hiro sighed, his crystal blue eyes watching his toes. he was worried, scared.. and among other things. he let out a heavy breath, not realizing it had clouded up, his force causing it to change in color to his swirling emotion. colors swirled in it, each fighting for control. when he opened his eyes the cloud dissipated and spread out.
Winter halted braiding Frost’s hair, and Elias sat straight up eyes wide.
“Well that’s new. I’ve never seen a Force Wielder be able to project their emotions outward before. Winter and I have the Force Echo, where we can see what was in the past, but we can’t project our emotions, unless you count onto each other. I wonder if you could heavily influence people, kind of like a mind trick.”
" never tried, but it only shows when they're strong.." he mumbled " bathroom?" he asked winter
Estelle and Shiloh watched the display with awe. "Incredible," Shiloh murmured.
"Indeed," Estelle added, tilting her head. She blinked and looked at Winter as well. "How much longer until we arrive on Coruscant?"
Winter looked at Estelle and Shiloh and pursed her lips.
“Uh, considering we’re in the outer rim, and Coruscant is right in the heart of the galaxy, it would have taken under 7 hours at lightspeed. But we’re about 3/4 under lightspeed so it’s going to take a few days. We’re just cruising, in order to recover. We’ll get there soon enough. If you want to get there faster I can always push the speed up.”
Winter then looked at Hiro and smiled.
“Uh yeah, it’s beside Frost’s room. If you want to take a shower or freshen up, or whatever you want to do, there are towels and wash rags in the bulkhead above the door to the bathroom. And you’re smaller than Elias, but I’m sure he has some clothes you could wear. We do have warm water in the bathroom before you ask. The Pantorans thought of that in case we had guests. And there is a heated room, just in case you’d like to stay there instead of spending the night with Frost. The Pantorans made that room specifically for guests who come from a warmer climate. A boy from Tatooine should be quite comfortable there. If you’re comfortable with it.”
Elias stood up.
“Here. Let me go get you some clothes. I just hope I have a long sleeved shirt and a pair of pants that’ll fit you decently. And then I can show you the bathroom. It’s not much, it’s pretty basic, but it’s enough. And don’t worry about the water running out. The Pantorans equipped the ship with a state of the art filtering system. So no matter how much water you use, it’ll be filtered and cleaned before you use it again. It’s their own design. And it works really well. Come on kid. Go clean yourself up and take a breather.”
Hiro nodded "I would rather be with frost. I literally have never had that deep of sleep in my life." he said and chuckled. he followed Elias to the room and then to the bathroom.
as he showered his breath filled the room, turning it a deep purple in colored fog. he was focusing his emotions and letting each one pass as the hot water rushed his skin. first was purple, homesick, next few were red, anger, a dark yellow, regret, and a blackish grey, sadness. every one of the colors that had fought in the original cloud all got a turn and eventually he shut off the water and the cloud once again dissipated and he opened the shower curtain
Elias walked back towards Winter and put his arms around her waist. He kissed her neck, and Winter rolled her eyes.
“Hun. I know Shiloh and Estelle won’t mind displays of affection but we do have a son and he loses his mind whenever I kiss you.”
Elias mumbled.
“I know. I’ll get you later. And if not later, I’ll get you to myself on Coruscant. And when we get to Coruscant I want to go out on the town. You enjoy the upper city, so why not make it the best we can? I know we’re about six months early, but we get paid for every senate meeting we attend. We can rack up some money. Build a buffer. I know we’re well off, but we could be even more well off, and just enjoy our time.”
Frost was overhearing the conversation the entire time.
“Ewwww Ama and Ada. Nasty. No kissing.”
Winter laughed at Frost and finished braiding his hair. Elias stuck out his tongue at Frost and kissed Winter. Frost screeched and took off running towards Estelle and Shiloh.
“AUNTIES AMA AND ADA ARE KISSING TELL THEM TO STOOOPPPP!”
Winter laughed at her son’s antics.
“Elias. Hun. I know. I know. Coruscant. We’ll have our night on the town. I promise. Anyways, my motherly instincts tell me that we have a homesick boy on our ship. He literally left everything behind and jumped aboard a ship with 4 adults and 1 crazy child that he’d never met before. I’ll see if Estelle and Shiloh can keep Frost busy for a little bit. We’ll talk to him. It’s a little odd however, how he’s taken to Frost and Frost to him. Estelle! Shiloh! Can you keep Frost for a little bit? We’re going to talk to Hiro. That poor boy has to be homesick.”
"Yes, of course. I think we all understand that," Estelle nodded and replied while Shiloh exclaimed as Frost climbed into her lap.
