "BoBoiBoy, why? What is it...?"

The only answer we get is his fierce glare at his own father.

"Is this all still real?" he mutters. "Or is this still all a dream and all that is real of me is just in a tube somewhere?"

The words dig into us, meaningless, strange, vague...sad...

"BoBoiBoy, what is happening to you?!"

Bang.

.

The moment repeats in my head, high-pitched, burning, an ill memory. A bang.

My eyes flicker out of the odd black, waking up nowhere from the pod I remember. Moments turn blank and the pain surges around my neck, hindering me almost from looking around. But I understand only one thing.

A green blob emerges from my left, a blur sharpening at every blink I make. The image crystallizes in front of me eventually.

The alien is short compared to Adu Du, perhaps an inch or two smaller. But the being wears everything in utmost superiority, his moustache occupying most of the equator of his face. The rest of him is clad in red lush fabric.

It takes me a second to understand what is happening. But I get it enough that I'm sitting, looking up at him.

Actually, no. Standing, with bars round my entire torso, leashing and keeping my arms to the side, looking down at him. The Emperor of Atata Tiga.

A study I made probably a few weeks ago flashes as if before me. The bulleted details run through me once more, words stamped into my head. A dictator, a conqueror, a feared man, a cruel ruler.

Why am I even here?

I look to my opposite side, finding the last thing I'm willing to comprehend before deciding I've had enough. Ying, Gopal, Fang, Commander...binded as me.

The million questions jolt me awake, along with the strange sensation of the surrounding sounds ringing back into my ears.

But one sound roars with familiarity more than the others.

"~okay?"

My eyes can only manage to see more things, only not in full detail. The room is wide, black, outlined with dull, green lines bordering every corner. A platform rises in the middle of everything, topped with a chair. A throne.

Something stands before it, speaking, its (his) face towards us. "Guys, are you okay?"

The orange cap rings the bell. BoBoiBoy.

The brass chains on his wrists and his knees knelt down do not.

The sight of his petrified eyes comfort me no more than a needle through skin, piercing me tough.

He stammers softly, his breath staggering with what seems to be both panic and exhaustion. "Guys, please...don't~"

The Emperor's voice crashes through the empty Throne Hall, his anger bouncing off the darkness. "Don't what, boy?! Don't listen to the truth?!" The Emperor shakes with nothing but rage. "It was your...YOUR FAULT THEY KNOW NOTHING ABOUT YOU!"

The curiosity tempts me to speak up, and though I brush the feeling away, it doesn't seem to hold Gopal's mouth back. Nothing ever held him back to begin with. "Dey! What does he mean by the truth?!"

The Emperor only laughs, and BoBoiBoy only dips his head down, burrowing himself with what seemed to be...sorrow. "So you don't know!!!" The words are bathed with mockery at every corner. I can tell it taunts BoBoiBoy every second made. For what reason, I don't know. "Go on, boy! Tell them what you really are!!!"

What he really is. What?

BoBoiBoy doesn't answer, but I can feel how his honesty pricks him.

To my odd dismay, he doesn't waver.

"Oh, so you won't answer...Okay...Then I shall do the honors for you."

BoBoiBoy fails to stop him, tears running down his cheek silently.

Why?

The words coming out of the Emperor's mouth come down on us like a bomb. BoBoiBoy is not who you think he is.

His name isn't even BoBoiBoy at all, he is nothing but a thing living in human midst.

A thing. Living in human midst.

The cries come sooner than I thought. "What does he mean, BoBoiBoy?! Are you...not...a friend...?" I stutter, failing to realize he isn't meant to be one of us. He isn't one of us, most likely.

BoBoiBoy never answers. He stays quiet. He doesn't look into our eyes. Is he ashamed?

The Emperor wastes no time and starts yelling orders towards the door behind us. "You want to know more? I'll tell you more!" The next words he spits out were, Bring them in.

Only when I look behind do I completely understand who he was referring to. BoBoiBoy's parents.

His father and mother are pushed in front of our very eyes, both binded in chains, with their eyes striking with a perfect mix of surrender and resistance.

Now that I see it, they share no resemblance to BoBoiBoy himself.

The Emperor walks down to BoBoiBoy with angry grace, taunting him. "Take one good look at that couple there, and tell me, do you deserve them? Do you think they deserve your love after everything they hid you from?"

"What is going on, BoBoiBoy?! Tell us!" Fang's aggressiveness gets the best of him.

He clasps his hands. "Ah! Glad to know you're actually curious! What you probably don't know is that BoBoiBoy's parents are actually ambassadors, but also...scientists!

"They have been working on something for so long! Something that would be revolutionary to the world today! The creation of an artificial being! A being whose immune system is stronger than average, a being whose capability is much more than the normal human or alien! It was meant to be something to aid their job." The Emperor never stops, continuing his grinning through the words. "In summary, this being would have human traits, but with alien components. Like black blood, tremendous power, an undying life!"

I only see the Emperor grabbing a letter opener, somewhat with the face of a dagger, from a nearby stand. "Now, tell us, boy, was their experiment successful?"

BoBoiBoy just whispers. But enough for only me to hear. He knows what happened to the experiment. "Yes..."