"Oh!" the Twi'lek gasped at the boy's cold touch and laughed. "Hello, little snowball!"
hiro was in his warmer room, letting his cloud fill the room of the room. it always made him feel better to let his emotions out like this then talking about them
Winter and Elias stood up, and walked back to where Hiro was. Elias knocked on the door.
“Hey kid, can we talk with you? We know a thing or two about leaving a home behind. We just want to make sure you’re okay.”
"alright," he said and opened the door with his force
Winter leaned on the door frame and Elias stood behind her.
“Would you like to explain the colors that show up? Like the reds, the blues, the yellows, because we know they have meaning and we would like to understand. And we’d like to help you go through what you’re going through.”
hiro sighed, " red is anger… black is sadness, purple is something new… yellow is guilt.. a darker yellow is regret and blue is tiredness or in my case just.. bing numb." "
Elias leaned in and rested his head on Winter’s.
“Well, we saw all those colors today. Would you like to tell us why you are feeling those ways? You don’t have too, we are hear to listen if you choose to tell us.”
"i.." his voice faulted before tears choked him out. " all I've known for home wasn't even my home! i killed the people I thought were my brothers and they turned so quick to stab me in my back! i just hoped in an icebox and left… i used my powers against them.." h started to sob as his cloud turned a pitch-black, " I fucked everything I called home.everything. i have blood on my hands, and I'm not even an adult yet."
Elias brushed past Winter and wrapped Hiro in a hug.
“Hey kid it’s alright. Never apologize for surviving. Your home was what you made it and it never was what you needed. We’ve come in and made a fresh start for you. You did what you had to do to survive.”
Winter walked over and sat down on the bed.
“You’re not alone in this Hiro. Everyone on this ship has blood on their hands. And I’m not counting Frost out. One day, he’s going to have to make a choice like we’ve all had too. You may not be an adult, but you’ve had to endure several things that I would never wish anyone to endure. And people change. Your brothers made a decision they thought would keep them alive. I hope you realize that you’re alive for a reason Hiro. You had to survive and you had to kill in order to live. You had no choice. Don’t you dare blame yourself for what was done to you and what you had to do in order to survive.”
Elias continued holding Hiro in an embrace while he cried.
“Ya know, this icebox saved your life. And it’s helping to take you to a brighter future. And you know what? I think Winter and I found our topic to debate in the senate. Illegal fighting rings, using children as pit fighters. You can help us, if you’d like to speak to thousands of senators from all across the galaxy. I already know one very powerful lady will be on our side. And more than likely the Skywalker fellow. He’s from Tatooine ya know. And he’s Senator Organa’s brother. That’s at least two people that’ll support us. How about that?”
hiro nodded, his cloud starting to turn a pinkish teal. though he stayed in elias arms a bit longer till he calmed down. he hadn't even realized the small kid coming into his room until it climbed up and onto the bed.
Winter saw her son walk in.
“Baby, I thought I told you to stay with your Aunties. Are you playing hide and seek?”
Frost crawled up beside his mom and crossed his legs, and closed his eyes.
“No ama. I ditched them. Hiro felt sad so I came to fix it.”
Winter furrowed her brows. She watched as Frost started to glow green, as if he was trying to fix a wound. She gently put her arms around her son.
“Baby, there’s this thing you should know. Your power can’t heal emotional ouchies. Unless there’s something you haven’t told me or Ada yet.”
Winter looked at Elias. And he looked back at Winter with a concerned look on his face.
“Son, can you feel emotions? From other people?”
Frost looked at Elias and smiled boldly.
“Yes. And every person has a different color. When you and Ama look at each other before you kiss it’s pink.”
Elias looked at Winter with wide eyes.
“Sweet stars above. He’s a Force Empath. That would explain why he can’t sleep at night. He can’t turn off emotions. And stars forbid we ask him too.”
Winter stroked the head of her son.
“This means as he gets older, he can learn to manipulate other people’s emotions. Hiro here just woke it up. Hiro can project his emotions, and Frost can feel them. Both of them can manipulate them with the right training, but I’m wondering how Frost got the empath part. It could be a side link from the empathy link I share with Estelle. Elias what if we have power that we don’t even know about yet?”
Elias furrowed his brows.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there Win. Right now we have two things to focus on. Hiro, and Frost. That’s it.”
Winter nodded and held her son in her lap, while Elias continued to hug Hiro.
Hiro slowly fell asleep again, the cloud dissipating and his emotions settling.
Elias picked the poor boy up and set him down in his bed. Winter gently picked up Frost and carried him out of Hiro’s room so he could sleep soundly, with Elias close behind her. Elias closed the door and sighed. Elias look at Winter and Winter looked at Elias.