I only blink when the Emperor suddenly dashes to BoBoiBoy's side and slashes that one side of his teary cheek. "TELL US! DID IT WORK!"

BoBoiBoy begins to scream, mostly maybe from the pain, and hides his wound from us, facing back. "Yes!"

For a second, I hear BoBoiBoy's father yelp, No!

Ying stays silent, but Gopal continues to blabber on. "Oh, really? Uncle, can I see, can I see the experiment?!" he screeches, facing BoBoiBoy's father. Gopal, seriously?

I see the Emperor grin, yanking BoBoiBoy's bleeding face towards us. For us to see. He yells at Gopal's direction. "Well...why don't you just...LOOK AT YOUR BEST FRIEND HERE, HUH?!"

The force almost snaps BoBoiBoy's neck with shock. The wound is displayed for all of us to see, his cheek slashed and bleeding, with the light not fooling us from where we stand. The black blood drips almost quickly, transitioning from a vibrant, crimson, scarlet hue, down to the heavier, ash-drowned black. BoBoiBoy's tears follow in sync.

Our dead staring only lasts for a couple of seconds before the Emperor slaps BoBoiBoy's face away, leaving his black blood smeared against his palm. "YOUR FRIEND, IS NOT WHO YOU THINK HE IS! You say, where is the experiment? I say, he is right in front of you! Introducing, Specimen 80-801-804~!"

His ranting stops over 80-801-804's voice...(It's a weird fact to acknowledge.) "I'm so, so sorry everyone...I'm sorry..." he whimpers. The sadness of him swallows me, while I can't seem to swallow the truth about him. It devours him faster than us, the truth suddenly dawning on him probably only hours ago.

A few hours ago, he was mad at his father. If he still is until now, he doesn't bother to show it.

The same may not be said for the rest of us, but I begin the statement anyway. I can't help but think, I feel sorry for him. "It's okay, BoBoiBoy." For the first time in years, his name becomes hard to pronounce. "What is there to apologize for?"

His eyes flicker suddenly, from the shadows it was first drenched in to a small light, dim, but shining. "Yes..." he mutters. "What is there to apologize for?!" he grumbles, facing fearlessly towards the Emperor. "Why do I have to apologize for not being a human? How does it concern you?!"

For some time, I thought the Emperor would be grounded and keep his lips shut. Still, he pursues. "What is there to apologize for?! Like I said! You're a thing in the midst of people! An alien force always looking for trouble in the middle of innocents!

"Have you ever wondered why aliens come to wreck havoc in your planet almost as if in a daily basis...? Because of you! Why are your friends always roped into the danger you get succumbed in...? Because they want you! Do you ever consider the dangers you bring onto everyone you care about?!"

BoBoiBoy hisses, fighting back. That's my boy. "My life and my choices are none of your goddamn business...!"

"Oh, but it is! As an emperor of one of the highest communities in the galaxy, I have the liability to say what belongs here and what belongs there and...I must say...as a person who cares for Earthlings, I say you're nothing but a war-magnet!"

"You don't care about anybody!" I jibe back.

"Don't I?" he sneers. "I'm doing all I can to eliminate everybody that clashes badly with one another! I mean, look what I did with our caste systems! And you say, I don't care?!" he huffs...only for a moment. Until he suddenly just starts waving his hand back at the two guards watching over BoBoiBoy's parents. "Show him what we have."

We watch the guards toggle with the buttons on their wrists, followed by the whirs we hear from around the room. A metal door opening under the darkness, I suppose. My eyes fling back to the Emperor, his fingers back at the weapon-looking of a letter opener. His thumbs run through the blade briefly, before he delivers yet another horrendous speech. "Tell me, Mr. 80...Does it bother you that, right now, you are unable to save your friends from me? All because you're tied up in chains you can't seem to escape? Does it ever bother you that you can't save your friends~"

The Emperor takes one more glimmering glance at the dagger.

"No...please..." BoBoiBoy begs.

"...even when I do...THIS?!"

The dagger swings from his grasp, flinging off his hold, launching straight into Ying. Only before we see someone emerge to save her.

His hands catch the weapon at once, rescuing Ying's young face from a sharp point only an inch away from her nose. The touch the boy makes is familiar, his hands appearing like the ones I would desire, his stance is all familiar. Down to his face, his clothes; his jeans are the familiar blue, his undershirt the familiar black, his cap the vibrant orange as always.

His eyes were BoBoiBoy's, but also nothing like them.

The two identical boys stand before us, one trapped in cuffs, and the other, free with an evil grimace. "I would like to behold to you, the true BoBoiBoy! The human meant to live in your place!" the Emperor croons. "From his face to his blood, he's human, harmless, deserving of the Earthly life...!"

BoBoiBoy shakes his head. "No...This isn't happening..."

"But it is!" the Emperor shouts. "His mutation is complete and ready to fill in the holes you left around in your life! It's amazing, he looks exactly like you..."

The other BoBoiBoy takes one short glance at his identical, throwing the dagger to the side after pressing its edges with his palm. His hands bleed red, more to that, he feels no pain at all. The grin he makes is painful to see, a demonic countenance taking shape of an angel's face. "Even better," Even his voice is a pain to hear. Just like BoBoiBoy. "I'm the superior one here. I can guarantee your friends will not be in harm's way."

"It's true, we have spoken with the other alien societies who have previously gone through battles with you. They promise no more war, in exchange of one thing."

BoBoiBoy's reverse continues the statement for the Emperor, running his finger up BoBoiBoy's chin, toying with him. Meanwhile, BoBoiBoy's face fills with terror. "Your friends will be safe...with my protection, and with the peace you can't seem to bring, only in one condition...

"...I replace you...

"...and I kill you."

<<<>>>

BoBoiBoy's father chuckles out of the blue. "I know this is a stupid question to ask but," The sadness already starts to leak from him like a broken tap. "how long has it been—for record's sake? I can't really bother to count."

But I do, it's been three days since. Now, counting is a drug. Harm I can't help but do unto me. The realization stings. It's been three days.

Not a twitch, a sound, or good news of him.

For the sunrises and sunsets that have previously gone by, it won't be a surprise if I say I've already conquered my fear of seeing him in this state. I took tiny little peeks from the door every now and then, just to check in on him, attempting to digest the situation in front of me.

But today is about time I decide to step in and watch him myself. Everybody had their turn anyway.

You'll never know when the opportunity will leave you.

We never really had to accept the suggestion of having him in an ICU, but almost all stays the same. The life support crowds around BoBoiBoy's frail body, making beeps, marking pulses, tapping beats, all the while its patient hums silently on the bed. BoBoiBoy's father already pretty much told me about the basics. How to read his pulse through a monitor, what to check when you need to call the nurse, what goes on and off, when, why, and where, the such. I remind myself of how I'd always want to see him as asleep, not dying. The oxygen is there so he can breathe better, not because he can't breathe at all.

He's just tired, he needs this sleep.

I stare at him, tucked under the white linen, motionless, his blood-stained clothes stripped off him, replaced with the white hospital gown. Capless as he sleeps, it makes him look like an angel.

A dying angel, I can't help but think.

The red blood blends with the black in him. It's a constant symbol of the risk we're making, and what we would be willing to do to keep him alive.

I forget Uncle was asking me a question. "I haven't been counting too." A simple lie. It's best not to remind him.

"Are you sure? You're a smart friend of his," he smiles.

"Even if I did know, I wouldn't really bother to tell you, with all do respect."

He scoffs nonchalantly. "Very well then."

The air breathes silence once more, leaving me with yet another peaceful moment to stare at BoBoiBoy. His hand. Not the one destroyed with tape and dextrose and blood, but the one with its undisturbed purity. The one with only a wristband to mark him of his health and identity. The one with the folded letter I left him last night.

I've started to daily write him letters now, a new one every night, telling him how we're doing without having him to see us with our red eyes and dried tears. I smile at the thought of what I wrote him last night as soft, repetitive beeps soothingly enter my eardrums as if in harmony. I remember how I wrote of what we ate, what we did, what we thought of during the day. I wrote that we miss him.

I wrote that we want him back.

The beeping only continues louder, a voluminous hum muffled behind the background noise. But yet it prickles my earshot, jerking up my head to watch the monitors. I don't seem to remember any of the wave patterns, yet something about it already seems off. Three waves highlight before my eyes: the spiky big one, the small sloping one, and the other line, slowly and gently curving into a straighter line~

Wait.

There isn't supposed to be that.

There is no straight line...

And yet there it is.

The wind from BoBoiBoy's father standing abruptly tickles behind me. He jumps right into action. The beeps come faster, buzzing consistently until it almost rings for good. For the entire minute, I believe, I freeze, immobile, with BoBoiBoy's father calling the nurses to swarm in and help.

No noise comes from BoBoiBoy himself. Not even a hitch.

He reflects at my periphery as the nurses check his vitals.

Is he breathing? I never know.

I don't look at him as Uncle walks me out the door.

I don't want my last sight of him to be his death.

.

Dear BoBoiBoy,

Hey, BoBoiBoy...I know I keep talking about what we did during the day, as usual. Well, today, Ying and Gopal and Fang stayed out, running their own errands and going to school. And I stayed here, with you...

I chatted with your dad here, it was nice. I tried to be brave, walking in. At least I made it in without breaking. You should've seen me.

But aren't you proud of me?

Why did you have to do this?

I'm sorry for having to write this down, but it will feel so unfair if I screamed at you instead, right? I was in there, I write to you every night. I write for you to fight, I write for you to stay. So we could be happy.

So please, BoBoiBoy. Please fight...

I don't why you just did that earlier. I didn't know what happened back there. And it pains me to not know why, what happened, and how. It makes me sad. I don't want you to go.

Call me selfish, fine. Call this letter as something not so spontaneous. But what I'm writing is true. I don't want you to give up. It will break our hearts if you...leave us...

I start crying in the hall, with a clipboard and a paper on my one hand, and a pen on the other. The tear lands at the bottom of the paper, a reminder of what pain we're going through.

Please, BoBoiBoy.

If you read this, please stay...

Your friend, Yaya