“We have to tell Estelle and Shiloh. Hiro has his own amount of trauma that he has to work through, and they can definitely help. I know Shiloh can, because she had a very similar situation, and Estelle can because she was an Empire lab rat. And stars only knows what we’re going to have adjust to with Frost and his new empath abilities. Everything is starting to explain itself. And I pray when we get to Coruscant people we need to show up are there. I know Leia can help a little bit with the Force because Luke is her brother, I just don’t know how much. I guess we’ll find out when we get there…”
Elias kissed Winter on the forehead.
“I guess we will hun. At this point, only time can tell what’s going on here.”
thought hiros sleep, memories flared in his dreams, his master, the sand in his toes. the child toy he gave to frost that was once his. his hands clenched and unclenched as he slept.
(bap)
(I’m just waiting for Camie 😂 it’s her turn)
Estelle burst into the room, quickly followed by Shiloh, who was trying to keep up with her.
"You almost made me run into the wall back there," she muttered, taking Estelle's hand once they stopped in front of Winter and Elias outside Hiro's quarters.
"Sorry, love," Estelle murmured and kissed Shiloh's cheek before turning to the other couple. "Have either of you seen–" Her eyes widened at the young boy in Frost's arms. "Frost! We were looking all over this damn ship for yo–" The curse earned her a sharp elbow to the side from Shiloh. "Sorry," she apologized quickly.
"How's the kid?" Shiloh asked, and by the tone of her voice, it was obvious she wasn't talking about Frost.
Elias held out his arms to take Frost from Winter. He spoke softly.
“He’s not doing so hot. He’s got a lot of trauma to unpack. He’s a lot like we used to be. However, we had each other and a mentor to help talk us through it. We had Essar. This poor boy has had no one. And all of a sudden, it’s like he has a dad and three moms and a little brother.”
Winter nodded.
“He has bonded to us in a matter of hours and days. We’re really the first people to show him kindness. What me and Elias are expecting are nightmares, outbursts of emotion, and periods of time where Hiro is going to break down and not function. And that’s okay. He’s been through too much. No one should have ever had to deal with what he’s gone through. All we can do is be there.”
Elias shifted Frost in his arms.
“However there is a slight issue. Hiro’s force power. It’s growing. Frost has the same power. Win and I haven’t seen it on a such a large scale, but it’s basically emotional manipulation. It’s very rare, but Hiro and Frost have it. And they’ve bonded. Which is interesting. That is why we were destined to meet Hiro. That’s why the Force called out to us. And that is why Win and I believe going to Coruscant is the right call.”
Hiro's black cloud filled his room, his dreams throwing him through memories and times he's tried to forget.
Elias noticed Frost wasn’t sitting sit while he was holding him. He was confused, but not surprised. Until Frost started bawling.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, son. What’s going on? Breathe for me. Calm down. What spooked you?”
Between the sobs Frost managed to get out,
“Hiro. Bad things. No!”
Winter looked at Elias, and they both scrambled back to the room Hiro was in. In a whisper Winter turned towards Estelle and Shiloh.
“Follow us and watch this. I’m going to put some credits on it. When we put Frost near him, Hiro will either wake up, or he’ll calm down. Oh and there’s something you should know. Frost sees emotions as colors, and apparently love between two people is pink. I have no clue what the other colors are for love, but I don’t think I want to know if he knows that.”
Elias slowly opened the door to Hiro’s room and walked in with Frost. He was followed by Winter, and after her were Estelle and Shiloh. The black cloud that was coming off of Hiro filled the whole room. Frost calmed in Elias’ arms, and what Elias could only describe as a force projection he watched Frost glow green, and send out his own emotions to combat those of Hiro. Winter watched on, in wonder.
Hiro's cloud thickened before it went away, hiro had in fact woken up from frost. He looked around for a minute, confused and dazed before his memory caught up. “ sorry…” he mumbled “ I, ahm, I didn't mean to..” he didn't know if he'd done anything but he didn't want to risk It if he did
Elias balanced Frost on his leg and leaned back in the chair in the room.
“Hiro, you don’t have to apologize for anything. We saw the cloud. You’re being attacked by your memories. You can’t change that as much as you could move a planet. You’re going to have to learn how to cope. Because you’re not going to forget. We’re going to help you through this.”
Winter walked forward her eyes glowing with excitement.
“I have one question. What did Frost use to calm you down? What did you feel? Or rather what did you see? Snow? Ice? Us? What did he send to you that brings him comfort?”
“ I- I saw me holding him earlier, and when we made muffins. The warm smell in the air, though I wasn't me.. I saw myself standing with you guys.”